Community Correspondence - Individual letters from Concerned Citizens - Hawthorne Army Depot Page: 1 of 4
This letter is part of the collection entitled: Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
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DCN 5712
May 27, 2005
BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) Commission
2521 South Clark Street
Arlington, VA 22202 0 5 12 0 05
Dear Sir:
I am writing to beg you to speak on behalf of Hawthorne, NV, Mineral County,
and the Hawthorne Army Depot in the matter of the Base Realignment and Closure list.
As you are probably well aware, the Hawthorne Army Depot is on the BRAC list to be
closed. I have lived in Hawthorne since July 1953. My children were all born and raised
here. I work for the U.S. Army on the base and have 38 years of federal civil service
under my belt.
I am requesting your help in saving Hawthorne's life. I have read and heard news
articles about the base closure and the misinformation that was used in determining
whether or not Hawthorne would be on the list. I am sure those who are in charge have
already reputed the erroneous information so I will not go into it here. I want to give you
my personal perspective on the matter and how it will affect me personally.
I attended 12 years of school here in Mineral County. I have four more years
before I want to retire. My children and grandchildren are attending schools here in
Mineral County. I am worried that they will have to relocate to find work to raise money
to raise their families. This mass relocation of our young people will cause the schools to
close, the young doctors to leave this area, the few stores we have will be forced to close
due to lack of customers. That will cause me to have to drive over 70 miles one way to
the nearest Wal-Mart and grocery store. The cost of gas is a factor in whether or not I
will be able to afford to travel to shop. I own my home here in Hawthorne and I do not
want to move. Our small hospital will have to become a nursing home only and I will
have to travel to go to a doctor.
I am raising my second family now as I adopted two teenaged boys, one of which
is a Sophomore in High School, the other graduated two years ago and now has a family
of his own. They came from a drug, alcohol, and homeless family. Their father died of
Hepatitis C liver failure. Their mother lives in a homeless shelter in Reno. My youngest
has had straight A's in school since the 6h grade when he came to live with me. He is
looking forward to living here with me, and all his friends in school, until he can go into
the military and get his education there. He has never before been in one school longer
than a year at a time.
If the base closes, our churches will be forced to close due to lack of a
congregation. I am a Commissioned Lay Pastor at Community Presbyterian Church in
Hawthorne. Our little church (40 members) is struggling as it is to keep our doors open.
When the mass exodus occurs, our congregation will diminish or disappear altogether.
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Community Correspondence - Individual letters from Concerned Citizens - Hawthorne Army Depot, letter, July 29, 2005; (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc18994/m1/1/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.