DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710290109

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: IDA KAY'S PORTSMOUTH 

SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan 

                                            LENGTH:   73 lines

COAST GUARD RECOGNIZED AT APPRECIATION LUNCHEON

Portsmouth had its annual love-in for its military neighbors last week.

This year the annual Armed Forces Appreciation Luncheon, sponsored by the Military Affairs Committee of the Portsmouth Division of the Chamber of Commerce, honored the Coast Guard. The choice was good since the presence of the Coast Guard here grew considerably last year with the closing of Governors Island in New York.

But Portsmouth always has been lucky enough to have good military neighbors. Not only has it hosted the 5th Coast Guard District over many years, it is the home of the nation's first naval shipyard and the first naval hospital. That's a lot of military history.

Vice Adm. Roger Rufe heads the Coast Guard Atlantic Area and what amounts to the largest segment of the Coast Guard in the world. He spoke at the luncheon.

In 32 years of moving around, he said the only other place he found that staged an event similar to the luncheon was Kodiak, Alaska.

``I have a deep appreciation for this event,'' he said. ``After being away from here five years, I'm very happy to be back. People feel most welcome here.''

Capt. Erroll Brown, soon to be a rear admiral, is commander of the Coast Guard's Integrated Support Command.

``Portsmouth is a great Coast Guard home,'' he said. ``It's a place people really want to be. They seek out commands to be here.''

Rear Adm. Bill Rowley, commanding officer of the Naval Medical Center, heads a naval staff of 4,500.

``We're proud to be part of the family in Portsmouth,'' he said.

He noted the $400 million renovation of the medical center and plans to move into the new hospital building next winter, perhaps as late as January 1999.

And Capt. Tim Scheib, commander of the Naval Shipyard, represented the 7,200 people at the Navy yard which recently celebrated its 230th anniversary.

``It's really important for us to feel this type of relationship with the community,'' he said.

Portsmouth has been working harder on the relationship over the past couple of years. The city and its citizens have done a lot of little things to make the military folks part of the community.

Getting military families involved in things here has been healthy. They bring to the city ideas and observations from many other communities where they have lived.

Of course, one of the goals of the city efforts is to interest more military people in living here. Getting them to live here could, in the long haul, improve Portsmouth's image because when you live here, you know the stuff you hear about this city is not true.

Over the years I've met military spouses who say they are told by colleagues in other places, ``Don't live in Portsmouth.'' Some who come here in spite of the unjustified rumors they here become some of Portsmouth's biggest fans.

Some years ago, there were several families living at the Naval Shipyard who really enjoyed Portsmouth. One of the spouses of a guy involved in building the new steam plant decided she wanted to do something to dispel the myths about Portsmouth. She began inviting people, like the wives' clubs, over here for meetings. Her efforts appeared successful but the city did very little to follow up.

Now, with the Mayor's Military Affairs Committee in place, the chances of follow-up are better. But we must continue to come up with more ways to get military people acquainted with the city if we are going to overcome the negative image.

The Chamber's luncheon is a good and positive event. Local merchants really came through with wonderful door prizes for which only enlisted personnel were eligible. I bet the people who won them will have a lot of positive things to say about Portsmouth.

But only so many people can be crammed into the Holiday Inn for lunch, so the participation is limited. Maybe we need to plan more events to get military folks and civilians together.

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