GMCR Special Coverage / War and The Gila 2 – Alan Shafer

A public meeting was held on Thursday, March 8, 2018 on the Holloman Air Force Base airspace expansion proposal that contemplates as many as 10,000 F-16 combat training flights per year over the Gila region – including the Gila National Forest, the Gila Wilderness, Aldo Leopold Wilderness, and residential areas throughout our region.  This astounding proposal could result in irreparable harm to our environment, quality of life, economy, and identity.

Sponsored by the Lieutenant Governor John Sanchez and facilitated by his chief of staff Mark Van Dyk, the meeting was a Q & A with Alan Shafer, lead airspace analyst with the Air Force and the point man on the Holloman Environmental Impact Statement.

Despite the two day notice, and given its mid day timing which prevented many others from attending due to conflicts with work, school and personal schedules, more than 400 people attended the meeting and nearly that many were present at the rally beforehand.

The controversial meeting was originally envisioned by the Lieutenant Governor as an invite-only meeting “to work out some compromise that both parts can live with.”  However the strong response from our local elected officials and the public forced the Lieutenant Governor to organize a public opportunity to ask questions rather than a closed-door meeting.

More information on Holloman’s proposal, additional background and context on the issue, and recent media coverage on this meeting can be found at these links…

• PeacefulGilaSkies.org
  Peaceful Gila Skies is a coalition of business owners, community leaders, sportsmen and concerned citizens, united in opposition to the expansion of Holloman Air Force Base’s military training over the Gila region in Southwest New Mexico.
• Hundreds Question Jet Flight Plan
  Silver City Daily Press, March 9, 2018
• Air Force Jet Flight Meeting Thursday
  Silver City Daily Press, March 7, 2018
• Lieutenant Governor visits Grant County and meets with leaders on airspace issue with Air Force
  Silver City Sun-News, 3/6/18
• Holloman Airspace Environmental Impact Statement
  The Air Force’s primary public information source for EIS.  Check back here for their announcements.

GMCR Special Coverage / War and The Gila
will be broadcast on the following schedule…

• Saturday / 10 Mars 2018 / 8pm – Part 1 of 2
• Sunday / 11 Mars 2018 / 6pm – Part 2 of 2
• Monday / 12 Mars 2018 / 8am – Part 1 of 2
• Tuesday / 13 Mars 2018 / 8am – Part 2 of 2
• Thursday / 15 Mars 2018 / 1pm – Part 1 of 2
• Friday / 16 Mars 2018 / 1pm – Part 2 of 2

Or listen at your convenience via these links…
GMCR Special Coverage / War and The Gila

• Part 1 of 2
• Part 2 of 2

Please note that recording quality is inconsistent due to the character of a large reverberant meeting room, the dynamics of a free ranging discussion where interjections occurred frequently, spontaneous comments were made by persons off-mic, and frequent applause at much higher levels than that of individual speakers.

This is what democracy looks like!