http://www.dailypress.com/news/hampton/dp-nws-chris-jones-fort-monroe-20130510,0,1563794.story
Del. Chris Jones: Defending Monroe from Hampton?
Suffolk Republican shows interest in Hampton property
By Robert Brauchle, | 757-247-2827
May 10, 2013
HAMPTON — Del. Chris Jones has placed himself in an unlikely role: Defender of Fort Monroe.
In the past six months, the Suffolk Republican has introduced legislation and sought an attorney general's opinion concerning Fort Monroe. In both instances, his efforts have limited the city of Hampton's role on the historic property's redevelopment.
Jones said his interest in the historic property is both regionally and financially based.
"I'd like to see the property become as self-sufficient as possible," Jones said in an April 30 interview. "They need to maximize their income opportunities while reducing expenses."
He called the $6.2 million provided by the state for Fort Monroe last year "a hard level to maintain."
Despite his active role, Jones said he has not sought input from Del. Gordon Helsel or Sen. Mamie Locke, whose districts include Fort Monroe.
Helsel and Locke also sit on the Fort Monroe Authority Board of Trustees.
Messages left on Helsel's cell phone throughout the week and messages left for Locke at her office on Thursday were not returned.
Jones' interest in Fort Monroe has been felt in a few ways.
He introduced a bill in January that limits Hampton's ability to charge Fort Monroe — and the state — for services it provides. That bill becomes larger as the state takes possession of the land from the Army.
The Fort Monroe Authority Board of Trustees initially requested the bill be drafted last December, although Helsel, Locke, Hampton Mayor Molly Joseph Ward and Vice Mayor George Wallace all opposed the request. At the time, Ward and Wallace were still on the board.
Ward and City Manager Mary Bunting lobbied legislators for changes that would reduce its impact on the city. The bill was revised and passed both the House of Delegates and Senate unanimously. Helsel and Locke voted in favor or the legislation.
"The House bill now isn't as onerous as it was when it was first introduced," Bunting said.
Jones also asked Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli for an opinion about whether City Council members could serve on the Fort Monroe Authority Board of Trustees. Cuccinelli, the Republican nominee for governor, issue an opinion on April 12 stating that City Council members could not sit on the board as it would create a conflict of interest.
"It seemed pretty straightforward to me," Jones said. "They're conflicted when they receive briefings in executive session and they can use that information when it might not appeal to the city's interest."
Jones said Cuccinelli's opinion was "spot-on."
Ward cried foul at Cuccinelli's opinion and said it was politically motivated. Ward, a Democrat, has raised money for Terry McAuliffe, Cuccinelli's Democratic opponent in the race for governor. Cuccinelli's office rejected Ward's contention.
The opinion sent the City Council scrambling to meet on a weekend to appoint a pair of citizens to replace Ward and Wallace on the board.
Fort Monroe Authority Executive Director Glenn Oder said Jones' interest in the property is not unusual.
Oder meets with staff from the Senate Finance Committee and House of Delegates Appropriations Committee in the late summer and fall each year to describe Fort Monroe's financial outlook.
Jones sits on the Appropriations Committee — as well as other committees — that review budget requests, including the funding needed for Fort Monroe.
"It's important for him, in this particular case, to be informed about what is happening here," Oder said.
Even without Jones' involvement, the state contribution to Fort Monroe is shrinking.
The state budget approved by the General Assembly this year capped the amount the authority will pay the city for municipal services at $562,540 in the current fiscal year and $983,960 in fiscal 2014, which begins July 1.
"The cap concerns me," Bunting said Wednesday. "The city can only provide services that are being paid for.
"If their needs go beyond their expenses, then I don't know what we can do."
Bunting said the $983,960 paid in fiscal 2014 will cover the city's expenses.
So will the Fort Monroe Authority again turn to Jones to sponsor legislation in the coming year?
"As we begin to learn more about this Army transfer," Oder said, "I wouldn't be surprised if there are legislative amendments needed to help the Fort Monroe Authority better operate and maintain Fort Monroe."
http://www.dailypress.com/news/opinion/dp-nws-edt-letssat-0511-20130510,0,7387039.story
May 11 Letters: I-64 median, GOP agendas, Fort Monroe
Economic benefits
Re: "Fuel for the long haul," May 5.
As your editorial points out, Hampton Roads needs a better economic plan for dealing with the inevitable decreases in military spending.
One way to help compensate for those cuts is to unify Fort Monroe National Monument by incorporating the state-owned land that divides it. This will create a strong attraction for local visitors and tourists and allow Phoebus and all of Hampton to participate fully in Virginia's vast tourism industry, which netted $20 billion in 2011. It will also create a magnet for knowledge-based companies that value a high quality of life.
According to a business article by Marty Weil, "For companies relocating a relatively high proportion of professional talent, quality-of-life issues can even make or break the deal. Quality of life will directly impact the ability of a company to entice people to move with the job; for national recruiting, it will make the difference in whether or not they can attract the best talent." And, says Weil, outdoor recreation is a "top quality-of-life concern … especially for companies that need highly specialized or cutting-edge talent. It is critical for an area to have strong outdoor recreational attributes."
An optimal national park at Fort Monroe with unbroken, extensive parkland, hiking and biking trails, beaches, and shoreline access, will appeal powerfully to young professionals.
For the sake of the region's economic health, the Fort Monroe Authority should aim at unifying the National Monument.
Scott Butler
Newport News
http://www.dailypress.com/news/hampton/dp-tsq-hpt-walking-audio-tours-0509-20130509,0,5410599.story
Take a tour of Hampton on the go
Walking tours available through iTunes
By Robert Brauchle, | 757-247-2827
9:49 a.m. EDT, May 9, 2013
HAMPTON — Anyone with a smart phone and a taste for history can access the six walking tours available for select locations in Hampton.
The tours were created by the Hampton Convention & Visitors Bureau. They cover downtown, Hampton University, Fort Monroe, Phoebus, the Virginia Air and Space Center and Hampton's historic neighborhoods.
The tours are available through the visitors bureau website and can be accessed through any smart phone.
"They are a dynamic, multimedia tour that are GPS-coordinated," said Mary Fugere, visitors bureau director of media & community relations. "Each chapter has interviews, period music and lots of information about the sites you are visiting."
Each tour is free to download.
The tours were produced in 2009; the Fort Monroe tour includes historic information, although some of the contemporary references about the Army need to be updated, Fugere said.
Fort Monroe was decommissioned in September 2011, meaning uniformed personnel are no longer present on the base. Visitors also do not need identification to enter the property.
"They're all just providing a really great experience," Fugere said.
The visitors bureau has also recently worked with Hampton University to place QR codes throughout the campus to point out significant areas.
QR codes, also known as quick reference codes, use unique symbols that can be scanned by smart phones to access information about a particular subject.
"People are using them while touring the campus and using their smart phones to see what's happening at those specific buildings," Fugere said.
Audio walking tours
Available online: http://www.visithampton.com/play/ipodtours/
iPod/iPhone tours are also available: http://www.visithampton.com/play/ipodtour
http://www.dailypress.com/news/hampton/dp-tsq-hpt-cp-pet-cemetery-0509-20130509,0,389683.story
Pet graves at Fort Monroe line casemate wall
Cemetery closed for burials in 1988 though a few still occurred; now burial a felony since designation
Pet Cemetery at Ft. Monroe
By Rich Griset, Special to the Daily Press
9:48 a.m. EDT, May 9, 2013
HAMPTON — The heat was getting to Princess.
While visiting Fort Monroe with her owners one summer day in 1971, the Boston Terrier suffered a fatal attack of heat shock. Instead of transporting the animal back to Martinsville, Va., the Gravely family buried Princess atop the ramparts of the historic casemate.
"We appreciated being able to bury the little dog there," said Gene Gravely, the family's patriarch. "She was a loving pet. She was a real sweet dog."
Princess is just one of more than 400 pets that have reportedly found their final resting place in the pet cemetery on Fort Monroe's casemate wall. The former Army post was decommissioned and designated a national monument in 2011. The Army is continuing its environmental cleanup efforts, even though the Fort Monroe Restoration Advisory Board - which is supposed to offer community input - hasn't met with a quorum since November 2011.
The cemetery's earliest known grave dates back to 1936, but Ranger Aaron Firth said it's likely that pets were buried on the wall even before then. With names like Sarge McFerren, General Mac Davey and Cpl. Corky, the graves are indicative of the military families that buried them. One marker eulogizes a pet named Fang, "A member of our family on four different continents." Some of the graves belong to war dogs, which were often adopted by the serviceperson they served with upon retiring.
The cemetery was open to all military personnel at the fort regardless of rank, and for a time, citizens from nearby Phoebus were allowed to bury their pets on casemate as well. Fort Eustis and Langley Air Force Base also had pet cemeteries at one point.
At first glance, visitors might see the fort as cold and forbidding as its stone walls, but Firth said the cemetery helps make the installation seem more personable.
"You're going to see those graves, and you're going to get that personal connection," said Firth, a Newport News native. "It's a very personal thing. Some people love their pets as much as their children."
Princess was one such pet. The Boston Terrier had been a gift to then 6-year-old Terry G. Wilson and she vividly remembers that day she buried Princess.
"It was like leaving a child behind," said Wilson. She has visited the grave several times since. "She was my baby."
The cemetery was officially closed for burials in 1988 after Congress questioned the expenditure of $16,674 for a pet burial ground in Fort Gordon, Ga. Though the cemetery was officially closed, a handful of people have buried their pets on the casemate since, with two markers reading 2007 as the date of burial. The land is now protected as a historic landmark, and burying new animals is a felony.
"It's a great thing that they had, especially for people that were in the service," said Wilson, who is pleased that the cemetery will remain as part of the historic landmark. "They can always come back and see their animals, their four-legged children."
In April, Firth established Fort Monroe's Junior Ranger program and made a Great Dane named Sgt. Patches the program's mascot. Sgt. Patches served as the mascot of the Second Coast Artillery, Battery G at Fort Monroe during World War II. One of the dog's tricks was firing a 12-inch disappearing gun by pulling a lanyard with his teeth.
"He was a mascot during World War II, and he's a mascot today," Firth said.
Firth has also begun to search for the war records of service dogs interred at the fort.
"There's a story to be completed," Firth said, "and we're in the beginning phases."
Rich Griset is a freelance writer based in Richmond.
Want to go?
The pet cemetery is located in the Jefferson Davis Memorial Park area on top of Fort Monroe's casemate wall. All areas of Fort Monroe that are open to the public can be visited from dawn to dusk year-round.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/hampton/dp-nws-fort-monroe-environment-cleanup-20130506,0,1339541,full.story
Fort Monroe cleanup continues as community board falls behind
Restoration Advisory Board created to oversee environmental cleanup
Fort Monroe's Dog Beach remains closed as the Army clears the property of contamination
By Robert Brauchle, | 757-247-2827
May 6, 2013
HAMPTON — The Army is continuing its environmental cleanup at Fort Monroe, but has been doing so with little participation from the volunteer board created in 2005 to offer community input on the process.
The Fort Monroe Restoration Advisory Board is supposed to meet four times a year, but has not had a quorum since November 2011. That pattern continued this past Thursday, when seven of 14 members attended the scheduled meeting. At least nine voting members must be present for a quorum, according to the board's bylaws.
The Army never consulted with the board prior to announcing on March 28 its plans to transfer 313 acres of the fort to the commonwealth.
Robert Reali, the Fort Monroe Base Realignment and Closure environmental coordinator, said the board wasn't notified because no environmental issues were found in the area the Army wants to transfer.
Meanwhile, the Fort Monroe Authority and the Army continue to tap dance around the property's environmental cleanup.
The Army believes the 313 acres transferring in late May are free of contamination. The authority contends the cleanup is one of a number of issues the Army still needs to address on the property.
"What you're getting is billable hours from the lawyers," board member Ray Spunzo said at the Thursday evening meeting. "You'd think that any politician within sniffing distance of Fort Monroe would want to help move this along."
BRAC creates boards
Restoration boards are created at each military installation shuttered by the Base Realignment and Closure process. The Fort Monroe Restoration Advisory Board was created in 2005 — the year that BRAC ordered Fort Monroe to close — to open a dialogue with residents as the Army rids the property of harmful contaminants such as metals, mercury and construction debris.
The board's role is advisory — the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality must sign off on the Army's cleanup.
For more than a century, dangerous objects were either buried or blown up on Fort Monroe. That practice changed in the 1970s when Congress passed a series of safeguards for communities neighboring military bases to make sure those properties were free of ordnance and harmful substances when the military leaves town.