On To The Next Anniversary

Yesterday, the Port Authority celebrated, to the day, the 50th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Newark Air Force Station.  The Port Authority now owns and operates the former base.

We unveiled the video below with a look back, in silent video, at that December 13, 1962 ceremony.

And, now, we can look forward to the next anniversary and wrap up this last one.

Don't Do This To Your Old Building

This is a clip from a 1982 article that ran in On Target, the on-base newspaper at the Newark Air Force Base.  The facilities folks at NAFB had decided to take their then 30-year old building and "re skin" it.

It may have, in theory, looked better.  It was thought, in theory, to save energy.

It's questionable in both cases.  Bad idea.

Today, we have a building that when the windows fog up not only do the windows that you can see fog up but the ones that were so kindly left behind the new skin do too.  The build up of condensation is a twice-a-year or more seasonal hassle.

I could go on and on.

So, don't do this.  Ever.

Beating a Bureaucrat

I called and e-mailed repeatedly.  Alerted in late 2004 that our Port Authority's land that was once the grounds of the former Newark Air Force Base was to be granted a HUBZone designation by the SBA, I made contact with the person assigned to our region of the country.

Economic development tool boxes are best that have a variety of tools to fit the right company needs.  We want HUBZone status if we can get it.

We've had two, real deals consider our location only IF it had HUBZone status.

Now, I've made a career cutting through red tape to get things done, but this Department of Commerce guy was a bureaucrat's bureaucrat.  I wrote about him before.  Hear his January 2008 voice message to me.  It's both hilarious, and sad.

It was September 2008 before we could find our Port Authority designated on the HUBZone map.  And that was only after then-Congressman Zack Space's office assisted getting an answer.

Then, the status was lost 15 months later in December 2009.  It lapsed at the same time as the law-designated five year expiration period. 

It lapsed just as we were talking to a prospect which desired HUBZone status and as we were pondering building a new building on our campus able to accommodate new, small businesses.

Attempts for "reparations" were falling on deaf ears, though.

That's why the best victory to date came Tuesday when the Defense Authorization bill made its way through the Senate with 145 amendments including one, should it survive Conference Committee, which promises to restore our HUBZone status for awhile.

No one person does it alone, but U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, personally, was a bulldog in following through.  An amendment worked hard by him in 2011 didn't make it.  He kept at it though.

His staff was great.  Amazing work.

Our local Mayor, Mark Johns, made it his personal mission to keep fighting for proper reparations too.

Together, we beat the bureaucrats' bureaucrat.  That's reason to smile alone.

50 Years of Getting The Words Right

December 13 is a milestone date.

United States Air Force General Mark Bradley, Jr. was the keynote speaker for the December 13, 1962 Dedication Ceremony for the Newark Air Force Station.  It was the Day One event for the unique place now owned by the Port Authority and named the Central Ohio Aerospace & Technology Center.

We have three minutes of silent video and an excerpt from his remarks that are being made into a YouTube video to show off at our December 13, 2012 Open House event.

Amazingly, his words match up to today quite well.

"It was not by accident that this location was chosen. . .We needed an environment almost completely free from seismic disturbance."  That is the primary reason that this work remains here today.  There are only a very few places in the nation where this ground stability is achievable.

"At this facility are located the most sensitive calibration laboratories in the Western World."  Still true today.  The Air Force Primary Standards Laboratory run by Bionetics and the Type II primary standards lab maintained by Boeing combine to be the largest aerospace metrology operation in the World.

"The facility is much more than concrete and steel. . .It's most important element is people."  The watchmaker-like skills of the workforce and the unique ability to find both engineers and technicians among the workforce here have been the sustaining force for five decades.

"Thought it was incidential in the selection process, the economic significance of the installation to this area is obvious."  The economic impact, over 50 years, is astonishing.  Yet, it wouldn't be here if this place didn't continue to be important to the national defense. 

Here's to the next 50 years!

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TAKE ACTION:  The Port Authority's Annual Holiday Open House is set for December 13, 2012 at 11-1.  No need to RSVP.  It's an Open House.  See Facebook event page.

Tying It All Together

Manufacturing and STEM education are linked. It's not always obvious they are, though, to most. Yesterday, a science show in front of the Boeing building at the Aerospace Center in Licking County helped show it. A picture speaks a thousand words.

Great, Positive Media Coverage

NewarkAdvocate.com has a fabulous article on the 15-Year, 50-Year Celebration and Open House hosted by the Port Authority and our customers at the Aerospace Center today.

When a story is good, there's little much else to say except, "Read it."

So, I say, read it!

History's Purpose: Inspire The Future

There will be people at our 15-Year, 50-Year event at the Aerospace Center tomorrow who can boast having worked here from Day One 50 years ago!   People who picked up and moved their families from Southwest Ohio, Eastern Pennsylvania, and other places around the globe to Licking County back in 1961 and 1962 will be there too. People who did the same thing 15 years ago when privatization came will be there too.  Amazing stories.

Looking at the past is worthwhile, but it's greatest worth comes when it pays forward in some way.

I believe looking backward will have served its greatest purpose when it inspires the next generation.    The STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) focus of the event is intended to be that spark of inspiration. 

That's why the most exciting thing for me tomorrow will be realizing, when I see their faces, that some children are inspired by what they see, hear, and experience.  The measure of success will if kids decide, then and there, that STEM skills are for them.

Here's hoping it works.

50-Year Milestone for Aerospace Center

Today marks a 50-year milestone in the history of the Port Authority's Central Ohio Aerospace and Technology Center.

It was on this date in 1961 when news came of the appropriation of funds for a "missile repair shop" at Heath, Ohio.  The $3.9 million appropriation was what resulted in bringing Air Force guidance system repair and metrology services to Heath in what became the Newark Air Force Base.

Today, the essence of that workload and base remains.  The work has, mostly, been privatized and the buildings are now owned by the Port Authority.

Fans of history should keep watching.  It was December 13, 1962 when the facility celebrated with an opening ceremony.  In between, there were numerous other milestones.

April Fools Joke?

Bill Wright on the Port Authority staff produces a feature on our website called Through the Years. It's a month-by-month look back at the history of the Aerospace Center and its predecessor, the Newark Air Force Base.
One of the best stories may have actually been an April Fools joke either played by someone on the story teller or played on the readers by the Base newspaper. Or maybe it actually happened. You be the judge.
Here's the excerpt:
30 Years Ago - April 1978
There's something fishy in Metrology! The following story was told by metrology physicist, Howard Hopkins. " A live goldfish was recently discovered swimming in a trash can in the engineering office of Metrology's DC and Low Frequency Standards Lab. The trash can was being used to catch water from roof leaks during the recent heavy rains. Apparently, the fish had slipped into the building with the rain water through the crack in the roof and had fallen into a plastic sheet used to channel the water into the trash can. Hopkins speculated that the fish may have been swept up from a pond and dropped on the roof of Building 4.

Port Authority's First Meeting

It was March 10, 1995 when the first meeting of what became the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority took place.  Read the article from The Advocate the next day and you get a flavor for the work that began on that date.

Of all the things anticipated that stand out in the 15-year-old article, the projection that the Port Authority would require 50 employees is most telling.  One projection even showed 70 people. 

Today, the Port Authority employs just seven people.

Port Authority 15 Years Ago Today. . .

It was on this day in 1995 that The Advocate reported on the yet-to-be-formed Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority.  News of the appointment of the nine members of the Port Authority Board of Directors were announced.

Today, 15 years later, two members of that original nine-member Board continue to serve.  Ms. Mary Jane McDonald, then of Denison University, chairs the Community Projects Committee and Dr. Bob Klingensmith, a professor at Ohio State University-Newark, chairs the Personnel Committee.

The Port Authority Board, past and present, reads like a Who's Who of Licking County leaders.

History Repeats Itself, Again

Five years ago, our customer surveys showed us.  If one worked at the Aerospace Center when it was an Air Force Base, one was that much less likely to be positive about the work of the Port Authority.  Said another way, the former base workers preferred to reflect on the good old days.

That gave us an idea.

In our posession was a rare, complete set of the old Newark AFB on-base publication On Target.  First published in 1965, the newspaper collection gave us a way to better connect with the personnel who favored the good old days while also instilling a greater sense of history with the newcomers.

Through the Years made its debut at OntheBase.com, our website targeted at on-base personnel, in March 2005.  It has continued every month since with a look back 5-, 10-, 15-years, and so on back to 1962 and the start of guidance system repair and metrology in Heath.

At the start of the next five years, the author, Bill Wright, is now challenged to find those historical stories that tie with today and let history repeat itself, again.

Wally Horton Reflects

Wally Horton prepared a statement to be presented on his behalf at the Aerospace Center Industry Day.  This piece takes one behind the scenes as to the workload and decisions that brought metrology and guidance systems repair to Heath in 1962.  This is work that, in essence, remains here today.

It's just over 15 minutes long and is read from a script.  It's quite an historical document, though, nonetheless.

Wally Horton at 93

Today is the 93rd birthday for Wally Horton, the person best described as the grandfather of the Newark Air Force Base and Central Ohio Aerospace & Technology Center.

Wally is one of those leaders whose impact is George Bailyesque.  It's hard to imagine Licking County in the last 50 years without the impact Wally has had.

The Newark Air Force Base came to be much at Wally's hand.  He helped guide the decision to bring the Air Force work here as far back as 1958, moved his family here to help it get going in 1962, and stayed on as its top civilian into the early 1970's. 

The economic impact on the community of that location decision is measured in the billions of dollars over all these years.  Thousands of families have made their livelihoods here and generations have benefitted from the good-paying jobs it brought.

And its still here and going strong.

In 1993, when the Newark Air Force Base was on the closing list, Wally re-emerged.  He fought hard for privitization in place and led the charge that saw the Port Authority be created by Heath, Newark, and Licking County in order to preserve the jobs and impact of the base.  Today, fully 15 years later, the Port Authority is the largest, self-supported port authority in Ohio and fourth largest overall.

Happy Birthday, Wally.

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Here's an excerpt from the 2005 nomination of Wally Horton for a national award from the Association of Defense Comunities:

When base closure is imminent and a community looks for leaders who will ensure the economic impact of the facility is maintained and the best possible outcome for the community is achieved, it looks for a team of people that includes someone who knows the history and military importance of the installation, someone who understands the niche and unique capabilities of the installation’s workforce, someone with the charisma and capability to rally the local community and the congressional delegation, and someone with the managerial skills to develop and implement a reuse plan. In the case of the former Newark Air Force Base in the community of Heath-Newark-Licking County, Ohio, that team of people was one man—Wally Horton.

Mr. Wallace Horton, as a community leader, is the person all communities facing base closure should seek to emulate. Through his dedication to his community and his firm, unwavering belief in the uniqueness and military value of the installation that he helped found, Wally was four people in one and helped retain an installation that today, 12 years after the announcement of base closure, is a success story with a $200 million annual impact on Central Ohio and a model for successful base closure.

No Where Else

The Newark Air Force Base used to do open houses for the community. It was a normal year that saw 5,000 people cycle through the hallways of the massive Building 4 at the base to learn what happened there every day.

The United Way parade was another place where the Newark AFB had a big presence. Among the most elaborate floats every year were always the base's entry.

That was the Air Force's way of reaching out to the community and letting people know they existed as a future place for kids who worked hard and excelled at science, technology, engineering, and math.

Now, it's harder to reach a large community audience, but it is still just as necessary.

That's why I'm encouraging folks to mark their calendar for Sunday, February 21, 2010 from Noon to 5 p.m. for Aerospace Center Industry Day at The Works.

See this event write-up on Facebook and RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=217717588551&ref=mf

No where else in 2010 will one have a chance to see Boeing, Bionetics, Kaiser, and the Port Authority showing what goes on at the Central Ohio Aerospace & Technology Center every day in a fun environment like this.

Among the live demonstrations, Kaiser Aluminum will have a working model of an extrusion press and Boeing will show off 3D software in use in its Virtual Customer Integration Lab.