Pioneer Press, June 18, 2010
FORT RIDGELY STATE PARK — John LaBatte has ancestors on both sides of the 1862 battles at Fort Ridgely, where a couple hundred soldiers and frontier settlers repelled two Indian attacks on a plateau high above the Minnesota River.

So when LaBatte looks over that battlefield and talks of the ground on which Indians, settlers and soldiers died or were wounded, it’s deeply personal. Especially now, as the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Minnesota Historical Society push proposed changes at Fort Ridgely State Park that he and others contend would desecrate the site….

The dispute flared last month, when word leaked about the proposal, which received about $800,000 through a state bonding bill approved by the Legislature last winter. Frederickson and Rep. Terry Morrow, DFL-St. Peter, said legislators were unaware of plan details or the existence of local opposition.

They contend the DNR, which runs the park, and the historical society, which operates the fort site, did a poor job of involving the local community early in the proposal.

That’s a fair criticism, Mitchell said. “We could have and should have done a better job of communicating with the public,'’ he said….

At this point, the DNR said it is pushing ahead. But the department emphasized it is keeping options “in play.'’ A meeting involving the two state organizations, the friends group, legislators and others is scheduled for Monday night.

“The thing we’re trying to impress on folks is that all of the decisions haven’t been made here,'’ Mitchell said.

“We’re certainly looking at the project a little bit differently,'’ added Tom Ellig, manager of community outreach and partnerships for the historical society. “But we still think the reasons we started with this initiative are valid reasons to continue to look at it.'’

Morrow, however, said he thinks the process needs to slow down. “It needs to truly set up an opportunity to hear alternative ideas and respond to these objections,'’ he said….

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