In the past two weeks, the gusto and character of people in Southampton County has been truly amazing in the way they came together to fight an Outlying Landing Field (OLF).

It was unbelievable.

Everyone is to be congratulated for the fine job done in contacting all the elected and appointed officials to express their opposition.

Thank you, as well, to our local newspaper, for everything you have done.

There were events that gave us the opportunity to get ahead of the proposal.

First, we thank the county’s Planning Commission for providing an opportunity for citizens to express concern about the problems and opportunities facing the county.

This is the only forum that the county provides for the citizens to state their ideas.

It was at this open forum that I (Glenn) was able to express concern about the OLF, and thank goodness The Tidewater News staff writer Res Spears was present and made the citizens aware of the potential situation.

At this point the citizens of the county were amazing in the way they came together in contacting officials via letter, phone calls and e-mails, organizing people in the county, using computers, telephones, personal visits, posters, etc.

Our local officials said they have never seen anything like this in the county before.

It was truly unbelievable.

So a very special thanks to the planning commission for having a forum where citizens can express their concerns, the newspapers for helping keep us informed, the incredible people in the county, our board of supervisors for voting against a site in the county, and Ellis James for coming from Norfolk to speak to us and warn us not to let our guard down.

The quotes from Robert Crouch in [Friday’s] The Tidewater News led us to believe that he has already forgotten that he said that if our supervisors didn’t want an OLF, they’d immediately remove us from the list.

We can’t relax until a decision is made and we’re not “it.”

It’s not a question of patriotism. There are better sites already in existence for much less expense to our government. Camp Pickett is a logical choice.

James states that Fentress landing field in Chesapeake operates at 17 percent capacity, and if all the planes used it, then it would be at only 30 percent capacity.

Why is there a need for another OLF?

Again, thanks to everyone for your hard work. Remember, that the citizens do count in running our government if they speak up and express their opinions.

Glenn and Lynda Updike

Newsoms