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Two points of view on airport expansion
Nick Olivari writes in the Register-Star about two Ghent residents with opposing views on potential changes to the Columbia County Airport. After months of discussion about extending the runway and then a grant for safety improvements for one of the hangars, the Federal Aviation Administration last week requested a wildlife study. Lifetime county resident Catherine Gallo lives in Hudson and works for Richmor Aviation at the airport. Gallo spoke in support of the facility at a recent Ghent Town Board meeting. She said complaints about the airport have heated up with the stream of new arrivals. "The airport was here first and we hadn’t had any complaints from neighbors for years." Gallo said. "What do they think, 747s will come in here? A Gulfstream is the biggest we have," she said. Judy Rusk, moved to Columbia County from Bangor, Maine, and has been a resident of Ghent for eight years. Rusk said, "I don’t mind the airport; we don’t want the airport to go away. We just don’t want it expanded and we would like an accounting of how does it play into the county as regards money coming and going." Rusk is also concerned about the environment. "Do we really want all these planes burning fuel in the air," she said. Read the full story in the Register-Star.