Some higher ups in the Department of Defense dropped by Anniston on Tuesday for a visit and a few meetings around town.Normally such an event would be met by a yawn and a "so what." But this drop-in was actually important.
The group, headed up by Anna Johnson-Winegar, the deputy assistant to the secretary of state, had a get together with the Calhoun County Commission. The meeting itself was strange and unorganized. The commissioners did not know the DOD people were coming and some of the organizers attempted to dodge the open meetings law by asking the commissioners to meet two at a time. That, fortunately, was scuttled by commission members who insisted on having the press attend the meetings.
But on to the substance. It seems Ms. Johnson-Winegar is proposing a two-tiered committee that would examine a number of issues the commission has with the planned incineration of the chemical weapons stockpile and the emergency precautions surrounding it.
The commission is refusing to take part in a public education campaign that is currently going on in all of the surrounding counties. And, commission members say, they will not participate until their issues are addressed by the military and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In short, those issues amount to around $30 million. A key goal of the committee, then, would be to recommend paying out this money or not.
Is this a lot of money? Yes, of course. But considering that the incinerator itself is costing closer to $1 billion and we are talking about public safety, $30 million is not an unreasonable amount.
And the issues, which range from providing protective hoods to additional sirens, are reasonable and understandable.
Now the easy and quick way out of this is for the federal government to find the money.
Ms. Johnson-Winegar's visit and her proposal, however, shows the Defense Department isn't willing to just pull out the checkbook.
So let's not dismiss Ms. Johnson-Winegar's idea. But let's set some firm ground rules. First, the county commission should immediately join in the public education campaign. Secondly this two-tiered committee should have a deadline for completion of all of its work.
We should insist that this work be done by Dec. 1.
We are also concerned that if the committee finds that the money should be paid there may not be any money available since the decision would be made after the end of the fiscal year.
Appropriating the money now in case it is needed later, of course, could solve that.
The main issue, however, is the safe and rapid destruction of the chemical weapons stockpile and public awareness and education about the possible dangers.
