http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/419864,CST-NWS-memorial08.articleOwner of land where Flight 93 crashed told to stop seeking money
June 8, 2007
BY DANIEL LOVERING
PITTSBURGH -- The National Park Service is clashing with a landowner at the site of the Flight 93 crash over a cash donation box he installed there that relatives of Sept. 11 victims say is an insult to their memories.
The Park Service placed a black plastic trash bag over the box Wednesday, and sent Mike Svonavec a letter asking him to remove it by Friday. Svonavec owns 273 acres of the 1,300 acres east of Pittsburgh in Shanksville, Pa., where a $58 million permanent memorial and national park are planned.
''I have no intentions of removing the box from my property,'' Svonavec said Thursday. ''My only plans are to try to cooperate with the Park Service with regard to the sale of the property.''
Svonavec said he installed the donation box Saturday to cover security costs. He said that he has been paying a private security company about $10,000 a month since federal funding ran out in February, and that the site has incurred other costs, such as taxes and canceled leases.
The Park Service has a contract with Svonavec to use the land.