Medevac showdown: Trailer goes, crew stays

3/2/06

BEDMINSTER TWP. –The double-wide trailer that housed a Medevac helicopter crew for the past year may be gone from the grounds of the Somerset Airport, but the uproar over the rescue chopper’s presence in rural Bedminster certainly isn’t.

Just hours before a special use permit allowing the Medevac office trailer was due to expire on Tuesday, Feb. 28 – and as the trailer was being disassembled - township officials warned that the helicopter’s crew would also have to leave.

Airport officials, who had already allowed the NorthSTAR Medevac staff to set up a small office inside the airport terminal, will now seek relief from a judge.

“Unfortunately, we’re going to have to go to court to allow Medevac to remain in the (terminal’s) office area,” said airport attorney Daniel Bernstein, who plans to file a show cause order in state Superior Court in Somerville. “I don’t think there’s any alternative.”

Bernstein said the order will compel the township to justify its reasons for concluding that the Medevac staff can’t set up shop in the airport terminal. He added that he will ask that the case be handled on an expedited basis.

Sandy Stuart
Staff Writer