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 Editor: Re 1791 Cornerstone. (08/13/01) - I would like to express my concerns about the District boundary stone in Alexandria Virginia's Jones Point Park.
     The Wilson Bridge Project is taking steps to ensure this remarkable artifact remains not only part of our past but also part of our future.
     The cornerstone marks the location George Washington designated as the southernmost point of the District. It was placed in 1791 under the order of Benjamin Banneker, an African American who was one of the primary surveyors of our nation's capital.
     Unfortunately, the stone's significance is largely unknown because it is difficult to get to and it is enclosed in an unmarked concrete bunker. Although the new bridge will be more than 400 feet away, and construction will not approach the site, the Wilson Bridge Project, along with the National Park
     Service and the Mount Vernon Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, is doing riverbank improvement, seawall repair and landscaping adjacent to the Jones Point Lighthouse where this stone is located.
     The vault in which the cornerstone sits will be rebuilt to increase airflow and to decrease the deterioration rate of the stone, which now is eroded by the Potomac River.
     Visits to the landmark will be enriched by improved access, signs explaining the stone's historic significance and a replica that will be placed close by the stone but in a more visible location.
- Thomas Heil, Alexandria, VA
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Editor: Re Energy Crisis. (07/09/01) - How many times does the nation have to suffer through the heavy handed tactics such as centrally imposed price caps before Americans wise up?
     The task of an economist is to see that which is not seen, as much as it is to measure that which produces economic activity.
   The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission understood the consequences of imposing caps.
     That's simply Economics 101. Rolling blackouts in Nevada and the rest of the West were planned.
     Radical environmentalists and other socialist activists don't have the preservation of the environment as their objective.
     Rather, they seek the kind of interstate and community warfare that FERC has created.
     Likewise, most politicians and government bureaucrats view this kind of turmoil as yet more insurance against any loss of their power. And I'm not speaking of electricity.
     Is there no one left in government and its massive complex who any longer believes in free market capitalism and democracy? Or, are they all simply thieves?
- - Robert L. Lowe Jr. Las Vegas
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