In its Feb. 6 editorial, “Don’t tread on Pearson,” Columbian editors opine that the preferred solution for the Pearson Air Museum and National Park Service brouhaha is “for the NPS and the National Historic Site officials to re-establish their emphasis on public access, managed by local entities.”
Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, is “drafting a bill to turn management of the Pearson Air Museum and surrounding land over to the City of Vancouver and Fort Vancouver National Trust.” Frankly, her solution is better than The Columbian’s.
Getting the NPS out of the equation is a textbook example of the principle of subsidiarity and should be applied not only to the Pearson Air Museum, but also to a great many of the federal government’s current holdings. Getting Officers’ Row out of the fed’s clutches probably saved it from condemnation as an uninhabitable eyesore. Hyperbole, you say? Look at the Vancouver Barracks.
Bob Harper
Vancouver