Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 9, 1990 TAG: 9006090137
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Gary Winkler said his field notes and photographs of the structures are meaningless unless he is paid about $9,075 to assemble them into a formal report; Explore project engineer Richard Burrow and former master builder Ren Heard say that is not so.
"I believe it would be most helpful if the notes were in their final form because that document puts them in an absolutely orderly fashion," Burrow said. Someday, when Explore has more money, it may pay Winkler to prepare reports, Burrow said. "However, I also believe we could [reassemble the buildings] from the original field notes, which is what we're asking for."
The conflict between Winkler and Explore appears headed for court after brewing quietly since last November, when Winkler's Exhibit Technologies firm was laid off during a budget crunch.
Winkler said a lawyer for the Virginia Recreational Facilities Authority, the state board in charge of Explore, sent him a letter in early May ordering him to turn over his notes within two weeks or "the authority will initiate legal action to recover them."
Winkler said he will not do so. "A threatening lawyer at Explore doesn't impress me," he said.
Burrow said he cannot comment on what legal action Explore might take against Winkler, who worked as a subcontractor for Heard's company, which, in turn, has been let go for lack of funds.
From Explore's standpoint, Winkler is simply withholding documents that belong to Explore and he will not answer Burrow's letters or phone calls.
But Winkler said the conflict is a matter of architectural integrity, that Explore's refusal to pay for final reports on the frontier-era houses and barns he has helped move is a sign that Explore does not care about historical accuracy.
For him, it's part of a larger dispute between budget-conscious Explore planners and history-minded preservationists who say the project is cutting too many corners.
Lately, the showdown over Winkler's field notes has taken on a soap-opera quality, with a three-way dispute between Explore officials, Heard and Winkler.
Winkler blasts the River Foundation, the non-profit group running Explore for the state authority, for paying $360,000 per year to Clearbrook, the consulting firm that pays project director Bern Ewert and project engineer Burrow.
"In light of all these guys are getting paid, and in light of what they're unwilling to do, to do the right thing, I have nothing to give them," Winkler said.
He also took a swipe at Heard, calling him a mere "salvage man" who didn't document the buildings he took apart. "Intervale barn, that was a travesty," Winkler said, referring to an 18th-century Salem barn that Heard moved in fall 1988.
Heard said that's not so. "I did what I had time and money to do, with bulldozers bearing down" to build an industrial park, Heard says. "We made very careful drawings."
by CNB