Ancient Leetsdale sandbar reveals history as 8,000-year-old stories come to life

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Sunday, October 13, 2002 | Lillian Thomas

[Willie Green]

Eight thousand years before workers began casting two gigantic sections of a dam on the banks of the Ohio River in Leetsdale, people were wading out from shore to the same spot, then a sandbar, and camping for short periods.

[Willie Green]

Like many who read this article, I find the history and information interesting. However, it is valid to question how much public resources are devoted to such activity. It seems no matter how much is budgetted ($7 million, or $700K, or $70 million), they're ALWAYS going to expect "to come in at or under that amount". (Most probably AT.)

[Willie Green]

FYI, (you guys generally like this stuff.)

[martin_fierro]

Map of Leetsdale, PA

[Sawdring]

Does it really matter? I'm sitting at the library right now and they just bought 80 or so brand new Dell computers with NEC flat pannel screens. I Wonder how much that cost the taxpayers?

[FreetheSouth!]

ping blam

[blam]

Thanks for the ping bump.

[Willie Green]

Does it really matter?

Of course it does.

I'm sitting at the library right now and they just bought 80 or so brand new Dell computers with NEC flat pannel screens. I Wonder how much that cost the taxpayers?

I just happened to post another thread that addresses that specific issue: School libraries work around budget constraints

Here's an excerpt:

"Buying books is no longer done by big corporations for local schools," said Benyo. "They'll buy computer equipment, but not books. Computers have become the 'in' thing."

And while computers are popular choices for research in the schools' libraries, they don't replace good print resources. "You still need those encyclopedias and other reference materials, just in case the Internet goes down," Benyo said.

[FreeLibertarian]

Like many who read this article, I find the history and information interesting. However, it is valid to question how much public resources are devoted to such activity. It seems no matter how much is budgetted ($7 million, or $700K, or $70 million), they're ALWAYS going to expect "to come in at or under that amount". (Most probably AT.)

If we don't investigate it now its gone forever. 1% of the gross project amount is a reasonable amount to spend on increasing knowledge and preserving history.

[RightWhale]

public resources are devoted to such activity

There is much we don't know about America that is buried just under the surface. We don't know, and the Native Americans don't know either. Anytime there is digging, somebody ought to take a look in case there is another of the 1000s of pyramids or mounds or campsites from wayback when. Don't know that allocating a specific percentage of project costs is necessary. It's kind of like mandating a percentage to an artistic-style work to decorate a federal building.