From: Jonathan Boos (acfarer@cox.net)
Date: Sun Aug 21 2005 - 12:47:06 PDT
It is astounding to me just how hard people like Ross Mirkarimi suck. He
could draw a 15 inch vacuum on an onion sack!
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot....out.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Glen Closson" <glen_closson@earthlink.net>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2005 11:49 AM
Subject: [MV] San Francisco Shuns Retired USS Iowa It least it not going to
the scrap yard.
>
> http://enews.earthlink.net/article/nat?guid=20050821/4307fc40_3ca6_155262005
> 0821-1841178184
>
> San Francisco Shuns Retired USS Iowa
> August 21, 2005 11:49 AM EDT
> SAN FRANCISCO - The USS Iowa joined in battles from World War II to Korea
> to
> the Persian Gulf. It carried President Franklin Roosevelt home from the
> Teheran conference of allied leaders, and four decades later, suffered one
> of the nation's most deadly military accidents.
>
> Veterans groups and history buffs had hoped that tourists in San Francisco
> could walk the same teak decks where sailors dodged Japanese machine-gun
> fire and fired 16-inch guns that helped win battles across the South
> Pacific.
>
> Instead, it appears that the retired battleship is headed about 80 miles
> inland, to Stockton, a gritty agricultural port town on the San Joaquin
> River and home of California's annual asparagus festival.
>
> Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a former San Francisco mayor, helped
> secure
> $3 million to tow the Iowa from Rhode Island to the Bay Area in 2001 in
> hopes of making touristy Fisherman's Wharf its new home.
>
> But city supervisors voted 8-3 last month to oppose taking in the ship,
> citing local opposition to the Iraq war and the military's stance on gays,
> among other things.
>
> "If I was going to commit any kind of money in recognition of war, then it
> should be toward peace, given what our war is in Iraq right now,"
> Supervisor
> Ross Mirkarimi said.
>
> Feinstein called it a "very petty decision."
>
> "This isn't the San Francisco that I've known and loved and grew up in and
> was born in," Feinstein said.
>
> San Francisco's maritime museum already has one military vessel - the USS
> Pampanito, an attack submarine that sank six Japanese ships during World
> War
> II and has about 110,000 visitors a year.
>
> Officials in Stockton couldn't be happier. They've offered a dock on the
> river, a 90,000-square-foot waterfront building and a parking area, and
> hope
> to attract at least 125,000 annual visitors.
>
> After the Korean war, the Iowa was decommissioned and placed in reserve in
> a
> Philadelphia shipyard for three decades. In 1984, it was recalled to duty
> and, four years later, escorted oil supply ships in the Persian Gulf. In
> 1989, 47 sailors were killed in an explosion that tore through a gun
> turret
> during a training exercise.
>
> The warship, decommissioned by the Navy in 1990, is currently anchored
> with
> a mothballed fleet in Suisun Bay, near the mouth of the San
> Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta.
>
> San Francisco's rejection of such a storied battleship is a slap in the
> nation's face, said Douglass Wilhoit, head of Stockton's Chamber of
> Commerce.
>
> "We're lucky our men and women have sacrificed their lives ... to protect
> our freedom," Wilhoit said. "Wherever you stand on the war in Iraq ... you
> shouldn't make a decision based on philosophy."
>
> Rep. Richard W. Pombo, R-Calif., has sponsored legislation authorizing the
> ship's permanent move to Stockton. Feinstein has countered with a bill to
> open bidding to any California city.
>
> The two versions will have to be reconciled by a House-Senate conference
> committee considering the Pentagon spending bill.
>
> Regards,
>
> Glen
>
>
>
> ===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
> To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org>
> To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to <mil-veh-digest@mil-veh.org>
> To reach a human, contact <ack@mil-veh.org>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Oct 28 2005 - 23:25:29 PDT