Friday, July 31, 2009

NOPE Informational Session: Monday, Aug. 3 @ 730 p.m. in Tinton Falls

NOPE will conduct the second of two "informational sessions" for the community this coming Monday night, August 3, at the Tinton Falls Borough Hall, beginning at 73o p.m. Much like our successful first session in Colts Neck two weeks ago, we plan to address our organization's recent and upcoming efforts to prevent civilian housing at Earle. Please spread the word to your friends within and outside our core Tinton Falls-Colts Neck communities. All are welcome to attend.

On that note, we head into the weekend with key thoughts from Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano, who along with leading counterterrorism officials in this piece from HS Today, a leading publication on homeland security, stresses the importance for regular U.S. citizens such as ourselves to be more vigilant in guarding against domestic terror threats.

Surely, NOPE's recognition of the threat of unimpeded civilian access to a critical military weapons facility is a good start, and above the call of pointing out suspicious packages and the like that, some may argue, are more-obvious and perhaps less "far fetched" than the potential for a terror attack on a guarded Naval facility such as Earle. To the contrary, Ms. Napolitano commended the efforts of a mere store clerk in preventing plans of an attack on New Jersey's own Fort Dix.

People such as ourselves need to speak up and be part of a constructive process. Be a part of our process this Monday night!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Former Homeland Security Chief Chertoff Weighs in on Domestic Terrorism

Michael Chertoff, former head of U.S. Homeland Security, weighs in on "how to reinvigorate the war on terrorism here at home" in this N.Y. Daily News opinion piece.

Chertoff warns how complacency (i.e. U.S. citizens and politicians in denial of the potential for another 9/11-style terror attack) will breed "weakness and danger," and at the same time cautions that we should not lose our focus on the war on terror, particularly in the New York area, where a Long Island resident (Bryant Neal Vinas) was recruited by Al Qaeda and confessed to aiding a plot of a commuter train attack.

A good start in the case of NOPE's opposition to proposed civilian housing at Weapons Station Earle would be for the Navy to retract its decision to go through with an ultimately poor decision to move forward with, rather than void or buy out, an 80s-era privatized housing contract that, in our view, only has the potential to expose the base as a ripe target for terrorism. Allowing anyone unfettered access to a key military weapons depot is a recipe for disaster.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

AP: Authorities Arrest 7 in North Carolina for "Violent Jihad" Terror Plot; an 8th Suspect at Large

Here's yet another example of why the U.S. Navy's plan to let civilians traipse unimpededly along a proposed 2-mile stretch of road thru the NWS Earle and to Laurelwood housing (come September 2010) is utterly moronic. The thought that our Navy's leaders are seemingly eager to go thru with a plan to open the houses to anyone, solely for the sake of its flawed argument of fulfilling an outdated privatized housing contract, is a headscratcher in light of today's news.

The prime suspect named in this particular case of homegrown terror plots, 39-year-old Daniel Patrick Boyd, is cited by the AP as a drywall contractor "who lived in an unassuming lakeside home in a rural area south of Raleigh, where he and his family walked their dog." Nice.

Please follow along with this latest case and let your legislators know that NOPE will never stand for civilian housing at NWS Earle and that the U.S. Navy should immediately exercise its contractual right to void the Laurelwood housing pact or buy it out before exposing itself and the surrounding communities to an obvious threat.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Reiterative support of NOPE

Catching up on events of the past week, lost in the shuffle a bit was correpondence from District 12 Representative Rush Holt, who reiterated his support of our communities' efforts in the battle vs. civilian housing at Earle. Depending on how a busy week in Washington shakes out, we hope to have Mr. Holt at next Monday's informational session in Tinton Falls. We invite all to attend this second (of two) sessions we are hosting to keep the community abreast of new developments in our case and what you can do to help. (We had unexpected last-minute visits and updates from representatives of Senator Menendez and Congressman Smith, so who knows who will appear at our informational session next week.)

Again, be sure to visit next Monday night, August 3, at Tinton Falls Borough Hall, in the main room, with NOPE's presentation beginning at 730 p.m. Using our Colts Neck gathering as our guide, we expect the evening to last 90 minutes, between a short update and presentation, followed by community Q&A and follow-up discussion.