The deadline for comments on the proposed closure of the Tonopah Test Range is April 10 - a week from yesterday.

The closure, if determined, will be the second major blow by the federal government to hit Tonopah in less than 20 years.

In the 1980s, with the F-117 "Stealth" fighter under development, Tonopah was a town with a sponsor - the United States Air Force. In 1992, with little warning, it nearly became a ghost town, reduced to a quarter of its prior population, thanks to the first slice of a government "knife."

Where there had been a solid economy, there was a solid base of unemployment. Families were uprooted or without a means of support. Like many military towns subject to base closings, Tonopah was economically devastated.

Now, the knife is poised again, by all accounts ready to remove the Tonopah area's major employer, the Tonopah Test Range, or TTR, as soon as next year.

The range is under the control of the National Nuclear Security Administration, as part of its nuclear weapons complex. Operations there are limited to flight testing of various devices.

In the process of downsizing the nuclear weapons complex to what Administrator Thomas D'Agostino has called, an "infrastructure that is smaller, safer, more secure and more cost effective," the NNSA has dissected the problem into a number of potential scenarios, with charts summarizing potential impacts of each in short phrases.

Changes that would have resulted in the closing of the Pantex facility in Texas -- resulting in a loss of between 400 and 1,650 jobs for the area, or closing the Y-12 site in Tennessee -- resulting in the loss of 2,600 to 6,500 jobs -- have already been rejected, according to agency Document Manager Ted Wyka, who conducted a March 4 meeting in Tonopah.

What the draft environmental impact statements summary chart on flight testing alternatives fails to show is the relative impact.

How devastating is the loss of 400 to 1,650 jobs to the Texas Panhandle? Is it any less devastating than the loss of 135 families in a town of 2,800 -- that is Tonopah?

Dr. Victoria Santiago, a veterinarian now practicing in Las Vegas, remembers living in Tonopah as a teenager in the 1980's. Asked about the proposed closure of the test range she said, "It will kill the town."

The response from close to 20 residents or former residents was the same -- in most cases, word for word.

The dissection of the NNSA's problem into tiny, easily identifiable pieces appears to have lost the living whole, giving what might be, for example, an eye no more value than an eyebrow.

As evidenced by the agency's draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS),Tonopah Test Range, described by a pilot from Eglin Air Force base, Fla., as "superior to anyplace else in the country" for the testing it does, is being treated as a statistic.

Statistically, the result of closing the TTR appears minimal, with only 135 families leaving the area, and with the area even receiving the benefit of 3,047 acres being made available for use. (According to creditable remarks made by Ralph Garcia on March 4, however, the land is so contaminated from prior testing, it will likely never be usable by the public.)

The challenge for Tonopah is to help the decision-makers see past the simple statistic to true value, and the true impact, of closing TTR.

Many comments were made March 4. Nye County Commissioner Joni Eastley has said at levels from Tonopah to Congress, "The workers who perform the jobs at TTR, and their families, are an integral part of the ... area."

Eastley described range workers and their families as members of many local service organizations, volunteer firefighters, EMTs, stating, "What isn't mentioned are the number of spouses who volunteer with the PTA, or are teachers in our local schools. They operate family-owned businesses. They fill critical positions in our county and state offices. If operations were discontinued at TTR, these things would cease."

Rhonda Crumpton, property manager of a 123-unit apartment complex in Tonopah, has written a letter against closure to NNSA. In it she states the closure would result in the loss of 25 percent of the tenants in her complex alone.

Calling Tonopah "the little town that could" she said, "Every family in Tonopah will be negatively affected by the downsizing or closure; the relocation of friends, family, co-workers, fellow volunteers, church members, and neighbors, not to mention the halt in the growth we are hoping for or the plummeting of the value of our homes and property."

Another letter, from Denise Nelson on behalf of the Tonopah Chamber of Commerce said, "Tonopah took a very large hit from which we have never fully recovered when the U.S. government moved the Stealth to New Mexico. To be hit again at this time would be a blow from which I fear we would never recover."

Nelson added, "We strongly urge you to adopt one of the other alternatives that will leave not only the TTR but the town of Tonopah intact."

If the range is closed, the impact is potentially far-reaching.

Companies now considering Tonopah as a site of operations could be driven away if current essential services and goods, particularly food and medical, are severely cut, and educational opportunities limited.

Will speeches and letters such as those above be enough to stop the closure?

Probably not. A former senator's aide described how mail on an issue was handled. With too little time to read everything, letters were simply evaluated for "pro" or "con," put in the proper stack, and the number of letters in each stack counted. The bottom line was numbers.

The more comments that were received, the greater their impact.

As Eastley has pointed out, "it is very important, especially for businesses, to submit comments at this time."

Comments must be received before April 10.

Comments may be submitted via email to complextransformation@nnsa.doe.gov, or www.complextransformationspeis.com. Comments submitted by mail at this point may not arrive in time, but written comments may still be faxed to Ted Wyka at 1-703-931-9222.

Anyone wishing an official submission form (not necessary) can obtain one at the Times-Bonanza office on Main Street.

Beginning Monday, Nelson will be offering free faxing of comments at the TDC/Chamber of Commerce office, next to Nevada State Bank on Main Street.