Editor,

In his Oct. 18 letter to the Whidbey News-Times, Mac McDowell wrote, “The Navy has long said OLF Coupeville is essential to Whidbey Island Naval Air Station remaining open.”

When and where has the Navy ever said that? Mr. McDowell didn’t offer one direct quote from the Navy to support this statement.

If the Navy had ever said that, it would have been part of every discussion about OLF in meetings and newspaper accounts and letters to the editor for the last several years.

It would have been plastered on billboards all over the island.

It would have stopped dead in its tracks any claim by those who want OLF closed that they don’t also want the air station closed.

Where has that statement been hidden all of these years? If Mr. McDowell has access to it, he should produce it. If not, in the interest of his own credibility, he should admit that he misspoke.

Ann Adams

Oak Harbor