Editor,
I am responding to the Nov. 14 letter from John Close, which presumes that Outlying Field neighbors all received some form of noise disclosure, and that even if such disclosure was insufficient, exercise of due diligence would have made prospective buyers aware of the potential noise the Growlers produce.
Not true on either count.
A third of buyers, like us, saw/signed no disclosure document. We first learned of the existence of such documents this year.
Another third saw such documents for the first time at settlement after their previous homes were sold and moving vans were on the way.
But what if we had received any of the various documents the final third of buyers received?
We lived adjacent to a naval air station in another state for 16 years before moving here mid-2007 and never had a problem or complaint.
We did ask Whidbey acquaintances what that big field was we passed one day.
They told us it was an air field owned by the Navy and used a few times each month.
For the first five years we lived here, that was true.
Then our lives changed.
The Growlers make sounds when they accelerate like nothing one can imagine; their sound/vibration physically hurts.
The house vibrates. You cannot hear what a person sitting next to you is saying, let alone a TV or the ring of a telephone.
Our hearing has declined, our blood pressure has risen and headaches are prevalent.
The planes often fly from 7 a.m. until well after 1 a.m. for days at a time. When are we supposed to sleep? How are the children who live here supposed to learn? There is no disclosure that is adequate.
If we were enemy combatants, the Geneva Conventions would prevent the Navy from flying the Growlers in inhabited areas because prolonged exposure to noise and sleep deprivation are defined as torture.
We are good citizens who cherish and contribute to our community.
We volunteer for nonprofits both in Coupeville and throughout Whidbey Island. We most certainly are not a fringe element, as Close suggested. We are you.
Babette Thompson
Coupeville
