The message could not have been any plainer or more unanimous: Don't put a Navy jet landing field anywhere in northeastern North Carolina.

That's what several hundred residents, many of whom had to wait in line to get in, told a governor's task force at the Mickey L. Burnim Fine Arts Center in Elizabeth City Tuesday.

"If an (outlying landing field) comes here, my business will cease to exist," Camden resident Dorothy Owens told members of the Outlying Landing Field Study Group, sponsors of Tuesday's hearing. "Animals, especially horses, do not do well with loud screaming jet engines."

Like most speakers, Owens said the location of a noisy jet airfield for Navy pilots to practice takeoffs and landings in Camden would depress property values and destroy her way of life.

"I'm in the direct path of the enemy, with no place to run, and no place to hide," she said. "My enemy, and the enemy of my neighbors would be the OLF. It's weapon: The bombardment of high decibel noise and possible jet fuel contamination upon our lands and homes."

Last month, the Navy announced that it's studying six new sites — two of which are in Camden, and two others in nearby Gates County — for an OLF. Speaker after speaker at Tuesday's 5-hour hearing, however, argued that Virginia would be a better and fairer location for an OLF. They said the airfield should go there because Virginia is already reaping the economic benefits from having a Navy air base. All that North Carolina would get from an OLF is jet noise.

Officials from Camden, Pasquotank, Hertford, Perquimans, Gates and Chowan counties also spoke at Tuesday's hearing. They detailed how an OLF could devastate their tax base and economic development efforts.

"Camden is about 9,000 folks in one of the smallest counties in North Carolina," Camden County Attorney John Morrison said. "Geographically, and population-wise, anywhere you'd put an OLF is going to affect pretty much the whole county."

He said much of the county's tax base, or a good chunk of it, could be eliminated if Camden was chosen as a location for the OLF.

Morrison asked Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Bill Ross, who sits on the Outlying Landing Field Study Group, why an OLF would be appropriate for a site in Camden while a landfill would not. A law passed by the state Legislature this year blocked a private company's plans to develop a landfill in Camden, and the argument contained in the legislation was that the proposed landfill would be too close to the Great Dismal Swamp Wildlife Refuge.

"I don't understand, Mr. Secretary)," Morrison said, addressing Ross.

David Brown, vice chairman of Gates County Board of Commissioners, said the lives of every citizen in northeastern North Carolina changed, possibly forever, after the announcement on Sept. 18 that possible OLF sites were being considered in the region.

"That is the day we've made the list. Every county official I have spoken to heard about the list from someone other than the study group," he said.

He said an OLF in Gates County would forever change that community's way of life.

"Have you ever been to Gates County?" he asked. "It's peaceful, isn't? It's not full of noise, bright lights, fast-food joints, interstates, traffic or shopping centers."

Schorr Johnson, director of communications for state Senate President Pro Tempore Marc Basnight's office, read a prepared statement from Basnight opposing the Navy's plans to locate an OLF anywhere in northeastern North Carolina.

"Today, I want you to know of my total and complete opposition to proposed sites in Camden and Gates counties," Johnson said, reading from Basnight's statement. "This is an awful proposal that will mean a drastic reduction in economic benefits and that any economic future is obliterated."

The Navy's preferred site for the OLF had been in Washington and Beaufort counties. However, fierce opposition, led by North Carolina's congressional delegation, made the Navy take a look at new sites. The Navy will decide which of the new sites, if any, deserve more study sometime next month.

The Outlying Landing Field Study Group is a commission appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to study the alternative sites. Sid Eagles, a retired former chief judge of the N.C. Court of Appeals who chairs the governor's task force, said during a break that the task force has no say over which site is chosen.

He explained that the group is essentially a sounding board for people to give input about an OLF proposal. He said the group probably will make a report to the governor, but even that is not a given.

"Our purpose is primary to offer an opportunity for citizens to voice their opinion. We have no decision making role in this," he said.

Tuesday's hearing at the Fine Arts Center got started 15 minutes late because of a bomb threat. Officials evacuated the building but found no bomb. No suspects had been identified as of late Tuesday afternoon.