yes, I also find this absurd & ridiculous....we have to balance the needs of the community and alsoapply some sort of scaling to the prioritization as to what land is sacred, less sacred but still worthy of conservancy, and so on.... I, too, was taken aback by the "free the Wal-Mart Four" announcement....we should be careful as to how we politicize something - it can come back to bite and it can turn off a lot of people who would otherwise be sympathetic to your organization. This one is short-sighted and does not reflect statesmanship nor proper stewardship of the organization - its resources nor its goodwill! I know nothing about IRS regs re maintaining a tax-exempt status, so cannot comment there...do see where other groups have vocally lobbied to prevent such building .... What is the actual mission statement for the Foundation? All actions (or choosing to act (or not to act in some situations) should directly related to supporting the stated mission and should also conform with all laws regarding such foundations - local, state, and federal. We all want to preserve our heritage. We all want freedom to shop and freedom for stores to make a reasonable profit and provide jobs for locals.... balance,reason, an even keel...all called for here. On Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 10:33 AM, Michael Oddenino <oddlaw@pacbell.net>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 -- Kathleen Bowen Simons Falls Church, Virginia Imagine keeping it simple: Worship, Community & Service at Image Church ( http://www.imagechurch.com; listen to Pastor Chris Rhodenhizer's thought-provoking messages by clicking on the Audio link!) Listen to a beautiful song, "Feel the Ocean Calling," by Roderick C. Simons: http://www.myspace.com/roderickcsimons