To the Editor:

Whatever position one took in granting Bath Iron Works another tax break, there is one important thing the people of Bath are overlooking: the global interests of the United States; specifically, the economic importance of Asia, and China’s emergence as a military power.

In his visit Nov. 22, Defense Secretary Hagel reminded us the Zumwalt will be stationed on the West Coast, assigned to San Diego in 2016. As reported in The Times Record (“Hagel tours BIW, ship” Nov. 22, Page A1), Hagel called it “an important shift in our balance and assets, and focus on America’s interest in the Asia-Pacific.”

The change will have a direct impact on Bath, since General Dynamics has a shipyard in San Diego. BIW will probably remain, but in a more diminished state than it is now.

We have to start facing this. Bath is not an appendage of General Dynamics. It is a community, a separate entity with its own agenda. I don’t have the answers, but we need to start thinking outside the box we seem trapped in.

Alice Rivero
Bath