A Town's Love Affair With Napalm

The strafing run of a napalm bomber in Vietnam is still an image still powerful enough to stop a train, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod.

In fact, three months ago, a train carrying some of the Navy's 3.3 million gallons of surplus napalm to a treatment plant in Indiana was stopped by pressure from people who heard the word "napalm" and said, "no way."

What to do? Welcome to Andrews, Texas.

The people of Andrews want every last gallon of the napalm, and the $20+ million disposal contract that comes with it.

Napalm - or more simply, chemically thickened gasoline -- doesn't really seem dangerous to most folks in Andrews. Here, there's one oil well for every two people. To them, napalm is just another petroleum product.

In fact, if it wasn't for oil, this west Texas town of 10,000 would number a few hundred. The businesses, the schools, and the growth of nearly everything in Andrews has been fueled by oil.

When people here watch the old news footage of napalm, they look past the destruction and see opportunity. (18).

With oil prices down, napalm is a natural for a town looking to diversify its economy. There are critics, but they don't carry much weight in Andrews.

In Andrews, residents are happy to let other towns wince at painful memories. Here they are too busy smiling at the thoughts of prosperity.

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