Posted on 05/04/2009 11:12:18 AM PDT by Publius804
Actor Duvall enters battle to save Va. battlefield
By STEVE SZKOTAK
LOCUST GROVE, Va. (AP) - Academy Award-winning actor Robert Duvall has fired a verbal salvo against plans to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter near a Virginia Civil War battlefield where Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee first fought the Union's Ulysses S. Grant.
Duvall, who is a descendant of Lee, said he will help preservationists in "chasing out" the retailer from a site near the Wilderness Battlefield.
At a news conference on Monday, Duvall said he has no grudge against Wal-Mart but believes in capitalism coupled with sensitivity.
Duvall was joined by Congressmen Peter Welch of Vermont and Ted Poe of Texas, representing states that lost many lives at the Wilderness battle 145 years ago.
The Wal-Mart proposal must first be approved by Orange County supervisors.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
When did I say (or even imply) they weren't? It's precisely because they are hallowed that maybe we ought to sanctify the memory of men who fought and died defending them.
You are correct. There already is a 7-11, a Sheetz, a McDonalds, a strip mall with an ABC store,Chinese take-out,Dollar Store, etc.
Meanwhile, the “Stars and Bars” relic store is boarded up and festering.
The Wilderness is NOT Salem Church, not by a long shot.
Then let's buy the land and honor them. Robbing the current owner of the use of his land diminishes the pricipal and devalues the sacrifice.
Exactly,
Cracks me up reading comments about Gettysburg on this thread. Anyone thats been there a decade ago, and again last year as my wife and I were, can’t help but laugh.
Lets see...between the Holiday Inn and the Harley Davidson dealership...the huge mall, the four dozen franchise eateries....(chuckle)
At the Battle of Chantilly, General Kearny died at the strip mall...
At the Battle of Corinth, Battery Williams is now a wholesale storage company...
Why ask? He's not an anti-Walmart campaigner. This does become a higher profile fight because they're involved, but Duvall's concerned about the battlefield.
"As far as I'm concerned, we've got to keep this guy Barack Obama out of the White House." -- Robert Duvall
That would be the best solution.
I’ve heard about those sites.
I asked because I'm genuinely curious. Don't know if the leaders of this fight are anti-Walmart or not.
Regarding your Duvall quote... Being anti-0bama is no guarantee of conservative principals regarding property rights. Just read the thread.
Thank you.
If anyone want to preserve the land they should buy it. Otherwise go about your business and keep your mouth shut.
Lets see...between the Holiday Inn and the Harley Davidson dealership...the huge mall, the four dozen franchise eateries....(chuckle) M
You should see the Alamo in downtown San Antonio. ~1/4 (maybe an acre of land) of the original fort is preserved as a park along with the chapel. Santa Anna leveled the rest of the fort (I think). The rest of the battlefield is under city streets, buildings, and parking lots. But I defy you to find a more solemn shrine to sacrifice anywhere. The amount of land we set aside to preserve the memory has nothing to do with preserving the memory.
I’ve seen the Alamo, and know what your saying. I was stunned the first time I visited.
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Duvall, who is a descendant of Lee, said he will help preservationists in "chasing out" the retailer from a site near the Wilderness Battlefield.Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
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In Manassas, WalMart is building a store in the site of an old Sears on the corner of Manassas Mall. They had to tear down the old Sears building, re-locate a stream, do all new parking, and then connect their building into the existing mall structure.
Maybe there are other places Walmart prefers to build virgin, but they obviously are willing to recycle as well.
“But I think they should” ;-) (Clash reference intended!!!!)
My former hometown had a battle with Walmart. Walmart wanted to build on a farmer's field, but neighboring residents didn't want the additional run-off the new asphalt would cause as the area had already been prone to some minor flooding. After a protracted battle with Walmart, which was claiming that it was going to be the field or nowhere, Walmart eventually ended up tearing down an adjacent (and mostly abandoned) strip mall and built there.
Everyone eventually got what they wanted, but it was probably a little more expensive than what Walmart had hoped.
The Walmart location is not on the current battlefield grounds, it is behind a strip mall at the corner of Route 3 and Route 20. It is over a mile from the battlefield entrance, of which 2700 acres of land are preserved.
Preservationists probably fought against the strip mall, the 7-11, and the other buildings around the battlefield. Heck, they may have fought the roads themselves. They lost because they were in a minority.
DuVall is a good conservative who is also known for fighting against business when it comes to preserving his patch of unspoiled Virginia. He was instrumental in the fight against high-voltage power lines as well.
But in this case, if the preservationists win, it will be because they can count on the pro-union organizations who oppose WalMart at every turn. The preservationists would be happy to put Walmart somewhere else, where Walmart can’t be as quickly profitable, but they will team with groups that will fight Walmart to the death until they force Walmart into destroying itself by accepting unions.
It is fully proper for residents to fight WalMart on permitting and zoning. Walmart’s job is to make money. But to do so they have to have customers, so they can’t piss off the people who live in the areas they are building — too much anyway.
People need to stand up to them, in order to convince Walmart to spend a little more money but to end up with a better outcome for everybody.
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