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Show Army coordinates weteye bomb S'reansportf with area Four U.S. Army-Air Force personnel met with county and city officials Tuesday Tues-day to coordinate activities of an emergency reconnaissance team in Vernal during the transportation of 888 weteye bombs from the Rocky Mountain Moun-tain Arsenal in Colorado to the Tooele Army Depot. Reconnaissance teams of 25-30 men will be stationed with three to four CH-47 Helicopters at four locations along the route; Kremmling, Colo.; Craig, Colo.; Provo, Utah and Vernal. "We are planning for the unlikely event of one of the transports going down," said Lt. Col. Morris Milton while in Vernal. Although Tom Donnelly, U.S. Army Public Affairs Officer, wasn't certain that the bombs would be transported to Utah, he said that a Colorado senator had passed legislation to have the bombs out of Colorado by Oct. 10, 1981. Lt. Col. Milton said they plan to transport the weteyes in August or September. All four units of reconnaissance recon-naissance teams will be coordinated so there will be only 30 minutes response time in case of a mishap. The officials were interested in the help county and city services could lend in the areas of fire fighting, water, hospitalization, lodging, recreation, and storage of weapons. Dean Reynolds, airport manager, said the men and helicopters could be based at the future site of the terminal building and an army barracks used by the Civil Air Patrol could be used as an office. "If the weather cooperates, all the weteyes will be transported within three weeks from start," said Donnelly. The army plans to make 14-15 flights to transport the bombs with two flights on Mondays and Tuesdays and one flight on Wednesdays. Each flight to the Tooele Army Depot will take about 45 minutes during which time the three Vernal-based helicopters will be in the air. Lt. Col. Milton said that the final Environmental En-vironmental Impact Statement for the transport of the weteyes was complete Feb. 20. It outlines a route away from ' inhabitated areas north of Highway 40 in Colorado and south in Utah between Vernal and Price. The men to be stationed in Vernal will stay in local hotels until the transport is complete which is anticipated by Oct. 10. After being briefed by local officials, the army personnel toured the city-county city-county fire department, National Guard Armory, hospital and airport. The officers mentioned that local service ser-vice of fire fighting and National Guard Unit would only be used as a back-up in case of an emergency. |