Barletta Will Oppose Plan
| Despite the promise of 1,000 full-time jobs, Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta vowed Thursday to oppose the proposed U.S. State Department diplomatic security training center in Conyngham Township until he is convinced of its worth.
Barletta is worried “a military-style training camp” would mean hundreds of annual bomb blasts and machine-gun fire disrupting the normally quiet township and perhaps threatening residents’ safety. In a news release, Barletta likened the center to U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski’s past “wild ideas” such as the Susquehanna River inflatable dam and the bankrupt Kanjorski-family water-jet technology company, Cornerstone Technologies. The State Department dropped plans for the project in Ruthsburg, Md., because of public opposition to the potential noise from bomb blasts and gunfire, and Barletta saw newspaper stories about that. “Why did they reject it in Maryland? What about the property values of the homes around it?” Barletta asked. Barletta’s upfront opposition injected a note of politics because he and Kanjorski are in the midst of their third contest for the 11th Congressional District seat Kanjorski has held since January 1985. Barletta is the Republican candidate; Kanjorski is a Democrat from Nanticoke. Kanjorski and Conyngham Township Board of Supervisors Chairman Ed Whitebread chastised Barletta. “He’s so involved that he knows exactly what’s going to happen, is that it?” Kanjorski asked sarcastically. Whitebread, who backs the project, said local people will likely fill half the thousand jobs. With firing ranges nearby at the state police barracks at Shickshinny and Retreat state prison and a quarry blasting rock in neighboring Newport Township, nearby residents already deal with similar noise, he said. Besides, Whitebread said, the nearest residents live at least a quarter-mile away from the 2,300-acre site, which is owned by the Earth Conservancy, a nonprofit group founded by Kanjorski almost two decades ago to buy and reclaim thousands of acres of abandoned mine land. “Lou Barletta needs to worry about Hazleton,” Whitebread said. “He has no idea what he’s talking about.” Kanjorski acknowledged the Maryland rejection. “One of the benefits of our site is that it’s a contained site. On three sides, it’s got mountains to contain it and on the fourth side it has a cliff and then the river,” he said. “Quite frankly, I would say to the mayor, ‘Why don’t you try to find some jobs for Hazleton City?’ They could use it.” Kanjorski met with the township supervisors Wednesday evening and announced the project today, before a decision is made, to allow the public to weigh in early. “We don’t want to waste our time or the State Department’s time if there’s objections to this,” he said. Referring to the project as “a little West Point,” he said, “If people around think 1,000 jobs are not worth whatever the negatives would be, if there are any, that’s perfectly all right.” In Maryland, the project called for 400 jobs, Washington area newspapers reported, but Kanjorski said that was only for the initial phase. Fully operational, the center would have 1,000 jobs, he said. |