More on the Wal-Mart Disaster

From today’s on-line edition of the Culpeper Star-Exponent:

OUR VIEW: Sacrificing history for the sake of convenience

STAFF EDITORIAL
Published: August 27, 2009

We are extremely disappointed in this week’s news that Walmart has been approved to build near the Wilderness battlefield.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 in the early morning hours Tuesday to allow a Walmart Super Center to be built across the road from the Wilderness Civil War battlefield.

It makes our stomachs churn.

Many Orange County residents pointed to the need for shopping outlets, new jobs and tax dollars that would remain in local coffers — all legitimate needs, just not at the expense of the hallowed ground where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first met in a horrific battle that saw tens of thousands killed or wounded.

While it appears to be a done deal and construction could begin in a matter of months, we stand with local, state and national preservation groups whose new focus is to put pressure to Walmart headquarters to abandon plans for the store.

Will that work?

We can only hope.

Somehow, someone must convince the corporate giant to abandon this site and relocate a mile west, closer to the coveted population center at Lake of the Woods.

If Walmart proceeds with plans to build at the intersection of routes 3 and 20, however, we implore the company to keep its word and do everything possible to minimize sight lines.

Unfortunately, little can be done regarding traffic flow and the sprawl that will eventually overtake the serene battlefield area.

Kudos to Teri L. Pace, the only supervisor who voted no.

The folks from Culpeper County, who probably know and understand more about battlefield preservation than anyone else in Virginia, deserve kudos for taking this stand, which I obviously agree with wholeheartedly.