NBC13 News
August 12, 2003

Anniston Homeowners Say Incinerator Devalues Land; Army Burns First Rocket Saturday

POSTED: 5:15 p.m. CDT August 12, 2003
UPDATED: 5:17 p.m. CDT August 12, 2003

ANNISTON, Ala. -- The Army says its burning of chemical weapons in Anniston has gone completely according to schedule, but some homeowners say they're already paying a steep price.

Anniston Army DepotAnniston resident Bill Green said the ground he has lived and worked on for half a century in the shadow of the Anniston Army Depot has lost its value.

"You think anybody is going to move in here? Man, I wouldn't move in here no way, shape, form or fashion. But I been here 52 years and I am not going to move out," Green said.

He is not alone.

"Try selling a place over here. My place here been appraised at $85,000. I probably couldn't get 10. Who's going to move here?" Anniston landowner Fred Grubbs said.

The long-time residents in the so-called pink zone say their biggest investments are now nearly worthless, especially in the wake of the start-up of the chemical weapons incinerator, which destroyed its first chemical weapon, an M-55 rocket, on Saturday.

NBC13's Bill Fitzgerald contacted several real estate agents in the area to discuss falling land values, but none were willing to talk about it.

According to the Anniston Chamber of Commerce, there hasn't been any fallout from the incinerator start-up.

"We've not seen that," Sherri Sumners said. "Frankly the only people that are really agitated are the media and the activists."

But Grubbs said he is no activist, just a family man whose family is afraid to visit.

"My niece's sister (was) supposed to come from New York this week. They read, heard about it, seen it on the news -- they're not coming here," Grubbs said.

A government buyout plan has not been established for property near the incinerator, and the Army insists the area is safer by burning the weapons rather than storing them.