Tom and Cassie
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Gettysburg hours change
« Thread started on: May 24th, 2005, 6:08pm » |
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Important notice for visitors to Gettysburg: The National Park Service has announced that Park Superintendent John Latschar wants to permanently change the park’s operating hours. Instead of 6 AM—10 PM the park would only be open from dawn to dusk. If adopted, a $75 fine will be issued to anyone found in the park after dark. Those of us (many thousands) who enjoy walking and driving the beautiful and haunting terrain by moonlight would then be labeled criminals and trespassers by his holiness, John Latschar. No public hearings are planned and the public comment period ends on May 31, 2005. God forbid they give us more time to get the word out.
The Gettysburg battlefield is public land, not John Latschar’s to do as he wishes. It belongs to the public, not to the folks who are paid to manage it. Every effort should be made to keep it as accessible to the public as possible. Cutting down trees to return the battlefield to its 1863 appearance is one thing, but changing the operating hours which have been in place for decades is another matter entirely. It’s been rumored that banning personal autos and replacing them with park-operated shuttles is also being considered.
In our opinion, the current Superintendent John Latschar and his God-like ego run amok, are the worst things to happen to Gettysburg since the horrific Civil War battle. He said in a recent interview, "The predominant use of the park after dark is for drinking, drug use, and ghost hunting." This is utter nonsense. We've spent hundreds of hours on the battlefield after dark and never saw anyone doing anything wrong. Paranormal investigating is perfectly legal. Those folks add millions of dollars to the Gettysburg economy. In fact, many businesses in town are based around them. Is Mr. Latschar going to donate the millions in lost revenue from his own pocket?
As for any illegal activities, there are already laws to deal with them. Since when do we enforce a law by making a new law that denies access to everyone? This is lunacy. He also said, when talking about the shortage of manpower, "We need the majority of our staff at 3 PM. We don't need them here chasing down folks at 3 AM." Where's the logic? What he's doing is increasing the time when rangers must be chasing people out, not lessening it. This is the mentality of the man who's in charge of our largest and most visited battlefield? Perhaps it's time he was replaced by someone more qualified for the job.
Anyone wishing to voice his or her disagreement with the backhanded, lightning-fast policy change can contact the park at GETT_Superintendent@nps.gov. Better still, contact your local representative. Unlike John Latschar, they must earn your vote.
Coincidentally, this proposal came quickly after another controversial proposal was announced—to build a casino just outside Gettysburg. On the surface, it sure seems like the policy change is designed to get visitors to spend their evenings there instead of on the battlefield. When asked for an opinion concerning the casino, the official NPS comment was, “No comment.” Sometimes, saying nothing says plenty.
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