THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 16, 1994 TAG: 9411160427
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Not since Patrick Henry defied King George has there been as much unity as prevails today among Williamsburg residents opposing Gov. George Allen's look at selling Lake Matoaka and College Woods to pay for more prisons and whatnot.
It is much as if the governor of New York would propose selling Central Park to get more hotels.
More than 600 Williamsburgers attended a rally against the sale of a 340-acre tract owned by the College of William and Mary.
``I pledge to fight with every breath in my body any proposal that would desecrate what I consider to be a natural jewel!'' declared Del. George Grayson, summoning some of Patrick Henry's fire.
``That piece of land, like others, will be evaluated for use and justification,'' the governor said in a recent interview.
The jewel is among parcels totaling 6,800 acres and 30 buildings listed for possible sale by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission in Richmond.
(That jawbreaker of a title has been abbreviated to JLARC - ``Jaylark,'' as menacing a moniker as emerged from Alice's ``Wonderland.'')
In Williamsburg, the Duke of Gloucester Street, thronged with tourists, has become America's Main Street. What was once ``the Golden Mile'' leading to Williamsburg along Route 60 has become five miles of neon.
A race track in New Kent County will contribute to congestion.
That oasis around Lake Matoaka is vital breathing space if an unhurried air is to be preserved for Colonial Williamsburg itself.
The woods ``are as much a part of William and Mary as the Wren Building,'' said William and Mary President Timothy L. Sullivan.
``The college uses the woods and Lake Matoaka extensively for classes in biology, geology, kinesiology and military science.''
Virginia politicians emote about the strength to be found in the land, but Virginia has done less to save that legacy than has most any other state east of the Mississippi.
Beside New Jersey's decades of a multimillion-dollar program, Virginia's investment for parks and natural areas is a pittance.
Alerted by JLARC, the College of William and Mary should study its stewardship of the woods. One of Grayson's constituents charges that construction on the campus ``has occurred without regard to the impact'' on the woods, ravines, and tributaries feeding Lake Matoaka.''
Mountain bikes are cutting the trail to the base, laying it open to erosion. ``The college,'' he writes, ``has stood on the sideline . . . and done nothing to maintain, enhance or utilize constructively this valuable natural resource.''
Lest Virginia become noted as a state not for lovebirds but jailbirds, Gov. Allen should propose another little list and set aside a relatively modest annual sum to fund the preservation of beauty spots around the Old Dominion. by CNB