WAYNESBORO - About 500 people attended a town meeting to express their displeasure with a Navy plan to convert a rural Burke County site into a training airfield. <br>
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Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Augusta, and Navy officials held the meeting Friday in Waynesboro, about 20 miles west of the proposed landing strip near Girard. <br>
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``We have a voice, and we're here to say, very loudly, no!'' said Susan Bargeron, who lives a half-mile from a being evaluated for a practice airfield for the Navy's new F/A-18 Super Hornets. <br>
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She was among dozens who spoke against the airfield over issues including excessive noise, disruptive night flights, loss of family farms and tax base, and disintegration of a rural way of life. <br>
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She joined others in asking Norwood to make sure the Navy builds its airfield elsewhere. <br>
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Navy Cmdr. Phil Logan said Girard is one of seven sites being evaluated for the $40 million airfield, where the attack jets will practice takeoffs and landings. <br>
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A key factor in the practice field's location is where the new aircraft will be based, he said. Four current options are Navy air stations in Oceana, Va., and Meridian, Miss.; and Marine Corps air stations in Cherry Point, N.C., and Beaufort, S.C. <br>
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The Girard site could be selected only if Beaufort is chosen as a base for the fighters, Logan said. Those decisions are expected later this year. <br>
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A landing area at the Savannah River Site, just north of Girard, was rejected because the Energy Department maintains restricted airspace there. Norwood said he will try to eliminate funding for the project if residents don't want it.
