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Managing America: Public Land

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Week Ending March 9, 2006

H.R.497 To authorize the Marion Park Project, a committee of the Palmetto Conservation Foundation, to establish a commemorative work on Federal land in the District of Columbia, and its environs to honor Brigadier General Francis Marion.

This bill authorizes the Marion Park Project, so named after Brigadier General Francis Marion for whom the park would be named, to establish a commemorative work in the District honoring the General. Marion would later be known as The Swamp Fox.

Francis Marion was born in 1732. He and his wife Mary Esther raised an orphan who they named Francis Marion. Some years later Marion the adopted son commanded the Williamsburg militia in South Carolina during the Revolutionary War.

He couped the British with strategies unusual to the time: Lightening raids and quick retreats into swamps. The British referred to him as the Swamp Fox and his troops were a mix of Caucasians, free Blacks and slaves and Native Americans.

Marion later served in the South Carolina legislature.

Monuments and such in the District of Columbia are a complicated matter between several federal agencies and Congress but no Federal funds may be used to support such projects.

In Washington, D.C. Marion Park (4^th and 6^th Streets S.E. at E Street and South Carolina Ave. S.E.) exists but lacks a formal commemoration. This bill authorizes a commemorative work to honor him and his service.

An organization called the Palmetto Conservative Foundation is backing the effort and receives the authority in this bill to move forward. Funds raised by Palmetto will go to establish the commemorative work and maintain the park. Excess funds raised must be deposited in the Treasury from which future expenses may be drawn..

Sponsor:  Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC-2^nd)

Vote: passed House 390 to 0 March 5, 2007 (RC 120)

Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost.

Earmark Certification:   Not applicable to this bill.

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