California town rejects Blackwater plan

POTRERO, Calif. (AP) — Residents of a small California town have rejected a plan to put a Blackwater training camp near town.

Residents voted yesterday to recall five members of an advisory planning board that endorsed the North Carolina-based global security firm’s plan.

The results of a mail-in-ballot recall were announced early this morning.

Moyock, North Carolina-based Blackwater wanted to turn an 800-acre former chicken farm into a training camp for law enforcement officers. The facility would have included eleven
firing ranges, a driving track and a helipad.

Opposition intensified in September, after Blackwater guards were investigated in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad.

A call to a Blackwater spokesman early this morning was not immediately returned.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)