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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 25, 1995                   TAG: 9507250055
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CANDIDATES IN UPROAR ABOUT EXPLORE PARK

Virginia's Explore Park has long been a lightning rod for controversy. Now it's drawing sparks between the legislator most identified with Explore funding - House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Roanoke County - and a former Explore board chairwoman, who just happens to be Cranwell's Republican opponent this fall, Trixie Averill.

On the surface, there's a spat about who's done the most to promote the living history park in Roanoke County, which the state owns and operates.

But there's a deeper dispute between the two about how big Explore should be - and what the state's role should be in funding the tourist attraction.

Cranwell said the state needs to spend $15 million to $20 million to beef up the park's facilities enough so that Explore will give a "significant economic development benefit" to the region; Averill would like to see the park's $400,000-per-year state appropriation phased out someday.

The dispute broke out last week when Cranwell, in a feature story on Explore in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, blamed the 13-member state board that operates the park for not doing enough to seek state support. Gov. George Allen's appointees now dominate that board, and for the past year, Averill has been its chairwoman.

"Right now it is in purgatory," Cranwell said of Explore. "There is not a clear effort on telling the Allen administration to focus on this like he did with Disney and Motorola and move it beyond what is basically a very modest tourist attraction."

In a subsequent interview with The Roanoke Times, Cranwell pointed out that "George Allen was willing to put $130 million into Disney and $100 million toward Motorola," to woo the electronics giant to suburban Richmond. Someday, he said, the state ought to think about making a sizable "investment" in Western Virginia to turn Explore into a major tourist attraction.

"It is not going to be of any significant economic development benefit to the Roanoke Valley in the phase it's in now," he said.

Averill couldn't disagree more with Cranwell's goals. ``That's a typical Democratic response, `Let's go take more money from the state and hand it out,''' she said. ``What's he think? That there's a bottomless pit?''

She insisted she has pushed hard to keep Explore's funding intact, but said the park someday should become self-supporting. "Yes, I think it's realistic," she said. "It gives us a goal. I'm not saying we're going to achieve it in two years or even five years."

She admits that means the park will develop more slowly than once thought, but "how can we in good conscience expect the state to fund $15 million or $20 million for Explore Park? As far as Northern Virginia is concerned, that's our pork barrel. How can we cut and cut and say we're streamlining and keep on feeding? That's the problem."

Does Explore Park Director Rupert Cutler think Averill's idea that Explore someday could be self-supporting is realistic? "No," he said. "I've told her that. We can look forward to Explore earning half its operating funds, but I don't think 100 percent self-sufficiency is in the cards. Not since we've changed from a theme-park model to an educational model. It's no more able to make a profit than a community college."

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB