ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604040096
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SCHUYLER
SOURCE: Associated Press
A dispute over control of the Walton's Mountain Museum has gone from unneighborly to downright litigious, and the creator of ``The Waltons'' television series has brought his lawyer into the feud.
Writer Earl Hamner Jr. threatened last year to remove his scripts, writings and other memorabilia from the museum.
Hamner now is upset that museum officials have not fulfilled promises made to him to resolve the dispute, said his brother, James Hamner.
``Earl wants a meaningful voice in the operation of the museum, and so far he hasn't had it,'' James Hamner said. ``He's not even acknowledged, even though his work is the reason the museum is there.''
Richard Roberts, president of the museum's board of directors, characterized the negotiations between Hamner and the museum as an effort to put the finishing touches on last year's compromise agreement.
``We're just tying up some loose ends with the agreement,'' Roberts said. ``We're putting it down in black and white. That way nobody gets confused.''
``The Waltons'' was based on Earl Hamner's boyhood in Schuyler, a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains. More than 40,000 people have visited the museum yearly since it opened in 1992.
Roberts said the agreement being negotiated will spell out Earl Hamner's relationship with the museum to everyone's satisfaction. He said the agreement should be ready in time for the tourist season.
LENGTH: Short : 36 linesby CNB