The Nation - News from July 17, 1988

More than 3,000 Civil War buffs and preservationists braved 100-degree temperatures to protest plans to build a shopping complex next to the Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia. “Some people believe the best way to preserve this battleground is to build a 1.2-million-square-foot shopping mall on it,” said Rep. Robert J. Mrazek (D-N.Y.), who sponsored legislation that would block the development. Many historians believe that both Union and Confederate soldiers lie in unmarked graves within the development site. “They deserve better than having their remains bulldozed over for a Burger King or a Bloomingdale’s,” Mrazek said. Willard Scott, weatherman on NBC-TV’s “Today” show; Jody Powell, press secretary to former President Jimmy Carter, and Jan Scruggs, who helped create the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, spoke in favor of protecting the park.