I've never been a fan of WalMart, although in recent years I thought it was improving in some ways. But then, they do s*** like this....Wal-Mart wants to build a "supercenter" shopping mall on the ground where the Union and Confederate armies clashed in the battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War. Here is a disheartening update: A courageous and wise public official has been fired for suggesting that Wal-Mart choose a different site.In short, the deal is that Rolfe recommended that the WalMart be built, just not right on top of an historic Civil War battlefield. Makes sense, right? Well, apparently not to Orange County supervisors Mark Johnson, Zack Burkett, and Teri Pace, who not only decided to go ahead with the Wal-Mart as is, but also fired Rolfe in a closed door vote.
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With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War approaching, there is bound to be increased interest in Virginia's battlefields. Even if greed is their primary motive, the Orange County supervisors should be planning to lure tourists to a preserved Wilderness battlefield, not despoiling it with a shopping center that could be built on another site.
Does anyone else find this as outrageous as I do?
