Originally published September 14 2013
Oppressive California city government to finally 'allow' people to have survival bunkers on their own property
by J. D. Heyes
(NaturalNews) Brushing aside concerns about soil toxicity, potential dangers to first responders and the potential for criminal abuse, among other things, the city council of a southern California community has decided to "allow" citizens the right to take care of themselves during a natural or man-made disaster.
The city of Menifee, which is located about 80 miles east of Los Angeles, will let residents build underground bunkers.
From The Associated Press:
In the backyard of his remote Southern California home, Bernie Jones is etching an unconventional blueprint: a construction plan to build his underground survival shelter. It won't be the typical, cramped Cold War-era bunker. It will hold 20 people.
Part of a small but vocal group of survivalists in Menifee, Jones, 46, has pushed for the right to build a bunker on his one acre property for nearly a year. He wants to be ready for anything, be it a natural disaster or nuclear attack.
"The world is taking a change," he says. "I want to be prepared. I want my family to survive."
And why wouldn't you? Exactly.
What's wrong with being prepared?
Now, with the angrily contested change of heart by the city council, residents of Menifee - which was once known as a farming and mining center - can begin applying for a permit to build underground shelters beginning this month.
What is surprising about the entire issue is that once upon a time, it was perfectly natural for millions of Americans to have underground bunkers. During the height of the Cold War, scores of families built one in case the world's two superpowers - America and the Soviet Union - ever traded nuclear missiles.
Today, the fear of nuclear war has subsided somewhat, but there are many other concerns: meteor strikes, an economic collapse, terrorist attacks and the breakdown of civil society. Some even fear conflict with an overreaching central government.
But whatever the reason, Americans ought to have the right to build one if they think they need one, and finally a majority of Menifee city fathers agreed.
"The bunker is a type of security blanket," Stephen O'Leary, an expert in end-of-the-world theories at the University of Southern California, told AP. "They are concerned with what's happening in the world on a massive scale."
Authorities are concerned, however, with how some residents might use their bunkers.
"Most people are going to use their bunkers for good reason, but you do have some sick people out there," Deputy Mayor Wallace Edgerton said. "Children have been held in bunkers."
Edgerton may have been referencing the February case in which a 5-year-old boy was held in an underground bunker for six days in Alabama. That bunker was rigged with explosive devices.
But that's obviously a rarity. And policy should not be based on what someone might do, sometime, somewhere.
'There's no fear mongering here'
Supporters of the change of heart agree. "Criminal activity isn't going to be stopped by not allowing people to build bunkers," said City Councilman Tom Fuhrman. "A criminal will find a place to commit crime."
Meanwhile, AP reports, there are signs that bunkers have made a comeback around the country:
Ronald Hubbard, who runs Atlas Survival Shelters near Los Angeles, ships his luxury bunkers out of state. Unlike Cold War-era shelters, he builds ones that are half the length of a basketball court and have a master bedroom, dining nook and a couch to watch a 47-inch flat screen TV.
If you're going to be hanging out in a bunker, there's nothing wrong with doing it in style, Hubbard figures.
Many Americans obviously agree, because Hubbard told AP that his phones rang off their hooks last December, as folks prepared for the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar, which of course never came.
When the Perseid meteors pierced the sky in August, another steady stream of phone calls came in. Customers were looking for a way to stay safe in case one of the meteors were to strike the earth.
Those who call aren't loons or radicals, Hubbard says. They are just practical people trying to do what is necessary in order to stay prepared.
"I'm not fear mongering," Hubbard said in the AP interview as he stood beside a $65,000 shelter in his warehouse. "Why do we buy insurance? Just in case."
Sources:
http://www.fresnobee.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com
http://www.naturalnews.com
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