CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is
an essential part of Pocahontas County. Since 1961, when it
opened the first fully automatic radio telescope, the NRAO has
filtered in tourism, jobs and money. It's a national landmark
and a major research center with contacts around the world. Not
only this, but students in Pocahontas County can say that the
NRAO is a part of their childhood. It is a place where they have
taken school field trips, and it has been the main topic of
their astronomy lessons in science classes. Now the question
remains: Why would anyone want to shut down the NRAO? It seems
unrealistic that the National Science Foundation would cut
funding for a place that means so much to so man people, but
it's more like killing two birds with one stone. In shutting
down the NRAO, the NSF gains three new telescopes in Chile.
Unfortunately, the removal of the NRAO and its state-of-the-art
telescope would most likely rob the United States of another
research facility such as this on