Betty McCain, the secretary of the state Department of Cultural Resources, finally admitted recently that she has no intentions of moving Kinston's Civil War relic, the CSS Neuse Ironclad to a permanent museum outside of the Governor Richard Caswell Memorial Park in Kinston.

According to the October 7 issue of the Kinston Free Press, Sec. McCain has decided that the CSS Neuse will remain in the Revolutionary War park. She has declared that decision to be "her final word.."

With her "final word" Sec. McCain has begun the last phase of the total destruction of a memorial built by Kinstonians to honor Richard Caswell, one of Kinston's founding fathers, North Carolina's first Constitutional Governor and a Revolutionary War hero.

In doing so Sec. McCain puts the State of North Carolina in violation of a 1963 agreement between the Governor Richard Caswell Memorial Commission, the Lenoir County Confederate Centennial Committee and the N.C. Department of Archives and History.

That agreement was in the form of a signed resolution in which the local Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) agreed to allow the CSS Neuse to be placed on the Governor Caswell Memorial Park property as long as it did not "interfere with the development of the Caswell Memorial." The agreement was the very reason the remains of the CSS Neuse and its Civil War museum were placed down in the swamp and out of sight.

For years Raleigh ignored warnings that the old gunboat was deteriorating and needed to be moved out of the swamp into a climate controlled facility. The state took over responsibility for the 138 year old ironclad artifact in 1965. The CSS Neuse is one of only three ironclad's in the world that have been recovered and placed on exhibit for the public.

In 1996, Hurricane Fran caused a flood which soaked the artifact for six days in putrid black water doing irreversible damage to the remains of the Ironclad.

As a result, the state was finally forced to take action to try and save the CSS Neuse .

Sec. McCain's solution was to build an ugly pole constructed barn in the middle of the Richard Caswell Memorial Park. She told Kinstonian's not to worry the move was only temporary.

Kinston's city council asked Sec. McCain to move the gunboat to downtown Kinston near where it was originally stationed during the Civil War. A Civil War museum in the downtown district combined with Kinston's other historic attractions would help the local economy by drawing tourist dollars.

Now that Sec. McCain's barn is nearly completed, she has confirmed what we at the Olde Kinston Gazette have been saying all along--Sec. McCain has always planned to keep the Civil War gunboat in the Revolutionary War park.

Thanks to Sec. McCain and her interpretation of culture, the Richard Caswell Memorial, a once picturesque park bordered by majestic magnolia trees is now marred by a hideous sheet metal barn.

Representatives of Sec. McCain's office claim that her decision "came down to money."

In other words, the State has never had any intention of moving the CSS Neuse to downtown Kinston where it could have been protected in a historic building provided by the City of Kinston and a local industry and where it would have given a much needed booss to Kinston's revitalization.

Funny thing about the State not having money for Kinston. There always seem to be plenty of state funds available when it comes to recovering artifacts from Blackbeard's ship and the Civil War Ironclad Monitor from the ocean's floor.

In any case, Sec. McCain and the State's so called Department of Cultural Resources have completely destroyed the historical significance and aesthetic value of the Richard Caswell Memorial, a once beautiful Revolutionary War park.