FRIENDS OF FORT MONROE HAVE A LOT COMING THEIR WAY THIS FALL

FRIENDS OF FORT MONROE HAVE A LOT COMING THEIR WAY THIS FALL.

It's August 17, three weeks from Labor Day and the start of the fall political season. With
* the Fort Monroe Authority's consultants formally briefing the
authority next month about options for National Park Service
involvement at Fort Monroe, and with
* the powers-that-be, in part via a committee chaired by Mr. Crouch

of the Kaine administration, beginning to consider the possible

reconstituting of the Fort Monroe Authority through legislation

next winter in Richmond, and with

* a public hearing about to be scheduled so that the citizens can

voice opinions about how that reconstituting should go, and with

* Rep. Nye and his staff considering legislation for a national park
   Special Resource Study, and with
* Virginia's two U.S. senators having recently asked for such a study
   for the Bedford D-Day facility, and with
* new national parks coming into being in other states,
   and with

* a public hearing imminent about the Fort Monroe Environmental

Impact Statement (which may sound dreary and bureaucratic,

but it's important), and with

* the Army conducting the viewshed and cultural landscape

studies that should show, once and for all, that Fort Monroe

is not just a cherishable stone fortress surrounded

   by condo-ready land, and with
* the Hampton City Council beginning to engage a citizens'
   initiative about Fort Monroe's future, and with
* the public hearing on that initiative at city council set for Sept. 23,
   requiring especially Hamptonians who are friends of Fort Monroe to turn out
   en masse, and with
* Virginians about to replace Gov. Kaine with either a Gov.
   Deeds or a Gov. McDonnell as the most important person
   on the planet concerning future Fort Monroe, and with
* Sen. Deeds having committed to a national park approach on
   "HearSay" in April, and with
* the Ken Burns national park PBS series about to refocus all
   of us on our national treasures starting Sept. 27,
true friends of Fort Monroe have a lot to look forward to.

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