Local Business Owner Says Newspaper Article Misrepresented
Facts
On Thursday, ANN spoke with Jim Garner, owner of an aircraft
maintenance shop at Payson Airport in Payson, AZ. The topic of
conversation was a story published in the Payson Roundup, regarding
a firefighting helo based at the airport. That story was also
picked up by ANN for its story, "Pilots Behaving Badly In
Arizona?"
Garner wished to bring to light what he believes to be
discrepancies in the original article. Garner said that while
certain aspects of the original newspaper story were correct, they
were presented in a manner "completely different" from what
actually occurred.
For example, the newspaper article stated the Forest Service
moved its Sikorsky to the east end of the airport for it and its
pilot's protection. This is correct, says Garner -- to an extent.
The helicopter was moved, but only because the three others large
helicopters that had been housed there temporarily left and created
more room.
This was a decision made in the normal course of daily
operations, Garner said.
When that Sikorsky S-61 first came to the airport, the airport
manager reportedly told those bringing it in to park it at the west
end of the airport in a phone call. The helo partially blocked an
access gate that some airport tenants pay a monthly fee to use.
Garner states this gate connects the airport to a residential
'fly-in' subdivision with hangars attached to the homes where
several pilots live. The pilots who live in the subdivision spoke
to the fire crews to figure out a solution. Nothing more, Garner
said.
"We all have a good rapport with the fire service," he said.
A fuel hose used for the helicopter was also destroyed recently.
But, again, Garner says the situation was presented to be something
it wasn't.
Garner told ANN an elderly gentleman, on airport property
legally, didn't see the barricades around the fuel hose in the dark
and accidentally ran over it. The insurance claim was made and a
new hose supplied. No charges were ever filed.
Garner denies there was harassment or interference of any kind
at any time. He contends the pilots at Payson are "family" -- and
even got together when the Forest Service fire crews were assigned
to the airport to battle a very large ground cover fire recently,
and put them up in their own homes. The evacuees of the area under
the fire threat had moved into the area, and there were no hotel
rooms for the fire crews.
Garner says he spoke with the reporter who wrote the initial
story in the Payson Roundup newspaper. The reporter declined to
confirm his sources for the story, although Garner says the paper
did print a retraction of the story in its Thursday edition.