To the Editor:
I am writing to ask that your paper look into the question of who checks the work of the History Commission. I have been helping Burke Living History Bill Sheads write his memoirs and your paper was very kind as to publish the letter requesting support for his search of the children whom he saved during the horrific Burke wildfire in 1941.
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2012/mar/14/letter-do-you-remember-the1941-burke-wildfire/
Bill Sheads is an 89-year old WWII Veteran, volunteer firefighter and Lord Fairfax 2012. Sheads has also asked that I help him make accurate the historical marker for the CCC road. This project resulted from his own oral history interview and attached essay in 2007.
http://braddockheritage.org/items/show/226
Sheads raised his concerns about the inaccuracy of the historical marker stating that the CCC road ended "in Backlick Road." Sheads has personal experience with the CCC road and he knew the road to have ended "in Braddock Road." He raised his concerns early in the research for the historical marker but was ignored by the History Commission.
On Friday, June 24, Sheads informed me that he learned that the historical marker for the CCC road had been damaged and may have to be repaired. He told me that he hoped the History Commission would consult him before moving forward with repairs. I sent the attached letter to Jack Hiller with copies to Supervisor John Cook and Chairman Bulova -- but have yet to receive a response as to how Sheads could get a proper hearing about his concerns from the History Commission.
I am concerned that if the History Commission could be so unresponsive to someone as well-respected as Bill Sheads, Lord Fairfax 2012, then one wonders about its overall attitude towards longtime residents who have volunteered to share their memories about the history of Burke and Fairfax County. And one has to ask -- "Who Checks The History Commission?"
Corazon Sandoval Foley
Burke