The final Civil War re-enactment

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Apr 4, 2002

A cement-block building houses the computer systems needed to generate the signal. The bulky machines evoke memories of the room- sized computers of a half-century ago, with vacuum tubes humming in place of more modern transistors or computer chips. "It's sort of like walking back in time 20 or 30 years," said Chief Petty Officer Carl Yetman, who commands the station. "It's amazing to see these huge machines out here, and they still do the job they're meant to do."

Loran has been a proven navigational method for more than 50 years, but the federal government almost shut it down in 2000, Yetman said. With the advent of satellites and global positioning systems, Loran seemed to be going the way of the eight-track tape. But the federal government "found out that too many people still use it, and they decided not to shut it down," Pulse said. "Besides navigators on ships and aircraft, we've had shipping companies tell us they still use it to find their truckers."

The Coast Guard slowly is replacing the older equipment at its Loran stations with new hardware that will likely end the need for manned supervision of the system, Pulse said. Pulse estimates that change is still a few years away, and until then guardsmen will continue to deal with the problems that arise at the isolated station.

Satisfied with government

ST. MARTINVILLE, La. (AP) -- After 12 years, this little town in Cajun country is finally getting a chance to vote again for City Council. But the long wait has not exactly whipped the electorate into a frenzy.

Saturday's election marks the official end of an unusually long racial redistricting case that allowed council members to stay in office. But few challengers in the election are even bothering to knock on doors. The towering Evangeline Oak that was immortalized in a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem and was once a popular campaign spot for politicians is frequented only by tourists these days. While the redistricting case dragged on, both blacks and whites became generally satisfied with the incumbents for running a smooth, scandal- free government. The council's extended stay in office has been marked by construction of flood-control projects, more tourism promotion of Cajun lore and the creation of a black museum.

Although 12 candidates are running in the newly redrawn districts, four of the incumbents are favored to win, and the fifth is unopposed. "If you don't have people stealing and you do them right, they have no complaint," said James Charles, a black councilman.

Of St. Martinville's 8,000 residents, two-thirds are black. The mayor is white, as are three of the five council members.

Redistricting cases are not unusual, particularly in the deep South. In Louisiana alone, six towns will not be able to hold council elections as scheduled this month because their redistricting plans did not get clearance from the U.S. Justice Department, which oversees voting in the South to protect the rights of blacks.

But the duration of the St. Martinville case is unusual. It began in 1992 when the council proposed redrawn districts to reflect the 1990 census. But the plan was rejected by the Justice Department. And without Justice Department approval, no council elections could be conducted. State law allows elected officials to stay in office until there is an election. Last year, the department finally approved a plan -- just about the same one that had been submitted a decade earlier. The original plan and the one approved by the department have three majority-black districts.