
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, March 28, 1993                   TAG: 9303280003
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FORT DEFIANCE                                LENGTH: Medium

ALUMNI QUESTION EFFORT TO REOPEN MILITARY SCHOOL

Augusta Military Academy alumni are questioning the legitimacy of a Northern Virginia family's effort to raise money and reopen the historic school, but the fund-raising director defended the project Friday.

Edwin Click of Fort Defiance, a 1950 graduate, wrote an article in the most recent issue of the Augusta Military Academy newsletter, The Bayonet, advising his classmates not to invest in the project.

"They have never provided alumni with any credentials to legitimize the project regarding construction or an academic program," Click said.

Click said he was concerned by the "extraordinary and exotic" restoration proposals, including a 125,000-volume library and a supercomputer more advanced than the University of Virginia's.

"I haven't got faith this project will ever happen in my lifetime," Click said.

"We can't ask our alumni to support the project until we see evidence of ownership and a financial plan," said Thomas Simmons, president of the Augusta Military Academy Alumni Association.

"It's more than understandable the alumni are a little hesitant to put support into it," said Scott Barden, development director of the Fort Defiance Foundation. "They've seen two or three people come in and nothing came of it."

Until the property changes hands, back taxes are paid and tax-exempt status is attained, "I wouldn't expect them to be handing over large sums of money," he said from his apartment office in Falls Church.

Augusta Military Academy owner Cecil Culbertson of Haymarket said he is optimistic the deal will go through.

In mid-January, Harold and Judith Moore, Barden's mother, announced their intention to buy and restore Augusta Military Academy, which closed in 1984, to its original luster with modern amenities at a cost of $10 million to $15 million. The $38 million endowment campaign is being led by Barden.

According to the Virginia Department of Consumer Affairs, The Fort Defiance Foundation and its officers are not listed with that agency - the state entity that authorizes organizations to solicit public funds.

"If they are soliciting funds through direct mail, person-to-person or even door-to-door without being registered by our office they are in direct violation of the Virginia solicitation of contributions law," said Michael Wright, manager of registrations for state consumer affairs.

The foundation also is not listed with the State Corporation Commission, according to agency spokeswoman Andrea Leeman.

A letter explaining the project for Augusta Military alumni said, "Send contributions to: Fort Defiance Foundation, Inc." It listed a post office box in Fort Defiance.

by CNB