7.20.00
Holy Land Grab!

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Madame, You Are a Parallelogram

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Oops...I Did It Again

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Not So Pacific

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FBI Hits Back at Trulock

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“Racial Profiling” Meets National Security

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D.C. Tries to Sack Little Rome

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Bloody Missouri

7.12.00
You Go, Girl

7/20/00 10:10 a.m.
Holy Land Grab!
Don't they realize that monks are New York voters too?

By Kathryn Jean Lopez, NR associate editor----------lopezk@ix.netcom.com

he Clinton administration seems to leave no stone unturned in its quest for a historical legacy. The latest victims: the Franciscan Friars of Atonement at Graymoor in Hillary Clinton's most recent adopted state, New York.

The Catholic friars have been in Garrison, New York, for more than 100 years, their property partially crossed by the Appalachian Trail since 1923. In 1984, at the Park Service's request, the Graymoor Friars handed over 58 acres of their land to the federal government. Before and since then, the friars have graciously and voluntarily been host to hikers on the trail, offering free meals, showers, and sleeping accommodations. In addition, the 43 friars and 85 sisters who live at Graymoor operate a pilgrimage center, a homeless shelter and drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility, and an ecumenical institute. The St. Christopher's Inn, the shelter/rehab center, serves over 1,000 people annually.

None of that, evidently, is enough. The Park Service says that the land needs additional "scenic protection" that only Uncle Sam can provide. Currently the National Park Service is requesting that the friars cede an additional 20 to 60 acres to the government. The friars argue that the latest request goes beyond the Park Service's mandate — actually, in effect, expanding the Trail. And although the friars have been talking with the Park Service since the Spring on the matter, the Park Service has decided to hand the case over to the Justice Department, to begin eminent-domain proceedings to force the religious congregation to hand over the land. Rep. Sue Kelly (R., NY) urged Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in a letter last week to withdraw the case from the Justice Department, calling the move "heavy-handed" and "offensive."

Besides wondering how the federal government could possibly make better use of this land than the friars are, one wonders: Doesn't the Clinton administration realize these monks are potential Hillary voters?

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