Pierce City likely to get Guard armory

Tornado-ravaged Pierce City, Mo., would get a lifeline in its struggle to recover with a new $6 million Missouri National Guard armory moving swiftly through Congress.

Approval for the new armory is part of a defense bill that cleared the House Friday. The Senate expects to approve the measure this week, sending it to President Bush for his signature.

"Quick congressional approval for the new armory is the best news we have had since the tornadoes," Mayor Mark Peters said.

A tornado on May 4 razed 42 of the city's 45 businesses and decimated the city hall, fire station, library and senior center.

Only the president's signature is needed to free up the money, which was already set aside but required matching funds from the state. Two Missouri Republicans, Sen. Jim Talent and Rep. Roy Blunt, successfully sought a waiver allowing the project to move forward and be built entirely with federal dollars.

The state match would have been $1.5 million.

"The construction of a new armory will serve as an anchor for new jobs and economic growth in the area," said Talent, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Blunt said: "Only six months after the tornados devastated the downtown area, this bill is another sign that Pierce City will survive and grow in the aftermath of the terrible storm."

The old armory -- home to a company of the 203rd Engineer Battalion now serving in Iraq -- was leveled by the tornado.

"This is also great news for the 203rd," the mayor said. "When they return from Iraq, they will have a new home."

The armory is part of a sweeping, $401 billion defense bill that offers compromise on two bitterly disputed issues.

It calls for the Air Force to lease 20 Boeing 767 planes as midair refueling tankers and buy 80 more. Some senators had objected to the Pentagon's earlier proposal to lease all 100 planes as too costly.

It also partially overturns rules preventing disabled veterans from receiving some of their retirement pay, an issue in which Blunt was heavily involved. Democrats said the compromise plan would fail to help about 400,000 disabled veterans but failed to have House-Senate negotiators reconsider the issue.