The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 34

rrt'WTyrrty rTirtm rrrminiyvt i rrv rr vyv irTTfHTi ry rrvv tp A34 SUNDAY DECEMBER 19 1993- LOS ANGELES Grant Won the Civil War But His Monument Resting place of Civil War victor is scarred by vandals and neglect a hangout for the homeless One group is fighting to restore the memorial to its glory Tomb Is Losing the Urban Warsj by $800000 in donations from 90000 Americans Standing 150 feet tall on a bluff above the Hudson River in New York City the tomb was dedicated on the 75th anniversary of birth Tens of thousands of people turned out is warships fired salutes and the memorial outdrew the Statue of Liberty in its early years Times change Aa On the afternoon of a gorgeous sunny the tomb was closed public It was Just aa well where Grant and his wife Julik entombed there are more The mausoleum is poorly' some exhibits are inaccurate the place could use a cleaning A rare 1843 photo Tomb aged badly Lady Liberty received a 886-million face lift in the mid-1980s Officials say that red tape will make any mqjor cleaning of exterior impossible for at least two more years Meanwhile garbage blows across the cracked atones of its plaza where weeds and grass sprout unchecked Bird droppings foul its base is left undefended unguarded uncared says John Simon executive director of the Ulysses Grant Assn situation there has simply become It gets worse Workers arrived one morning last May to find someone had defecated outside the entrance and run a garbage can up its flagpole according to a National Park Service volunteer The homeless routinely use the tomb as a bathroom legitimate visitors find there are no bathrooms for them Veterans autumh to the Inside are problems lit ahd thorough of a 21-year-old Grant was stolen two years ago and never replaced Another large photo identified as Grant is actually someone else says Park Service volunteer Frank Scaturro The the largest mausoleum in the United is open five days a week eight hours a day For the other 128 hours the -Park Service ignores the sites No security no rangers no maintenance crews National Park Service has totally abdicated responsibility for the says Scaturro a Columbia University senior who has worked at the tomb since 1991 The Lee Chapel (Hi the Lexington Va campus of Washington and Lee University stays bpgh seven days a week quiet place for meditation and according to administrators The chapel underwent a 837(1000 renovation in 192t83 says RC Penniston directocoffte Please ses GRANT ASS By LARRY McSHANE ASSOCIATED PE ESS NEW YORK-The general who lost the Civil War lies in genteel eternal repose in a pristine mausoleum inside an ivy -covered limestone-and-brick chapel on a verdant college campus in northwestern Virginia About 350 miles north of the final resting place of Robert Lee is the tomb erf the general who won the war Ulysses Grant a hangout for drunks dope smokers the dispossessed Here granite pillars scarred by vandals and neglect provide shelter for the homeless Makeshift beds of plastic bags newspapers and blankets lie beside a pile of trash a bottle of Thunder-bird wine Just up the deteriorating steps from a bottle of malt liquor Around the comer is an empty $10 bag of marijuana Tomb has long been a punch line Groucho Man aslud Vandalized and neglected Tomb provides shelter for homeless and ahangout for dope users contestants on Bet Your who was buried there These days the tomb of 18th President is Just a although really laughing All four walla of the General Grant National Memorial opened 96 years ago to hold the Civil greatest who was also the 18th President of the United are badly stained from two decades of graffiti and the rigors of its removal The name of one vandal is visible three times on the tomb name does not appear at all It always this way The tomb opened April 27 1897 funded EXTRHOLIDAYiHOURSTSUNDAYANPJVIONDAYiSAMIIaIRMMUESDAYaSAMIMIDNIGHTj GREAT BUY 2 AND SAVE ON JEWELRY ACCESSORY 'I.