BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Protesters and media outlets wait outside Fort Monmouth’s west entrance for the arrival of the BRAC commissioners to enter the Army base June 3. EATONTOWN — If the two members of the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission thought they could ride through the west gate of Fort Monmouth unnoticed before their tour Friday morning, they were quite mistaken.
When the black van bearing U.S. Government tags carrying BRAC Commissioners Anthony J. Principi and retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Lloyd Newton finally entered the base’s gate at about 9:25 a.m., rain-soaked crowds on the intersection’s four corners cheered and shouted loudly.
“Save our fort! Save our fort!” yelled most of the adults and children of all ages, shapes and sizes, some carrying placards, many having stood for two hours, as the van passed by.
An unidentified male passenger sitting in the vehicle’s front passenger seat waved to those standing on the west gate’s southern corner, prompting yet another cheer from those onlookers.
Whether or not the peaceful, yet spirited pro-Fort Monmouth rally organized by the office of Eatontown Mayor Gerald Tarantolo will sway the visiting commissioners toward keeping the local base open, despite the Pentagon’s recommendation that it be closed down, remains to be seen.
Tarantolo and other political leaders provided a pre-rally pep talk to the umbrella-carrying crowd prior to a police-escorted walk down both sides of Route 35 to the west gate, less than a half-mile away.
“If we are diligent, we’ll get the word to the Pentagon that the decision to close Fort Monmouth is the wrong decision,” Tarantolo told the crowd.
If nothing else, the rally, which assembled under threatening skies at 7:30 a.m. at the borough’s Wampum Park, provided a venue for about 200 fort employees, contractors, nearby business owners and area residents to show their support for, and to participate with elected officials in, the battle to head off the Pentagon recommendation.
The rally had a distinctive New Jersey flair to it, staged on both sides of a state highway near two bustling gas stations as four lanes of unrelenting traffic flowed by. Drivers of some vehicles, especially 18-wheelers, honked at the crowds as they passed through the busy intersection.
At one point, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” could be heard audibly from a vehicle’s stereo. Politicians, holding umbrellas and sipping coffee from convenience store paper cups, mingled with civilians as all waited for the BRAC commissioners’ van to come by.
Some parents acknowledged that they had taken their children out of school for the rally, but pledged to send them to class as soon as the civic exercise ended.
Other participants, such as Eatontown’s Rosa Santiago and her two adult daughters, Rose and Maria, arose early because they believe in Fort Monmouth’s communications and electronics missions and the armed forces who benefit from them.
The research and development conducted at the local base ultimately provides soldiers fighting in foreign lands with protection against enemy forces, Rosa Santiago said.
“Fort Monmouth is vital to the war effort because of its communications capabilities,” Rosa said.
If the BRAC plan proposed by the Pentagon last month goes forward, Fort Monmouth would close within two to six years and most of its technical commands would be moved to the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground.
Area legislators who have been lobbying to prevent the fort’s closure have cited statistics showing that when a military installation relocates, only about 10 to 15 percent of its civilian workforce moves to the new location.
Marvin Baron, a project coordinator for the U.S. Army’s Command Control Directorate (C2D) at the fort, indicated that he would seek a full-time teaching position rather than put his home in the Wayside section of Ocean Township up for sale to move to Maryland.
A 33-year civilian employee at the fort and a Vietnam War veteran, Baron is an adjunct professor teaching psychology and human relations classes at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft.
“I’ll look for a job in the academic world,” said Baron, who also tutors high school students for the verbal section of the SAT part time. “I’m not ready to retire.”
Another Vietnam War veteran, Mike Winnick of Long Branch’s Elberon section, predicted that if the fort were to shut down, the communications technology processed there would be delayed by “two to three years.”
“That would be harmful to our troops today,” Winnick said.
As an advocate for fellow veterans, Winnick is troubled by the prospect that services offered to that population such as the Patterson Army Health Clinic would be closed down as well.
“The fort is an integral part of the community along with the veterans’ clinic and other services,” he said.
Back near the main courtyard of Wampum Park, employees of the Sheraton Eatontown distributed red-white-and-blue beach balls sporting messages of support for Fort Monmouth and the military.
The hotel’s sales staff felt compelled
to come out in support of the fort and larger community, explained Dan Williams, senior vice president of the Sheraton Eatontown.
Susan Corrado, a sales manager for the local hotel, handed beach balls to base employees Kim Handy and Mario Pappagalli, as they sat waiting for the rally crowd to march.
Handy, a base item manager originally from New Cumberland, Pa., indicated that she would be part of the contingent that would be transferred to Maryland should the BRAC Commission approve the Pentagon’s recommendations.
As to whether or not the 32-year federal employee who has spent the last 20 years at Fort Monmouth would go, Handy is unsure.
“It has to do with the timing and if and when it takes place,” Handy said.
Pappagalli, also an item manager and a 20-year fort employee, would not go to Maryland either.
“I’m ready to retire,” he said.
In addition to Aberdeen Proving Ground, other fort employees could be relocated to installations in Ohio, Virginia, and West Point, N.Y., should the BRAC commissioners approve the Pentagon’s recommendation, the Defense Department has said.
Other speakers prior to the rally included Sen. Jon S. Corzine, U.S. Representatives Frank Pallone (D-6) and Rush Holt (D-12), Assemblyman Sean T. Kean (R-11), State Sen. Ellen Karcher and Assemblyman Michael Panter (both D-12), Assemblyman Samuel D. Thompson (R-13), Monmouth County Freeholder Theodore Narozanick, Oceanport Mayor Maria Gatta, and Patriot’s Alliance co-chairs Thomas Gagliano and Frank Muzzi.