Jim Neal, candidate for U.S. Senate, has released the following statement concerning to O.L.F to the residents and citizens of Northeastern North Carolina.

Neal will be speaking at the Edenton Town Hall Meeting on the OLF on Saturday, April 5. More details to come!

“Dear Concerned Citizens against the OLF:

I am writing to let you know that I stand with you, and I want to help.

The people of Gates, Camden, and Currituck Counties do not want the OLF in their community. If government of the people, for the people and by the people means anything, that should be the end of the story.

But it isn’t.

The Navy is proceeding with its plans without input from local residents and despite their opposition. This raises questions of how the Navy makes its citing decisions.

The OLF serves as a warning about a government that is out of touch with the people. Impersonal bureaucracies in far away places make their decisions without considering the lives that will be affected – the very people government is supposed to serve.

We are learning an important lesson.

How many times have you heard people say politicians only come around at election time? And how many times have you heard people say they’re not interested in politics?

The people of Gates, Camden, and Currituck Counties know that we can’t afford not to be interested in politics.

The people of Gates, Camden, and Currituck Counties know that our government is too important and too powerful to be ignored until election season.

I know that the people of Gates, Camden, and Currituck Counties are too important to be ignored until election season.”