Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 28, 1993 TAG: 9304280344
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
After hearing a parade of prominent citizens extoll the living-history state park's potential as a tourist attraction, the supervisors reaffirmed their earlier decision to set aside $350,000 to widen a road so a modest version of Explore can open to the public next year.
But Tuesday's 3-1 approval of the road money doesn't necessarily mean the supervisors will go along with Explore's other request for $100,000 to help pay for construction and operating expenses.
That vote won't come until May 11, and it was clear Tuesday that Explore's support on the board is shaky.
When the supervisors initially approved the road funding in January, the vote was 3-2, with Harry Nickens, Bob Johnson and Ed Kohinke in favor and Lee Eddy and Fuzzy Minnix opposed. Because of a technicality, the board had to take a second vote Tuesday on the road funding. This time, Kohinke abstained, while Eddy switched sides to provide Explore with the third and decisive vote.
Eddy explained afterward that the county already had gone on record in favor of the road money and he simply wanted to reaffirm the earlier decision, even if he didn't agree with it.
Nevertheless, Explore leader Rupert Cutler hailed the county's approval of the road money as a great victory.
Without a widened Rutrough Road, he had warned, the National Park Service wouldn't allow an interchange to let Rutrough serve as a temporary route between the Blue Ridge Parkway and Explore until the parkway's regular access road is completed in 1996.
Without that temporary access, Cutler said, Explore wouldn't be able to open to the general public next year.
And if Explore couldn't open on schedule, then the project wouldn't be able to raise money for additional construction.
With the connection assured, "it's a great relief," Cutler said. "Now I can go fund-raise. This makes all the difference in the world."
Even the mere speculation in recent weeks that the county might go back on its earlier decision to widen Rutrough Road had cast a pall over Explore's fund-raising prospects, planners said.
"This kind of discussion brings fund raising to an absolute halt," said project engineer Richard Burrow. "Donors wouldn't even talk to you. If somebody is going to contribute to a project, they want to know it's going to get used."
That's why Explore planners organized a high-powered delegation Tuesday to beseech the supervisors to keep their word on the road money, and kick in $100,000 for operations and construction later on.
"It would be almost unthinkable to me to have any organization, especially the county board, to take any action suggesting abandonment of Explore," said former Rep. Jim Olin, D-Roanoke. "To me, it's out of the question."
Oak Grove Elementary School Principal Peggy Moles, a member of the state board that owns Explore, stressed Explore's role as an outdoor classroom for students learning about history and the environment.
"Learning is more meaningful when you have a hands-on approach," she said. To make her point, she brought each supervisor a brown paper bag that included an antique farm tool and asked them if they could identify the contents.
Like a teacher in the classroom, she went down the line of supervisors.
"Bob, we'll start with you," she said to Johnson.
Johnson peered at the strange implement before him. "I was going to use it to hit Mr. Kohinke with, but his is bigger than mine."
"That is a hog scraper," Moles informed him, and went on to give a brief lecture about how farmers once used the tool to remove a pig's hide. "As you can see," she told the supervisors, "learning is more fun if you have some hands-on activities."
However, Explore was not without its detractors at Tuesday's meeting.
Former Roanoke City Councilman Charles Landis, who now lives in Glenvar, warned that Explore may become dependent on county funding. If the county gives any money to Explore, he said, it should be strictly a one-time donation.
David Courey, a postal employee from Southwest Roanoke County, urged supervisors not to give any money to Explore. "Explore will never be a great tourist attraction," he said. "Explore will be a great money pit. It already is."
To counter that impression, Explore planners presented revised attendance projections that Cutler said showed Explore's "payback to Roanoke County will be substantial."
He said a modest version of the park should attract 50,000 tourists next year, providing 20 to 25 jobs and generating $10,000 in sales tax for the county.
If Explore continues to add buildings and attractions, he said, then by the year 2000 the park should attract 490,000 visitors, provide 100 to 125 jobs and generate $177,500 per year in sales tax for the county.
Those figures come from Explore's own projections; its scaled-down plans haven't been subjected to an independent economic analysis. That might come if the General Assembly decides to study Cutler's call for Explore to be transformed from an independent state authority into a full-fledged state agency.
Staff writer David M. Poole contributed to this report.
by CNB