Newspaper Page Text
Page 4B - The Lee County Ledger, Thursday, October 11,2001
1 73 Society Street
Leesburg, GA 31 763
Buttons
Bows
Daycare amp Learning Center
Hours: owner/director: Michelle Peterman
6:00 AM - 6:00 PM (229) 759-8008
FORECLOSURE SALE -
NOVEMBER 6, 2001
GREAT INVESTMENT PROPERTY!
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I ■
-. :*r i-is
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246 Leslie Hwy . Leesburg, GA 31763
Appraised Value-$63,000****Minimum Bid $54,356
3 Bedrooms, 1 1/2; Baths, 1.250 Square Ft.
PLEASE NOTE: A 20% non-refundable down payment
is required on the day of the sale.
For More Information, Call USD A, Rural Development 955
Forrester Dr ., SE Dawson, GA 31742 (912)995-5811, Ext. 4
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OPPORTUNITY
FORECLOSURE SALE -
NOVEMBER 6,2001
GREAT INVESTMENT PROPERTY!
174 Canal St. Leesburg. GA 31763
Appraised Value-$37,000****Minimum Bid $30,915
3 Bedrooms. 1 1/2 Baths, 1,101 Square Ft.
PLEASE NOTE: A 20% non-refundable down payment
is required on the day of the sale.
For More Information, Call USD A, Rural Development 955
Forrester Dr., SE Dawson, GA 31742 (229) 995-5811, Ext. 4
OPPORTUNITY
City of Smithville
City of Smithville is accepting applications
for full time police officer.
Must be P.O.S.T. certified.
Contact Chief Causey at 846-2101 from
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
ATTENTION
LEE COUNTY
CITIZENS
The gate across the road that used to go
to Burke’s Ferry has been removed by
temporary restraining order. This road
has been abandoned by the county for
almost 40 years. This is known by the
people who live in the area.
Anyone that is concerned about the
treatment of Lee County citizens and
taxpayers in this situation should contact
their commissioner and voice their opin
ion. What is happening to the landowner
in this situation can and may happen to
you!!!
Wake up Lee County and know the truth.
Paid for by Lee County citizens who
know that this has not been handled
fairly by our local government.
Nike-The Greek Goddess of Victory
The History of a Lee County Nike Missile Base
Photo of Radar Tower
At the end of 1959 and the be
ginning of 1960, the United States
Army purchased 175 acres of
land in southern Lee County.
Within just a few months. Turner
Air Force Base Defense Area-
West, secretly known as Nike-
Hercules Bat
tery TU-79.
was con
structed.
According to
Colonel
Shelton
Mitchell, the
last Com
mander of the
2nd Missile
Battalion,
“Our mission
was to protect
the Marine
Base and
Turner Field
from enemy
planes. We had to be ready to fire
at the enemy planes within 15
minutes of the target being ac
quired. Our troops were ready 24
hours per day, 7 days a week.”
During the
Cuban missile
crisis in late Oc
tober of 1962,
President
Kennedy
placed all mili
tary bases on
full alert. The
United States
was on the
brink of a pos
sible nuclear
war with Rus
sia. Turner
Field was a
Strategic Air
Command Base
and the B-52 bombers on the alert
pads were armed with nuclear
weapons. Because of their loca
tion in Albany, the planes could
be in Cuba within a few short
hours. Colonel Mitchell said,
“The mission of the TU-79 mis
sile site in Lee County would in
sure protection of these bombers
until they became airborne”. So,
just 2 years after becoming op
erational, the Lee County base
and others like it, would play a
critical role in the military strat
egy of the Strategic Air Com
mand during the Cuban Missile
Crisis.
The Nike Base consisted of two
separate parcels of land. One area
was known as the Integrated Fire
Control (IFC) Center. This site
contained the Nike ground-based
radar and computer systems used
to track the enemy aircraft and
guide the missiles to their targets.
Also located on this site were the
support buildings, barracks and
other facilities used by the army
personnel. By necessity, the base
was self contained and had it's
own water supply, power genera
tors and other utilities.
The second parcel of land was
known as the Launcher Area or
the site where the 12 Nike-Her-
cules missiles were located, ready
for launch. Due to the tremen
dous blast and heat produced by
the 41 foot missiles, this area was
located over 4000 feet from the
Fire Control Area.
Colonel Mitchell explained the
need for high security at the mis
sile base, “At the time, the local
civilian population did not know
our missiles were armed with 10-
kiloton nuclear warheads, weap
ons five times more powerful
than the nuclear bomb dropped
on Nagasaki, Japan. Two of our
missiles had enough power to
totally destroy Cuba and we had
12 of them at the Lee County fa
cility”.
Specifications and perfor
mance data for the Nike-Her-
cules missile were top-secret dur
ing the cold war period of the
60's. However, we now know,
based on released information,
the 41 -foot missile weighed more
than 5 tons (10,560-pounds).
The range from ground to air was
90 miles and the operational ceil
ing was up to 150,000 feet, over
28 miles high. Each missile was
capable of a speed of 2,597 miles
per hour or over 3800 feet per
second, and could deliver up to a
40-kiloton nuclear warhead.
In a recent interview, Colonel
Mitchell said, “Enemy planes
would be destroyed by the atmo
spheric explosion of the nuclear
warhead, but
the ‘fallout’ on
the ground
would be neg
ligible. The
most danger
ous part of the
missile to the
civilian popu
lation in the
area was the
14-foot, 5,000-
pound booster
rocket that
would fall to
the ground af
ter the initial
liftoff. We had
no way to determine exactly
where the booster section would
fall”.
Retired Army Chief Warrant
Officer Carl L. Myers, who re
cently passed
away, was a
fire control
officer at the
base. His
wife said her
husband
loved to talk
about his
days at the
Nike Base
and the im
portant mili
tary mission
he and his
men per-
formed.
“Carl loved
his duty as a missile man and he
loved the Army”, Mrs. Myers re
cently said. “If you were a mili
tary veteran, he would talk for
hours about the missiles and his
tour of duty. In the 60"s he was a
member of Colonel Shelton’s 2nd
Missile Battalion. He treasured
his military photographs of the
Nike Missiles and he would of
ten explain his mission. To him,
it was somewhat dramatic, but
simple. As the fire control of
ficer, as he often told me, he was
the one with his finger on the
missile launch button and if the
order was given, he and his men,
would not hesitate to fire”.
Approximately 250 Nike Mis
sile Sites were built across the
United States during the 1960’s
to protect populated areas and
military bases from attack. As
the Russian military strategy
changed from long-range
bomber aircraft to Intercontinen
tal Ballistic Missiles, against
which there was no effective
defense, the Nike program
within the United States became
somewhat obsolete. Many of the
missiles were moved to other
countries around the world and
became part of a surface-to-sur
face defense system.
The Lee County Nike Base,
along with many others in the
United States, was deactivated in
1966. One of the nation’s most
significant air defense programs
had come to an end. The Fire
Control Area, an 8-acre site, was
deeded to The Anchorage, an al
cohol and drug abuse rehabilita
tion center. Ed Arnold, the Clini
cal Director of the Anchorage
said his operation began in 1967.
Many of the military buildings
from the Nike Base remain in
excellent condition and have been
put to good use by Mr. Arnold and
his staff. The center serves a criti
cal need and important service for
the local community. Arnold said
it was only recently that the three
strands of barbed wire were re
moved from the high chain-link
fencing surrounding the property.
At the front gate, an American
flag still flies from the same pole
used by the military personnel
during the Nike days.
The 10-foot high earth mounds,
miles of wiring and concrete re
inforced missile launch pads in
the Launcher Area of the base
have been removed. Lee County
Commissioners plan to develop
the site into a park within the next
year. A new site plan has been
reviewed, and the theme of the
new park will refer to the history
of the Nike Missile Base, Some
of the earth mounds will be rep
licated in the park plan.
Except for the imposing en
trance gate, the high chain-link
fencing and the military type con
struction of the buildings at the
Anchorage, you would not know
this was once a key military base.
Three tall radar towers still stand
on the West Side of the property.
No longer operational, these
mammoth metal skeletons re
mind you of a time past and a time
when radar continuously
searched the skies within a 90-
mile radius of the base. A time
when nuclear weapons and mis
siles stood ready, 24 hours each
and every day, to defend against
an enemy attack. A time then,
like today, when men and ma
chines of our military work to
gether to protect and defend our
freedoms.
I’m sure none of the veterans of
this missile site could have imag
ined what the area would look
like after almost 40 years. The
area and grounds have been de
clared safe and hundreds of new
homes have been built in the
shadows of the old Launch Area
and the Fire Control Center. It
seems only appropriate that the
military facility once known as
Nike-Hercules TU-79 would now
serve those in need through the
work of the Anchorage. The old
base has been put to good use.
And, very soon, children in this
Lee County neighborhood will be
able to walk from their backyards
to a public park. They will run
and play on the same ground
where nuclear weapons once
stood in the defense of our coun
try. The mounds of dirt on which
they will play will no longer be
part of a military complex. They
will run and play, unaware of an
other time in history, but, on the
same spot once known by an ap
propriate name from mythologi
cal times, NIKE-The Greek God
dess of Victory.
Photo of Military Buildings (Anchorage)
Nike Hercules Missile
Nike Missile Ready
for Launch
View of Missile Launch Area and Proposed Park Site