Vt., Texas lawmakers join fight over Orange Wal-Mart
Published: February 26, 2009
Two congressmen — a Democrat from Vermont, a Republican from Texas — are joining the battle against plans for a Wal-Mart store near a Civil War battlefield in Virginia.
U.S. Rep. Peter Welch and U.S. Rep. Ted Poe have sent a letter to Wal-Mart’s CEO opposing the plan to build the store in the Orange County site of the Battle of the Wilderness.
The 1st Vermont Brigade fought in the battle, which recently prompted Vermont lawmakers to call for relocation of the proposed store.
Wal-Mart and its supporters say the store would be behind a bank and a strip mall, a mile from the entrance to the site of the 1864 clash.
Advertisement
Reader Reactions
Come on people…these congressmen probably have limos to transport them and their family to Walmart…if there is already a strip mall and a bank ... I don’t see how moving a half mile up the road is going to make a difference…our tax money could be used for these congressmen to make more important decisions…such as get us out of this financial crisis and when they have nothing else to do…debate where Walmart can build a store….
walmart is not the issue here. It really is about the location. Congrats to the Congressmen for their support!
This is not simply a local issue. The fact that a Texas congressman and a Vermont congressman have taken notice of this issue underscores that this is of national relevance. It is the responsibility of all citizens of our nation to preserve and protect the history that shaped us into the country we are today.
this just goes to show that this site is of national importance and that we all have a duty to protect it for future generations. walmart would be welcome elsewhere in the county, just not on the doorstep of a national park service battlefield.
Clearly people all across the country respect the enormous amount of history we have in Virginia. Shouldn’t we care too? Maybe Orange really does need a WalMart, but are we really to believe that there is only one possible location in the entire county? I can’t see how moving a quarter mile up the road ruins their business plan.
This is much needed in this area…with the price of gas it is welcomed…now we have to either go to Charlottesville to shop or to Richmond…this will good for the people who don’t drive and have to get someone to take them…it is fine to remember history…but let’s think about it…our ancestors would want us to be better served…isn’t that what they were fighting for??????????
My answer to the Texas and Vermont factions in the Orange County Virginia Wal-Mart is tend to your own area and keep your nose out of mine. I am 78 years old Been a resident of Orange County the entire time. Now fighting colon cancer and 4 prior heart attacks. I am able to buy 4 of my medicines from Wal-Mart at a price I can afford. But one medicine cost me over 5 dollars a pill. My wife shops Wal-Mart for a great savings in our food cost to help me offset that high medicine cost. I could care less about so called “hollowed ground” that was fought on during the civil war. If you honored all that where I live you could not stick a shovel in the ground in Orange couty Virginia.
Go away you got about as much business in this as a hog does with a side saddle!!!
Thank you
Advertisement