Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 24, 1993                   TAG: 9306240056
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

BASE-CLOSING PANEL'S DECISIONS SAVE 2 BASES IN VA.

Gov. Douglas Wilder said public pressure overcame the apparent politics of the situation in the cases of Fort Lee, near Petersburg, and Fort Monroe, in Hampton.

"Despite the fears that this latest list of possible base closures might be tainted by politics, our efforts helped the commission come to a fair decision," Wilder said.

Wilder said that neither Fort Monroe nor Fort Lee was among those bases recommended for closure by Defense Secretary Les Aspin. Instead "they were added only after some states complained about the economic impact of closures on their states," he said.

Fort Lee was spared when no member of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission offered a motion to include the installation on the final list being prepared for President Clinton.

With no motion to close the base, a vote was not necessary.

The commission also voted Wednesday to spare facilities in Alabama and Georgia and preserve the Army's century-long presence at the Presidio in San Francisco as it weighed the fate of dozens of military installations.

Despite the early votes, the prospect was that numerous facilities left over from the Cold War era would be targeted for extinction by the time the panel completes its work on Sunday.

"We have to do what is necessary for the public good, even though it's very painful," the panel's chairman, James Courter, said as he gaveled the session to order.

Shortly afterwards the commission voted to preserve a handful of facilities, including Fort McClellan, Ala., which the Pentagon had recommended for closing.

Commissioners said they were concerned that the Pentagon's proposal would jeopardize the world's only training facility that uses live chemical agents to prepare troops for chemical warfare.

Former Rep. Beverly Byron, D-Md., who voted with the majority in the 6-1 decision, said it wasn't long ago that "this nation agonized" about the chemical threat to U.S. troops during the Persian Gulf War.

The commission also:

Voted 7-0 to reject the Pentagon's desire to close the Presidio of San Francisco, instead allowing the 6th Army to stay at the facility, coexisting with the National Park Service.

Postponed a vote on the Presidio at Monterey in California. Commissioners expressed a desire to keep the Defense Language Institute at the facility open while spelling out activities that would remain at the annex.

Decided that Fort McPherson, Ga., would survive. No vote was taken.

The decisions came at the outset of five days of public meetings by the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, which must recommend what installations to designate for shutdown or realignment.

The commission faced decisions involving 238 facilities and military activities. While jobs will be lost, millions of dollars will be saved.

The first decisions affected Army "initial entry" schools, military professional schools, command and control installations and Army Reserve training centers.

The votes follow more than two-dozen hearings and 80 visits to bases around the country. More than 200 members of Congress pleaded for their facilities before the seven-member panel.

Courter, in an opening statement hours before the voting, said the commission was aware that some workers who will be fired represent the third and fourth generations of families at some military facilities.

In crafting a smaller military in the post-Cold War period, Courter said, it is necessary "to get rid of everything that's not needed so it doesn't have to be guarded, doesn't have to be kept warm and doesn't have to be kept cool.

Courter said there has been "an extraordinary effort by communities to put their best foot forward" to save local facilities.

The list of changes compiled by the commission over the five-day period goes to the White House. President Clinton will have until July 15 to accept or reject the list. If he turns it down, the panel has an additional month to change the list and submit it to Clinton a final time.

If the president accepts a list, he sends it to Congress, where lawmakers have 45 working days to vote it up or down. But they cannot change it.