Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140111
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TAMARA JONES THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When it comes to the national debt, the sky, it turns out, really is the limit.
At least that's the case with Morgan County, W.Va., vs. the United States of America. For two years, the rural county 90 miles from Washington has been trying to collect $10,886.26 it says the federal government promised to pay for emergency services after a National Guard plane crashed outside Berkeley Springs.
County officials asked nicely. They wheedled. They whined. They begged. Still no check. They complained. They sued. They lost.
Then Morgan County decided it was time for drastic measures.
So by a vote of 3-0, the Morgan County Commission closed the sky.
``The Morgan County Commission restricts the air space over Morgan County to all United States Government Aircraft,'' reads the resolution adopted Jan. 27. Exceptions will be made for air rescue missions, air rescue searches and ``flights in the time of war in the defense of the Nation.''
Of course, having banned the U.S. Air Force, the West Virginians immediately realized that their chances of enforcing their no-fly zone were virtually nil, not to mention illegal under Federal Aviation Administration rules.
``Morgan County is not negotiating for anti-aircraft missiles,'' allows Rep. Bob Wise, D-W.Va., who is championing the cause on the House floor. ``This should be seen as a cry for help and a message of protest.''
The contretemps stems from the Oct. 7, 1992, crash of a C-130 cargo plane that hit a power line and went down in the rolling terrain just outside the spa resort town of Berkeley Springs. Six National Guardsmen were killed in the accident, the roof of a house was torn off and 250 gallons of fuel were spilled.
Too small to have a hazardous-material response team of its own but required by federal law to clean up the toxic waste, Morgan County asked nearby Washington County, Md., for help. When the Marylanders later sent a bill for $9,191.56, Morgan County paid it, tacked on $1,694.70 for overtime for sheriff's deputies who secured the crash site, and filed a claim for reimbursement. County officials say the Air National Guard assured them at the scene that it would cover the costs.
The Guard sent the bill to Washington, where the wheels of bureaucracy immediately locked.
``The county government has a legal obligation to provide those services to protect the health and welfare of its citizens,'' says Lt. Col. Linda Leong, Air Force spokeswoman. ``The U.S. government cannot legally pay for those services. It's prohibited under the National Guard Claims Act.''
Thus turned down by the National Guard and its boss, the Air Force, the miffed West Virginians filed suit in U.S. District Court, which dismissed the suit in November, saying it couldn't force the feds to pay.
Which really annoyed the Morganites.
``We're saying that a small county two hours away from Washington, D.C., that has an average per-capita income of one-fourth of what people in Washington, D.C., make, cannot afford to clean up this stuff,'' says Phil Maggio, a Morgan County commissioner.
``Our only alternative is to ask politely to try not to crash here,'' he said in a telephone interview from Berkeley Springs. ``No one tries to crash, but we would prefer them not to fly over Morgan County if they're not going to take the responsibility to clean it up if they do.''
The 167th Airlift Group in Martinsburg, where the C-130 was based, is sympathetic to the county's plight but has no plans to stop using its sky. A dozen of the C-130 turboprops are attached to the 167th and take to the air on training missions three times a week.
``The routes vary,'' says Capt. Ron Garton, spokesman for the West Virginia National Guard. He was uncertain whether the Guard had violated Morgan County's airspace since the ban, but says noncommittally that flight planners are ``taking into consideration the request of the Morgan County Commission.''
Morgan County, with 12,800 residents and an annual budget of $1.8 million, paid the disputed thousands from its contingency fund of $100,000, which, Maggio says, is supposed to be for things like ``putting a new roof on the courthouse or to fund engineering studies for waste-water infrastructure.''
Adds Wise: ``The Air Force will spend far more on legal fees fighting this than it would cost to just pay the bill. ... The message this sends to small counties is: You do the right thing at your own peril.''
Officials in both the National Guard and Air Force say they're working to find a loophole so Morgan County can collect its $10,886.26 under a different regulation.
by CNB