Army special-operations helicopters on a training exercise buzzed the Port Angeles area late Thursday night in an episode that the mayor says “terrorized my city.”
An Army official apologized Friday for the unannounced training mission.
Dozens of alarmed residents called police to ask what was going on and said the noise and lights panicked horses and other livestock.
“They terrorized my city,” Port Angeles Mayor Cherie Kidd said Friday.
“No one had any warning about the helicopters, no one said anything afterwards, and today city officials had to spend hours just trying to find out what had happened — who had invaded Port Angeles.”
She plans to meet Monday morning with Army Col. H. Charles “Chuck” Hodges Jr., garrison commander of Joint Base Fort Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, about 90 miles south of Port Angeles, where the special-operations helicopters are based.
“I want to hold people accountable for this so it doesn't happen again,” Kidd said.
Hodges said Friday afternoon he had launched an investigation and was meeting with unit commanders at the base.
“I apologize, this is totally unacceptable,” he told the Peninsula Daily News.
“At the very least we should have notified local authorities of the exercise.”
An Army official apologized Friday for the unannounced training mission.
Dozens of alarmed residents called police to ask what was going on and said the noise and lights panicked horses and other livestock.
“They terrorized my city,” Port Angeles Mayor Cherie Kidd said Friday.
“No one had any warning about the helicopters, no one said anything afterwards, and today city officials had to spend hours just trying to find out what had happened — who had invaded Port Angeles.”
She plans to meet Monday morning with Army Col. H. Charles “Chuck” Hodges Jr., garrison commander of Joint Base Fort Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, about 90 miles south of Port Angeles, where the special-operations helicopters are based.
“I want to hold people accountable for this so it doesn't happen again,” Kidd said.
Hodges said Friday afternoon he had launched an investigation and was meeting with unit commanders at the base.
“I apologize, this is totally unacceptable,” he told the Peninsula Daily News.
“At the very least we should have notified local authorities of the exercise.”
Read more: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20130713/NEWS/130719995/army-apologizes-for-helicopters-that-terrorized-port-angeles
Link to this post - http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2013/07/city-terrorized-by-army-exercise.html
UPDATE - Port Angeles mayor will go to army base to demand answers. http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20130714/news/307149986/port-angeles-mayor-kidd-to-go-to-army-base-monday-in-wake-of
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