1995_05 Insight May 1995

              MAY 17,1995
In Focus
page 3
Atwater prepares to say
goodbye to Castle AFB
By David Mirhadi
Staff Writer
ATWATER—The end is rapidly approaching.
After Sept. 30. there won't be any
planes flying by Atwater. a sleepy
town of 23.000. Residents won't be
awakened by the deafening engines
of a B-52 or an occasional
Superfortress as the planes take off
for points far and wide.
There won't be any more places advertising discounts for the buzzed
crown thai passes for an acceptable
military haircut. Friends and relatives
who served together during tours in
Korea or Vietnam won't be able logo
to the commissary and swap stories
over a cup of tax-free coffee.
After Sept. 30. all thai will remain
of the Air Force base that opened in
September 1941. just before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and sent
Americans into World War II. will be
the memories.
In 1991. the VS Defense Department targeted several military establishments for closure or scaled-down
operations. Castle, the base thai put
Alwater on the map. became a victim
of the defense cutbacks.
For people who live and work al
Castle, it will be the end of the extended family thai has lived and
worked here for many years.
Tech. Sgt. Armon T. Gaddy Jr. will
end his 14-year slay at Castle this fall.
Gaddy works in Ihe public affairs department of the base, handling media
requests to lour the base and reports
on the closure.
Like a family lhat sticks together for
years, many fliers who began iheir
military careers al Castle come back
sooner or later.
'There are people who teamed to fly
B-52s and KCI35s as brand-new
second lieutenants, and now they are
colonels." Gaddy said. "People who
leave Castle come back. They might
go someplace for four years, for 10
years even, and they always come
back, because of the nature of their
mission.
"They'll come back and be instructors, then they'll leave fora while, and
come back as a commander. Thai
breeds that family atmosphere.
People always cross paths with someone they knew 10 or 15 years ago,"
he said.
Now. many people who have
worked al Castle are feeling that the
extended family is drifting apart.
Naitie Wilcox, an employee in thc
jewelry and housewares section of
Castle's exchange, said she's not sure
what she'll do when thc base closes.
She has worked at thc base store for
eight years. Her husband, Robert,
retired from the Air Force four years
ago. Uncertainty weighs heavily on
her mind.
store. Retired men and women who
served their country long ago still
come by to chat with old friends while
doing their weekly shopping. But it
just doesn't feel the same as when the
base was at full capacity.
The crowded aisles have been replaced by empty ones. A few loyal
customers eagerly make their pilgrimage to the store and rekindle old
memories.
Eda Amrose isn't ready to say
goodbye either. Amrose supervises
the jewelry and housewares section
of the store where her friends — her
co-workers — spend the day. it's
very sad for me and the other girls
who work here. We are married and
have families and this is where we
have made our home." Amrose said.
"Now. with the base closing, it's very
Photo by David Mlrhadi/lnslght
(l-r) Eda Amrose, Nattle Wilcox and Christie Morton are workers
at the Castle Air Force Base exchange.
"Every morning I come inside that
gate, and every night, I see them
close the gate. It really gets to me
when I think of that gate closing for
the last time. It does something to
you/'
Eda Amrose
Department manager at the
Castle AFB exchange
"I'm going lo go on vacation for a
while, then I'm going to start looking
for a job. It would be very nice if I
could slay here." Wilcox said. "I don't
think I'd leave the PX at all to go anyplace else and work. It's just very sad
that they are closing the base, but we
don't have a choice."
The mood is a bit somber in the
sad: not only because we are losing our
jobs, but you used to be able lo come-
to the base, stop and talk lo a friend for
a while. It's like a community."
Il will be hard for Amrose lo see
Castle's entrance gale close for the
last time.
"Every morning I come jnside thai
gate, and every night I see them close
the gate. It really gets io me when I
think of thai gale closing for the last
lime. Il does something to you."
Amrose said.
Dennis Hawthorne said he moved
to Alwater because it was a small
miliiary'town he and his family would
feel comfortable in. He does his main
shopping at the exchange, and he's
noi happy with the military's decision
to close the base.
"I don't really like it. We bought our
house because the base was here." he
said. Hawthorne spent 20 years in thc
U.S. Army and retired as a master
sergeant in 1992. He's currently pursuing a degree in business management at CSU Stanislaus.
"When they first announced that the
base w as going to close. I just kind of
said. Oh. no." We have plans to
move, bul not right now." Hawthorne
said.
The city of Atwater has growing
pains of its own to deal w ith. It is. by
and large, a military town, and business owners and workers don't know
how to handle the closure of the base.
It's a problem that has many people
shaking their heads.
Patrick Farctta. recreation supervisor for the Alwater Community Center, said he's not sure what the future
will bring or how the closure will affect him.
"I really don't know what thc impact
will be." he said, standing in a bare office. The center is a popular place for
military personnel to unwind.
Faretta. a resident of Merced, is
keeping his options open.
"I'm still young: I know I can find a
job somewhere else." Faretta. 30, said.
"The thing about Atwater is thai in
this town, everybody knows your
business. I'm sure our program will
be lean for a while after the base
closes, but hopefully we'll pick up the
slack."
City officials, including the mayor,
aren't happy with ihe base closure
decision.
"People say politics didn't have a
play in the decision to close Castle,
but I think it did." said Kenneth
DeVoe. Atwater's mayor.
"We're looking for our own little
niche that other people don't have." he
said. As a city councilman for the past
eight years, DeVoe said the city is jusl
now trying to develop new industries
to cope with the loss of the base.
"For many years. Atwater was a bedroom community and there wasn't too
much industry. Our biggest base of
operation was housing. Obviously,
over thc last 10-15 years, we would
have liked to start some industry,"
Devoc said.
See CASTLETpage 6
Recollections
of an AFB
mechanic
By David Mirhadi
StaffWriler
ATWATER—For Charles Jackson, it is a labor of love.
Jackson stood next to thc huge F-
101 air-defense interceptor at the
Castle Air Force Base air museum,
polishing off a wing of the massive plane. His plane.
Jackson, who spent four years in
the Air Force as a mechanic, drives
south from his home in Gilroy
twice a month to polish, paint and
beautify his plane, the one with thc
four engines and his name above
the hatch: "Charles Jackson, crew
chief," in red script.
Jackson is one of a handful of
people that donate their time to
make sure the tourists who come
lo gawk at the planes get a good
show.
"When I first started working on
this plane," he said, "it looked like
hell. You could barely read the
'U.S. Air Force' sign. The paint
was completely faded out," he said.
Jackson makes sure his plane is
the best looking one on the lot.
After all. if an Air Force vet sees a
scratch on a plane that they flew in
the Vietnam War, it might ruin
Jackson's reputation.
"If it looks bad, somebody's
grandkids would come over and
say. 'Jesus, you blew that? That
old piece of shit?' So, it means a
lot to me that people are able to
come over here and point with
pride and say, 'This is what I flew,'
or 'This is what I built,' or, 'This
is what I supported.' That's what
it's all about."
Planes with names like "Virgin's
Delight," "Lazy Daisy Mae," a
North American B-25J Mitchell,
and "Razn' Hell," a Boeing B-25
Superfortress, dominate the museum. Paintings of scantily-clad
women are plastered on the noses
See JACKSON, page 6
California State University, Fresno
University Courtyard
congratulates and recognizes the following
residents who are candidates for a
bachelor, credential, or master degree:
Linda Caro
Lawrence Adair Dibble
RobertMichaelcaertlg
Stephen Lai Heng Coh
William Thomas Graham III
Kiersten Michelle Handorf
Betty Leigh Payne
Nancy selma Prosser
Daniel Joseph Randal
Alfred Michael Sanchez
Richard David Whitney
William Gerard Wilkinson
Daniel Hunter Wilson Jr.
University courtyard Staff;
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