Costly Victory

It was a famous victory, of course, when George Washington and a doughty band of patriots crossed the ice-choked Delaware River on Dec. 25, 1776, and went on to rout the Christmas-dazed Hessians in Trenton, N.J. Indeed it has become a bit too famous, in the view of many residents of Hopewell Township, N.J. (current population 12,000), where Washington came ashore. They fear vast armies of Americans will mark the Bicentennial by descending on their rural area, which is the home of Washington Crossing State Park. Local estimates are that as many as 4 million visitors may come.

Hopewell officials claim they would have to spend $1 million to handle the crowds. So town fathers are considering 1) seeking a court injunction to prevent the state from making improvements at the park, and 2) suing both state and Federal Government for the extra money to accommodate the throngs. "We do not want to be cast as unpatriotic," says Township Committeeman Christopher Bannister, "but we resent the idea that we should give a birthday party for the nation and have to foot the bill."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.