POTRERO, Calif.-Residents balked at putting a Blackwater training camp near this sleepy mountain village, voting to recall five members of an advisory planning board that endorsed the global security firm's plan.
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Hammers said the board's decision had been misconstrued, and that its goal was to investigate what jobs and other perks having Blackwater could mean for the community.
"We chose to stay engaged," said Hammers. "Certain elements made it an anti-Bush, anti-Iraq war surrogate and sold that to the community. They were successful."
Blackwater wanted to turn an 800-acre former chicken farm into a training camp for law enforcement officers. The facility would have included 11 firing ranges, a driving track and a helipad. But opposition to the plan 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 Wednesday was not immediately returned.
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