WAYNESVILLE, N.C. –
Conservative activists
protested Saturday outside a private hotel and restaurant forced to
close during the partial federal government shutdown because it leases a
federal government building on federally owned land.
Protesters
gathered on the shoulder of the Blue Ridge Parkway to protest Friday’s
forced closure of the Pisgah Inn, owner Bruce O’Connell said in an
interview. The Asheville Citizen-Times reported the crowd numbered fewer than three dozen. One of the demonstrators
handed him a card claiming membership in a tea party group based in
Asheville, about 30 miles east, O’Connell said.
“They’re up there
making a statement I guess — that they’re not happy with the state of
things and wanted to make a point,” O’Connell said.
Park rangers
began blocking the inn’s three entrances off the parkway at lunchtime
Friday, stayed through the night and remained there Saturday to make
sure the inn didn’t reopen, O’Connell said.
Parkway Chief Ranger Steve Stinnett said park service managers in Washington directed him to block access to the inn.
The
470-mile federal road that winds through the North Carolina and
Virginia mountains remains open to traffic but National Park Service
visitor centers, campgrounds, picnic areas and restrooms are shuttered
