
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 17, 1994                    TAG: 9406170534 
SECTION: FRONT                     PAGE: A16    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: 940617                                 LENGTH: WASHINGTON

U.S. LAWMAKERS BATTLING DISNEY PARK

{LEAD} A Texas congressman introduced a resolution Thursday to put Congress on record against a proposed Walt Disney theme park in Northern Virginia, saying the park would devastate one of the nation's most important historical sites.

The $650 million history-based theme park, said Democratic Rep. Mike Andrews, ``is based on faulty scorched-earth thinking, that we must somehow destroy our history and landscapes in order to preserve them.''

{REST} The park is to be located in Haymarket, 35 miles west of downtown Washington and five miles from Manassas National Battlefield Park, the site of the two battles of Bull Run during the Civil War.

Andrews said he had 15 co-sponsors for the resolution. Rep. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., said the project was ``an onslaught on these sacred grounds.'' The intentions of Disney may be good, he said, but ``this is trivializing American history.''

He asked how much American young people had learned about the history of indigenous Americans by visiting Frontierland at Disneyland.

Numerous Civil War historians and history groups have come out against the theme park. Richard Moe, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said there is ``probably no area of this country that has such history associated with it.''

The Senate is to hold hearings next week on the environmental impact the theme park, and its accompanying urban sprawl, could have on Northern Virginia's Piedmont region.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., issued a statement criticizing the resolution. ``What right does Congress have to insert itself into negotiations among the governor, the General Assembly, local government affected and a free-enterprise company?'' he asked.

by CNB