Citizens For Greater Centreville

The long-anticipated draft environmental assessment of the plan to locate a Foreign Affairs Security Training Center on 2,000 acres in Queen Anne’s County confirms not only what opponents feared, but why it was abandoned by federal officials.

The precisely detailed assessment states that the facility would be noisy beyond acceptable standards, disruptive of the environment and of surrounding neighborhoods and residences, a dangerous nuisance on the roads leading to it, a threat to the Delmarva fox squirrel and a toxic imposition on activities at Tuckahoe State Park.
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A proposed State Department security training center, planned for Maryland’s Eastern Shore until local residents objected, could wind up in Pennsylvania instead.

Gina Gilliam, a spokeswoman for the federal government’s real estate arm, confirmed that officials from Washington traveled to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., recently and met with a local congressman about the proposed facility.
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The Delmarva Farmer was born in a sun-splashed room on the 11th floor of a conference center hotel in Ocean City in November 1977.

The precise date escapes me, but no matter.

Three sketches of the flag (the name of the paper which would appear at the top of Page 1) were spread on the bed.

We picked one.

It appeared on the first issue of this newspaper, which came off the press early in March of 1978 — again, don’t hold me to the date. — and that flag is still there today.

There, in that hotel room, the mission of this newspaper also was framed.
We would become a voice for farmers, not only across Delmarva but across the Mid-Atlantic.

The mission would be, we resolved, no less irrevocable, no less inviolate than the flag.

We have never wavered from that mission.

And now we come to The Battle of Ruthsburg.
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For the past six months or more I have listened to countless people tell me that “you can’t fight the government” regarding the Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC) and that we were just wasting our time and energy thinking that we could make a difference. Even those who were in this fight to save their farms, quality of life and livelihood would at times become so discouraged. It sounded like the story of David and Goliath, and, in reality, I guess it was.

I have stood steadfast through this entire ordeal on the belief that our God is bigger than this government and I watched as each new fact was brought to light about the devastation that this area and the people and animals in it would suffer if this was ever brought to Ruthsburg.
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Plans for Queen Anne’s training facility axed – Annapolis Capital

Feds pull plug on Shore security project – Baltimore Sun

Feds kill terrorism training site on Eastern Shore – Washington Post

Feds Kill Plan for Md. Diplomatic Training Center – WBOC-TV (Salisbury). Here is a link to the video

State Department nixes foreign affairs facility on Eastern Shore – Washington Business Journal

The following are basically the AP wire story:
Feds Kill Plan For Md. Diplomatic Training Center – WJZ (Channel 13, Baltimore)

Feds kill plan for Md. diplomatic training center – Examiner.com

Government Abandons Plans For Security Training Center – WUSA (Channel 9, DC)

After further analysis, the Department of State (DoS) and General Services Administration (GSA) have determined that the Hunt Ray/Crismer Farm in Queen Anne’s County will no longer be considered for the proposed DoS Foreign Affairs Security Training Center. DoS and GSA remain committed to a robust and transparent public engagement process and value the input from the citizens of Queen Anne’s County and the leadership of both Federal and local representatives on behalf of the community throughout this process.

As DoS increases its workforce and presence in unstable regions of the world, the need for a consolidated training center for DoS’ Bureau of Diplomatic Security is even more important to ensure the safety and security of our civilian employees and partners. DoS and GSA are actively engaged in a site selection process and look forward to opening this essential national security facility and being good neighbors.

State Department Facility Would Hurt Delmarva Peninsula Fox Squirrel, Rural Eastern Shore Communities

The Center for Biological Diversity announced its intention to sue the State Department and General Services Administration today for failing to protect an endangered species, the Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel, in plans to build a sprawling 1,250-acre training facility on farmland in rural Maryland. In its letter to the agencies, the Center said the State Department failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over potentially lethal impacts on the rare, federally protected squirrel from construction of its planned Foreign Affairs Security Training Center. Fox squirrels have been seen repeatedly within the projected footprint of the facility, yet the State Department has no plans to ensure the squirrel can survive the extensive development.
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