THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, March 19, 1995                 TAG: 9503190040
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B3B  EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: BLACKSTONE, VA.                    LENGTH: Medium:   56 lines

BRAC MEMBER TO VISIT FORT PICKETT IN VIRGINIA SHE WILL MEET WITH COMMUNITY GROUPS AND TOUR THE BASE MARCH 28, A NEWSPAPER SAYS.

A member of the base-closing commission plans to tour Fort Pickett, the Southside Virginia fort the Army has recommended shutting, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Saturday.

The newspaper quoted congressional sources as saying Rebecca Cox, a member of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, plans to visit the base March 28 and meet with community groups.

Cox, a vice president of Continental Airlines, also served on the base-closing commission in 1993. She lives in Newport Beach, Calif., and is married to Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif.

Meanwhile, members of the Fort Pickett Support Group met Friday in Blackstone with community leaders and fort employees. The group is a locally based organization leading the fight to save the fort.

Barry Steinberg, a retired Army colonel and Arlington attorney who has become the principal coordinator of efforts to save the base, said the meeting was intended to assure employees there is a good chance the base can be saved.

The support group is insisting that the Army undervalued the base by not recognizing the training done there by other military branches and disregarding the base's restriction-free 46,000 acres.

Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., agreed with the support group's assessment in a written statement Friday.

Warner, a senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Fort Pickett is used extensively by active troops from all services and isn't merely a reserve training post.

``I don't believe that this point was adequately presented in the Army's analysis,'' Warner said.

Warner questioned whether the Army used accurate data in assessing Fort Pickett's proximity to airfields, railroads and highways.

``It makes no sense, fiscally or operationally, to close a facility which provides excellent, low-cost training to active-duty and reserve personnel in all the services,'' he said.

Warner noted that several active Army units from ``environmentally constrained'' Fort Bragg, N.C., continue to use Fort Pickett. He said the Army suggests that several thousand troops could be shifted to Fort Bragg, which Warner called a ``contradictory position (that) makes no sense.''

Fort Bragg is home for one of the largest concentrations of the rare red-cockaded woodpecker, which is on the endangered species list. The Army has restricted its training to steer tank brigades clear of 430 woodpecker sites.

KEYWORDS: BASE CLOSING BASE CLOSURE AND REALIGNMENT COMMISSION by CNB