________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
wouldn't do. So, that left me to do those--mainly Army-oriented activities. So, part of my
challenge was organizing around those kinds of things.
We did have a few things that happened of major significance, and one was the decision on
Marco Island.
Q:
Oh yes, in Florida.
A:
Deltona was the developer, and this had become quite a cause clbre, and rightfully so. It
was a major test of whether the Corps was really interested in preserving wetlands.
There were great analyses made of the cypress swamps and what was going to be cleared
away to make room for this major home development. The Jacksonville District Engineer
was very much involved, and the South Atlantic Division Engineer, Major General LeTellier,
was very much involved.
There was a lot of dialogue all the way up to now the Director of Civil Works, General
Graves. He became very personally involved in that decision and spent hours working it. He
made the final decision. In the end, we held a press conference, which we had not done often
at Headquarters, Office of the Chief of Engineers, now Headquarters, USACE. So, we had
the chance to support General Graves in conducting his press conference. We invited the
press in, and representatives attended from many of the environmental organizations that had
been vociferous in their objections to the Marco Island development. General Graves
announced his decision at the press conference, and we worked the press releases and
orchestrated all those kinds of things.
Q:
That was kind of a new thing, or at least not that common.
A:
Not common at headquarters at the Office of the Chief of Engineers to have a press
conference.
Q:
You had to get up to speed pretty much on the public affairs arena as well, didn't you? Press
conferences hadn't been something you had a lot of experience with prior to that.
A:
No, but I had people to run those. I had the capability to provide the understanding of the
Corps of Engineers, which I had served in at the district level. I had served on the troop side.
I knew that I didn't know about press conferences, so I would get our civilians to take care of
that aspect of it. I tried to facilitate the communications problems that the Public Affairs
Office had had before with the Director of Civil Works and the Chief.
The Chief at that time went to each of his directors for one-on-ones once each week. When
he went to a one-on-one, he would take his deputy, the executive director--that was Russ
Lamp at the time--and the Chief of Public Affairs--me. For example, the four of us would
go tromping down to Civil Works and meet with General Graves. He'd go through his three-
by-five cards and bring the Chief of Engineers up to date. Or we'd go to the Chief Counsel,
or we'd go to Director of Military Construction, or the Postal Program, or down with General
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