Friday, October 30, 2009
Oh, really, Gaila?
http://www.tribune-georgian.com/articles/2009/10/30/opinion/letters/05letter10.30.txt
Read Gaila's letter-to-the-editor first.
Now, y'all may recall that not too many weeks ago, I ran into my old friend Wyman Westberry. You'll recall that he gave me some correspondence he had received from the Corps of Engineers about that railhead / warehouse project in Kingsland on 17 N.
Well, he told me another very interesting story that day. Back when Gaila's husband Jerry was the mayor of St. Marys, Wyman got a call from a friend of his in Chicago. Said friend was the friend of an Israeli who manufactured corporate jets in Israel. It seems this company wanted to fly the unfurnished jets over to a small airfield in the states where they would build a facility and hire American craftsmen to do custom finishes to the interiors according to their deep-pocketed customers' desires. The friend had visited Wyman in St. Marys before and thought that the airport would be perfect. Wyman got together all of the contact information and personally gave it to then Mayor Jerry Brandon as well as whoever was the JDA dirctor at the time - Bill Wiesensee, I believe. The upshot? NO ONE EVER CONTACTED THE ISRAELI COMPANY. They located elsewhere in the states.
My, how times have changed, eh, Gaila?
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9 comments:
Are you aware we already have a facility at our airport that brings in planes from all over to redo upholstery? It is owned by one of the best paramedics in Camden county. I read mrs brandons letter and think it is well written.
If you are considering Wyman to be a pillar of the community and a great civic leader, then boy are you wacko. That man has pulled more scams on the taxpayers of Camden then I care to think about. The whole group of locals good 'ol boys in St Marys needs to go. NOTHING will ever happen in this town until they do.
But she is accurate in what she is saying. The current City Council members should not be re-elected!
I'm not talking about a part time operation reupholstering seats on piper cubs. These weere going to be flightworthy, brand new corporate jets with bare enteriors except for the flight deck. Thye were to be flown like that from Israle then completely custom finished to customer specs. These were multi-milion corporate jets. They weere going to build theoir own state-of-the-art facility, not rent some space in some of that crap that's out at the airport.
There is no comparison whatsoever.
Really? Why don't you tell us SPECIFICALLY how Wyman has screwed the taxpayers?
Wyman will probly get on me for telling you this, but do rember when someone donated several THOUSDAND young oaks tres to the city years ago? You can see some of them on either side of Osborne Street just south of the old mill road now, They're up to maybe 10 to 15 feet high. Unfortunately, the icty dilly dallied around planting them until several thousand DIED before being planted. Then the idiots on the lawnmowers cut down many of the planted ones. At any rate, the anonymous donor was none other than Wyman Westberry.
IAI has built jets for Gulfstream since 2001. In 2001, Mr. Westbury did get information that an Ireali company would be building luxury jets and bringing them to this country for custom completion of the interior. He did, indeed, pass that information to the City, the Airport Authority, and the JDA. The input was not ignored, but the deal with Gulfstream to complete the aircraft at their Dallas, Texas plant was alre4ady sealed. The information was not general public knowledge because, if I remember correctly, The joint announcement of the arrangement by Gulfstream/IAI had not been released. It was worth looking into, but we never stood a chance of getting the facility.
It's "Westberry." Who are you and how do you know that? My recollection is that Wuman told me that when he asked Jerry whether they had ever acted on it, he was told "We're not really interested inthat kind of thing." based on my knowledge of Jerry's attitudes ("I wish tourists would just come, spend their money and leave!") and Wiesensee's utterly unproductive tenure as JDA Director, I have no trouble believing that no one made any efforts whatsoever.
Believe what you choose to believe; I told you the way it happened. I applaud Mr. Westberry for bringing to our attention. Mr. Brandon did not check into it personally, but he knew it was checked.
I am not privy to the personal conversations between Mr. Brandon and Mr. Westberry.
This happened in 2000 or 2001 but I don't remember the exact date.
I am sure that you can go on the internet and check out IAI (I believe that this is Isreali Airospace International, but I'm not sure) and Gulfstream (that I am sure of).
Incidently, you know me as Buzzard.
Do I also know you as Harold Cohn?
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