[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 130 (Thursday, September 30, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S11753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CLOSING OF FORT McCLELLAN

  Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, this is an important day for the United 
States and for Alabama in the community of Anniston, Calhoun County.
  Fort McClellan closed today. It was a casualty of the 1995 BRAC 
process. There was a great institution and a great installation. 
Thousands and hundreds of thousands of Americans served in that 
community. It was given to the military in the early 1900s by the 
people of that area in order to found this base.
  I would like to read part of an article by Rose Livingston, writing 
for the Birmingham News, captioned ``Taps for Fort McClellan as final 
door closes.''

       The barracks are boarded up, and barricades block their 
     driveways. Flags have been furled and stored as mementos. 
     Soldiers have packed up and shipped out.
       Fort McClellan is no more.
       The 82-year-old Army training base in Anniston finally shut 
     its gates Thursday. It was given birth in 1917 by a community 
     that chipped in to buy the land and donated it to their 
     government. Its demise came at the hands of federal bean-
     counters, who decided in 1995 that Fort McClellan was 
     surplus.
       No bugle sounded, no cannon fired for the final shutdown. 
     Those symbols were quieted after a closing ceremony in 
     August, when soldiers were still around to march in it. Most 
     are long gone. All that remains now is a skeleton crew to 
     manage the base's transition from a bustling military post to 
     a profit-generating private enterprise.

  Indeed, we will be looking for reuse of that facility. The community 
has a joint power reuse authority: The Chamber of Commerce, the city of 
Anniston are all working to do what they can to create the kind of 
activity in a different way than what existed there.
  I am pleased we had the support of this Senate to create the Center 
for Domestic Preparedness at Fort McClellan because Fort McClellan was 
a chemical training school, among other things, and we have to be able 
to be prepared in this Nation for the use of weapons of mass 
destruction.
  So this base at least will be a small part of some of the chemical 
testing facilities, some of the training facilities, and training of 
teachers. They will be able to teach firemen and police how to respond 
if they are faced with a chemical or biological weapons attack in their 
towns and cities.
  The people of Anniston, the people of Fort McClellan, and the people 
of Calhoun County are patriotic Americans. They gave the land that 
became Ft. McClellan, and now they will receive the land back. But they 
will lose a great deal of income and support.
  The people of Anniston fought for their fort, but took the loss 
gracefully. They believed that chemical weapons would remain a major 
threat and that we ought not to close this base. I think they made a 
lot of good arguments. But the Commission decided otherwise, and with 
good grace, fortitude, and determination, they accepted it and made a 
determination to move to the future. I believe they will be successful 
in that.
  I know time is late. We need to move on to other matters. But I did 
not want this day to pass before we had an opportunity to pause and 
recognize the extraordinary contribution of over 2,000 men and women 
soldiers and over 2,000 civilians who have served at that base.

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