Blackwater is testing an unmanned aerial vehicle, the Polar 400, a remote-controlled dirigible that can be outfitted with various sensors. Unlike traditional drones, the Polar 400 is designed to remain aloft for several days at a time.
Mr. Strong [Blackwater's VP for Communications] said that the high-altitude blimp would be ideal for border surveillance operations or drug interdiction. He said the company wanted to win more Homeland Security contracts focused on border security training, and in choosing the location here, just eight miles from the border, Blackwater was banking on an increase in the number of border guards.
This is the first statement by Blackwater that they are aiming for border contracts. Up until now Bonfiglio had been cagy, saying they would not turn them down if they were offered. It was pretty obvious that with Potrero being only a few miles north of the border, that Blackwater was maneuvering themselves deliberately for border patrol work.
Heck, even the Virginian-Pilot, Blackwater's hometown newspaper had a great story, complete with audio slideshow. They even managed to get the dynamics around the recall right.
The planning board is an advisory body - the ultimate decision rests with the county Board of Supervisors - so a successful recall would not halt the project. It would, however, be an enormous boost for the opposition.
It has been a nasty campaign, marked by bursts of name-calling in which longtime neighbors and schoolmates have lined up against one another. And it has forced Blackwater to practice a brand of retail politics far removed from the streets of Baghdad and the corridors of power in Washington.
The Pilot is correct, this issue has very much divided the town, but the recall laid bare the actual 70-30 fault lines against and for Blackwater moving in.
Contrast that to today's article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, which lead with:
Strictly speaking, a vote removing five members of the Potrero planning group for their support of a Blackwater Worldwide training camp means little.
Blackwater officials say they are undeterred by election results announced yesterday morning and still plan to seek county approval for their project. The planning group is only an advisory body, so a vote against the project by a newly reconstituted board of Blackwater opponents won't stop it.
There is nothing factually incorrect with what is included in those two paragraphs. The Planning Group is an advisory board, but the Board of Supes does have to take into account what they say when making their decision. They cannot simply discount it.
The paper has been fairly biased towards Blackwater and this article is just one more example.
The LAT's coverage was well, picking up an AP wire story. It's not a bad article, it's just that LAT should have owned this story. Googling the LAT and Potrero brings up this post from Robert Salladay, reminding me yet again how much of a loss it was for the paper to lose him and that blog.
And that gets at the main point, cutbacks at the newspapers mean less people available to cover these kinds of stories. If these stories are important enough to have the Guardian UK, NYT and Virginia-Pilot send a reporter out to California, the least the LAT can do is get a reporter to Potrero. This is a story begging to be written: little town fights back against Blackwater, which has been all over the news for months. And well, the SDUT, I am not sure what to say about them. They are hemorrhaging circulation and their biased reporting is just par for the course.
This will be a long fight, as it moves to the Board of Supervisors and there will be plenty of time for more articles to be written. California newspapers can and should do better.
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