A Call to Arms! Park sanctioned vandalism?

[garyjd]

Not along ago vandals spray painted portions of the Peace Light Memorial at Gettysburg. Plywood was placed over the damage pending clean up. Well in a way they've struck again, and they're being paid to do it.

http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=7873

Either A these contractors are not being poorly supervised or B there is no supervision. Why should spray painting original rock walls by contractors be trated any differently than had it been done by a vandal? Call it extreme but I think fines are in order and disciplinary action taken against whoever is responsible for overseeing this type of work. Check out some of the older threads on Gettysburg Daily that shows some of the other damage contractors have done and the crackerjack job supervising their handywork. I know the NPS folks do a lot of good things but closer stewardship is in order here. ~G

[Jimmayo]

Re: Park sanctioned vandalism?

What a waste of money but no worse than the visitor center. The park employees can now hide in the woods and look for people who are walking along that bulldozed path trying to find a minie ball. That is more fun than supervising people with spray cans painting the rocks.

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: Park sanctioned vandalism?

Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act states that there must be a historic preservation/resource review and compliance done by the CRM park staff or a secretary of the interior qualified firm when any federal monies are involved in a program, especially those on national park service properties.

[laurelgirl]

Re: Park sanctioned vandalism?

I just spoke with one of the Park Rangers, and he stated that there was no recent work being done on the Peace Light (none has been done since the vandalism repair last year), but there was some repair work going on recently on the West-end way station which included closing-down the parking lot of the Peace Light for a few day just prior to the anniversary. The way station is not an original structure, so if spray paint was on there, then it was because they were working on refacing the building and were going to be taking off the stone facade.
As per the attached article, the difference between the Devil's Den comfort station and this one is that this one is hidden by trees and natural landscape and is not openly apparent, whereas the one in Devil's Den was pretty much out there in the open. Additionally, there HAVE been outcries about the lack of bathroom and washroom facilities on the Battlefield, especially after the one in Devil's Den was taken down (which was a Friend's project, not an NPS-funded project). Some of the businesses in town have been upset because more and more non-purchasing tourists are taking advantage of their washrooms because there are so few public ones are available.

[Ken]

Re: Park sanctioned vandalism?

If you want to see some recent and very disturbing Gettysburg vandalism check this out. These people need to be punished to the max the law allows.

http://www.gettysburgdaily.com/?p=7996

[Jimmayo]

Re: Park sanctioned vandalism?

Scrubbing the paint off with a tooth brush would be a good touch. Got to catch them first. Shouldn't be too hard, just ask around GB high school.