We Have A Problem, Houston

[L Verge]

Update: The gentleman who called this morning has spent the day tracking down the situation, and here is what he has found: The median strip is owned by the U.S. Government under the auspices of Fort AP Hill. They were recently approached by the Diggers program for permission to detect there, but they turned the idea down. However, a government archaeologist now intends to perform a government dig there -- hence the lock-out.

They have no idea whether the site will be available to tourists once the dig is over. It would seem logical that, if all they are interested in is saving any relics, they could open back up once those relics are protected and housed elsewhere.

Two thoughts: My contact was told by the officer today that all of the remains of the Garrett house were used as fill when the first lanes of 301 were put in. We were also told years ago, that commander at Ft. A.P. Hill - Gen. Julian Raymond - had also commanded McNair at one point and knew the assassination history very well. When he found out that people were digging up pieces of brick, etc., he supposedly sent men out with broken bricks to pepper the soil and increase historical interest in his favorite subject. How times have changed!