Think about impact of losing Marine base

In response to the letter about MCAS being endangered ("Seeds may be sown for closure of MCAS," Nov. 10), I am totally in favor of a landowner's right to do with their property as they wish - (within the law). They do need to think through how their decisions could adversely affect great numbers of fellow citizens.

When you think about rezoning various properties so that greedy land developers can reap the harvest, think also of the hundreds of citizens that will lose their livelihoods due to the closure of MCAS, as this is a definite possibility. Ask the civilian employees who lost their jobs because of the closure of various military bases MCAS El Toro and NAS Los Alamitos - just to name a couple. Ask the local merchants of those areas how long it took them to recover from the loss due to military closures ... if ever.

Ask the families of retired military personnel that located in these areas to enable them to take advantage of the benefits the military promised them because of their many years of dedicated military service.

You don't think it could happen here? Ask yourself why the above mentioned facilities were shut down, these plus many more. Could it possibly be because land developers gobbled up vacant land near these facilities, developed and colonized it? Then came the complaints to local and federal government about the "high noise level," followed by base closures.

Think of all the many years of service that were served by men and women willing to protect the right of those who complain. Think about how disruptive these closures were to their lives.

With all the vacant land around the Yuma area, there have to be many acres available that do not encroach on military facilities. In fact, a moratorium on building and developing might be a good idea. Lift it when all the present developments are completed and sold.

JOE METCALFE

Yuma