Mississippicoast.com

Undercover Taylor sees true motives in Vieques

By JOEY BUNCH THE SUN HERALD

GULFPORT - U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor of Bay St. Louis grew a scruffy beard, stayed in a ratty hotel and rented "a bomb of a car" a year and a half ago to investigate the controversy over Navy bombing exercises on a Puerto Rican island that is not much larger than Cat Island.

On his four-day fact-finding trip to Vieques, Taylor did what he does when he is home on the Coast: he visited coffee shops early in the morning and listened to locals, he said.

The experience left him convinced that the issue is more about property values than human rights. Developers want to get their hands on 18 miles of pristine beach at a bargain, Taylor said Wednesday.

A Democratic member of the House Armed Services Committee, Taylor said he will again return to the island undercover before Congress reconvenes this fall because of growing hostility there.

President Bush has promised to end training there by 2003, though military leaders haven't signed off on the deal. Protesters say that's not soon enough.

Taylor believes ending training there is a mistake, because once the government loses the facility, they won't be able to replace it because of opposition from environmentalists and foreign governments.

"The fairest thing I can say is that Bill Clinton pandered to the Hispanic vote when he started all this, and George W. Bush is pandering to the Hispanic vote by continuing it," said Taylor, a conservative Democrat. "Both of them are jeopardizing national security by doing it."

Taylor went to the island when decades of hard feelings toward the Navy turned into a flashpoint after an off-target bomb killed a local guard at the base two years ago. Since then, hundreds of protesters have been jailed and more than 400 feet of fence around the bombing range have been cut down.

Locals want the government to pull up stakes and give back the property. Island residents sold the far east and far west ends of the island to the government 60 years ago, and training for the Atlantic fleet began shortly after.

"They sold their land at 1941 prices," Taylor said. "They would certainly like to get it back for nothing at 2001 prices and turn around and sell it."

Taylor said protesters are well-financed. He described symbolic chapels built on the bombing range with expensive materials.

"Poor fishermen and students don't have $50,000 to build these chapels and what not down on the bombing range," he said. "Who has got money and motivation? Developers."

The bombing dangers have been blown out of proportion, he said. From the front gate of the base to the bombing range is eight miles, and the nearest town is at least two miles from there, he said. By comparison, at Camp Shelby, south of Hattiesburg, tank rounds land within a mile of the nearest private home.

"Poor Wiggins," he said of the city south of Camp Shelby.

Taylor said high-profile celebrities have only added to the hype. Environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr. served 30 days for trespassing, and the Rev. Al Sharpton is still serving his 90 days. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., is to appear in court on Aug. 29 on trespassing charges.

"And it just happens to be in paradise," Taylor said. "You notice these guys aren't flying into Bosnia in the middle of the winter. They're going to the beaches of Vieques. I've been there, it's absolutely beautiful."

-- Anonymous, August 10, 2001