Kyle Wright: Show some warmth to the citizens of Val-P

“The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveler coming down the road, and the Sun said: ‘I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveler to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin.’ So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveler. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveler wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveler, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.”
KINDNESS EFFECTS MORE THAN SEVERITY — Aesop (The Harvard Classics, 1909-1914)

The presentation of the Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) presentation last week at the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce offered north county residents a chance to hear some of the concerns Valparaiso residents have about the arrival of the F-35 program at Eglin Air Force Base in person.

The actions of Val-P Mayor Bruce Arnold garnered most of the headlines. Arnold left the meeting, “insulted,” after he was not permitted to turn question-and-answer time into a chance to blast the JLUS.

Those who stayed proved it is possible to have a civil discussion about F-35 noise concerns.

Val-P resident Bob Webb tried to frame the F-35 debate raging in and around Val-P in a way north Okaloosa County residents might better understand.

“It’s like saying to Crestview, ‘All of your problems will be solved if you move your whole city east of Ferdon Boulevard,’” Webb said.

Since there is no immediate threat of that actually happening, most north Okaloosa residents reading those words might think, “I wouldn’t complain. It would be our patriotic duty. People in Val-P shouldn’t complain, either.”

I find that hard to believe. Local citizens didn’t respond very kindly when a state agency recently suggested closing a bunch of left turns on State Road 85. If implementation of BRAC had a potential negative impact on any homes or businesses in north Okaloosa County, we’d complain as well.

The tactics officially used by the city government of Valparaiso to address those concerns — walking out of meetings and filing lawsuits — are questionable at best.

The organizations filing countersuits and drafting resolutions in support of the F-35 in response to those actions are correct to do so.

However, there are some reasonable people in Val-P who have reasonable concerns about the noise and other F-35 side effects and are expressing those concerns in a reasonable way.

Those people are getting responses like, “there’s plenty of land available in south Alabama.”

Others say, “They knew there was an Air Force base when they bought their houses.”

Come on. That’s not fair. There could well come a time when Eglin growth will affect south Crestview, and I don’t think the folks in the south subdivisions will accept “there’s plenty of land available in south Alabama” as an acceptable answer.

We get press releases all the time from organizations proudly announcing resolutions in support of the F-35.

Here’s some press releases we haven’t gotten that might do some actual good.

• “Chamber of Commerce offers support to Val-P businesses impacted by F-35 noise.”

• “Realtors to offer free or discounted services to Val-P residents impacted by F-35 noise”

• “Cities will consult with Lydia Johnson, Brent Smith before approving JLUS”

(Johnson and Smith are the two members of the Valparaiso city commissioners who have been against their city government’s legal actions against the Air Force)

This column started with a fable with the moral, “Kindness affects more than severity.”

In many ways, right now the debate surrounding the F-35 is nothing but a lot of wind.

Someone should consider showing some warmth to the concerned citizens of Val-P. Maybe not to the city government of Val-P, but definitely to the citizens.

Kyle Wright is the News Bulletin Editor. Contact him at 682-6524 or e-mail kylew@crestviewbulletin.com. Visit the “Passing Shots” blog at www.crestviewbulletin.com.