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sfzombie13

help! they're trying to take away my dz!

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not sure where this would go, but i figured i would start here.  i just found out that the cabell county commission is trying to take away my dz.  this is from the facebook post i just read:

 

***CALLING ALL FRIENDS & SUPPORTERS OF THE ROBERT NEWLON AIRPARK ***
The Cabell County Commission has been viciously & secretly working over the past few months to terminate the lease & the existence of the Robert Newlon Airpark, The West Virginia Skydivers Association, the Fly In Cafe', the Campground, and everything that takes place at the Airport. Carl Bailey has had Attorneys working hard, but the County Commission has just scheduled an Emergency Agenda at the Cabell County Commission Meeting on Tuesday November 24th at 10:00 am (Thanksgiving/Deer Season Week & Covid Shutdowns) in an attempt to disband the Cabell County Airport Authority Board, and move toward termination of the Robert Newlon Airport.
PLEASE contact your Cabell County Commissioners & Politicians and tell them that you are against this, and support all of our efforts there. PLEASE attend the County Commission Meeting and show your objection to 1 or 2 people's personal agenda or opinion of something very postive and beneficial to our County, should not be taken away in this manner. Behind the scenes they have hired an expensive contract-breaking Law Firm, and are spending A LOT of YOUR TAX DOLLARS trying to accomplish this crooked agenda !!!!
 
if you could sign the petition, not sure that it would do any good because wv politics sucks balls, but it couldn't hurt.  anyone know how to get a hold of the uspa so they may be able to help?  i hate this shit.  2020 can suck my arse!

 

Edited by sfzombie13

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i have not heard yet, just saw this on facebook a bit ago.  probably has to do with it being a prime piece of riverfront property that some politician wants.  or some politician has a friend who wants it.  i will be going down today, so will post all the details i find.  whatever it is, it can't be good, or have a good reason, otherwise they wouldn't have worked in secret and set the meeting for this week, the emergency meeting.  i know how i would've handled it 25 years ago, but i'm not that person anymore.

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going to see when i go down later, i may call ahead to see if he wants to take the stearman out.  i don't know anything other than what i posted here.  i figured getting signatures on a petition couldn't hurt to start with.  they did talk to the uspa, just found that out a few minutes ago.  it's a private field, not sure if the faa has anything to do with it or not, never came up before.

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1 hour ago, sfzombie13 said:

...  they did talk to the uspa, just found that out a few minutes ago.  it's a private field, not sure if the faa has anything to do with it or not, never came up before.

I don't understand.

It sounds like it's a county airport, with a county board approved "authority board".

And even private airports are subject to FAA oversight, getting an official "identifier", following various rules/procedures.
Some even get federal money.

And that is the big catch.
If they've taken federal money, they have to follow the rules. 

A lot of times, the 'good 'ole boys' forget or ignore those rules.

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Robert Newlon Airpark, West Virginia 

Airport Ownership and Management from official FAA records

Ownership:  Publicly-owned
Owner:  CABELL COUNTY COMMISSION
SUITE 300 CABELL CO CTHOUSE
HUNTINGTON, WV 25705
Phone 304-526-8634
Manager: 

CARL BAILEY
P. O. BOX 1493
HUNTINGTON, WV 25716
Phone 304-733-1240
OR 304-417-2343 MGR CELL.

http://www.airnav.com/airport/i41

https://wvtourism.com/company/robert-newlon-airport-rv-and-camping-and-fly-in-cafe/

Sounds like a great little place. Read the reviews on the RV Park and they were mixed.  Sounds like the place needs a little attention but reviews were a couple years old so some of that may have been taken of.  Cafe got good reviews.  Too bad the County is trying to close it down.

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If Cabell County or the West Virginia tourism commission received any money from the federal government, then they need to follow the federal rules, which make it difficult to quickly close an active airfield.

 

As an aside, "Cabellas" is a big-box store that caters to hunters and fishermen. Does the store have any connection to Cabell County?

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seriously doubt it, took forever to get a cabellas in wv.  it is a great place to jump, campground is sweet.  they have a bluegrass festival every year in august, and a 4th of july party/festival.  nothing more on the information front, except they don't get faa funds, my suggestion was to get some quickly, which would nip this in the bud.  my take is that someone wants the property for something and has some friends in high places.  wv politics is dirty and these damned crooks they keep putting in office are shameful.  looks like i will be driving about 4 hours to a dz next year.

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12 hours ago, riggerrob said:

As an aside, "Cabellas" is a big-box store that caters to hunters and fishermen. Does the store have any connection to Cabell County?

Doubtful. One "L" ... see https://www.cabelas.com/

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On 11/22/2020 at 10:14 AM, sfzombie13 said:

going to see when i go down later, i don't know anything other than what i posted here.  i figured getting signatures on a petition couldn't hurt to start with.  they did talk to the uspa, just found that out a few minutes ago.  it's a private field, not sure if the faa has anything to do with it or not, never came up before.

In other words, you decided to get out your suit of armor, jump on your white horse, send out a battle-cry, rally the troops to get a petition started . . . And, you didn't even talk with the guy who owns the place to assess if he wanted your help? You ever think he might want to sell it?  

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look dude, if he was trying to sell it he wouldn't have hired lawyers to fight it.  it was an abandoned piece of land with some buildings on it about 10 or so years ago, he leased it and made improvements to the property including the campground and restaurant, then the dz.  it does not receive faa funding at all, and i suggested that may be the easiest way to stop it.  signing a petition is free, and so is any advice anyone wants to give me, besides calling uspa that is, such as the advice about calling the aopa (they had done that already also but i appreciate the advice).  oh, and by the way, had you read my first post, you would absolutely see that nobody is trying to do anything other than save the airport (the dz actually, but it comes as a package deal).  hell, i just put a roof on the hangar in may.

looks like my last sentence was deemed a personal attack, so it got taken out.  probably a good thing, and i will try very hard not to do that again.  let me try again with that final thought.

i didn't start any petition, just saw it already started and posted a link when asking for help.  i will take any advice anyone may have, provided it is actually advice and helpful.  i will end with this bit of advice for the person commenting above:  given that there was enough information in the original post to show that they are very much trying to save it and not sell it, in the future it would be more helpful to keep a comment like that to yourself.  it does nothing to help anyone, nor does it provide any useful information.  maybe i am just defensive on this particular subject. 

 

Edited by sfzombie13
PA - compensated for

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1 hour ago, sfzombie13 said:

signing a petition is free, and so is any advice anyone wants to give me

In "most" cases a petition against local government requires signatures & witnesses from local citizens that are registered voters. Advice: Get with Carl and ask how you can help. Perhaps a legal defense fund or such.

 

Quote

given that there was enough information in the original post to show that they are very much trying to save it and not sell it, in the future it would be more helpful to keep a comment like that to yourself.  it does nothing to help anyone, nor does it provide any useful information. 

Please realize that when I asked you where Carl was in all of this; your response was, "going to see when i go down later,  i don't know anything other than what i posted here." You did not say anything about attorneys, etc." Everyone wishes Carl luck fighting this. 

Edited by BIGUN
clarification

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45 minutes ago, BIGUN said:

 i don't know anything other than what i posted here." You did not say anything about attorneys, etc." Everyone wishes Carl luck fighting this. 

in the first post, there is a part that says, " Carl Bailey has had Attorneys working hard, but the County Commission has just scheduled an Emergency Agenda at the Cabell County Commission Meeting on Tuesday November 24th at 10:00 am".  you may have missed that part, but it was, and is still, there.  sorry for being defensive, but given that all of the info was there for everyone to see, i assumed (my bad there) that you were being a prick, and rather than be nice, i responded in kind, also my bad. 

as for the petition, since it is an airport that also has a drop zone, i would think that any interested party, such as those who fly and land there or go down to jump out of planes would have their input welcome as well.  not to mention the fact that having a camp ground means there are also others who visit for nothing more than to relax and bring money to the economy.  maybe it will all work out, but now we wait til february and see.  at least that gives us time to prepare more thoroughly.  happy thanksgiving.

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Invite all your local skydivers, all your local pilots, the local Experimental Aircraft Association, your local soaring club, and a few hundred campers to the meeting in February. Remind them to wear: skydiving, flying, AOPA, EAA, Soaring Association of America, etc. T-shirts.

I once attended a pilot/skydiver's funeral where one mourner wore his best US Army dress uniform, but half the mourners wore bright red skydiving t-shirts.

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thanx for those suggestions, they will be used.  it would be really helpful to know why they are doing this all of a sudden, 10 years into a 30 year lease.  or more accurately, who they're doing it for.  i would hate to go to the folks who benefit from this and ask for help.  kind of like tipping off the enemy.  at least there's time to think and plan now. 

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21 hours ago, sfzombie13 said:

Carl Bailey has had Attorneys working hard, but the County Commission has just scheduled an Emergency Agenda at the Cabell County Commission Meeting on Tuesday November 24th at 10:00 am".  you may have missed that part, but it was, and is still, there.

You are correct. I did miss that. My apologies. Happy Thanksgiving. 

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1 hour ago, BIGUN said:

You are correct. I did miss that. My apologies. Happy Thanksgiving. 

damn, i wish the rest of the internet would act like we do here.  i recall the old irc rooms in the late '80s were mostly like this, depending on where you went.  maybe because we were offline more than online and knew what happened when you acted like an ass in person.  when we can safely travel again, come on down (if the dz is still there) and have a stearman jump and a beer.  pitch a tent for free by the hangar or rent a camper spot. 

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