“This is not about you being inconvenienced. This is about your way of life and your livelihood being threatened.” – Senator Kay Hagan

Those words sum up exactly why Gates County, Hertford County and this newspaper have taken a stance against the United States Navy building an Outlying Landing Field in our region.

This fight isn’t about opposing our armed forces and it isn’t about not wanting to be inconvenienced in some way. We love the United States Navy and all branches of the military. We are just as patriotic as anyone.

What we insist on, however, is the right to live our lives the way we chose – the very reason our armed forces fight for us. We chose the way of life we have in Bertie, Gates, Hertford and Northampton counties for a reason.

We like the peaceful life.

We want to keep, protect and maintain our land, some of which has been handed down family lines for seven generations.

We love to hunt, fish and just spend leisurely days on the river. Unfortunately, most of those days on the river will be gone forever if an OLF is built in Gates and Hertford counties. Quiet days of family time spent enjoying the river, lazy days of fishing and just a calm boat ride down the Chowan River will all be affected.

All we want is to live our lives the way we’ve chosen without being disrupted. That’s why we oppose the OLF. We are pleased to have the support of Senator Hagan. She will be an important ally as we work to keep the way of life we’ve chosen.

We urge you to get involved. Only through organized effort will we be able to stop the threat to our way of life.

– The Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald