Mark, correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a listing on the National Register of Historical Sites provide a degree of legal protection against construction or other activities that would have an adverse effect on the site?

Though I'm vague on the details, I recall an issue several years ago involving an historic site in Searcy that was listed on the Register. When a developer proposed a construction project at or near the site, he was required to prepare an impact statement. Part of that impact statement involved a public notice inviting comments from the citizens -- which was the first we had heard about it. It gave the public a heads-up and resulted in quite a bit of clamor, which eventually stopped the project and thus saved one of the few remaining historical legacies in town.

If that public notice had not been published, I'm sure we would have lost that site, as we've lost so many others over the years.