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Daily Nebraskan
Friday, January 22, 1982
A
How Kimball
learned to stop
worrying . . .
By Mary Louise Knupp
"W
f f elcome to Kimball, Nebraska - Missle Center,
U.S.A.," proclaims a billboard at the entrance to this Pan
handle city - where nuclear weapons are a way of life.
Kimball is in the center of one of the largest Minuteinan
III missile installations in the United States. About 200
Minuteinan III missile silos are in the immediate area, which
includes parts of Wyoming and Colorado.
The area now is being considered as a possible site for
deployment of the MX missile, a weapon that can carry up to
10 nuclear warheads.
The Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyo.,
controls the missiles in the Kimball area.
First Lieutenant David Lamp, public affairs chief of the
base, said the Air Force base is a contender to receive the
new missiles until the Defense Department decides how to
deploy the missiles permanently. But no decision on where
the missiles will be placed is likely for some time, he said.
Most townspeople favor bringing the MX to Kimball, for
both patriotic and economic reasons, but many area farmers
- especially those who own the land where the silos are
based oppose the idea.
Kimball Mayor Wayne Kobbins said if the federal govern
ment thinks the MX should be based in Kimball for security
reasons, he would support the government.
"Whether the MX is based here or not, we are still a high
risk area," he said.
Robbins, who also manages a Kimball Construction
Company, criticized farmers who oppose the MX. Farmers
should be willing to sacrifice some of their land for the
missile silos if it is necessary for the country's defense, he
said.
"A missile or two is not too high a price for freedom," he
said. "I would donate enough land to stay free."
Robbins said since the Air Force paid farmers for placing
the missiles on their land farmers should be willing to work
with the government if MX missiles are based on their land.
One plan for basing the MX is to expand and harden
Minuteman silos - which may require taking two to three
more acres of land, Robbins said.
Both Robbins and Dan Jenson, director of civil defense in
Kimball, said they believed the MX missiles would not need
more land.
"I don't feel it would take a lot of acreage," Jenson said.
"They'll make it as easy as they can on the American peo
ple . damage the least land they can. The government
knows we need farmland to feed people."
In January briefings of area residents, however, Air Force
personnel told townspeople they could not promise they
would never need more acres if the MX missiles are based
around Kimball.
Bob Arraj, city administrator for Kimball, said he found
the townspeople's attitudes toward the MX "surprising."
"I haven't heard a word from the public lately," he said.
"Several years ago, when the MX concept was first born,
there was quite a reaction in the farming community. At that
time, they were considering the shell game system, and I can
well appreciate their concern."
In its original form, the MX system would have required
using hundreds of acres of missile silos with many fewer
missiles than silos.
The missiles would be moved from silo to silo at periodic
intervals, theoretically preventing enemies from guessing
their location.
This system, commonly called the "shell game" has not
been ruled out yet, according to the latest Defense Depart
ment reports.
Delynn Peterson, a Kimball area farmer who owns land
with a Minuteman silo on it, opposes a possible MX in
stallation on his land.
"They (the Air Force officers) should let well enough
alone," he said. "We have enough missiles here already. I
don't think they should take any more private property in
the area."
Although Peterson is a firm supporter of President
Reagan, he said he has little reason to think kindly of the
military.
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. . . and love
the bomb
Two years ago, while Peterson was drilling an irrigation
test well in his fields about half a mile from the missile silo,
two armed Air Force security guards approached him and
told him to leave the pickup he was driving.
"They told me to get out and put my hands on the pick
up," he said. "The Air Force guy said that if I tried to go
over the (silo) fence, he would shoot."
Peterson said he was not on government property at the
time of the incident, but had used an approach road leading
to the missile site to get to the test well.
"We stayed away from the fence and did not disturb
them," he said.
he Air Force security guards continued to point
guns at him as he left the area, Peterson said.
Glenn Barrett, another Kimball farmer, said the Minute
man silo and control center on his land have posed no major
problems for him.
"The Minuteman is no problem, but it might be better if
they put the MX somewhere else," Barrett said. "We've made
some sacrifices for security, but I don't think we owe the
whole nation security."
Fifteen years ago, the Air Force purchased 4.5 acres of
land for the installation of Minuteman silos. It paid $100 an
acre.
The control center on his land was the site of a historic
simulated nuclear attack in the 1940s.
Five -foot walls 60 feet underground were cracked during
the test.
The Minuteman missiles have been a boon to the city's
economy, and many townspeople feel Kimball would exper
ience an economic upswing if the MX is installed there.
Steve Kuhlman, manager of a Kimball clothing store,
said Kimball - population about 4,000 - is too small a town
to rely on industry for its livelihood and it needs the kind of
economic stimulus the MX would provide.
The MX installation wduld bring an influx of Air Force
personnel and their families, as the Minuteman installation
did in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he said.
"It is a good idea to update the missiles," Kuhlman said.
"I did not agree with the first MX plan, but the new plan
would be fine."
Kuhlman said people in the Kimball area have come to
accept the dangers of living in a defense center, and general
ly do not worry much about it.
The subject of nuclear war is not discussed at length in the
area, he said.
Arraj said he doesn't believe the fear of nuclear war is any
more intense in Kimball than anyplace else.
"If the fear was greater, you'd see more bomb shelters
being built and more concern about civil defense plans," he
said. "I haven't heard word one as to concern on that
subject."
0,
'pposition to the MX generally is lacking in Kimball.
but Sidney - a nearby town of about 6,000 - has a strong
and vocal group that tormed to protest the missile.
The organization, called Nebraskans Opposed to MX, in
cludes members of five farm organizations and townspeople,
Marian Lenzen, a Sidney member of the group, said.
The group is worried that the new MX plan, originally
expected to take only a few acres of farmland per missile
silo, is the government's way of "getting their foot in the
door" to take more and more land, Lenzen said.
"The MX is not another Minuteman, although the Air
Force wants to give us that impression," she said.
Lenzen said no technology has been developed yet for
hardening and expanding Minuteman silos to fit the MX.
Since the technology is not developed, the Air Force would
very likely return to the original "shell game" plan after they
decided where to base the MX, she said.
"It's being supped in on us," she said.
In the past few months NOMX has led several rallies
against the missile, Lenzen said.
Those rallies in the Sidney area have been well attended
and the group has a great deal of local support, she said.
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