Friends,

I am writing you to ask that you take some time to immediately write a letter to the Springfield News-Leader regarding the propaganda article in Wednesday's issue: Can tech jobs raise Springfield pay? Officials hope JVIC can boost city's per capita income levels.

They are using these statistics to overshadow the truth of what is REALLY going to be going on in the so-called Jordan Valley Innovation Center.

First of all, I have researched the companies involved, and they are only going to hire a couple dozen people to be doing this research at first with the possibility of hiring more in 5 to 10 years. Plus, these jobs are probably not going to be filled by anyone currently living in the NW Springfield communities that are closest to this facility. I reckon that many of these positions will be filled by hiring scientists from outside of Springfield.

More importantly, it is not intended to research "high-tech products that might be commercially produced here" as the article suggests.

Make no mistake... this is a military research facility that they are planning to build in downtown Springfield. According to Roy Blunt's website, all of the funding is coming out of the "2006 Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R.2863)" and the research is for "defense related projects".

One project in particular of great concern to me is by a company called CROSSLINK who will be doing research "to produce self-decontaminating fabric materials that resist exposure to CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WARFARE AGENTS."