Hightower Lowdown

Patrick Veteto has one hell of a dream--literally. A Marine Reserve artillery officer, Veteto was inspired as he drove along the Padre Island National Seashore, on the Texas Gulf Coast. While others look at this pristine undeveloped area and think of the beauty and unique wildlife, Patrick had another vision: aerial bombardment, ship-to-shore shelling, and amphibious assaults by the Navy!

What a great place, Veteto mused, for live-ammunition training. It's a golden opportunity, he thought, especially now that the Navy has been forced by protesters to abandon its bombing exercises in Puerto Rico. Patrick prepared charts and graphs, enlisted local boosters, and got the Navy interested.

Not everyone shared his dream. Environmentalists, of course, pointed out that this vast coastal plain is not empty, but filled with life, much of it already endangered. But Patrick countered that a bombing range actually "could benefit wildlife in the area by preserving land from development."

Happily, common sense has prevailed over Veteto's dream. While the Navy did appoint a committee to consider his idea, local residents and elected officials, the tourism and fishing industries, and others got to agitating against it--and even the head of the local chamber of commerce now says: "It's an idea whose time may not have come."