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News Release
For Immediate Release: January 12, 2009
Contact: Diane Gramley -- 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355

Has the Owner Been Demonized by the Families of Flight 93, Inc. and the NPS?

(Somerset) – As the time draws near for an announcement on the asking price of the 275 acres remaining to be purchased in the approximately 2,200 acre Flight 93 Memorial one must ask whether the owner of that property, Svonavec, Inc., has been demonized in the process. In response to the letter sent by the Families of Flight 93, Inc. to President Bush asking that he permit the use of eminent domain, the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA) faxed a letter to him last week asking that he NOT permit the use of eminent domain to seize the property of family-owned Svonavec, Inc. Additionally, today the AFA of PA faxed a letter to Joanne Hanley, National Park Service Superintendent of the Flight 93 National Memorial, asking what would happened to the items remaining at the Temporary Memorial, of special concern was the cross that was donated by the Somerset Christian Missionary and Alliance Church shortly after the crash.

“The letter sent by the non-profit Families of Flight 93, Inc. appears to be a continued effort to demonize Svonavec, Inc. to force them to sell the property before a proper appraisal has been released. Twice before independent appraisals have been rejected by the National Park Service, but they have never made that information public, one must ask ‘why.’ The Svonavecs are asking to be treated fairly, is that not the American way,” asked Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.

The original Flight 93 law – Public Law 107-226 which passed and was signed into law during the 107^th Congress stated in Section 5 (8), “acquire from willing sellers the land or interests in land for the memorial site by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds, or exchange.” The law was since changed to allow for eminent domain to be used to obtain the Svonavec property. It was passed as an amendment to a federal appropriations bill.

Gramley continued, “Our letter to Superintendent Hanley concentrated on what will happen to the Temporary Memorial which has played such an integral part in America’s ability to express feelings about what happened on 911. In a completely free way Americans from across the country created their own memorial to the heroes of Flight 93. One of the first items was the cross donated by an area church. What will happen to the cross in this politically correct world where the First Amendment is misinterpreted to declare a wall of separation of church and state exists?”

In August of last year a cross made from steel of the World Trade Center was erected and dedicated at the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department. Shanksville Chief Terry Shaffer said the cross would serve as inspiration. The AFA of PA believes all the visitors at the Flight 93 National Memorial needs that same inspiration whenever they visit and the cross donated by the Somerset church would deliver just that inspiration. A formal request to keep the cross in the final memorial was contained in the letter to Superintendent Hanley.

The Flight 93 National Memorial General Management Plan Summary on page 23 states, “The Temporary Memorial will be retained in situ as long as visitation does not conflict with the construction of the memorial, but in the long-term, this feature will be removed to open views of the Bowl and crash site. The location of the Temporary Memorial will be marked by benches along a trail extending through the Bowl.”

The First Amendment of the Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Concerns outlined in the letter to President Bush included:

· Svonavec, Inc.’s Treasurer Mike Svonavec has said his family business, which has owned the property since 1961, will donate the actual crash site, but has asked for an independent appraisal of the remaining property. Mr. Svonavec will not negotiate with the Families of Flight 93, Inc. and says he will only talk with the National Park Service.

· An independent appraisal was done three years again, but later rejected without explanation from the National Park Service. In March 2008, after a six-month selection process, the park service retained Utah-based LECG to independently appraise the property. For reasons that remain unclear, the government’s Appraisal Services Directorate subsequently rejected LECG’s report. Neither Mr. Svonvec nor a local newspaper, The Johnstown Tribune Democrat, have been able to obtain a copy of this latest appraisal.

· Additionally, it appears that there are attempts to demonize Svonavec, Inc. Several news accounts have stated that the company has demanded $10 million for the property, when in actuality the Svonvec’s have not stated a price and are awaiting an independent outside appraisal. Last spring the National Park reported that the owners of the reclaimed strip mine had announced that the Temporary Memorial must be moved. When, in fact, Svonvec, Inc. never asked that the memorial be moved. Yet, the National Park Service insisted the memorial be moved across the road onto property they had acquired. How many taxpayer dollars were used to make this unnecessary move? From February to June, 2007 Svonvec, Inc. paid $10,000 per month for security at the Temporary Memorial because federal reimbursements expired. They were verbally attacked by the National Park Service when they placed a donation box at the site to help defray their security costs.

The American Family Association of Pennsylvania is a statewide pro-family, anti-violence, traditional values organization.

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