The Word from Washington
I HE WORD FROM WASHINGTON "Be Prepared" is the Boy Scouts' motto, but not the U.S. Army's; it has more urgent concerns. Over the past two years, more than 14,000 Boy, Girl, and Cub Scouts have...
...Abernethy, the Army's deputy director of safety, got around to responding to the safety survey...
...The "confidential" report issued by the Defense Department's Explosives Safety Board —declassified at the insistence of Senator Gary Hart, Colorado Democrat— cited a number of hazards: Electrical power lines had been installed over and near above-ground ammunition storage facilities...
...Over the past two years, more than 14,000 Boy, Girl, and Cub Scouts have gone camping at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA), the Army facility in Colorado where nerve gas bombs and other lethal substances are stored...
...It is preferable," he concluded, "to continue the youth group activities rather than terminate them on the basis of a highly theoretical hazard and incur the resultant bad publicity and loss of credibility...
...Richard M. Nixon has been back in the news, telling an interviewer from the Ladies' Home Journal that he deplores "the undermining of our strength and values," regretting that "we are so cynical, so disbelieving...
...If the provision is retained, it will cost many billions more in the future...
...And we all know who gets kicked...
...mustard gas contamination was detected in building areas, sumps, and interconnecting drainage lines which discharge directly into an open industrial basin: open areas contaminated by chemicals and explosives were not marked with appropriate warning signs...
...In a letter to the Explosives Safety Board, Abernethy said youth group activities would continue, since they had "proven to be a valuable asset in public and community relations.'' He added: "Termination of such activities would be an undesirable impetus for public apprehension or alarm...
...When he left Congress three years ago, his twenty years of Federal service (including military duty and a Government job) entitled him to a monthly pension of $1,560...
...In June 1974, Pentagon safety experts surveyed the arsenal and concluded it was unsafe for camping and other youth activities...
...If youth group activities were terminated, it is anticipated that significant adverse community, political, and Congressional reaction would be incurred...
...The deputy safety director also pointed out that the areas designated for camping were farthest away from the storage and operations involving chemical agents, and that the arsenal's "Disaster Control Plan" provided for the evacuation of campers in case of accident...
...By 1990, if he lives that long and if inflation continues at an annual rate of 6 per cent, he will be drawing a pension of $6,000 a month— $72,000 a year...
...The Scouts have been sampling the great outdoors on arsenal territory despite internal protests by the Pentagon's safety unit...
...The "kicker" is supposed to make up for the time lag between such adjustments, but it actually does much more: By 1990, Keith estimated, he wil have received an excess of $76,000 under the system...
...a straight ladder with metal hooks was found hanging on a 600-volt cable near an ammunition storage building...
...munitions components, such as fuses and relays, were stored in substandard containers...
...We wonder how all that came about...
...Eight months later, D.F...
...The problem is a device called the "kicker," under which a 1 per cent bonus is added each time Federal pensions are adjusted for increases in the cost of living...
...cluster bomb debris was found inside storage and unloading facilities...
...Butthe realities being what they are, the "kicker" is likely to remain intact...
...Potomacus...
...The Federal pension system, he pointed out, goes far beyond compensating retirees for the effects of inflation...
...Keith astonished some of his former colleagues by appearing at a recent House subcommittee hearing to detail these figures and denounce them as a "scandalous" waste...
...If Congress were to act now to phase out the past effects of the "kicker" by attrition, Keith suggested, it could save $ 10.5 billion...
...Since then his pension has risen to $2,095 a month...
...The study concluded flatly that "youth groups should not be permitted to use RMA for camping and other activities," since "toxic-chemical-agent protective masks which would protect children in the event of an agent accident are not available...
...Hastings Keith, aged fifty-nine, served seven terms as a Republican Representative from Massachusetts...
Vol. 40 • January 1976 • No. 1
