Morris Island - "maritime habitat"

As is their wont, Civil War Preservation Trust has been delighted to turn over the future of Morris Island to non-Civil War interests. The Trust for Public Land will lead in the next phase of the financial transactions designed to "save" that place.

Their Morris Island web site scares the hell out of me: its history page generously refers to the ACW in one of seven paragraphs. I see a bird sanctuary in Morris Island's future.

The Charleston Post and Courier, which knows how to apportion credit correctly, has named Bobby Ginn the hero of this idiotic drama, brought on, I hasten to add, by the unwillingness of CWPT to pay for the land. Not only is Ginn taking a $2 million loss in selling the tract to the Trust for Public Land, he is going to spend an additional $500,000 of his own "to plan and provide for public access." $2.5 million while CWPT sits on a 2004 surplus of $3 million in unspent donations and dues.

Mr. Ginn, if you do not stipulate public access in your sale to the naturalists who run the Trust, the public access facilities you build will be shut down by the new owners. We, in the Civil War community are depending on you to look out for our interests; we have no one else in position to make stipulations in this sale.

The Post and Courier is careful to point out to Charleston that "the island provides valuable maritime habitat in a rapidly developing metropolitan area."

Lovely. Sinking. Feeling.