ABC's Donaldson hosted D.C. area party with talk about Disney "Once I found out what to expect, I expected what I found." Eddie Foote/Foot in 2004, paraphrasing a famous quote by kinsman Shelby Foote/Foot Home > Disney's America > EEEEK! A Mouse! Step on It!  > Where You Are 3 May 1994 Dear Dr. Foote -- It is always such a pleasure to talk to you, but I apologize for not responding sooner. Enclosed are many clippings -- [the most important follows this brief letter]  from the local papers -- the last being the ad placed in The Washington Post dated May 2 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation . . . . Let's keep in touch. Sincerely yours, Wynelle Watson White Mrs. White, daughter of Rupert Watson of Atmore, Alabama, is the widow of John White of Texas -- both were friends of Jody Powell, who handled national public relations for Disney's America. Mr. White served Jimmy Carter as chairman of the Democratic National Committee during President Carter's term in the White House. Mr. White must have influenced President Carter to open his second run for the Presidency near Senator Heflin's office in Tuscumbia, Alabama, part of an area called "The Shoals". Tuscumbia, original home of LaGrange College and Henry Stuart Foote's newspaper in 1830s, is currently turning itself into an important heritage destination for tourists. Birthplaces of Helen Keller, Jesse Owens and W. C. Handy are nearby, and the famous Harley bike ride to recognize Indian removal to Oklahoma in the 19th century, The Trail of Tears, passes through "The Shoals" at Florence. There is an interesting link between The Shoals, where Henry Stuart Foote founded his first newspaper and became an original board member of the University of North Alabama (then called LaGrange College), and Washington and Lee University, where Henry S. studied law and where scholars designed after the Civil War the first College program in Journalism while Robert E. Lee served as President of the College. "Family history is the only history made or written in Chotank." Douglas Southall Freeman Parttime Professor, Columbia University, New York, Richmond Newspaper Editor with PhD from Johns Hopkins, Pulitzer Winning Author of George Washington and Robert E. Lee Biographies EEEEK! A MOUSE! STEP ON IT! Virginia's Landed Gentry Mobilize To Keep Disney Out of Their Neighborhood By Stephanie Mansfield Published in The Washington Post, April 18, 1994 It was just another soigne'  Washington dinner party; -- [The party is at Sam Donaldson's, board member with Erwin Krasnow in 2003 to 2009 of the Library of American Broadcasting (LAB), University of Maryland, College Park. Krasnow, former legal counsel for the National Association of Broadcasters and Broadcast Law Professor at Ohio State, introduced Avon Edward Foote to Don West, new Library Foundation President/CEO, in New York in September 2005 as the Maryland Dean of Libraries looked on. Foote had followed Krasnow as the Broadcast Law Professor at Ohio State. And several years later, Krasnow was elected 1986 president of the Broadcast Pioneers Educational Fund, the name of foundation which had endowed the Library before it moved from downtown Washington to College Park. LAB is home of the Avon Edward and Dorothy Gargis Foote Gulf War Video Collection of war news outtakes; news packages; live satellite news feeds, several with ABC's Donaldson; and Avon Edward Foote's interview with Rick Kiernan, head of Coalition Public Affairs (JIB), First Gulf War. The interview was recorded March 2001 using Chris Matthews' "Hardball" set at the MSNBC/NBC-TV studios across from the U.S. Capitol. Foote's former student Jay Hurt manages the studios where Brian Williams' evening news, when being anchored from Washington, and other D.C. reports originate. But, Hurt who handled NBC News coverage of the bombing at Olympic Plaza while Kiernan headed up press coverage for the Atlanta Olympics did not produce or direct Foote's interview. He was in Florence, Alabama, when Eddie interviewed Kiernan in Washington with help from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). Matthews' professional credentials include being a speech writer for President Carter before becoming a TV journalist. ] -- The University of Maryland Libraries, College Park, Annual Report 2003 Host Sam Donaldson had assembled a sprinking of journalists (ABC's Ted Koppel and Brit Hume), lawyers (agent to the stars Bob Barnett) and politerati (retired Gen. Colin Powell) -- [In 2005 Colin Powell is retiring US Secretary of State for George W. Bush.] -- who huddled over the chardonnay thinking the big thoughts. The talk turned from Bosnia to Whitewater and eventually to Disney's plan to build a massive, 3,000-acre theme park smack in the heart of the rolling Virginia countryside where many of the Hermes saddle set make their homes and where more than a few stressed-out Washingtonians spend their weekends. Suddenly, Mary Matalin -- [In 2005 Mary Matalin is an adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney.] -- former Bush operative and tart-tongued talking head who shares a Front Royal cabin with her husband, Clinton advisor James Carville, began verbally assaulting an increasingly agitated Jody Powell -- [In 2005 Jody Powell is CEO/Chairman of Powell Tate in Washington, D.C.] -- Once Jimmy Carter's press spokesman, Powell is now a high-powered PR consultant representing Disney in its lobbying efforts. "I was in a party mode," Matalin deadpans. "I was inspired by three glasses of wine." At such gatherings the conversation usually concentrates on other people's troubles -- whether those of the President or some hapless potentate. But this was one of those rare unpleasant moments provoked because the discussion cut too close to home. Literally. Matalin is just one well-known Virginia landowner whose leisure time could be in peril if Disney builds here. The threat of sneakered and strollered and fanny-packed millions looms in the distance like an invading army, ready to trample, pillage and plunder the rural paradise that up to now has been a safe haven for the rich and celebrated. A who's who of future Disney neighbors would include Jacqueline Onassis -- [The 2003 biography of Shelby Foote, that was written at Boston University and published by the University Press of Mississippi, Shelby Foote: A Writer's Life by C. Stuart Chapman, reveals that Mrs. Shelby Foote (Gwyn) was a classmate of Mrs. Onassis, the widow of President Kennedy. . . . The biography calls Eddie Foote "family historian" on the first page of Chapter I.] -- Ambassador to France Pamela Harriman, Alice Marriott of the hotel family, Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke, Washington Caps and Bullets owner Abe Pollin, Washington Post Publisher Donald E. Graham, Alice Mills (nee du Pont, as in the chemical giant), Virginia Sen. John Warner, "Today Show" weatherman Willard Scott and Brit Hume, to name a few. "It's very expensive to have this serenity," observes horsewoman Rose Marie Bogley, who owns the sprawling Peace & Plenty Farm in Upperville. Across the road, philanthropist, horse breeder, art collector and author Paul Mellon is also opposed to the Disney project, and has lent his support to the Piedmont Environmental Council, a land preservation group that is spearheading the opposition. Other PEC members include Scott, Onassis, Pollin, Mills, as well as Singer sewing heiress Liz Clark, "Masterpiece Theatre" host Russell Baker, Jennifer Andrews (She's the daughter of former HUD secretary Jack Kemp) and Marie Ridder, widow of newspaper magnate Walter T. Ridder -- [Put up for sale in 2005, Knight-Ridder is the second largest newspaper group in America.] -- So far, they have raised $600,000 to fight the theme park. Jacqueline Mars, one of the heirs to the Mars candy empire, is also opposed to the theme park, as is actor and horseman Robert Duvall. -- [In 2005 Robert Duvall is an actor associate and friend of Horton Foote. He starred in the Disney - helmed Newsies and negotiated with Disney for at least two more projects.] -- He and his wife, Sharon, recently purchased Byrnley, a 400-acre rolling estate that is eight miles from the proposed Disney site off Interstate 66. "He spends millions of dollars to get away from people and here's Disney moving in?" "Everyone's brokenhearted," adds Bogley. "We just don't want the tourists. Fast-food joints and third-class motels. It scares everybody." "My goal on weekends to get to Middleburg and veg," says ESPN fitness show hostess and exercise video magnate Denise Austin, who with her lawyer-sports agent husband, Jeff (he's tennis star Tracy's older brother), owns a country retreat, complete with pool and tennis court. Denise Austin grew up in California, less than an hour from Disneyland. She knows the traffic headaches. "It's gonna be a pain to get there." Many landowners who were major contributors to Gov. George Allen's recent campaign are also livid that the politician "genuflected to the mouse," in the words of one environmentalist, and almost everyone agrees that the sly negotiations (Disney operatives secretly buying up the land) exacerbated the problem. "They took options on the properties and didn't tell people who they were," says Sharon Duvall, who recently attended a PEC fund-raiser at the folksy Delaplane Store (an event that raised all of $1,000; folks here don't like to give it away). "It may not be illegal, but it's not aboveboard." "And another thing," she says, "Disney has so much money. For them to be asking other people to help put up the money is ridiculous." She is referring to the estimated $163 million in road improvements the company is asking the state for. "And they think they're going to be open for what, 10 months of the year? Do they know about the weather? This winter nobody even got out of their house." Yet even among such people of means, there's a respect for the might of Disney. Duvall says she must be careful about what she says. After her husband appeared on "Entertainment Tonight" and quipped that even Disney Chairman Michael Eisner wouldn't want a theme park in his back yard, Duvall was told by his agent that baiting the mouse might not be a good career move. . . . [more] Jump to: The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) in Dublin, Ohio for a complete list of libraries in any state or worldwide that loan HALLOWED GROUND: Preserving America's Heritage. Rudy Abramson included Brent Town's (Brenttown or Brenton) history along with detailed background on the Disney's America defeat. There were four original Brent Town partners: George Brent and Richard Foote, whose son Richard of Chotank in King George County helped coordinate the project; Nicholas Hayward, whose father was also named Nicholas and who with Robert Bristow resided in London. Nicholas Hayward's sister Hester married Richard Foote, Sr., while Nicholas' brother Samuel Hayward of Virginia married a sister of John Washington, George Washington's ancestor. Richard Moe said of the book soon after its publication in 1996, "This book makes a compelling and gloriously illustrated case for preserving one of the great historic and cultural landscapes in America." The Smithsonian magazine has a May 2006 article, "Hallowed Highway", with more quotes by Moe about the significance of Route 15. The article includes a map with Haymarket, Virginia, shown about half way between Gettysburg and Charlottesville. The failed Disney's America location on legacy Foote/Foot land is just north of Haymarket on Route 15, the Hallowed Highway. Artella Kincheloe Foote who married Henry Watson in 1837 is the grandmother of Rupert Watson of Atmore, Alabama. Rupert Watson is Wynelle Watson White's father; one of top Foote/Foot family genealogists in the US and UK; and friend and kinsman to Professor Avon Edward Foote, University of North Alabama, founder of Chotank.com. Chotank.com started in November 1995 with documents from the Disney's America defeat for the BBC Networking Club on the Pipex WorldServer, Cambridge, England. Chotank start-up documentation may be found in GOOGLE discussion group archives for 19 November 1995 and 27 November 1995. These early USEnet group postings to the internet from (A.E. Foote) a.foote@bbcnc.co.uk verify the BBC history of Chotank.com. To get these 1995 postings to rec.art.disney.announce and rec.art.disney.misc, search GOOGLE "groups" by keying into the GOOGLE search-term field, exactly as shown in gray lettering: "disney's america", chotankers. Buttons above in THORNWOOD logo are Clickable Get links to info on the Foote family and bios of Dorothy Gargis [French spelling is Garrigues] Foote and Avon Edward Foote. Read announcement of acquisition of Footes' Gulf War Video Collection by Library of American Broadcasting, University of Maryland, College Park, housed since Fall 2001 at Hornbake Library very near The National Archives II, College Park, where White House collections for both President Kennedy and President Nixon are located. Avon Edward Foote (Ed or Eddie) and Dorothy Gargis Foote (Dot or Dottie) attended the Library of American Broadcasting Foundation Luncheon, 15 September 2005, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York. Charles Osgood of CBS was the MC. When thanking the Footes for their support of the Libary, Osgood read out the names as "Avon Edward and Dorothy Garvis Foote". The Fall 2007 issue of the Library newsletter uses the same incorrect spelling of Dorothy's name and it appears on the LAB Foundation website in the Forever Friends scroll as "Garvis", too. Click for fax to Horton Foote about Eisner's plans for Disney that in 2005 before his retirement included two new television channels for India. The Press Institute of India quoted Avon Edward Foote in both on-line and print publication after the announcement by Eisner. Eisner took a personal role in the approval process for both Disney's America and the India communication expansion. Disney marketing of the plans included a trip to India by Eisner for channel promotion. 2005 Addendum to Article -- from interview by David Alsobrook with Jody Powell, White House Press Secretary, 2 December 1980 for Carter Library, Atlanta. JODY POWELL: One person that I did get a chance not just to meet but to talk to at some length is Shelby Foote, who wrote the three-volume history of the Civil War, which is probably the best Civil War history that I have ever read. INTERVIEWER: Were you on that tour out to Gettysburg with the President [Jimmy Carter] with Shelby Foote? JODY POWELL: Yes. In fact, I was the one that suggested the President get Foote. We were just talking about it and, so, it was a little selfish on my part; I wanted to meet him. I figured he would come if the President invited him, and then, you know, if you're interested in the Civil War, [to] have--somebody like that to be your tour guide is about as good of a deal as you can get. The CBS Evening News, Thursday, 6 July, 1978, presented the story of President Carter's visit to Gettysburg with Shelby Foote and Jody Powell. Roger Mudd was news anchor for the CBS Evening News on that date. Video copies of Bob Schieffer's report on the trip to Gettysburg are available for a reasonable fee from the Television News Archive at Vanderbilt University, Nashville. Bob Schieffer is anchor for the CBS Evening News in April 2006, but CBS has announced that he is being replaced with Katie Couric later this year. [UPDATE added 21 September] Katie joined other industry leaders on 14 September 2006 as Bob was inducted into the Giants of Broadcasting in New York. The Giants of Broadcasting is a fund-raising broadcast industry function for the Library of American Broadcasting (LAB) at the University of Maryland. Don West is CEO of the LAB Foundation that sponsors the event. The complete guest list for the trip to Gettyburg with President Carter is available from the Jimmy Carter Library and Museum, Atlanta, website http://jcl.gsu.edu. Nick Kotz, who with North Alabama's Rudy Abramson wrote 1997 history piece on Protect Historic America's fight to stop Disney's America, appeared at the Carter Library in a free public forum on 8 February 2005. Bob Woodward has called Nick Kotz "one of the greatest, most serious writers of our time". The Washington Post ran an important article by Kotz on Martin Luther King, 16 January 2006. Kotz lives at Broad Run, Virginia, near the historic Brent Town (Brenttown or Brenton) tract. Hallowed Ground by Rudy Abramson and others (one is Kotz's son) covers the full story of Disney's attempt to build the history theme park on legacy Foote/Foot land. The book has a brief history of the Brent Town tract that was granted in 1680s to Brent, Foote, Hayward and Bristow. Both Disney's America and Brent Town are in Prince William County, Virginia. Return to Chotankers [The Book] web pages about Foote/Foot family concerns when Disney's America Theme Park announced over 20 years ago And, after MultiMedia Intro, Access Ordering Directions for Buying Book Reviewed  .  Revised  .  Refreshed   7 December 2013, Starting Our 19th Year