00001

 01 

 02              WEDGEWOOD COMMUNITY MEETING

 02 

 03  *******************************************************

 03 

 04 

 04 

 05  PLACE:            SC School for the Deaf and the Blind

 05                    Swearingen Conference Center

 06 

 06 

 07  DATE:           Thursday, July 27, 2000

 07 

 08 

 08  TIME:           7:05 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

 09 

 09 

 10  PRESENTATIONS

 10  GIVEN BY:         Ronald Nesbit, Jr.

 11                    Project Manager

 11                    US Army Corps of Engineers

 12                    Charleston District

 12 

 13                    Suzy McKinney

 13                    Zapata Engineering, P.A.

 14                    1100 Kenilworth Avenue, Suite 104

 14                    Charlotte, North Carolina  28204

 15 

 15 

 16  ALSO PRESENT:

 16 

 17                    John S. Hinely

 17                    Realty Specialist

 18                    US Army Corps of Engineers

 18                    Savannah District

 19 

 19 

 20  REPORTED BY:

 20 

 21              Sandy Satterwhite Reporting

 21              P.O. Box 742

 22              Roebuck, South Carolina  29376

 22              (864)574-1455

 23 

00002

 01                         INDEX

 02  Welcome by Ms. Suzy McKinney . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

 03  Statement by Mr. Ronald Nesbit, Jr.  . . . . . . . .10

 04  Certificate of Reporter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

00003

 01  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 02        We'll go ahead and get started.  Good evening.

 03  I'm glad to see all of you were able to make it this

 04  afternoon, and we'll try to get out of here before the

 05  storms roll through.

 06        For those of you who not know, Ron Nesbit is the

 07  project manager from the US Army Corps of Engineers in

 08  Charleston, and John Hinely is with the Corps of

 09  Engineers real estate office out of Savannah.  I think

 10  everyone has met both of these gentlemen.

 11        What we want to do this evening is bring you up

 12  to date on the status of the removal actions in

 13  Wedgewood, and we should all have a handout.  And this

 14  map depicts essentially all the lots except Lot 40,

 15  which is the vacant lot next to the Holts, and Lot 17,

 16  which is the Geigers' residence.  All other lots have

 17  been cleared, and you should be receiving letters of

 18  clearance in the mail within the next month.

 19        Those two lots actually contain some burial pits

 20  that to go in and dig by hand is extremely labor

 21  intensive.  They spent several weeks, UXB, the

 22  contractor spent several weeks in Lot 40 hand digging

 23  through just metal debris and trash and it was

 24  extremely tedious.  The same thing had occurred with

 25  the Geigers.

00004

 01        So the game plan is after the first of the

 02  fiscal year when additional funds become available is

 03  for the Corps to have their contractor go back to

 04  these last two properties to complete them, but all

 05  the other properties have been completed and you will

 06  have your letters within the next month from the Corps

 07  of Engineers.

 08        The hatched areas on the map indicate properties

 09  or parcels where no evidence of ordnance or ordnance

 10  related materials were found out of the scrap that was

 11  removed.  All of the remaining properties have some

 12  evidence of ordnance, mostly scrap, and that's just

 13  for clarification so you can kind of get a gauge on

 14  how maybe the usage was back in the area in the time

 15  when they were training.

 16        Just for informational purposes, to give you a

 17  gauge on and to help you understand why it was so

 18  labor intensive and did take so long to complete this

 19  effort, on the average each property had between 50

 20  and 250 metal anomalies items under the ground that

 21  were detected by the geophysical equipment that were

 22  dug by hand, one by one.  Ms. Pike actually had over

 23  1,000 in her yard.  You win the award.  A lot of that

 24  was rock, magnetic rock that you can't tell it until

 25  you dig it up.

00005

 01        So, again, why it took four or five or six days

 02  on some of these properties was just one by one

 03  digging within that metal unit, and then for the Corps

 04  of Engineers to come back in and do the quality

 05  assurance checks to make sure what was dug matched the

 06  data and that everything was removed.

 07        For information purposes, 1,700 pounds of

 08  ordnance related scrap, practice grenades, pieces of

 09  metal were found in the neighborhood; almost 1,600

 10  pounds of non-ordnance related household scrap.  1,500

 11  pounds were found.  So over 3,000 pounds of scrap was

 12  pulled out of the neighborhood.  So, again, the level

 13  of effort to hand dig all of that.

 14        We want to thank you and emphasize our

 15  appreciation and all of your cooperation for being

 16  available to be out of the neighborhood when the crews

 17  were in there.  It was a long and tedious summer, as

 18  you all know, that your attitude and cooperation made

 19  an extremely tedious and difficult effort even easier

 20  than would normally have been with this many people

 21  that were impacted.  Again, we greatly appreciate

 22  that.

 23        John Hinely and I visited everyone in February

 24  and provided forms for reimbursement.  If you have any

 25  questions, comments, concerns, he's here.  You can

00006

 01  talk to him about those forms.

 02  BY MR. BARNES:

 03        I've got my form.

 04  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 05        You've got your form?  He's here to ---

 06  BY MR. BARNES:

 07        No, it's finished.  I've got it complete.

 08  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 09        Great.

 10  BY MR. BARNES:

 11        Who do I give it to?    If he's not with you,

 12  I'll take it back.

 13  BY MR. HINELY:

 14        I'll take it.

 15  BY MR. BARNES:

 16        I see you, and I'll be with you after awhile.

 17  BY MR. HINELY:

 18        All right.

 19  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 20        To back track, as far as this ordnance related

 21  scrap, over 50 practice grenades were found scattered

 22  across the properties; 12 white phosphorous grenades,

 23  which are extremely dangerous, were found in one pit,

 24  and those were disposed of accordingly.

 25  BY MR. HOLT:

00007

 01        Where was that?

 02  BY MS. HOLT:

 03        Where?

 04  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 05        It was Geigers.   In the backyard of Geigers'

 06  property.  So that's why they need to go back in and

 07  finish that, but they were found all together like

 08  they were intentionally buried.

 09        There was no evidence in all of the scrap that

 10  was found in the neighborhood, the pieces of metal

 11  that were dug, no evidence that any of those were from

 12  grenades, and the indication of that leads us to

 13  believe is that none of the grenades were live

 14  grenades that were used in the area.  They were all

 15  practice because they did not -- the one that did

 16  explode -- there were none that exploded.  There was

 17  no fragment found.  So they were either found intact

 18  as a hollow inner grenade or it was just other pieces

 19  of scrap that were found.

 20        Let's see, the plans for the upcoming year right

 21  now, funds are short to finish the remaining two

 22  properties and to go back out on to the golf course to

 23  complete the efforts out there.

 24        After the first of the fiscal year, the

 25  contractor will revise the work plans; or if it's a

00008

 01  new contractor, prepare the work plans to go out to

 02  finish those remaining properties.  And what's being

 03  thought of now, since they are pits that do have a lot

 04  of metallic debris in it, is to go in there with a

 05  mechanical, a bulldozer or some type of mechanical

 06  device to do it quick and get in and get out instead

 07  of having someone dig it up by hand.  What that might

 08  mean, especially since white phosphorous grenades were

 09  found on the one pit, is that for one or two days we

 10  might ask the entire neighborhood to be gone in case

 11  something does go wrong.  When you're not manually

 12  digging, you lose some of that control.

 13        Again, we would work directly with you on what's

 14  the best day where most of the people are going to be

 15  at work or at school and minimize your disruption.

 16  That's not going to happen until well after October.

 17  So, again, only on those two remaining properties.

 18        Any questions?

 19  BY MR. BARBEE:

 20        If you evacuate like the whole neighborhood,

 21  could we all like go to Hilton Head?

 22  BY MR. HINELY:

 23        If we don't contract the hotel, you can stay

 24  anywhere you want, but you are limited to the per diem

 25  rate in Spartanburg.  So if you want to go to Hilton

00009

 01  Head, you can get you a hotel, but you might not get

 02  100 percent reimbursement for it.

 03  BY AUDIENCE MEMBER:

 04        That means we'll all go to Croft State Park.

 05  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 06        With a tent.

 07  BY AUDIENCE MEMBER:

 08        Plus the tent.

 09  BY AUDIENCE MEMBER:

 10        Really that's the Croft State Park Motel, isn't

 11  it?

 12  BY AUDIENCE MEMBER:

 13        Yeah.  Pitching tents.

 14  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 15        Again, the hopes would be that would be one to

 16  two days where they can get in there with the

 17  bulldozers, scoop it all out, contain it and take it

 18  off site to sift through it and address it accordingly

 19  just to get it physically out of the neighborhood.

 20  BY MR. HOLT:

 21        But you said that would be after October?

 22  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 23        Right, the contractor has -- is gone.  UXB is no

 24  longer onsite.  The trailer is closed down.  Our 800

 25  number is still operational, so any questions come up,

00010

 01  any concerns, you can call us and we can get you the

 02  answers that you need.  We want to make sure that any

 03  grievances or concerns you might have had with

 04  shrubberies, your yard, all of that has been taken

 05  care of.  If anyone still has any outstanding issues

 06  or concerns, and also if you have any feedback just on

 07  the process and the coordination and the interaction,

 08  anything that can help us do our job better next go

 09  around will be greatly appreciated.

 10        John, Ron, any questions, any comments?

 11  BY MR. NESBIT:

 12        I just want to make a couple of comments.

 13        I haven't been where you have seen me on the

 14  sites during the course of the work or any of the time

 15  when folks made visits around the site, but I have

 16  been up here a number of times when the contractor was

 17  on site.  You know, of course, because of the safety

 18  requirements, it's relatively difficult at best to

 19  even get close to the area while work is actually

 20  ongoing.  So, a lot of my observation has been by

 21  binoculars off on the side.

 22        Talking with Karl, he is the representative from

 23  Huntsville, he's been very pleased with the

 24  cooperation that he has received from the community

 25  for many reasons:  One, because if you had any

00011

 01  concerns, you brought them directly to people that we

 02  addressed earlier on so that we can get whatever the

 03  problem was taken care of as quickly as possible;

 04  secondly, you've been very cooperative in moving from

 05  your homes or making certain that you're away during

 06  certain times of the day while work was going on in

 07  your property or in an adjacent property or something

 08  like that.  Especially this time of the year I know

 09  that it was somewhat of a burden for you, and I want

 10  you to know from our -- from my commander, Colonel

 11  Held at Charleston District, he sends his deepest

 12  appreciation for what you've actually -- the way

 13  you've worked with us this past summer as well as the

 14  springtime.

 15        We still have a little more work to do to finish

 16  up your immediate area.  We will do that as early as

 17  we can once the fiscal year and we have additional

 18  funds in hand.  I know when I say it that way it

 19  sounds as though we're having funding problems and/or

 20  will we, in fact, be coming back.  Well, I can

 21  guarantee you one thing, we will be coming back.  I

 22  can guarantee you that we will be taking care of this

 23  problem as soon as we possibly can because it's a

 24  still high priority for us to get this area cleaned

 25  up.  Okay.  So that's not to worry.

00012

 01  BY MS. HOLT:

 02        Is the new fiscal year October?

 03  BY MR. NESBIT:

 04        It begins October 1.  Now that does not mean we

 05  get the money October 1.

 06  BY MS. HOLT:

 07        Yeah.

 08  BY MR. NESBIT:

 09        But that's the time frame when we start

 10  expecting the funds to come in within that month or

 11  the following month thereafter.  Okay.

 12        This is one of the years for the FUDS program

 13  when funding was going to be shorter than it ever has

 14  been in the past for a number of different reasons.

 15  We are still hopeful that that might change because of

 16  some other cuts in government, other places in funding

 17  be re-diverted to us because we do have a definite

 18  need.

 19        When you look at all the properties in the State

 20  of South Carolina that we are responsible to either

 21  investigate or clean up, the amount of money that we

 22  are being appropriated falls far short from what we

 23  really need.  To complete this area we are very short.

 24  So that's one of the reasons why you see the work

 25  that's being done is being done incrementally in terms

00013

 01  of aggressively trying to take care of the problems as

 02  we go along; and, of course, land use of that property

 03  dictates a lot of what we do, and that's how we really

 04  go about trying to make certain things happen.

 05        One thing I might mention, John is here tonight.

 06  Take advantage of him.

 07  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 08        He writes the checks.

 09  BY MR. NESBIT:

 10        Especially from the standpoint of submitting

 11  your forms, and if you have any questions about how or

 12  some information you might need to add or questions,

 13  whatever, make certain you get that from him tonight

 14  if you can.  We would like for you to get your forms

 15  submitted as soon as possible because the sooner you

 16  get it done, the sooner we can get reimbursement back

 17  to you and the sooner we can close out the books prior

 18  to the end of the fiscal year.  Because September 30th

 19  is the end of the fiscal year, and there about a month

 20  or so prior to that, if we feel that we've received

 21  all of the forms in, what little money that was left

 22  may be extracted and sent elsewhere, and I don't want

 23  that to happen here.  I want to be certain that we

 24  have you taken care of as soon as we possibly can.

 25  BY MS. HOLT:

00014

 01        So that would mean that you're bringing in

 02  bigger equipment like the bulldozers and such that's

 03  faster and cheaper.

 04  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 05        That's the objective for the next ---

 06  BY MS. HOLT:

 07        Bottom line?

 08  BY MR. NESBIT:

 09        That's the bottom line.

 10  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 11        Especially since they're pits.

 12  BY MR. NESBIT:

 13        Yeah.

 14  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 15        They're not individuals scattered anomalies.

 16  BY MR. NESBIT:

 17        Let's see, we've got -- it's situated in such a

 18  way where engineeringly it makes it the more

 19  appropriate thing to do.

 20  BY MS. HOLT:

 21        Okay.

 22  BY MS. PIKE:

 23        How deep are they?

 24  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 25        That I'm not sure of.  That's a good question.

00015

 01  BY MR. NESBIT:

 02        Well, it's hard to tell from the mechanical -- I

 03  mean, from the equipment when we take over, and I'll

 04  tell you this -- the reason why.  There are over --

 05  you know, they were dumped together, and you may have

 06  a reading up high that shows it about two feet or

 07  three feet when, in fact, you may have a six or eight

 08  as well, because you can't really get a depth of where

 09  it stands by the way they're stacked in the hole

 10  together.

 11  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 12        The ones that are ---

 13  BY MR. NESBIT:

 14        So you might have one reading on top of the

 15  other.

 16  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 17        Yeah.  The ones that were ---

 18  BY MR. NESBIT:

 19        It might give a false reading.

 20  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 21        --- removed, I'm not sure how deep they were,

 22  and I can go through some status reports I brought

 23  with me and see if that was ---

 24  BY MS. PIKE:

 25        They have already removed it from my property?

00016

 01  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 02        Yes.  Yes.  So anything else that was remaining

 03  is either scrap or possibly some additional well below

 04  the surface.

 05  BY MR. NESBIT:

 06        Yes.

 07  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 08        They back filled and secured that area so that,

 09  you know, it's not -- someone is not going to trip

 10  over, they did it at a great depth, and it's been back

 11  filled.

 12  BY MR. NESBIT:

 13        Right.  It's not a depth where nothing, quote

 14  unquote, can happen from a standpoint of someone

 15  driving over it or digging at it with a shovel or ---

 16  BY MS. HOLT:

 17        They have children there.

 18  BY MR. NESBIT:

 19        Pardon me?

 20  BY MS. HOLT:

 21        They have children, the Geigers.

 22  BY MR. NESBIT:

 23        Oh, yes, and what they have done they have made

 24  certain that it's a safe situation, okay, until we go

 25  back in to take it out.  We've been assured of that.

00017

 01        Okay.  But that's -- I just wanted to bring

 02  those things to you and give you an opportunity to ask

 03  any questions of me if you have any.  Hopefully not,

 04  but if you do, I'm here to try to answer whatever I

 05  can.

 06  BY MR. HOLT:

 07        So you say you're going to come back and do Lot

 08  17 and Lot 40 with the bulldozers?

 09  BY MR. NESBIT:

 10        Those are the two.

 11  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 12        That's the objective.

 13  BY MR. NESBIT:

 14        That's the objective.

 15  BY MS. HOLT:

 16        Is that next to us?

 17  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 18        Yes.

 19  BY MR. NESBIT:

 20        Yes.

 21  BY MS. HOLT:

 22        What happened to that refrigerator they dug up

 23  next to us?

 24  BY MR. HOLT:

 25        Let me tell you, Lot 40 was a liquor store.

00018

 01  There was nothing down in that hole but liquor bottles

 02  and beer cans.  There must have been ---

 03  BY MS. HOLT:

 04        And a refrigerator.

 05  BY MR. HOLT:

 06        Yeah, it must have been the bar, though, the O

 07  Club or the NCO Club.

 08  BY MS. PIKE:

 09        Was it a refrigerator or an old timey ice box?

 10  BY MS. HOLT:

 11        Just a refrigerator.

 12  BY MR. NESBIT:

 13        That might have been where they had all the

 14  parties.  I don't know.

 15  BY MS. PIKE:

 16        Was it a refrigerator or an old timey ice box?

 17  BY MR. HOLT:

 18        It might have been ---

 19  BY MR. NESBIT:

 20        I know they -- they take all the scrap, and then

 21  they dispose of it in a special way, but I don't know

 22  where it is.

 23        Any other questions?

 24  BY MR. MATHIS:

 25        In other words, the solid blue had something on

00019

 01  it?

 02  BY MR. NESBIT:

 03        Yes.

 04  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 05        No, the solid blue indicates that those areas

 06  the ordnance -- the removal is complete.

 07  BY MR. NESBIT:

 08        Oh, I'm sorry.

 09  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 10        Oh, yeah, and then the hatched area is the ---

 11  BY MR. NESBIT:

 12        The solid blue.

 13  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 14        You're right.  The plain solid blue.  Right.

 15  BY MR. MATHIS:

 16        Had something on it?

 17  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 18        Had some form of scrap or ordnance related.

 19  BY MR. MATHIS:

 20        Are you going to tell us what that is?

 21  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 22        All -- the only properties where actually

 23  practice grenades were found that I have in my records

 24  from Ms. Pike's property on -- and the Geigers'

 25  property, the white phosphorus grenades and on

00020

 01  Teasters' property.

 02  BY MR. MATHIS:

 03        I'm on Lot 23, and you said there was something

 04  found in my yard?

 05  BY MR. BARNES:

 06        Yeah, you had a lot of rocks.

 07  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 08        Lot 23, all I have ---

 09  BY MR. MATHIS:

 10        And my television cable is about the only thing

 11  I think they found.  They found it on ---

 12  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 13        There was one pound of -- well, I think

 14  everybody kind of went through that.

 15  BY MS. HOLT:

 16        It was always on a Friday.

 17  BY MR. MATHIS:

 18        Yeah, it was.

 19  BY MS. HOLT:

 20        So you would get up and it would have to be over

 21  the weekend.

 22  BY MR. MATHIS:

 23        Yeah, it was.   That's right.

 24  BY MS. HOLT:

 25        That's just wrong.

00021

 01  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 02        You had one pound of ordnance related scrap.

 03  BY MR. NESBIT:

 04        That's just scrap.

 05  BY MR. MATHIS:

 06        Scrap.

 07  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 08        That's just scrap, and you had 13 pounds of

 09  household debris, rocks.

 10  BY MR. MATHIS:

 11        That sounds more like it, because we -- we knew

 12  that.

 13  BY MR. NESBIT:

 14        Yeah.

 15  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 16        You had 13 pounds of non OE.

 17  BY MR. MATHIS:

 18        We filled it in eight foot, so I just figured,

 19  you know, if we did, we'd haul it in the truck.

 20  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 21        Does anybody else want to know their poundage?

 22  BY MR. HOLT:

 23        Do you know by lot?

 24  BY MR. MCCALLISTER:

 25        Lot 30.

00022

 01  BY MS. PIKE:

 02        Do you know the poundage that came from each

 03  lot?

 04  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 05        Yes.

 06  BY MS. PIKE:

 07        Okay.  Thank you.

 08  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 09        Well, Ms. Pike, I'll have to add yours up.

 10  Yours is what?  Hang on.

 11        Lot 30, you had four pounds of OE related scrap

 12  and 21 pounds of non OE.

 13  BY MS. BARBEE:

 14        What's OE?

 15  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 16        Ordnance.

 17  BY MR. NESBIT:

 18        Ordnance.

 19  BY MR. PETTY:

 20        How about 32 and 33?

 21  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 22        32 had 3 pounds that was ordnance related and 15

 23  pounds non-ordnance.

 24  BY MR. HOLT:

 25        How about 39?

00023

 01  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 02        Ms. Pike, see, I can't do the math that fast.

 03  Hang on.  I'll get to you, Ms. Pike.

 04        Lot 39, 1 1/2 pounds OE related and 25 pounds

 05  non-ordnance related scrap.

 06  BY MS. BARBEE:

 07        Well, while you're there, look at 38.

 08  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 09        One pound ordnance related, 36 pounds non.

 10        So if you added up nails and bottle caps and

 11  whatever else they're digging, 36 pounds is a fair

 12  amount of hand digging.  Okay.

 13        Ms. Pike, let me add up yours.  39 pounds of

 14  ordnance related, the practice grenades.

 15  BY MS. PIKE:

 16        All three lots?

 17  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 18        I was adding up all yours, right, and then about

 19  44 pounds of non-ordnance related pieces of metal.

 20  BY MS. PIKE:

 21        Not for that much work.

 22  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 23        Well, that doesn't count all the rocks.  The

 24  rocks aren't included on here.

 25  BY MR. HOLT:

00024

 01        Lot 40.

 02  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 03        Lot 40 so far as 988 pounds of ordnance related

 04  scrap and 300 pounds of non-ordnance.

 05  BY MS. PIKE:

 06        Is that one lot?

 07  BY MR. HOLT:

 08        We're just living next to the powder keg.

 09  (INFORMAL DISCUSSION AMONG AUDIENCE MEMBERS)

 10  BY MR. HINELY:

 11        None of that was live on 40, was it?

 12  BY MR. NESBIT:

 13        No.

 14  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 15        Lot 40 was no practice grenades -- no.  None of

 16  it was live OE.

 17  BY MR. HOLT:

 18        Until they cleaned it off, that was the bathroom

 19  for the golfers.

 20  BY MR. NESBIT:

 21        Yes, sir.

 22  BY MR. BARNES:

 23        This is not really directly related to this, I

 24  don't think, but I just want to -- I know when they

 25  closed Camp Croft, what, in '44, everybody was wanting

00025

 01  to go home when World War II was over with, but when

 02  they close Army posts now, do they do a little better

 03  job of disposing of this stuff?

 04  BY MR. NESBIT:

 05        Yes, sir.

 06  BY MR. BARNES:

 07        Knowing that there might be some residential

 08  sections coming in?

 09  BY MR. NESBIT:

 10        Yes, sir.  It's a requirement now.

 11  BY MR. BARNES:

 12        They ---

 13  BY MR. NESBIT:

 14        It's the law.

 15  BY MR. BARNES:

 16        That wasn't a requirement then?

 17  BY MR. NESBIT:

 18        Well, look at it this way, during that time they

 19  tried and they made an effort to track what and how

 20  they disposed of things back then as well, but, of

 21  course, the requirement wasn't adhered to as strongly

 22  as they are now.  You have agencies that actually

 23  participate with the government and absolutely

 24  determine the type and methodology they are going to

 25  use of disposing of ordnance and other type of debris.

00026

 01  BY MR. BARNES:

 02        So this is not likely to happen as bad?

 03  BY MR. NESBIT:

 04        No, sir.

 05  BY MR. BARNES:

 06        Wouldn't be quite as bad.

 07  BY MR. NESBIT:

 08        We wouldn't think so.  I'll put it that way.  We

 09  don't think so.

 10  BY MR. BARNES:

 11        Shouldn't.  Okay.

 12  BY MR. NESBIT:

 13        So.

 14  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 15        In general, from the archives that you read on

 16  some of these old sites, they did routinely conduct

 17  surface clearances.  Any -- you know, they would do a

 18  sweep, and anything they would see laying on the

 19  ground, they would go ahead and collect; but if you

 20  look at a pit, they're not going out with the

 21  equipment and trying to find pits.  Chances are they

 22  tried to bury it to not have to account for it, and

 23  any artillery or grenades, anything that might have

 24  been covered over by leaf litter and subsequently

 25  filled over those couple of years where the camp was

00027

 01  used, there was probably minimal to no effort to go

 02  investigate and find those.  It was just what they

 03  could see, pick up and move on.  That's why the

 04  geophysical subsurface data collection.  What's -- you

 05  know, what's the most concern now is what's below the

 06  surface, because there's little that's left, if any,

 07  on the surface.

 08  BY MR. BARNES:

 09        Well, from my standpoint I appreciate what you

 10  all did.

 11  BY MR. HOLT:

 12        I've been very happy with all of it.  They've

 13  been very courteous and very polite.

 14  BY MR. NESBIT:

 15        We appreciate it.  I'll pass that on up the

 16  channel.  They need to hear it.

 17        Are there any other questions?

 18  BY MS. BARBEE:

 19        And they were also very patient with all the

 20  neighborhood dogs.

 21  BY AUDIENCE MEMBER:

 22        Yeah, I think the neighborhood dogs miss them

 23  real bad.

 24  (INFORMAL DISCUSSION AMONG AUDIENCE MEMBERS)

 25  BY MS. PIKE:

00028

 01        Will the same ones come back or the other one

 02  come back?

 03  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 04        Right now I do not think UXB is slated to be the

 05  ordnance contractor for the next fiscal year.

 06  BY MS. NESBIT:

 07        We're in the process of awarding a new contract,

 08  and nine times out of ten it will be a different

 09  contractor.  However, the requirements are going to be

 10  the same.  I don't anticipate anything any

 11  differently.

 12  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 13        As far as safety requirements.

 14  BY MR. NESBIT:

 15        As far as safety or anything else.

 16  BY MS. HOLT:

 17        So don't we get T-shirts that say something like

 18  we survived this?

 19  BY MR. HOLT:

 20        We survived.  We survived.

 21  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 22        Well, first of all, let's get the clearance

 23  letters out to you first, and then we'll see.

 24  BY MR. PETTY:

 25        Well, send one to the newspaper about it.  Put

00029

 01  something positive in there.

 02  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 03        The paper has been fairly quiet.  Gary Henderson

 04  usually writes ---

 05  BY AUDIENCE MEMBER:

 06        They'll get it wrong some way or another.

 07  BY MR. PETTY:

 08        But they're pretty negative about the cleanup.

 09  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 10        Cleanup early on.

 11  BY MR. PETTY:

 12        They really have.

 13  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 14        What can we do is work -- and we had talked

 15  about it, actually at the end of the removal action,

 16  for us, Zapata, to write a public relations piece

 17  about the effort and the cooperation and how well it

 18  went.  That's a good idea.

 19  BY MR. BARBEE:

 20        Put it in the Stroller, then it will get read.

 21  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 22        Pardon me?

 23  BY MR. BARBEE:

 24        Put it in the Stroller so people will read it.

 25  BY MS. HOLT:

00030

 01        Yeah, that's true.

 02  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 03        Okay.

 04  BY MS. BARBEE:

 05        Are you saying that you all won't be the

 06  engineering company that comes back?

 07  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 08        We'll still be the community relations company.

 09  BY MR. NESBIT:

 10        Yeah, Zapata will still be with us.

 11  BY MS. BARBEE:

 12        Okay.

 13  BY MR. NESBIT:

 14        Her contract -- I mean, their contract has not

 15  changed and she'll be here for a while longer.

 16  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 17        Job security.

 18  BY MS. PETTY:

 19        Are you going anywhere else in Spartanburg?

 20  BY MR. NESBIT:

 21        We still have other sites in Spartanburg that we

 22  still have to investigate and make determination what

 23  we're going to do.

 24        Some sites have already been determined that

 25  there is some type of cleanup required, and as funds

00031

 01  become available, we'll begin moving into those areas.

 02        What we try to do is to get to the areas that

 03  have the highest priority in terms of property use,

 04  safety to the public, and we couldn't think of anybody

 05  or any place anymore needing to have it done than

 06  Wedgewood since we've got a whole populous of people

 07  living in there.

 08        So that's one of the reasons why we were working

 09  in that area first.  Once we get mostly the high, high

 10  areas taken care of, then we'll begin to gear down to

 11  the lesser high potential of property damage or people

 12  problems and so on.  That's typically the way it

 13  works.

 14  BY MS. PETTY:

 15        Are you through with Croft State Park?

 16  BY MR. NESBIT:

 17        There are still sites on the State Park area

 18  that require some effort, be it removal or fencing or

 19  education, and we're still working with the park,

 20  State Park service folks and helping them or at least

 21  providing them with information to help them determine

 22  how they are planning to continue to use the park.

 23  For example, whether or not there are certain trails

 24  that they might want to reopen to the public and what

 25  is required to do so.  I mean one of the sites or

00032

 01  trails that they would like to reopen or open may not

 02  have been one of those that have been cleared or

 03  investigated by us, and with our participation with

 04  them, hopefully, they'll be able to develop a master

 05  plan on how they really want to develop the park a

 06  little more.  In fact, ---

 07  BY MS. PIKE:

 08        What about ---

 09  BY MR. NESBIT:

 10        Pardon me?

 11  BY MS. PIKE:

 12        What about the golf course?

 13  BY MR. NESBIT:

 14        We do have some cleanup work that's required

 15  with the golf course, and we'll be working with them

 16  this fall as well.

 17  BY MS. HOLT:

 18        Is it expensive?

 19  BY MR. NESBIT:

 20        To try to take care of that situation as soon as

 21  we possibly can.

 22  BY MR. BARNES:

 23        Does that mean we may have to leave if we're on

 24  near the golf course again?

 25  BY MR. NESBIT:

00033

 01        It depends on how it's going to be done and how

 02  close you are within the safety zone.  Depending upon

 03  what time of day it's being done as well.

 04        There are a lot of things that have to be

 05  considered with the golf course, and we're trying to

 06  do it in such a way where it's going to be minimal

 07  impact to the families that are surrounding the golf

 08  course itself.

 09        Now, I'm not saying that you may not have to,

 10  but we're going to definitely try to do it in such a

 11  way where it will be minimal if you do.

 12  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 13        And that was one reason, too, why they were

 14  tracking so closely where the ordnance scrap was found

 15  versus not, because if there's an indication that

 16  there was not ordnance in that area, some of those

 17  safety zones might be able to be reduced.

 18  BY MR. NESBIT:

 19        Exactly.

 20  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 21        Again, to minimize the impact, so trying to

 22  figure out what was found versus what kinds of

 23  engineering controls or barriers could be put in place

 24  to again minimize the disruption to the houses that

 25  front the golf course, and all of that will be

00034

 01  re-evaluated under this next work plan.

 02  BY MR. NESBIT:

 03        Exactly, and in fact try to minimize the amount

 04  of time that we'll be tying up the golf course as

 05  well, because we realize that's an important entity as

 06  far as a community is concerned, as well.

 07  BY MR. BARNES:

 08        Are you talking about it's probably going to be

 09  the perimeter of the course?  It's not going to be

 10  right on it, directly on the course, is it?  I mean,

 11  you won't be out in the fairways of the course because

 12  it's been green or will you?

 13  BY MR. NESBIT:

 14        I'm uncertain.  Okay.  I know that there is some

 15  that's on the bridges of the golf course some of the

 16  areas that has to be cleared.  Okay.  But potentially

 17  there might be something in the fairway as well.  I

 18  just don't know at this point in time.

 19  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 20        Any other questions?

 21  BY MR. NESBIT:

 22        Any other questions?

 23  (NO RESPONSE)

 24  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 25        Just a quick note on our next RAB meeting.  We

00035

 01  were scheduled to meet in August, and due to funding

 02  limitations and some other scheduling constraints,

 03  that meeting is going to be postponed until after

 04  October 1st, as well.

 05        So, we'll have that posted on our website.

 06  We'll also send out fliers next week to let folks know

 07  that we were anticipating to come in August, but it's

 08  been postponed.  And then as the meeting is confirmed,

 09  we'll let everyone know that.

 10        So if any other neighbors or residents want

 11  copies of the maps, want any information, just have

 12  them give us a call, and we'll get back to them and

 13  thank them for us, as well, and we'll be back in town

 14  after October.

 15  BY MR. HINELY:

 16        Does everyone still have their forms?  If not, I

 17  have plenty of extras.

 18  BY MR. NESBIT:

 19        Thank you for coming out tonight.

 20  BY MS. MCKINNEY:

 21        Thanks.

 22  BY MR. NESBIT:

 23        We really appreciate it.

 24  (MEETING CONCLUDED AT 7:30 P.M.)

00036

 01  STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA       )

 01                                )     CERTIFICATE

 02  COUNTY OF SPARTANBURG         )

 02 

 03 

 04 

 05        This is to certify that the within meeting was

 06  taken on the 27th day of July, 2000;

 07        That the foregoing is an accurate transcript of

 08  the meeting;

 09        That copies of all exhibits, if any, entered

 10  herein are attached hereto and made a part of this

 11  record;

 12        That the undersigned court reporter, a Notary

 13  Public for the State of South Carolina, is not an

 14  employee or relative of any of the parties, counsel or

 15  witness and is in no manner interested in the outcome

 16  of this action.

 17        IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my Hand

 18  and Seal at Spartanburg, South Carolina, this 31st day

 19  of July, 2000.

 20 

 20 

 21 

 21 

 22                     ________________________________

 22                     Notary Public for South Carolina

 23                     Commission Expires:  3/24/07

 23 

 24 

 24 

 25  (SEAL)