More details on Chancellorsville deal

The Fredericksburg daily has done some additional, original reporting on CWPT's Chancellorsville land deal to supplement the material that went out on the AP wires yesterday.

It confirms that $3 million of developer Tricord's final $12.5 million purchase price being paid to landowner John Mullins comes from contributors to Civil War Preservation Trust. An amazing turn of events, this, the purchase of battlefield land for nursing home development using donations from people trying to save battlefield lands. Again, according to its most recent tax filings available to the public, CWPT had $15 million plus in assets from which to pay Mullins' his $12.5 million price for the Tricord land - to buy all the land directly from him, instead of paying Tricord $3 million to help them buy it and then getting a restrictive covenant on part of the land bought with CWPT money.

The new article says, "Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Hagan, who played a key role in brokering the deal, would like to see a museum on the property."

I don't think this gentleman understands restrictive covenants: the land belongs to Tricord and is private property. This confusion extends to the writer of this article who imagines "Preservationists will now control the fate" of the underlying property.

The extravagant press releases issued by CWPT seem to have taken root in the imaginations of reporters and officials.