ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 12, 1997 TAG: 9704140096
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
For the past 100 years, Ulysses S. Grant has been buried in, well, Grant's Tomb. For the next 100, he might not be.
WHO'S buried in Grant's Tomb? ``Nobody'' might be the answer, if New Yorkers don't show more respect for the Union general and 18th president of the United States.
After descendants of Ulysses S. Grant threatened to move his remains, the National Park Service gave the tomb a facelift. That done, in time for the monument's centennial April 26, the descendants are now waiting to see whether tourists and Harlem neighbors will behave themselves when visiting the site.
The place has become a hangout for drug abusers and muggers. Nor have the descendants been pleased with jazz concerts and other amusements, for which Harlem residents had constructed colorful benches in the shapes of animals, automobiles and Grant himself.
Others, too, were outraged. Illinois legislators, boasting the "outstanding job'' that state is doing in minding Abraham Lincoln's bones, demanded that Grant be packed up and sent to folks who know how to treat a dead president.
The tomb is cleaned up - for now. Leaks over Grant's head have been repaired; the epitaph, ``Let Us Have Peace,'' is legible once more. Should the tomb fall again into disrepair, we'll know times have changed if Virginia joins Illinois in demanding more respectful treatment for the grave of the man who defeated Robert E. Lee.
LENGTH: Short : 33 linesby CNB