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

DATE: FRIDAY, December 24, 1993                   TAG: 9312300045
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GRANTS

The latest evidence of progress came this week, with announcement of a $52,000 grant - Explore's largest corporate gift to date - from Philip Morris U.S.A. The money is for building a walking and horsedrawn-wagon trail from the parking lots through the replica of a 19th-century Blue Ridge settlement.

The grant is particularly valuable, said Rupert Cutler, executive director of the state-owned park, because it isn't restricted to the relocation or reconstruction of a specific building.

Still, the money is to be used for capital development, not operating expenses. Cutler is coming through on his prediction that private money can be raised for developing the living-history museum. Another recent example: The family of the late Horace G. Fralin has donated a one-room schoolhouse from Franklin County - a fine piece of country history.

So far, however, Cutler has also been correct in predicting that private money for operating expenses is far more difficult to raise.

For help with operating costs, Explore is asking for state support. State money was used to purchase the land for the park, but otherwise Richmond has not been a backer. By way of contrast, half the $8 million annual operating budget of the North Carolina Zoological Park is underwritten by that state.

And by way of extreme contrast, the Walt Disney Co. reportedly is seeking $60 million in public subsidies for its proposed American-history park in Northern Virginia - which, unlike Explore, is a commercial, for-profit, privately owned venture!

The Explore project has changed as it has evolved, but significant funding by private-sector donors has remained part of the vision. The state's reluctance to commit operating money to Explore has rested in part on the prudent desire to see evidence of such private-sector interest.

Explore can now add the Philip Morris and Fralin grants to the list of gifts proving such interest. Now it's time for the state to acknowledge Explore's progress, and to provide help with operating costs.