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Families Ask Bush to Seize Land Parcel for 9/11 Memorial
The Washington Post ^ | 28 Dec 2008 | Dan Eggen

Posted on 12/29/2008 8:44:28 AM PST by BGHater

It has been more than seven years since 20-year-old Deora Bodley and 39 other passengers and crew died in the fiery crash of United Airlines Flight 93, their hijacked plane disintegrating in a grove of hemlock trees outside Shanksville, Pa.

Most of the remains from the tragedy on Sept. 11, 2001, were never recovered, making the bowl-shaped crash site in the western Pennsylvania countryside an unofficial cemetery and, for surviving relatives, sacred ground.

But efforts to buy property for a national Flight 93 memorial have bogged down in federal red tape and a protracted land dispute, angering family members and risking plans to hold a dedication ceremony on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The delays have prompted an advocacy group, Families of Flight 93, to ask President Bush to personally intervene during his final weeks in office to allow the federal government to seize the land needed for the memorial and to allocate part of the money for the project.

"He signed the memorial act. He wanted something to be there and to be in place for years and years to come," said Bodley's mother, Deborah Borza, of San Diego. "We have waited so long already. I hold on to being hopeful that between now and January 20, something will happen, something will break free."

Landowner Mike Svonavec of Svonavec Inc. of Somerset, Pa., said the National Park Service and Flight 93 groups are "trying to make my company and myself look like the bad guy in this."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Government; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: 911; bush; eminentdomain; flight93; flight93memorial; memorial
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Law change allows eminent domain at Flight 93 crash site
1 posted on 12/29/2008 8:44:29 AM PST by BGHater
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To: BGHater

So. To honor a hijacked plane they’ll hijack property.


2 posted on 12/29/2008 8:46:18 AM PST by sionnsar (Iran Azadi|5yst3m 0wn3d-it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY)|http://trad-anglican.faithweb.com/|RCongressIn2Years)
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To: BGHater

That’s what America is about these days—if you build your cause up to be noble enough, you think you have the right to demand that others sacrifice for it or that you can demand anything for it. People have lost all sense of proportion.


3 posted on 12/29/2008 8:49:32 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard
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To: sionnsar; BGHater
To honor a hijacked plane they’ll hijack property.

We're living the upside-down, David Lynch evil remake of "Groundhog Day."

4 posted on 12/29/2008 8:50:29 AM PST by sam_paine (X .................................)
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To: BGHater
Oh, so when your freaking governors are forcing people to sell their homes for the benefit of construction companies, it's "emminent domain." When the UN wants defacto control of US land, it's a "World Heritage Site."

But when people want a field in the middle of nowhere made into a memorial to national heroes, it's "Bush seizing land."

Go to hell, media hacks.

5 posted on 12/29/2008 8:51:50 AM PST by the invisib1e hand (revolution is in the air.)
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To: Opinionated Blowhard; sionnsar; BGHater
Why honor the crash site? The hijacking and the in-flight defense is where the memorial should point.

Instead of seizing and lauding the deaths and "achievement" of the terrorists, memorialize the "let's roll" area in the sky.

"Seize" and honor the area in the sky and make it a NOTAM no-fly zone memorial that pilots can mention over the intercom as passengers fly next to it.

6 posted on 12/29/2008 8:54:23 AM PST by sam_paine (X .................................)
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To: the invisib1e hand

See #6?


7 posted on 12/29/2008 8:55:02 AM PST by sam_paine (X .................................)
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To: BGHater

8 posted on 12/29/2008 8:55:51 AM PST by jimbo123
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To: BGHater

9 posted on 12/29/2008 8:57:05 AM PST by jimbo123
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To: sionnsar

And put an islamic crescent pointing toward mecca on it.

http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/flight-93-memorial-an-islamic-crescent/


10 posted on 12/29/2008 8:58:31 AM PST by kalee
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To: sam_paine
see #5. It's about the media.

Forget the issue for a moment. Look what the media is getting you to think about the issue.

11 posted on 12/29/2008 8:59:46 AM PST by the invisib1e hand (revolution is in the air.)
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To: jimbo123

?


12 posted on 12/29/2008 8:59:52 AM PST by Red Badger (I was sad because I had no shoes to throw, until I met a reporter who had no feet.....)
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To: sam_paine
"...Why honor the crash site?"

Perhaps it is because THAT is where the unrecovered remains, remain..

13 posted on 12/29/2008 9:00:33 AM PST by river rat (Semper Fi - You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: sionnsar

And build a replica of mecca on it.


14 posted on 12/29/2008 9:04:26 AM PST by omega4179 (Ramos and Compean)
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To: sam_paine
"Seize" and honor the area in the sky and make it a NOTAM no-fly zone memorial that pilots can mention over the intercom as passengers fly next to it.

Alternatively, the government could seize the number '93' to memorialize United Flight 93. All counting and mathematical processes would go from 92 directly to 94, unless you were in possesion of a special licence, obtainable from the government for a fee, (the proceeds of which would be allocated to the Special Government Task Force for Studies of the effectiveness of memorial fees)

15 posted on 12/29/2008 9:06:04 AM PST by Funee Kat
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To: BGHater

What’s interesting is when it comes to estate valuation for tax purposes, the real estate is valued often not as it is currently being used but as it might be used. Thus, farmers who haven’t chosen the farm valuation option with its restrictions might have the land valued at subdivision values. Yet when it comes to valuing land for eminent domain purposes, the government low-balls it. For the government it’s win-win and for the public it’s lose-lose everytime.

The owner should set up some kind of memorial at the site and allow access to it, at a price at least enough to maintain the marker and roads to it and whatever else the market would bear. If the families believe the memorial is insufficient, they have a choice to set up another memorial somewhere nearby on public lands or purchase the property at the price that includes its new value as a historic crash site.

While I honor the bravery and sacrifice of the Flight 93 men and women, I can’t condone the heavy hand of government forcing the landowners to dedicate their land to a memorial or a “cemetery”. What has made this country what it is is the ability to move beyond tragedy to victory, beyond tradition to progress. Americans have little patience with those who believe they have the right to freeze their progress to mourn the past year after year after year, and to expect others to accede to their wishes. I don’t want this nation to become a museum for the past as Europe is becoming. We build, tear down, remember, then move on.


16 posted on 12/29/2008 9:07:13 AM PST by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things)
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To: BGHater

As long as it has Islamic symbolism, forget about it.

Really a small marker is all that is needed. Forget about the gift shop and all the frills.


17 posted on 12/29/2008 9:07:22 AM PST by Mark was here (The earth is bipolar.)
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To: the invisib1e hand
But when people want a field in the middle of nowhere made into a memorial to national heroes, it's "Bush seizing land."

Oh, please. Bush is not seizing land and nowhere does it say it. It's the whiners that are demanding he seize land.

18 posted on 12/29/2008 9:10:17 AM PST by raybbr (It's going to get a lot worse now that the anchor babies are voting!)
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To: BGHater

From later in the article:
“The effort to build a permanent memorial began with legislation signed by Bush
in September 2002, leading to plans for a 2,200-acre national park site...”
- - -
Can anyone explain why they need TWENTY-TWO-HUNDRED ACRES of land for this?


19 posted on 12/29/2008 9:13:53 AM PST by Repeal The 17th
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To: caseinpoint
What’s interesting is when it comes to estate valuation for tax purposes, the real estate is valued often not as it is currently being used but as it might be used. Thus, farmers who haven’t chosen the farm valuation option with its restrictions might have the land valued at subdivision values. Yet when it comes to valuing land for eminent domain purposes, the government low-balls it. For the government it’s win-win and for the public it’s lose-lose everytime.

Citizen, report to reeducation immediately.

20 posted on 12/29/2008 9:14:20 AM PST by null and void (Petroglyphs. The original cliffs notes...)
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