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2006 Summer/Fall Message from Jim Sharp,
Executive Director of Campaign Virginia
Welcome to our website. If you know the work of our organization, you will recognize us as the lead group that has fought to limit and reduce trash imports over the past 8 years. While that has not been our sole issue, it has been our primary focus during that period.
This page normally contains my thoughts on our work, but for this edition I'm turning it over to Antigone Ambrose, our new Development staffperson. Her words follow:
"I recently took a trip out to Shirley Plantation to gauge the ambiance of Virginia's first plantation for myself. Unfortunately, I missed the last tour and had to settle for a couple of brochures and an hour's walk around the grounds.
"My short visit to Shirley did not disappoint me from a historical or natural perspective. It's a beautiful place that is well-maintained. The dirt entrance road passes between the stubble of cotton fields and leads to a panoramic view of the James River and the mansion completed in 1738. Despite the visual eyesore of the industrial plants in Hopewell across the river, the James still manages to retain its majesty. The azure sky studded with stars as the sun sets in a fireball that paints the horizon blood red is a sight that stirs the soul today in the same way it must have four hundred years ago.
"With some imagination, it is possible to step back in time and walk with the Hills, Carters, Byrds, and Harrisons. Closing one's eyes, one can almost see Washington or Jefferson strolling the grounds or any of the other first ten U.S. Presidents who were entertained here engaged in animated conversation with their contemporaries.
"As I read the pamphlets that I picked up at the gift shop, I relearned what every child in Virginia History class knows: Charles City county along scenic Route 5 is the home to numerous plantations and can boast among its historical sons, Presidents William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. Lott Cary, first black American missionary to Africa and the founder of Liberia was born here. Powhatan, the famous Indian chief and father of Pocahontas located his capitol on Sandy Point. Robert E. Lee's mother, Anne Hill Carter, was born on Shirley Plantation and Lee himself spent much of his boyhood on the grounds. The Carter Family who has occupied the house for nine generations traces its roots to King Carter, the tobacco scion of plantation aristocracy.
"The downriver end of the property conceals Port Tobacco, renamed by Charles Carter III to shelter the image of the plantation from the impending flow of barge traffic carrying New York trash that will land here and be buried in the Charles City countryside. A stand of trees is all that buffer the current residents of Shirley from a marine facility that will potentially take millions of tons of garbage from exporting states.
"I once learned from a college history professor that one of the most important reasons to study the subject is the fact that we often repeat history's mistakes and that we can learn from the past to hopefully prevent those errors. I fear that historic Charles City is a victim of its past and may be incapable of seeing a future that includes long term environmental and historical costs traded for short term easy revenues. The county has no economic base and sadly is the historical product of a failed plantation society. In the past, the plantation's genteel veneer concealed the harsh reality of wealth built on slave labor and exhaustive agricultural practices which depleted the land. The current owners of these monuments to the past have struggled to maintain the properties in the face of increasing taxes and declining or non-existent revenues. The fact that King Carter's descendants will take in Yankee trash that will be sowed in the soil to preserve the remnants of that past is a paradox probably worthy of a footnote in the history books or at least deserves an additional line in the brochure for the 50,000 tourists that visit Shirley annually.
"The plans in Charles City county to turn Shirley Plantation into trash terminal to receive New York City’s trash defy comprehension. The politicians of our state still have the power to deliver rural, poor communities like Charles City from the economic dilemma that makes it possible for huge mega-landfill companies to exist and make mega-profits while destroying the character and historical significance of our communities. Communities and states should have the right to say no to out-of-state trash; there have to be more appropriate forms of economic development and school funding to move Virginia into the 21st Century."
Antigone Ambrose is the Development Director for Campaign Virginia, which supports HR274 (Rep. Jo Ann Davis - VA) - a bill introduced in Congress which would allow states to limit and reduce trash imports.
Sincerely,
Jim Sharp
Executive Director
Campaign Virginia
Summer/Fall 2006
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