Armory foes fire salvos.Byline: JOE MOSLEY The Register-Guard Opponents of a plan to build a new Oregon National Guard armory near Lane Community College wanted another chance to be heard, and the Oregon Military Department The Oregon Military Department is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon, which oversees the armed forces of the state of Oregon. Under the authority and direction of the governor as commander-in-chief, the agency is responsible for planning, establishing, and obliged o·blige v. o·bliged, o·blig·ing, o·blig·es v.tr. 1. To constrain by physical, legal, social, or moral means. 2. them Thursday night with a three-hour "scoping meeting" to gauge the level and nature of objections. Andrea Warfield, a consultant for the Military Department who served as the evening's moderator, explained at the outset that the session was intended solely to serve as a vehicle for hearing community comments on the armory proposal - that no decisions or other actions would result. With only a couple of exceptions, the parade of speakers who followed railed against siting the 122,000-square-foot armory at the corner of 30th Avenue and McVay Highway. They expressed concerns over traffic, wetlands preservation, noise, potential urbanization, ethical conflicts with the college and security. "It seems to me this location is just begging for trouble, and for a lot of reasons," said Gwyneth Carlson, who lives on Bloomberg Road just north of the proposed armory. "Already, bulldozers have been on the site and knocked down habitat, before anyone had a chance to see what was there," said Craig Shelby, another Bloomberg Road resident and president of the Russel Creek Neighbors Association. Like other speakers, Shelby maintained that wetlands cover much of the property already purchased by the Military Department and that a full environmental impact study should be required rather than the limited environmental assessment that has been proposed. The Military Department contends that because the armory project is a federal action, it is subject to provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act and a full study is not required. But Shelby said construction of the armory ultimately will require filling of some land that not only supports rare plant and animal species but serves as a filter for the Russel Creek watershed before it enters the Willamette River Willamette River River, northwestern Oregon, U.S. It flows north for 300 mi (485 km) into the Columbia River near Portland. Oregon's most populous cities are in its valley. The Fremont Bridge, a steel arch with a main span of 1,225 ft (373 m), crosses the river at Portland. . "The Military Department has simply painted itself into a corner," he said. The armory proposal is at a legal and regulatory crossroads. The National Guard filed a petition in Lane County Circuit Court this month seeking to force Lane County to issue a site review permit or go to court to explain why it cannot. The county's planning director has approved the permit, but the Russel Creek Neighborhood Association A neighborhood association is a group of residents, sometimes organized as 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, who take on problems or organize activities within a neighborhood. An association may have elected leaders and voluntary or mandatory dues. has appealed it twice, to county hearings officer Gary Darnielle and to the county commissioners. The National Guard maintains in its petition that the county has failed to act on the application in a timely manner required by state law. While most of the four dozen people who showed up for Thursday's meeting opposed going forward with the armory plan, the National Guard did get support from local Veterans of Foreign Wars official Nick Urhausen, who chastised chas·tise tr.v. chas·tised, chas·tis·ing, chas·tis·es 1. To punish, as by beating. See Synonyms at punish. 2. To criticize severely; rebuke. 3. Archaic To purify. Eugene for its "anti-military" attitude and contended that environmental objections are a red herring Red Herring A preliminary registration statement that must be filed with the SEC describing a new issue of stock (IPO) and the prospects of the issuing company. Notes: . "This is not a park, or some sort of wildlife preserve," Urhausen said. "It's a piece of private property, and they have a right to build on it. Almost everything I've heard here sounds like pious pi·ous adj. 1. Having or exhibiting religious reverence; earnestly compliant in the observance of religion; devout. See Synonyms at religious. 2. a. B.S." With traffic and wetlands leading the way among concerns of opponents, a pair of Lane Community College instructors also worried that the armory's proximity to the college could create ethical dilemmas An ethical dilemma is a situation that will often involve an apparent conflict between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would result in transgressing another. This is also called an ethical paradox and limit the ability of classes to objectively study the military's role in society. Political science instructor Stan Taylor Stanley Brian Taylor is an Australian criminal, currently sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of involvement in the 1986 bombing of the Russell Street Police Headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. said that even a perceived partnership between the college and the armory would be "inconsistent with this critical thinking process" promoted at the school. Several speakers also mentioned the potential of an armory at the location becoming a target for terrorists, particularly because a high-pressure natural gas pipeline and a Bonneville Power Administration The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) is a U.S. self-financed federal agency which transmits and sells wholesale electricity in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and western Montana. The BPA is part of the U.S. Department of Energy, and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. power transmission line run nearby. All domestic military facilities were described by federal officials as potential targets in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "We don't understand why the military would want to put so many people within harm's way harm's way n. A risky position; danger: a place for the children that is out of harm's way; ships that sail into harm's way. ," Kathleen Epstein said. |
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