Vice President Gore
Washington, DC

Dear Vice President:

Tonight I heard the from the Honorable Senator Smith of New Hampshire, an
Independent apparently like myself, on CSPAN. Senator Smith was discussing
the fact that the Panama Canal will be handed over in ceremony on Dec. 10 of
this year to the Panamanians, and because of the susceptible government
bidding process, so often chided by patron and client, resulting in the
operation of the Canal by Communist China. This I understand is a done deal
unless new requests with the President of Panama, a recently elected woman
politician, could result in the reevaluation of the bidding process.

The Senator listed all the landmarks that will be turned over. As a citizen
working in historical archaeology I would like to know if everything there
has even been recorded for posterity before it is turned over to the Chinese?
Aren't preservation laws and Habs/Haer recording required? I have watched
many things important to the history of the United States disappear without
even a photograph, unless taken by a bystander.

I am descended from stone masons and my great-grandfather worked both on the
masonry of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City and the Panama Canal, in
Panama. I have followed much of the issues around the Canal through the
Society for Industrial Archaeology, the politics of the Conservative Party in
this country, and the more liberal representation of Panama in the music and
career of Ruben Blades. In consideration of the effort, by the French, that
went before, I think we also owe it to them that the Canal issue be
reconsidered before Congress and before it is turned over to the Chinese
Communists, no matter how idealistic their involvement.

Mr. Vice President, if there is any way the transfer of the Panama Canal Zone
can be halted legally, I urge you to find the "loophole." I urge you if there
is anyway this can be placed before the People of the United States, in court
or in public I urge you do. If the Democratic Party, to which I have
contributed in the past, can make this an issue that can be reopened and
diplomatically mediated, even if it means declaring the whole area a HAZMAT
Superfund site I urge you to do so.

Sincerely,
George J. Myers, Jr.