From: Lloyd Clark at lwclark@cswnet.com MS Smith, Thank you for your email/letter. I am President of the Lawrence County Historical Society. I (and we the society) share your concern and outrage. We have worked with the parks department to try to get a better solution and one may be in the offing. First, the records will be preserved. The questions are when and where? Right now they are safely ensconced in the archives department at the ASU library in Jonesboro. The university has been very generous in letting us store them there till we could move back into the newly refurbished courthouse. But, the Parks folks don't seem to want us there any more even though we are the reason they exist at all. They spent 1.2 million on the refurbishment and not a dime on dehumidifiers or proper shelving for the vaults. They never intended for the records to be returned it seems. At the last moment they offered the little white wooden church building but the immediate and loud protests by the society and folks such as yourself have caused them to rethink their position. They have now offered to build a suitable, fire and storm proof vault next to the church to house the records. Catch is- we have to cede control and ownership of the records to the Arkansas History Commission which will allegedly pay an archivist to do the job Mrs. Flippo did so well for so many years. We are promised a binding legal agreement which will guarantee the records stay in Lawrence County. And they say they can't get funding till next year, if then, so nothing will be built in the next 2 or 3 years and the records will stay in Jonesboro till then. I recommend you send a copy of your letter to our Governor, to Mr. Richard Davies Director of the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism, One Capitol Mall, Little Rock, AR 72201, to Mr. Rex Friedman, Chief Planner, Planning & Development Section -- same address and to state legislators. Get your friends to do so as well. A few letters to the editor of the Arkansas Democrat/Gazette and the Arkansas Times wouldn't hurt either. The Parks people respond to public pressure and negative publicity. Email to: rex.friedman@arkansas.gov or richard.davies@arkansas.gov. They want the space we had for a visitor center, gift shop and offices for their staff. The little white church would be ideal for that purpose. They can't seem to understand that the records were the draw for the park. The LCHS will host a public meeting this Thursday, 7 p.m. at the Powhatan Community Center to inform the public of these latest developments and discuss options. Our primary goal is to preserve the documents properly and make them available for public use as soon as possible. I have discussed a plan with the ASU archivist to make the records more open to the public. He will likely be at the meeting. Parks and History Commission will be invited to attend as well. Many of the records are already on microfilm and available for review at the Telephone Exchange Building at the park. You will have to make an appointment with the park staff for a time though.