THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409020572
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Nearly 450 more Navy dependents and civilian defense workers arrived Thursday from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, safe but not necessarily happy about their new status as evacuees.
There were 122 families among those on the two afternoon flights. All but about 15 of the families intended to rent cars or take commercial flights to hometowns or relatives' homes across the country. The others planned to stay in Hampton Roads, at least for a while.
Some of the evacuees showed frustration with the move.
``I want to know where President Clinton is,'' said one mother escorting her son back to the States. ``I've got some things to say to him.''
The woman, who asked not to be identified, said the decision to harbor Haitian and Cuban migrants at the Guantanamo naval base has permanently disrupted life for the more than 5,000 Americans who were assigned there.
``We'll never be allowed to go back,'' she said. ``It will never be the same.''
On Wednesday, the first 300 dependents arrived in Norfolk. They were the vanguard of an estimated 2,500 evacuees who will travel to the Norfolk naval complex, the hub for routing the families to other locations.
The Navy, which plans to continue bringing daily flights into Norfolk through the Labor Day weekend, solved some initial glitches by devoting high-level attention to the relocation process.
A team from the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington was in Norfolk to cut red tape and help the dependents, said Cmdr. Jim Kudla, who accompanied team leader Rear Adm. Al Konetzni to Norfolk.
And that's just what they did for Norma Cave, a petty officer who had been upset by the military's refusal to help her escort her daughter to Puerto Rico.
Under the evacuation plan, the military will pay to fly dependents anywhere in the continental United States. But Cave wanted to leave her daughter in Puerto Rico with relatives.
She was upset about having to find $800 to fly from Norfolk to Puerto Rico until Konetzni and his team stepped in.
``She should be flying out of Norfolk today,'' Kudla said Thursday after waivers were issued for Cave and her daughter. The government will pick up the tab.
``That is one (example) of where there are policies where the red tape needs to be cut,'' he said. ``The key is to do it quickly so the person is not in a state of limbo.''
About 14 other families were in the same situation, all wanting to send dependents to relatives' homes that were not in the continental United States.
They, too, have been given waivers, and the government has picked up the tab for the extended travel.
The Navy is expecting at least one and possibly two more flights into Norfolk about midafternoon today.
KEYWORDS: CUBA REFUGEES by CNB