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King George Republican Chairman John Headley (with sign) calls the trail 'racist' and 'anti-Christian' because it cuts through the cemetery of a black church.
Former state legislator David Brickley of Woodbridge addresses a crowd of supporters at the head of the 16-mile trail.
Doily Fulcher, 62, says the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail will encroach
Patti Goettler of Woodford walks along the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail for the first time after its dedication yesterday.
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By JEFF BRANSCOME
The dedication of a controversial hiking and biking trail in King George County kicked off with gray skies and a little rain yesterday morning.
And it didn't take long for a storm to erupt--in the form of picketing residents and angry chants.
David Brickley, a former state legislator from Woodbridge, plans to turn an abandoned rail bed near Dahlgren into a 16-mile trail. He's calling it the Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail, and said he "acquired the rights" to the property from Joe Williams, a former planning commissioner in the county.
The idea has been proposed a number of times over the last 10 years and has never failed to infuriate nearby homeowners. They say a trail will bring crime, litter and noise to the area--claims others call exaggerations.
Yesterday morning, Brickley addressed at least 50 supporters at a portion of the trail that is bisected by Indian Town Road. Thirteen took a five-mile bike ride to the site, while most others were bused in from Caledon Natural Area.
"If the generations to come are able to use this, I think it will be a tribute to all of us," Brickley told the gathering.
On the other side of the street, 11 protesters picketed and at times shouted, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, David Brickley's gotta go."
John LoBuglio, a protester and nearby homeowner, used a walkie-talkie to communicate with other trail opponents scattered around the area. He stressed that many of them don't live near the trail.
Most of the trail's supporters, including Brickley, laughed off the incessant chanting during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
When the picketers first stormed across a portion of the trail, Brickley told them with a smile, "Don't trespass, now."
Emotions flared at times, such as when one trail opponent shouted, "Put it in your backyard, not ours."
"It's private property," a trail supporter fired back. "You're wasting your time."
A deputy from the King George Sheriff's Office and an officer with the Virginia State Police parked their cruisers on the side of the road during the ceremony.
They stood on land owned by Doily Fulcher, 62, who said he opposes the trail because it will encroach on 113 acres he owns.
"I really bought the property to hunt," he said.
Eventually, Brickley said, he wants to transfer ownership of the trail to the state. But for now, he said, it is private and can be used only by invited guests.
"The people that are over there now, they're not going to be a problem for us," Fulcher said yesterday. "When it goes public, then you've lost control."
John Headley, chairman of the King George County Republican Party, led yesterday's anti-trail rally. He lives near the trail and criticized the project because the rail bed cuts through a 130-year-old black cemetery maintained by Little Ark Baptist Church.
In a flier, he questioned whether the rails-to-trails proposal was "racist" and "anti-Christian."
"Many of us are committed to racial justice and racial reconciliation and don't want bad elements from out of town or out of state to stir up trouble in our county," he wrote in the flier.
Brickley, a Democrat, said the flier "should be an embarrassment to every Republican."
Pastor Ben Jones of Little Ark Baptist Church said in a telephone interview that he isn't "for or against" the trail but simply doesn't want it to disturb the cemetery.
In March, he said, Brickley told him he would look for a way to bypass the cemetery.
"But thus far, there have been no further discussions," he said, noting that the conversation was "not hostile."
As for the racism charge, he said, "I'm not in the position to claim racism."
Jones did not take part in yesterday's protest, and said he hadn't seen the fliers.
The protesters--whom bicyclist Bud Vye called the "fanatic fringe"--also criticized the ceremony because they said many of its attendees weren't from King George.
One of the event's speakers was George Solley, a newly elected Fredericksburg city councilman and chairman of the Fredericksburg Pathways Committee. Boy Scouts from a troop in Fredericksburg also showed up.
So far, volunteers have cleared a little more than a mile of the trail. Opponents and supervisors say Brickley may need a land-disturbance permit for the work to continue.
"These volunteers from King George County have moved so fast we could have rebuilt New Orleans in a month and a half," Brickley said.
He will present his plans for the trail at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday night.
To reach JEFF BRANSCOME:
Email: jbranscome@freelancestar.com
