Businesses Suffering Near More Secure Fort Dix

Fort Dix Street feeds a main entrance of the newly locked-down Army post, but these days the road and adjacent shops are nearly deserted. The exception is when military police periodically search cars trying to enter the 50-square-mile Army post, creating backups straight through nearby Wrightstown. Either way, businesses in the blocks just north of the heavily guarded military checkpoint leading to Texas Avenue and other major routes traversing Fort Dix have been suffering since access was curtailed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Most merchants say business is off 20 percent to 50 percent.

"We're being hurt tremendously by this because people don't want to deal with the traffic" during the searches, said Charles Walker, owner of Reflective Arts African Boutique, about 2 1/2 blocks up from the checkpoint. "It's a necessary evil, but it's not doing anything for our businesses."

At Fort Dix Seafood a few doors down, the retail and lunch trade is off by almost half, employee Tony Chung said Wednesday, minutes after he threw out about $150 worth of spoiled fish. Ditto for the nearby Palace Restaurant, a Greek and American eatery that depends on customers from the post, Browns Mills and other parts of Pemberton, according to longtime owner Viola Ziotas.

Military and civilian employees who patronized restaurants and businesses are too busy to stop in over lunch and are working late. Pizza and Chinese restaurants can no longer deliver food to the post or neighboring McGuire Air Force Base.

Residents of communities just north or south of the two sprawling facilities, about 20 miles southeast of Trenton, can't reach businesses on the other side without driving miles out of their way. Morning and evening traffic jams along rural roads have become common as commuters and school buses follow long detours.

KC-10 refueling aircraft, practicing taking-off and landing maneuvers, flew overhead every few moments Wednesday, reminding merchants and residents of the mission ahead.

"It's dead," said Jeff Ayers, owner of South Jersey Coin & Gold Exchange in tiny Pemberton Borough, a couple of miles southwest of Fort Dix. "We have a lot less soldiers coming in, a lot less military (families). They're too busy right now (and) some are gone."

Ayers said sales were down at least 50 percent.

"Considering the circumstances, I don't mind," he said. "I hope they don't do it forever."

This is only the second time Fort Dix officials have restricted public access to its roads since the post opened in 1917 to train soldiers heading off to World War I. The other restrictions were during World War II.

Like many other Army posts, Dix was designed to be accessible to the public. Adjoining McGuire, with its multimillion-dollar military jets, has always had tighter security.

Fort Dix, which employs 2,000 civilians, has eight main gates that are normally wide open, plus dozens of smaller ones accessing its firing ranges. The main gates now are guarded by several armed military police officers, and employees entering or leaving must show identification and drive through a staggered series of concrete barriers.

Traffic sometimes backs up in the morning, at night and when the officers are searching cars. At other gates, cyclone fences topped with razor wire have been locked shut, with concrete barriers pushed up against them. Many have motion detectors or security cameras, and helicopters sometimes buzz overhead to check for intruders, military police say.

At the Pemberton Citgo station, gas sales have been up about 25 percent, but the just-opened repair garage is getting no business, said owner Joe Ellis.

Business is doing well at the Cutting Edge barbershop, located near a post gate, as reservists arrive and get ready to ship out, said owner Jeffery Washington. And the Holly Cleaners a few doors down is seeing a slight increase in business as Air Force personnel getting ready to head overseas have their uniforms cleaned and mended, said manager Etsuko Dudley.

But most other business owners are worried about how long the restrictions, and their decline in business, will last.

Nancy Morrow, the mayor of nearby North Hanover Township, sent a letter to residents urging them to patronize local businesses.

Business is down 20 percent and the Country Farm Convenience Store in Browns Mills, where the front page of a recent New York Post is taped to the door. "Wanted Dead or Alive: Osama bin Laden. For mass murder in New York City," reads the large type around a photo of the terrorist believed to have masterminded the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

"Maybe some of our residents are staying home, but those people we would normally see from the base and (communities north and east of it) are not coming through," said Maurice Jones, urban enterprise zone coordinator for Pemberton Township, a 64-square-mile municipality that includes Browns Mills.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News