FirstNoel's Journal: The Battles of Gettysburg.....

Oh what an appropriate title...

Most Americans know about the Battle of Gettysburg. 3 days in July, sweltering heat in wool uniforms, thousands dead or dying. Jenny Wade only civilian casualty of the battle, (stray bullet). Picketts Charge, Devil's Den, The Wheatfield, the Peach Orchard...yada yada yada...

That's only one side of the 'burg.

Now aday's you have other battles.

1. The Park Service wants to close the park at sundown, to prevent drunks, druggies and ghost hunters. {sarcasm} They don't want those weirdo's in the parks. {/sarcasm} They actually did put Ghost hunters in the same category as the rest. Ooh. That set off a battle. Their have been letters and congresscritters and all sorts of newspaper articles invovled in this battle. Why don't they just issue Permits to Ghost Hunters, say $5 permit for the year. You don't have a permit after dark, you get the fined.

2. More about ghosts. In the last few years Ghost Walks have sprung up in town. During the peak of the tourist season you can walk down town with out dealing with a crowd of people standing around some person in period clothes telling stories. They are everywhere. Now we have "Official" Walks, and the Unofficial walks. There is one group who want's to get exclusive rights to do the walks, killing the competition. Hmm, I'm not sure whick side of this I'm on.
      a. 1 company = less hassles around town
      or
      b. 1 company = anti-competetive practices

I don't care about gouging the tourists. If they want to spend the money, let'em.

3. Townie's vs the Torons.
        I just want to go home, and the fricken toron went the wrong way around the Square (turn-about, circle...whatever you want to call it). Or, It now takes 30 minutes instead of 5 to go from the Wheatfield back to work. (I know you city folk may scoff at my traffic issues, but it sucks to me.)
I like the quite reverence the Battlefield exudes, except when 15 fricken Motor Coaches try to pull up on Little Round Top. (love them diesel fumes!)
The infra-structure of this town really can't handle the amount of tourist's that come to visit.

4. The People vs the Local Government. Taxes...go figure. What isn't owned by the Park Service is owned by the College (Gettysburg College) The remaining remnants is divided up by the actual inhabitants of the town. Here's the problem: not much taxable land...therefore tax the hell out of the land you can tax. Property taxes are outlandish. The College doesn't pay them, neither does the Park Service. oof. Not good for the little people. I actually live about 12 miles away, my taxes are high, but not G-burg levels.

5. Wow they just keep coming... The "National Tower". Back in the 70's I think, a huge tower was erected on the outskirts of the Battlefield. It gave visitors an amazing view of the whole area. But it was deemed an eye-sore. It stayed open till a few years ago when the Park Service bought it. They promptly tore it down. It was quite dramatic, they had cannoneers fire their guns, the tower buckled and fell. You would think this battle would be over, but no. For the past few years since the demise of the tower, a court battle has been going on dealing with the price the tower was sold for. Was 4 Million or 7? was it a fair amount? blah blah blah. The people who sold it still have not received any money from the sale. (suckers!) I'm thinking it could be a while yet.

6. oh damn forgot the biggie...Casino's in Gettysburg? Not in the town proper, just outside in an adjoining township. The county commissioner's were all for it, till the public cried foul, now they're back peddling a little. It's pretty unlikely that the Gaming Commission will approve a license, with all the people complaining about it.

How do I feel about it? We'll the site they want to build on is right on my commute to work. So I know I don't want the added traffic.

Also the area is home to a cool Ground Hog that I see on occasion. I'll be driving by, he'll be out munching on grass or whatever it is he eats. I like groundhogs, nasty as they can be.

The Daily Show did a 5 minute stint on this issue, surprised the hell out of me that they picked it up.

I could keep going but I'll stop for now. As you can see though, the Civil War is still going on here. Some where in this town some one is fighting some one. Maybe not with rifles, but they are still fighting.

Sean D.