Orange County Weekly: Whirlybird Brained

[question everything]

March 11 - 17, 2005

Whirlybird Brained

LA Sheriff’s plan to PLOP air fleet in OC infuriates locals

by JOHN UNDERWOOD

The Los Angeles county Sheriff’s Department (LASD) has conjured up a powerful if unwitting ally in its effort to relocate its fleet of 16 helicopters and three fixed-wing aircraft inside Orange County’s last active military airbase: al-Qaeda.

Moving its entire Aero Bureau from Long Beach Airport to the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos would accomplish several objectives for LASD. It would cut operating overhead by two-thirds and free the fleet from the tight airspace controls they presently operate under in Long Beach. But the biggest payoff for the department would come in the form of a $20.3 million congressional appropriation to build hangars, maintenance facilities and an office complex at Los Al.

Why should U.S. taxpayers be stuck with the tab for a county aero fleet?

Two words: homeland security.

More..
http://www.ocweekly.com/ink/05/27/news-underwood.php

[freethought]

1. Hey, at least its going to a high risk state!

The distributing of Homeland Security funds has been a joke! Landlocked , sparsely populated red states have been getting the lion's share of the money! The population centers on the coasts, the blue states, get shortchanged. It is all politics and nothing to do with risk of terrorist attack. If it was New York would be swimming in HS money.
At least California is getting something!