Dear Sen. Kennedy:

Today I learned that the National Park Service/DOI is using eminent domain to procure land in Somerset County, PA, for a Flight 93 memorial, without having made a good faith negotiation with the landowners, merely because of impending paperwork deadlines.

The DOI has had the nearly 8 years since 9/11 to work on this. Yet it waited, and now the people of Somerset County are suffering the loss of their land and their homes so that a bureaucratic deadline could be met.

This strikes me as a grave injustice to the people of Somerset County. I would respectfully ask you to consider calling for a review of the DOI's actions and failures to act, and that you further consider seeking to enact legislation with due haste to nullify this taking of land that has occurred without affording its owners the opportunity to negotiate.

I believe that a Flight 93 memorial would be a fitting tribute to the people who sacrificed themselves to save so many others. But as a conscientious American citizen, I can no longer support this memorial due to the conduct of the DOI, specifically its inattention over nearly eight years to work with the affected landowners.

Thank you for your consideration.

Kind Regards,

Patrick Madden