Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9411150054
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN GOOLRICK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Seldom has someone won all the battles yet voluntarily lost the war. It's as if Gen. George Patton, after his thunderous and triumphant march across France in late summer and early fall of 1944, had suddenly halted his armor and surrendered to the enemy, thereby failing to make the world safe for future Euro-Disneys.
High-paid Disney apologists bleated that they simply hadn't anticipated the intensity of the opposition and feared irreparable harm to the precious company image. If that's the case, then this company, famous for its astute sense of P.R., neglected to ask some old Virginia hands what land mines the project might face.
Lots of folks, including this observer, could have told them at no charge that any significant project within shouting distance of the Manassas battlefields and with real or imagined impact on the hunt-country upper crust would be in for sustained and relentless attacks.
These elitists want nothing, not even jobs for fellow Virginians desperately seeking gainful employment, to threaten their Saturday morning Bloody Mary breakfasts followed by cruel hounding of innocent foxes, or to cause traffic inconveniences for guests arriving for seven-course French dinners at their stately tree-lined mansions.
In the late 1980s, I was working for Rep. French Slaughter, who then represented western Prince William, when developer Til Hazel won county approval for a huge shopping center near the battlefields. That spurred a nationwide effort by environmentalists and preservationists to stop the development. The opponents won at what was an immediate and long-term cost to American taxpayers of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Yet while Hazel largely remained on the defensive throughout the onslaught, Disney got the enthusiastic backing of a new governor, George Allen, who put his prestige on the line on behalf of the project. He argued that Disney meant an economic boon to the entire state and would benefit Virginia's vitally important tourist industry.
Allen persuaded the state legislature to offer Disney millions in incentives and helped put together a coalition that turned out two or more supporters for every opponent at dozens of public forums.
The governor was rewarded by Disney CEO Michael Eisner with a stealth withdrawal that made Neville Chamberlain at Munich look like Richard the Lion-Hearted.
Disney resembled a lion in no respect. Not Mustapha or his son. More like Poombah and Timon.
The pinstriped Disney executives still insist they want to put Disney's America in Virginia, but it's obvious this bunch has little stomach for a fight and will likely withdraw to safety behind the real-world lines at Orlando and Anaheim.
Even if they should muster enough courage to crawl back and take on arrogant coupon clippers in California and New York who want to dictate Virginia land-use policy, the reception this time might not be nearly as warm.
When Robert E. Lee turned in his sword at Appomatox, it followed years of blood, sweat and tears in a cause that finally was lost. Disney hoisted the white flag to an astonished enemy who was clearly on the run.
Instead of presenting history, this Mickey Mouse outfit probably should be history. Eisner and company, should they return, may find Virginians are a lot of things, but they're not Goofy.
John Goolrick is a member of the Virginia Board of Historic Resources appointed by Gov. George Allen.
by CNB