Editor,

I read the letter to the editor by Jim Innes, “OLF was here before the noise complainers.”

I then thought, “while I’m not one of those, I have been here between 30 and 35 years, and yes, I signed the document that said I understood that I was moving into a noise zone — just like they did.” It didn’t differentiate between the Intruder, Prowler, Growler, a Piper Cub or 747.

When they are using OLF Coupeville it can get noisy, but despite the complainers’ comments it is necessary, and we signed that we would be in a noise zone.

It is not a reasonable supposition that we could perhaps find our country’s enemies marching across our land; but if they were and getting close to Whidbey, everyone, even the noise complainers, would unite with hope that we had trained forces to stop them. We have trained forces, and of them, those who fly the Growler got some of that training at the OLF.

Leaving out those who claim that animals and bushes and grasses, feral cats and wild bunnies are as disturbed and annoyed as their human counterparts, it would still be my hope and prayer that those in the noise complainer group can be reasonable and understand that the training needs to happen somewhere.

This place was selected decades ago as the best place, and still is, and those of us who moved in since did so knowing of the noise factor and then developed our annoyance of it later on.

Rick Widdison

Coupevillle