As a rule, I typically don’t quote anonymous sources. We make a rare exception this week with the story about layoffs at FASTC. Government employees aren’t at liberty to discuss all that’s going on without fear of retaliation. I assure readers that I quoted only personnel I know and trust. I communicated with several different workers — some being cut and others in limbo. Some of those being laid-off have a few more months before their contract ends. Others already have been released.
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Reaction on Facebook to the news has been disappointing. Some folks, who aren’t fans of President Trump, appear to enjoy the fact that federal layoffs are taking place here in red Trump country. Some of those same folks are especially delighted by the irony that Trump voters themselves are among those affected. “You get what you voted for,” was a typical taunting response. Others, who are either comfortably employed or retired, are saying cuts have to be made and many areas of the country will have to suffer short-term (but not them). The lack of compassion for those being laid-off is disheartening.
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Some folks are lashing-out and accusing Blackstone officials past and present of being too supportive of FASTC and “developing the town” around it. Nonsense. I was Mayor in 2011 when the feds announced interest in coming to then- Fort Pickett. It wasn’t hard to be supportive. Let’s see: a large federal facility, which will employ 500 people, wants to come to your rural area, where most of the jobs aren’t high-paying and don’t have the best benefits. Nottoway County and Blackstone officials would’ve — and SHOULD’VE — been run out-of-town had they opposed FASTC.
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Also remember this: the original proposal was a $940 million facility with its own 465-bed dormitory and dining hall. But in 2013, the project was put in limbo and then “de-scoped” — basically cut in half. The dormitory and dining facility were among the items removed. The Feds announced that trainees would depend on the local economy for housing and food. Remember all those months when trainees were being bussed here daily from Richmond area hotels? It took a while, but the private sector finally rallied and invested MILLIONS here. Let’s see: $17 million turning the abandoned VUMAC property into the Inn at Blackstone, and probably another $15-20 million in various apartment complexes here. What happens to those buildings if they’re suddenly empty most of the year?
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The big danger of relying on Uncle Sam, obviously, is that he can be fickle. “Camp” Pickett closed for a year or two after WWII and also after Korea. My late father often told me how hard times were in Blackstone during those years. (He also told me how the Army would lie and say they weren’t closing Pickett and then a week later they’d close Pickett.) When Fort Pickett was “BRAC’d” in 1995, there was genuine concern about the future of this area. Fortunately, then-Gov. George Allen and then-Adj. General of Virginia, the late Carroll Thackston, saw to it that Pickett was taken over by the Virginia National Guard. Today more than 1,000 people work at Barfoot in various public and private capacities.
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I for one support Trump and Elon cutting government waste, abuse, and fraud. I’m not qualified to say what’s vital and not vital. I predicted in this column after the election that if the administration is going to truly tackle a $36 trillion deficit, it’s not going to affect only the fat cats in DC, southern Maryland, and northern Virginia. I worried about FASTC.
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With that said, the cuts do appear to be made in haste. I prefer a scalpel over a chain saw. I had hoped, for selfish Blackstonian reasons, that national security would be spared. However, if America’s foreign policy is going to be less interventionist, how do you NOT cut the Pentagon and Dept. of State? Can we afford peace? Can those of us who say we want a leaner federal government truly live with such?
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Both Nottoway County and the Town of Blackstone are having a tough time getting their audits of fiscal year 2023-24 complete in a timely manner. I wonder if that means County and Town tax bills will be delayed or maybe forgotten in the Fall. I highly doubt it!
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