Calhoun Countians have had to live with chemical weapons at the Army depot, Monsanto pollution, hog and chicken farms and now noise pollution. Noise pollution may prove to be the most detrimental to my Eastaboga neighborhood.Florida Power & Light is building a huge power plant 600 feet from my back yard. When finished, it will operate four large gas turbine engines. An Anniston Star article about a similar plant built by FPL in Massachusetts stated that the neighbors there sued because of the noise and FPL had to buy out all the homes in the area.
I attended an FPL open house in Oxford about 10 weeks ago. FPL officials said that The Anniston Star story did not apply to the Eastaboga plant. They did not know the operational decibel levels but assured me they would meet the Oxford city noise ordinance. They also did not know what the city noise ordinance level is. They promised to mail me this information the next day. Ten weeks later and I still do not have this info. Can we believe what FPL says?
I hope The Anniston Star will do investigative reporting in regards to the Massachusetts story and the Eastaboga plant. I hope Oxford has the fortitude to enforce its noise ordinance. We will be prepared to picket and sue FPL and Oxford, if necessary, to stop our loss of property values and quality of life.
Donald F. Burns
Eastaboga
Reporting errors
Somewhere in every article and editorial on the incinerator The Star will include the phrase “when the incinerator starts up later this fall” or words to that effect. I believe it would be more accurate and less propagandistic to say “if the incinerator starts up” and to leave out any projected dates.A problem with The Star’s irritating mantra cropped up in Matt Creamer’s Aug. 8 front page article discussing the project of overpressurizing additional schools, which now appears more likely to be carried out. In one paragraph he refers to the Army’s beginning “to burn nerve agent-filled rockets at the incinerator later this year.” A few paragraphs later he says, “A representative from the Army Corps of Engineers said that the project will not be complete until 2004 because of difficulties in procuring necessary equipment that is made by few manufacturers.” Creamer never attempts to get any clarification or reconcile the obvious contradiction involved in burning for two years while schools are still being overpressurized.
And so it is left up to citizens like myself to ask what’s going on. Are we going to burn while certain schools are not yet overpressurized or are we going to wait until all the schools are overpressurized and all other measures for maximum protection are in place before beginning destruction? And let’s not forget that the updated toxicity estimates could extend the danger zone all the way to Jacksonville and beyond. These estimates are yet to be revealed.
The point is that the citizens of Calhoun County are not going to stand for any destruction taking place UNTIL maximum protection is fully in place. And Matt Creamer needs to do a more thorough job of reporting if he’s going to insist on making references to start-up dates that don’t jibe with maximum protection.
Rufus Kinney
Jacksonville
Incorporation
I see no tax base in the immediate future for Munford, but one to two years down the road, it is a good possibility.What Munford can do is start building a tax base, and we can do this with property taxes.
The past two years Munford had an influx of new houses. This October a new school will start being built. We have just completed a new grammar and preschool.
My observation is that always after a new school, and especially a high school, there is an influx of people. So two years down the road the community of Munford can support a city with property taxes. Also at this time, there should be enough retired county educators to help supply the administrators of a city.
Two years from now we will see the four-lane to Munford completed, and at the same time know what’s going to happen with the road through or around Munford.
With incorporation comes the expense required by the city to operate on a daily basis. Such as schools and police protection, legal and auditing fees, annexation cost, office supplies, municipal insurance, the incorporation cost, and the city clerk’s salary.
Unless the city passes a property or sales tax, there will be no revenue coming from these sources.
Gene Brown
Munford
