Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

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! L |- f- I ■ -. :*r i-is Ml 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 tgr 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