The Senate and House versions of the latest federal power-grab/land-grab, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground (JTHG) National Heritage Area, have been pending since April of this year. A "lame duck" session attack is apparently scheduled to take place this week, led by Senator George Allen and Congressman Frank Wolf to pass and impose the new National Heritage Area (NHA) on the people of multiple counties in four states: Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia. It's urgent to again contact federal, state and local elected officials to tell them to oppose/withdraw support for this federal scam. The latest on House and Senate bill status and co-sponsors at:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.05195:
and
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.02645:

Congressional staff email addresses can be found here:
http://www.outsourcecongress.org/outsource/congress/schstaffers.html

The Capitol Switchboard is 202-224-3121 or there are Toll Free phone numbers maintained by various organizations and lobbying groups. Some of them may be inoperative, but try: 800-361-5222; 877-762-8762; 800-839-5276; 800-648-3516; 888-909-8697; 888-818-6641; 866-340-9281; 866-340-9279; or 877-851-6437.

If passed and signed by the President, millions of acres of private land -- farms, homes, businesses and industries -- within a corridor stretching from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to Charlottesville, Virginia would potentially be affected by additional land-use control and economic manipulation pushed by a cartel of special-interest groups, funded by federal, state and local taxes.

As has been the case with almost every NHA, the vast majority of citizens within the JTHG physical boundaries have been kept in the dark, totally unaware of the meaning of the plan formulated by the saviors of the environment, historic sites and cultural resources; unaware of National Park Service (NPS) funded control mechanisms; and ignorant of the officially-stated NPS goal of using the tinsel of NHA designation as a cover to hijack the local planning and decision processes, and to minimize opposition to back-door, federal land use controls.

If documentation is needed to dispel the lies about "no NPS (federal) involvement in local land use decisions," here is just one of many: http://www.cr.nps.gov/heritageareas/REP/heritageresearch.pdf In this report, one of the gages of the success of a NHA is "...land use policy decisions, zoning law changes and decisions, and design of new construction could be used as measures of success." In every NHA, the official "management entity" is either directly or indirectly involved in setting local government policies and openly working to undermine local sovereignty.

Thanks to Frank Wolf, John Warner and that icon of Virginia "conservatism," Congressman Bob Goodlatte, those of us who are privileged to live within the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields National Historic District NHA have been witness to the biggest public-private partnership land-grab in Virginia since the 1920s when Virginia officials sold out the people of the Blue Ridge to the NPS. This team has been responsible for handing out millions in federal pork and making sure the fat is used to grease the palms of just about every NGO "partner." The Valley was burned in 1864 by the federals under Philip Sheridan. The Blue Ridge was raped by the federals. And today, the federal "partners" have their sights on even more land.

“…the federal government took our belongings and our ancestors’ lives; now they want to do it again, only this time they want to worry the people to death…The National Parks already own too much land that is not properly cared for now. The federal government doesn’t need to go further in debt to deprive landowners of their property rights.”—Virginia Senator Frank W. Nolen, January 3, 1992

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NHAs are the framework for shifting land and "interests in land" from the private sector to government and to tax-exempt, taxpayer-funded, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as land trusts and conservancies.

The trend for NHAs is clear. Landowners are dislocated, local tax bases are altered and depleted, property taxes soar, and ultimately, vast tracts of private land are 'gentrified' by a class of wealthy elitists who want strict controls on "development." Traditional rural cultures and social institutions are lost or are so altered as to become mockeries of what they once were. Agricultural land often becomes a tax write-off "investment" for absentee landlords; local business and industry forced to give way to discretionary, non-productive, consumption-service-oriented business such as "heritage tourism" -- much of it dependent on taxpayer subsidies.

Senator Allen was defeated by Jim Webb in the November election in large part because he sneered at the 'archaic' values held by a large number of Virginians: sanctity of private property and smaller, less intrusive government. Apparently he is determined his legacy will be a temper tantrum and a slap in the face to all those ungrateful 'rednecks' who decided they had had enough of his courting Virginia's preservationists. It seems the JTHG is to be a parting gift to the Piedmont's "A-List" of wealthy political donors.

As for Frank Wolf and his partner, John Warner... it's doubtful their disdain for the rights of Virginians has been changed much by Mr. Allen's loss. But it is worth letting them know, along with every other JTHG supporter, the next election is not very far off, and America is getting angrier by the day with incumbents who ignore the rights of property owners.

For reasons unclear, Congressman Virgil Goode, usually one of property owner's best friends, signed on to JTHG as a co-sponsor. He should be urged to immediately withdraw his name from the list of co-sponsors. In the past, as a member of the Liberty Committee, he has been a solid supporter of rights of the individual. In this instance, he dropped the ball.

The history of NPS land acquisition and control has been tainted by a continuous record of sordid betrayals and lies. And supporting nearly a century of NPS dishonesty has been the witting or unwitting collusion of many federal, state and local officials. Below are some brief excerpts from published reports of the lies told to Cades Cove residents many years ago. My emphasis in bold. Today, only the names, places and methods have changed. The lies have not. As long as there are fools who ignore the past, and who think, "We can trust them and work with them," the NPS, its lackeys and political "partnerships" will continue to treat Americans as simpletons and jackasses.

How often does someone have to kick you in the teeth before you realize he's not a friend? Something to think about when your senator, congressman, delegate, county supervisor or county commissioner sings the praises of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground, or any other National Heritage Area. -- Leo Schwartz

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"Tyson Issues Statement"
from the Knoxville Journal, May 9, 1926

Senator L. D. Tyson today issued a statement to allay the fears of those residing in the area to be included in the Great Smokies park that their homes may be taken from them. Nothing of the kind will happen, the senator said. His statement follows:

"I have noticed reports to the effect that the people within the boundary which is proposed to be taken in for the Great Smokey Mountain park are somewhat disturbed over the situation, feeling that they may be compelled to sell their land and to move out of the area within the boundary and be put to other inconvenience thereby.

"The bill which has been introduced for this proposed park in the senate and house carries no authority whatever to move anyone, and there is no authority whatever for buying any land or of doing anything in regard to the land except to receive it as a donation. No person within the boundary limits so far as any authority is contained in this bill, is compelled to move or in any way to be disturbed - nor their land taken over under this bill. I do not understand how such a rumor could have gotten out."

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Tyson's statement was widely printed in local papers and greatly reassured [Cades Cove] residents. Tennessee governor Austin Peay also publicly assured owners of land within the park that "they need have no alarm." At Elkmont in 1926 Governor Peay met with three or four hundred concerned citizens and repeated assurances that their farms would never be seized by eminent domain for park purposes. "As long as I am a member of the Park Commission," Peay argued, "I wish to assure these people that there will be no condemnation of their homes." Such evictions "for the pleasure and profit of the rest of the state," he continued, "would be a blot upon the state that the barbarism of the Huns could not match!"

TIME ELAPSES -- PROMISES BROKEN

On a hot September afternoon in 1929 John Oliver found himself once again engaged in legal battle before the Blount County Circuit Court. Even unfriendly spectators in the old courthouse in Maryville, however, grudgingly conceded Oliver's audacity and courage in fighting a seemingly hopeless battle against impossible odds. He was challenging the right of the state to seize his farm by eminent domain, but in so doing he threatened the larger progress of the entire movement to establish the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

Also difficult to measure were the fears and anxiety among elderly cove people, most of whom had lived their entire lives there. William Howell Oliver, seventy-four years old in 1931, particularly dreaded selling their churches and cemeteries to the Park Commission. It seemed "like selling our dead," he lamented.

It was as though, having destroyed the community of Cades Cove by eminent domain, the community's corpse was now to be mutilated beyond recognition.

"The eviction of the mountain people after they had been promised they could remain during their lifetime was a shocking breach of faith on the part of this legalized agency of the state of Tennessee, the park commission" (T.H. Alexander in the Nashville Tennessean, September 1, 1932).

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"Local Support" for Congressman Wolf's National Heritage Area Bill Largely Smoke and Mirrors
http://www.nationalcenter.org/PRJTHGResolutionsofSupport1106.html

“Hallowed Ground” and Government’s Relentless Assault on Private Property Rights
http://www.americanpolicy.org/prop/main.htm

George Allen takes us for a Ride Through Hallowed Ground
http://www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$40658

US Senator George Allen: A Property Rights Betrayal
http://www.vlrc.org/articles/184.html

And more information here: http://www.vlrc.org/articles/178.html

-- 
L. M. Schwartz, Chairman
The Virginia Land Rights Coalition
POB 85
McDowell, Virginia FOC 24458
540-396-6217
"Working to Protect the Rights of Virginia's Property Owners"

Visit our website at http://www.vlrc.org/


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