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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 19, 1994                   TAG: 9407190043
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RALEIGH, N.C.                                 LENGTH: Medium

DISNEY PARK OPPOSITION INCREASING

The opposition comes even as state economic development officials are pitching North Carolina as a reserve option if the $650 million playground in rural Haymarket falls through.

A major Civil War battlefield at Manassas is just six miles away from the proposed Disney park site. Three presidents - Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and George Washington - lived nearby.

Disney's version of history designed for mass appeal would distort the retelling of events, said William C. Harris, a Civil War scholar and head of the North Carolina State University history department.

``Those parks and historic sites are there for the public. This would take away from the purpose of the sites if you've got a Disney park nearby,'' said Harris, who joined with other historians to oppose the Disney project.

Retired Duke University history Professor John Hope Franklin is co-chairman of the group, called Protect Historic America. The group also includes Duke political scientist James David Barber and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill presidential biographer William Leuchtenburg.

Disney spokeswoman Claudia Peters told The News & Observer of Raleigh that the park will give a serious and accurate account of history, comparing it to the new Holocaust Museum in Washington.

She said Disney has hired two well-regarded historians as consultants: James Oliver Horton of George Washington University and Eric Foner of Columbia University.

``We want to provide a visually and intellectually stimulating portrait of America,'' Peters said.

Opponents have a fighting chance in their war with Disney, Duke's Franklin said. The park still needs rezoning approval, and the federal government may get involved.

``Disney is a very, very powerful company,'' Franklin said. ``I have no illusions about their persuasive capacity. But even if they succeed, they will know they've been in a fight.''

Meanwhile, the North Carolina's director of business and industry development has held several conversations with Disney officials in California and Virginia to tell them about available North Carolina land.