Mr. Thomas Garrod (Letters, April 19) doesn’t do his homework very well. According to the Whidbey Island Almanac, 60 percent of the population is connected to the Navy base. The mistake that most people make is thinking that the military only includes those in uniform. There are people here who are retired military that would also leave if the base closed. That includes teachers, law enforcement, doctors, small business owners, and artists: at least two-thirds of your neighbors. The base itself pours over $500,000,000 into the island economy each year. That doesn’t count the money that we retired military spend here.

The Almanac states that the base is the number one civilian employer on the island at 2,100. Next there are the school districts at 820 which will have to be cut drastically as the military families leave. The college and university extensions are here for the military, they will have to go. Wal-Mart (271) would leave with the money. The next largest employers are banks. They will also leave with the money. Upchurch Scientific and Technical Services and many others depend on the Navy contracts to stay in business also.

Let me give you two examples of the military and the local economy that I have experienced in my 35 years as a military spouse. We lived in a small town in North Dakota with a base located about 10 miles outside of town. That base had also been there for one generation. The new city council decided that they didn’t want the service men in uniform in their town. Out of uniform or with family members they were fine but stopping in town on the way to duty at the outlying missile silos was out of the question. Within six months the business people in town were crying for this ruling to be over turned because they were on the brink of losing their businesses. It was overturned as well as the city council.

We also lived in Texas when the oil crisis hit. We lived in a bedroom community outside of San Antonio. Two out of every three houses were empty because the owners could no longer afford them. Houses that sold in the 70s for $125,000 were sitting empty for $50,000. The only stable part of that economy was the military and civilian workers on the bases. They kept that town going through rough times so it didn’t die. With gas prices going through the roof where is the stability of tourist trade?

You can’t just move here and expect to change the place to fit the mold of where you were. If there were still families left on the island after your plan, you would still have noisy kids and boom boxes screeching up and down the highway. The young military men and women you are complaining about have earned the right to make all the noise they want. Those jets are the sound of freedom and have been flying here since long before I was a small child watching them with glee from my aunt’s beach house deck.

You are welcome here Mr. Garrod, But don’t tell me that I am not.

Sharyn Mellors

lives in Coupeville.