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Opening Arguments

Dollars for Dunes

I'm not sure what to make of this, except maybe, "Yahoo, the Democrats are in, so we'll get more money."

Just one month ago, the superintendent for the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore said funding for the Dunes looked grim and that challenges for the National Park Service were growing increasingly difficult.

Dale Engquist now feels better about the future of the park, given the new makeup of Congress.

If you read further into the story, it doesn't sound like they've been starving for funds. U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., has apparently almost $30 million in federal funds for the park and authorized two dunes expansion bills that added more than 2,000 acres to the property -- while Republicans were in power. If there has been too much emphasis on recreation and commercial uses and not enough on preservation, that's one thing. I don't think overemphasizing preservation, if I get their drift, is the right answer, either.

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