Michael, You took the words out of my mouth, especially the part about the donating the land for the Germanna Community College which didn't seem to bother anybody at the time. I think the Germanna Foundation is sounding like a little dog barking at the wind. Frankly, it's embarrassing. They have other things to worry about than fighting Wal-Mart on an inconsequential piece of vacant land that has little to no historic significance, and they do not own in the first place. I think our ancestors would have been strong advocates of private property rights, and as far as I can determine not one original Crown Patent or Northern Neck Grant ever prohibited future development. In fact, Spotswood would have encouraged it. That's why he put the Germans there in the first place. Craig On Oct 27, 2011, at 10:33 AM, Michael Oddenino wrote: > The vilification of Wal Mart is patently absurd. For the > Germanna Foundation to be taking such a political stance akin to an “Occupy Wal > Mart” position is far afield of what the mission of the Germanna Foundation > truly is. The Germanna Foundation may > very well be flirting with the loss of its non-profit status and it is > certainly creating political opponents when such a move is unnecessary and > unwise. > > While the site on which Wal Mart is planning to build a > store that is much needed and much wanted by local residents might have had > some Civil War activity, that is true of virtually the entire area. When the Germanna Foundation gave the land > for the building of Germanna Community College it is certainly true that Civil > War activities and evidence thereof was destroyed in the process. The fact is that the land where the Wal Mart > is to be built is NOT a significant Civil War site. Period. > > To contrast the proposed Wal Mart site with the previous > proposed site next to the Wilderness Battlefield is like comparing night and > day in so far as Civil War significance is concerned. The Wilderness Battlefield marks one of the > most significant chapters in our Civil War history. The now proposed Wal Mart > site does not even rate a footnote. > > > The fact that other preservationist organizations recognize > this most evident distinction is not a basis to attack the other > preservationist groups nor to attack Wal Mart. We should thank Wal Mart for > departing from the Wilderness Battlefield site and for building on a location > that no serious historian of the Civil War would ever contend comes close to > the significance of the Wilderness Battlefield. > > The Germanna Foundation appears to be more interested in > scoring political points with certain groups than it does in recognizing the > actual history of the area. This is a > misguided campaign apparently designed to attract attention to the Germanna > Foundation and the attention is not particularly flattering upon any serious > scrutiny. Also, what does this blatant > political action have to do with Germanna? Nothing. > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to GERMANNA_COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message