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

DATE: MONDAY, March 5, 1990                   TAG: 9003052219
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: F-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EXPLORE PROMOTERS PILLORY MACFARLANE

IN ITS June 1988 issue, The Roanoker magazine did a hatchet job on Sen. J. Granger Macfarlane, calling him "The grinch who almost stole Explore" and going so far as to caricature him on the cover. Actually, Sen. Macfarlane had only expressed a thoughtful skepticism about Explore and the view that other projects in this area should have a higher priority for state and local funding.

Now let's take a look at recent developments.

First, last fall we learned from the National Park Service that the cost of the River Parkway has risen from $15 million to nearly $100 million and that the funds already appropriated are not even enough to build the scenic drive from the Blue Ridge Parkway down to the entrance to Explore.

Second, in early January, Del. C. Richard Cranwell, who has been the ardent and aggressive supporter of state funding for Explore (which lies virtually in his own backyard), asked Gov. Baliles to remove a proposed appropriation for Explore from his budget. This the governor did, thereby assuring that there will be no funding for Explore from the state for the next two years, despite Explore's request for $16 million.

And not long ago, we learned that the National Parks and Conservation Association, an environmental group, has declared that Explore is "a potential calamity" for the Blue Ridge Parkway and is organizing opposition to it among conservationists on a national level.

I can only wonder whether Del. Cranwell, the National Park Service and the environmentalists who are now speaking out against the project will be pilloried by the promoters of Explore in the same way that Sen. Macfarlane was. You can bet they won't!

At this point, will the real "grinch" please stand up? TIMOTHY P. OVERSTREET ROANOKE

by CNB