Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409230126
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
A subcommittee of the Governor's Commission on Government Reform has recommended the museum be made private, which means it would lose $2 million a year in state funding.
Without the funding, "the museum will die," says its executive director, Connie Gendron.
But the Martinsville community - rocked by announcements of hundreds of job layoffs in the past 12 months - is rallying around the museum.
A citizens' group started by Jean Adams, wife of Martinsville Mayor George Adams, held a news conference Thursday afternoon outside the museum. Close to 200 people attended the event - billed with the slogan "Don't let the museum strike out."
Speakers included state Sen. Virgil Goode, D-Rocky Mount; state Del. Ward Armstrong, D-Martinsville; assistant Martinsville School Superintendent Beth Baptist; and Martinsville Junior High student Minda McDorman.
Everyone's message was the same: Keep state funding intact for the museum and leave it in Martinsville.
Listening intently to the speakers, sixth-grader Kiah Cooper later said he's angered that other localities - including Roanoke County and Danville - have expressed interest in the museum.
"I think we've got it, and now everyone else wants it."
That's a point Jean Adams stressed. She says the museum's founder, Dr. Noel Boaz, shopped the facility's concept to localities around the state in mid-1980s and none, except Martinsville, was interested.
It also angers some that Seward Anderson, Danville's mayor, is chairman of the museum's board of trustees.
"To me, that's a conflict," said Henry County Administrator Bob Lawler.
Anderson could not be reached for comment Thursday, but both he and Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge have said they expressed interest in the museum only after being contacted about the possible relocation by a strike force staff member.
And both think the museum is less inviting without state funding.
A majority on the 25-member trustee board supports keeping the museum in Martinsville.
Gendron, who last winter talked up a short-lived proposal to put a proposed expansion of the museum at the Explore Park in Roanoke County, again said she would not oppose a museum branch at Explore, or anywhere else for that matter - assuming the Martinsville facility remained open with state funding.
"We're a museum without walls; that's always been our philosophy," said Gendron, referring to an extensive outreach program the museum offers statewide. "We're really happy that all these localities are interested. It validates our importance."
Now if only Gendron and the Martinsville community can get that word to Gov. George Allen and members of the strike force.
No member of the subcommittee that's studying the state Department of Natural Resources - the arm of government the museum falls under - visited the facility before the recommendation was made to cut its state funding.
A staff member for the strike force, John Crump, has visited the museum and talked at length with Gendron.
Crump said Thursday that the idea of relocating the museum is one that's been talked about for months. After a proposal to move the museum to Explore was dropped in January, the subcommittee issued a preliminary report, made available to localities in mid-August, that included a possible relocation.
He said the recommendation to cut state funding emerged from committee discussion. The full strike force will meet Wednesday to consider subcommittee recommendations.
Crump, however, said he's received spirited calls from Martinsville citizens asking that funding be left intact.
At the news conference Thursday, Armstrong strode to the podium sporting a tie with Mickey Mouse on it.
He quickly explained why, and summed up that spirited feeling that's taken root in Martinsville.
"If the commonwealth of Virginia can spend $161 million to get the Disney Co. to come to our state, then it can sure to goodness spend $2 million for the Virginia Museum of Natural History. We need to send word to Richmond that we're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore!"
by CNB