Nick Jimenez

Navy's little hatchling never had a chance

One of the unique Corpus Christi experiences I've missed is being on Padre Island when the Ridley turtle hatchlings are released.
   Scores of tiny reptiles are let loose on the sands, scurrying to reach the water, tiny links to an ancient line of specie. Their human protectors, volunteers and soul-mates of the environment, ward off birds, crabs and other predators while the hatchlings make their run for the sea.
   I understand that the experience is deeply moving to the participants. Some are at the point of tears at the sight of this demonstration of the continuing of life, perhaps sensing some deep commonality with nature.
   I have a feeling the advocates of the military bombing range in South Texas never have gone on the hatchling release. If they had, they would have understood that the bombing range proposal never had a chance.
   A lot of ideas have gone down the tubes in Corpus Christi, but probably never has public opposition coalesced faster than it did against the proposal to establish a military training center in Kenedy County.
   The Navy, because it is losing its bombing range in Vieques, Puerto Rico, is on the hunt for a new place where it can conduct military exercises using live fire.
   In the space of barely more than a week, from the time the plan was leaked to the Washington Times, the first public disclosure of such a plan, to Tuesday when Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said she wouldn't back the idea, the bombing range idea barely had time to get its legs under it.
   Nothing is ever truly dead in Washington, of course, and the plan to establish the training range isn't officially dead. Of course, the Navy says that the Kenedy site is just one of the sites that it has been studying.
   And advocates are right in saying that the plan never got a full hearing, complete with economic benefits and any plans to mitigate the environmental effects.
   But enough was heard. The public's reaction can be summed up this way: We love the Navy, but we don't love it enough to give up our legacy.
   What we have here, I think, is a big disconnect between the sense of the public and the advocates of the bombing range.
   Though the plan was only publicly known about until recently, advocates of the bombing range in Kingsville and Corpus Christi began briefing selected officials as long ago as last August, including a "preliminary meeting" with Congressman Solomon Ortiz's staff military expert and a formal briefing for representatives of the Kenedy trust. In March of this year Kenedy County rancher and county commissioner Tobin Armstrong was given a presentation.
   The schedule of briefings continued through the first part of the year with selected area and military officials. But never did anyone make a public statement about the possibility of a bombing range in South Texas.
   In fact, there has been much expression of chagrin that there was a "leak" of the effort, as if more time behind closed doors would have made the plan any better. When were the advocates planning to make this plan to bomb a part of South Texas public? When the planes were flying overhead?
   Era of backroom deals is over
   There was a time in South Texas when a small group of movers and shakers controlled things. A couple of guys could get together and pretty much decide things. The rest of us got to play once in a while, but only at the approved moments.
   But as numerous community victories have now proven, whether it's been passing the bonds for Naval Station Ingleside or finally approving Packery Channel, it's only when issues get out in the open and public debate can give community approval an opportunity to coalesce that we are successful.
   The public has the better handle on the issue than the officials who were pushing the plan for months. A bombing range in South Texas is simply a bad idea. That assessment should have been made earlier and it might have if it hadn't been behind closed doors for so long.
  
   Nick Jimenez can be reached by phone at 886-3787 or by e-mail at jimenezn@caller.com.
  
  

 
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