Friday, October 31, 2003
About $300,000 has been pledged for efforts to save the air base.
& lt;a href=mailto:siff@vindy.com & gt;By STEPHEN SIFF & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CHAMPION -- The committee fighting to keep the Youngstown Joint Air Force Reserve Station open should also make backup plans for the Vienna property, in case their efforts fail, U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine's Pentagon expert said.
"Start to think about what you are going to do if they leave," Kevin Reardon, the senator's staff member for military affairs, told members of the Save Our Airbase Reservists Committee at a meeting Tuesday.
Ohio has 128 Department of Defense sites, including the second largest Air Force Base in the United States near Dayton and five other Air Force Reserve Bases, he said. The Pentagon is seeking to reduce its investment in bases by about 25 percent through closure and consolidation. According to recent media reports, reserve bases such as Youngstown's may be a target for closure.
Reardon declined to handicap the local air base's chances, and members of the local committee say they are not ready to think about failure.
"I'm only going to examine our base for additional uses," said Reid Dulberger, committee chairman. "That is the only scenario I want to imagine."
State grant
The committee is are seeking a $492,500 state grant to help forestall any plans to close the Vienna station. That amount is one-third the money the Ohio Department of Development plans to give all Ohio groups who are fighting to keep local bases.
"I believe every station and every community that has any inkling of a base they want to keep is going to have a group," Reardon said.
Save Our Airbase Reservists is hoping the grant will help pay for a $1 million public relations and lobbying push that would include advertisements in local press, hiring Washington lobbyists and $290,000 for studies on how the base could be expanded and improved.
The information will be presented to Pentagon officials during any comment sessions, Dulberger said.
Pledges made
Local organizations have already pledged $300,000 in cash and in-kind donations toward the effort, including a $60,000 cash donation from the Warren Area Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Fund, Dulberger said.
The local base employs 2,400 and has a payroll of $30 million. Reservists at the base fly C-130 cargo planes. The same aircraft is flown by reservists at a base in Pittsburgh and members of the Ohio Air National Guard in Mansfield.
Rather than in the halls of Congress, the decisions on which bases to close will take place in the Pentagon, under rules that won't be announced until Dec. 31 and using a process that is not yet known, Reardon said.
The list of bases to close is expected go to Congress for a simple up or down vote in 2005.
& lt;a href=mailto:siff@vindy.com & gt;siff@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;