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Flight 93 Donation Box Causes Major Controversy

Families, Landowner Butt Heads Over Donations

POSTED: 8:00 pm EDT June 5, 2007
UPDATED: 6:25 pm EDT June 6, 2007

A little donation box at the Sept. 11, 2001, crash site of Flight 93 in Somerset County is causing some big problems.

Mike Svonavec, who owns the box and most of the property around the crash site in Shanksville, said he put the box there to help pay for 24-hour patrols.

Svonavec said that since federal funding for security ran out in February, he has paid more than $30,000 for the patrols, which has left him broke.

"I've asked for help from both the park service and the families, and I really haven't gotten any response," Svonavec said.

Families of the victims of Flight 93, however, said that Svonavec is taking donations away from their efforts to raise $60 million to build a permanent memorial.

Many visitors said the sign that sat on top of the box was misleading and people who donated probably never realized their money was going to a private landowner.

On Wednesday, the park service covered the box with a plastic bag and told Svonavec he has until Friday to take it down.

"We have an exclusive license for entry to operate and maintain and be in control of the temporary memorial site," said Superintendent Joanne Hanley of the National Park Service.

Hanley said the box violates their license.

As for security, the park service said it doesn't need any.

'We have had one minor vandalism issue and no criminal conduct," Hadley said.

But the box itself might have done emotional damage to victims' family members, something Svonavec said it wasn't mean to do.

"Certainly not to make anyone feel like we're taking something from someone or trying to hurt someone, that was never the intent," he said.


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