Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/334913
ByMelissaNelson- Gabriel The Associated Press FORTWALTONBEACH,FLA. To the tourists who frolic in the crystal-blue surf of this picturesque, white- sand beach, the Fort Wal- ton Beach Holiday Inn Re- sort looks like, well, a Holi- day Inn with a large beach ball statue on top. But to military officials, it is known as Eglin Air Force Range Test Site A5. The combination resort hotel and military test site opened in late May in an unusual partnership be- tween the military and private business in a time of tighter military bud- gets. In exchange for al- lowing the Innisfree Hotel company to build the 152- room resort on Air Force land, the military was able to construct a rooftop sta- tion that receives radar signals and a secure con- ference room for classified meetings. The dome hid- ing the military equipment is painted red, white, blue and yellow like a beach ball. While the Air Force has done other projects with private companies before, this is the first time it has ever merged a base with a hotel, said Mike Spaits, the base spokesman. The dome was added to the radar installation to make it "less military and more visitor-friendly," said Wesley Mason, a contrac- tor who helped develop the project. Outside, tourists with drinks in hand floated through the landscaped, beach-front pool featuring a rocky waterfall fountain. Inside, families browsed the beach-themed gift shop and dined at a restau- rant overlooking the pool. The military presence is unobtrusive and lim- ited to a few people, often contract employees with- out uniforms, who work on the roof. Lamon Moody, a hotel guest from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, relaxed on the beach with his family on a recent afternoon. Moody said he had no idea the beach ball covered mili- tary equipment. "I think that's pretty cool. I'm in favor of any- thing that helps out the military," he said. Another vacationer, Jeff Harwell of Fort Worth, Texas, said he and his fam- ily had speculated about the giant beach ball. "We talked about it when we were first noticed it," he said. "We thought maybe those things sticking out of it were lightning rods." The hotel was a win for both sides. It allowed the military to make use of small section of beach- front it owns on Okaloosa Island that is cut off by commercial developments from the rest of the Eglin's more than 17-mile expanse of beach, Spaits said. The military couldn't make good use of the land for beach training exercises or test missions without building a tower or other structure to place equip- ment above the surround- ing hotels, restaurants and shopping centers. In- nisfree is paying the mili- tary about $190,000 a year in rent, the Air Force said. It allowed the hotel company to build on a prime beachfront site sur- rounded by popular attrac- tions such as the Gulfar- ium marine park and the nearby convention center, said Ivana Coteat, the ho- tel's sales director. "This is a perfect loca- tion. You can see us right from the bridge on High- way 98. You cannot miss us," she said. People from the area who know about the ar- rangement occasionally ask for a tour of the roof, but it is off-limits, Coteat said. Chris Nixon, who over- sees testing at the range, said Test Site A5 is a cov- eted posting for workers who monitor testing and equipment because of its view overlooking the pool and the beach. "It is a popular place to work," he said with a laugh. The roof also features a small conference room where military officials, including Brig. Gen. Da- vid Harris, commander of Eglin's 96th Test Wing, can hold classified conver- sations. But Harris said the most important benefit of the partnership is the mo- rale boost it provides mil- itary families who get dis- counted rates at the resort. "Young airmen who would never get a chance to stay in place like this can bring their families for some R and R," he said. Nathan King, a range te- lemetry engineer for Eglin Air Force Base who some- times works at Test Site A5 jokes that the atmosphere can be "distracting" at times. "It is definitely an inter- esting place to work," King said. TRAVEL THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Tourists return from the beach at the Fort Walton Beach Holiday Inn Resort in Florida. The hotel is built on what the U.S. military knows as Eglin Air Force Range Test Site A5. The resort hotel and military test site opened for business in late May. In exchange for allowing the Innisfree Hotel company to build the 152-room resort, the military was able to construct a radar intake site under a huge dome on the roof of the hotel painted like a beach ball. By Mark Thiessen The Associated Press ANCHORAGE, ALASKA A strong earthquake near Alaska's Aleutian Islands triggered a tsunami warn- ing Monday, but only small waves measuring several inches hit coastal commu- nities. The National Tsunami Warning Center, which ini- tially issued a warning that significant inundation was possible, kept advisories in place for parts of the sparsely populated islands, saying conditions could be dangerous to people near the water. "There could be strong currents, but still stay away from the beach," said Dave Nyland, a geophysicist at the warning center. The magnitude-8.0 earthquake struck early Monday afternoon, cen- tered about 13 miles south- east of Little Sitkin Island, or about 1,400 miles south- west of Anchorage. There were no reports of damage, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Residents in some com- munities like Adak, which were first in line for the tsu- nami, did evacuate. "We're seeing water leave our bay, so we do have ev- erybody up on the Bering Hill area, where our pri- mary evacuation center is at," City Manager Layton Lockett told The Associ- ated Press by telephone as he gathered some paper- work before heading out to join about 300 residents at the center. About 200 miles west, a tsunami wave of about 7 inches was reported at Am- chitka Island, Zidek said. ALASKA 8.0 quake spawns small tsunami By Mark Sherman The Associated Press WASHINGTON The Su- preme Court largely left intact Monday the Obama administration's only exist- ing program to limit power plant and factory emis- sions of the gases blamed for global warming. But a divided court also rebuked environmental regulators for taking too much author- ity into their own hands without congressional ap- proval. The justices said in a 5-4 vote along ideological lines that the Environmen- tal Protection Agency can- not apply a permitting pro- vision of the Clean Air Act to new and expanded power plants, refineries and fac- tories solely because they emit greenhouse gases. The decision underscores the limits of using the Clean Air Act to deal with green- house gases and the admin- istration's inability to get climate change legislation through Congress. "The Supreme Court put EPA on a leash but not in a noose," said Michael Ger- rard, director of Columbia University's Center for Cli- mate Change Law. "It reaffirmed that EPA can regulate greenhouse gases, but it can only go so far in reinterpreting the statute," Gerrard said. "The courtinvalidatedasmallcor- ner of a secondary program. The main event — EPA's proposed rules on existing power plants — remains to be fought another day." The EPA and many envi- ronmental advocates said the ruling would not af- fect the agency's proposals for first-time national stan- dards for new and existing power plants. The most re- cent proposal aims at a 30 percent reduction in green- house gas emissions from ex- isting power plants by 2030, but won't take effect for at least another two years. The justices warned that the regulation of green- house gases is not auto- matic under every program of the Clean Air Act as the administration had as- sumed it was. Similar logic is driving the EPA's other actions on global-warming pollution. Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for his conservative colleagues, said EPA could not "just rewrite the stat- ute" to bring greenhouse gases under a provision dealing with expanded and new facilities that would in- crease the overall amount of air pollution. Under the program, companies must evaluate ways to reduce car- bon dioxide emissions in or- der to get a permit to build. Carbon dioxide is the chief gas linked to global warm- ing. But by a wider, 7-2 mar- gin, the court preserved EPA's authority over facili- ties that already emit pol- lutants that the agency reg- ulates, other than green- house gases. "EPA is getting almost everything it wanted in this case," Scalia said. He said the agency wanted to regu- late 86 percent of all green- house gases emitted from plants nationwide, and it will it be able to regulate 83 percent of the emissions under the ruling. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said they would go farther and bar all regula- tion of greenhouse gases under the permitting pro- gram. The EPA called the deci- sion "a win for our efforts to reduce carbon pollution be- cause it allows EPA, states and other permitting au- thorities to continue to re- quire carbon pollution lim- its in permits for the largest pollution sources." The agency said that, as of late March, 166 permits have been issued by state and federal regulators since 2011. ENVIRONMENT Global warming rules upheld EPA reprimanded for overreaching Resort serves double duty as test site for the military By Anthony Mccartney The Associated Press LOS ANGELES An appel- late court on Monday up- held a $19 million judg- ment against "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Fran- cis in a slander case filed over his claims that ca- sino mogul Steve Wynn had threatened to kill him. The California 2nd Dis- trict Court of Appeal in Los Angeles found no basis to overturn the judgment or order a new trial, and the justices also left in place an injunction barring Francis from repeating the claims. After a 2012 trial, a jury found that Francis' state- ments about threats were defamatory, and a judge ordered him not to repeat the statements. Francis and Wynn testified during the trial. Francis said he was told Wynn had threatened to hit him in the head with a shovel and have him bur- ied in the desert. Wynn de- nied making such threats and claimed the state- ments by Francis damaged his reputation and put his casino license at risk. A jury initially ordered Francis to pay Wynn $40 million, but a judge later cut the amount by $21 million. Francis appealed the verdict, arguing that he initially made the com- ments in a court proceed- ing over a gambling debt owed to Wynn and should not be held liable. He argued that his com- ments to "Good Morning America" and to a TMZ re- porter merely confirmed his description of the threats, but a three-jus- tice panel of the appellate court disagreed. Mitchell Langberg, an attorney for Wynn, ap- plauded the ruling in a statement. "We will continue to as- sist Mr. Wynn and Wynn Las Vegas as they vigor- ously pursue Francis to collect all of his debts to them, including this $19 million judgment," Lang- berg wrote. Francis called the ruling ridiculous. "We fully expect this to be overturned by the Cal- ifornia Supreme Court ex- peditiously," Francis said. If the ruling is allowed to stand, it should give pause to others who de- scribe threats during court proceedings, he said. COURTS Court rules against 'Girls Gone Wild' founder's lawsuit PaidAdvertisement TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2014 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 3 B