An Opinion by Joene DePlancke

DePlancke responds to drone comment.Mr. Gravely, I find it interesting that you categorize the information provided to the county as “misinformation.” Yet you provide no basis for that statement. I do not recall seeing you at any of the meetings where the information was provided to the Airport Advisory Board, the commissioners and other citizens of Gilmer County. Therefore, I will update you with specific facts provided by both the original presenters, GTRI and UNEQ Consulting and then the new “facts” provided by Mr. Steve Justice from Georgia Innovation/Aerospace so you can understand what is really being “offered” to GC.

Whether or not I-phones or cell phones are capable of tracking people, you do not have to own one. The military satellites are trained over hotspots in the world and cost millions to realign. But those satellites cannot see through my walls and fly into my doorways and windows nor can they perform the warrantless searches that surveillance drones can. They also carry recorders and can listen to and record conversations inside your home. These are violations of my 4th Amendment rights which I and most residents of Gilmer County are not willing to give up. My father, brother, husband and son fought for these rights, and I will fight to retain them.

Furthermore, the original presenters provided data that has turned out to be totally erroneous. And that false data was what our Airport Advisory Board based their initial recommendation on. Furthermore the original lobbyists stated that the scope or purpose of the project was to test interfacing manned and unmanned aerial vehicles in the same airspace, and that is what the Airport Board thought they were recommending. That has turned out to be an out and out falsehood.

The second presenter, Mr. Steve Justice came here two weeks ago and made it very plain that we would not be dealing with UNEQ Consulting (the company whose principals made all the presentations to the county) nor GTRI, the research group primarily funded by Georgia Tech and the Department of Defense, and that all of the data and statements previously made to us were not supported by Mr. Justice. Mr. Justice then explained to us that his company, and a “consortium” of other companies whom he declined on several occasions to identify, would be the lead in this drone test project. He further explained that this would NOT be a test of figuring out how to interface manned and unmanned aircraft. In fact, he stated quite emphatically that any unmanned vehicles would have to land immediately if approached by a manned aircraft. When questioned as to what would be the purpose of this test facility he explained “that the entire purpose was to test keeping the data link up and operational.” He readily admitted that these were line of sight aircraft and they needed a test area with mountains and forests to test keeping it operational. If you go on line you will learn that these drones are very erratic and it is very easy to lose the up link. Hence the reason for the chase planes. This way they will know where they crash.

Now Mr. Gravely if you truly love living here and have been here since 1990 you understand and appreciate our vast forest areas. These are gasoline powered drones. When I questioned him about the gasoline engines he said they might be able to incorporate some battery powered ones, but yes they were gasoline powered. Should one of these crash in a remote area of Coosawattee or near Carter’s Lake it could take 30-45 minutes to get fire equipment to a fire, and may even be impossible except by air. Do you have any idea what that would cost? When I ask who was responsible for any liability as we had been told by the previous presenters that the State of GA and the FAA would be liable, Mr. Justice clearly stated that Georgia Tech would be liable. I have since learned that GA Tech has sovereign immunity. That means Gilmer County would be footing the bill. Now we could possibly sue someone, but since our County is so financially strapped, I hardly think we would be able to fund a major lawsuit. Keep in mind the county was anxious to approve this for a total annual revenue stream of $4,500 which wouldn’t cover the cost of one hour of fire fighting, and many homes and lives could be consumed by a single fire.

And lastly, you go into great detail about potential manufacturing jobs and opportunities for high tech positions for our graduates, etc. Where do you get any information like this? Neither group of presenters has ever said there would be any jobs. In fact, Mr. Justice very specifically stated that there would NEVER be any jobs created from manufacturing drones in Gilmer County or North Georgia. The only potential job opportunity would be if drones are ever approved for civilian operation. Then someone could create a company and buy a couple of drones that they could then rent by the hour to chicken farmers or apple growers to fly over their farming operation to look for ?????? He was unable to provide an example. Chickens are kept inside and if you flew a drone into the building it would cause widespread panic and would probably kill most of the chickens.

Mr. Gravely you obviously are a businessman since you commute to Atlanta every day. In the business world most executives when considering a business opportunity weigh the risks to the rewards. When Mr. Justice spoke at the Rotary Club 2 weeks ago he was asked point blank by two members to explain the benefits to Gilmer County and he was not able to name a single one. Because there aren’t any benefits. The potential and actual risks associated with bringing a drone test facility to Gilmer County so significantly outweigh any potential reward it is inconceivable that any member of the Board of Commissioners would still be considering this decision.