Washington Monument to Remain Closed Indefinitely?
- Posted on September 26, 2011 at 6:51pm by
Tiffany Gabbay
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The 126-year-old Washington Monument — the focal point of the D.C. skyline — has remained closed ever since sustaining cracks from a rare 5.8 earthquake that rocked the D.C. Metro area late August. Now, according to a report in the Washington Times, The National Park Service (NPS) will keep the monument closed to the public for an indefinite period of time as engineers work to complete their exterior survey of the structure.
Noting the disappointment many feel over the delay, National Mall Superintendant Bob Vogel said “our primary goal is expediting the reopening of the monument to the public.” That task might prove all the more challenging, however, given that the cracks in the monument also allowed heavy rains from Hurricane Irene to penetrate the structure.
The Times adds:
The park service on Monday also released three videos taken during the earthquake at the monument’s 500-foot observation level. The videos show the monument shaking noticeably, as debris falls from above and people scramble for stairwells.
With its Egyptian obelisk-like shape, the monument is one of the most easily recognizable structures in the D.C. skyline and has continued to draw visitors to its grounds despite its closure. The park service erected a 100-foot-radius fence to prevent any falling debris from injuring visitors.
It stands to reason NPS plans to work diligently to restore the symbolic structure but it is still too soon to assess the extent of the structural damage or how long it will take engineers to complete the task.
New, dramatic footage shows people rushing down the stairs of the monument just as the earthquake hit:
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Comments (82)
powedj
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:34amIt wouldn’t suprise me, after DEAR LEADER finishes off this country, he will order blowing up the monument like the “tollybon” did to the ancient antiquities in Afganistan.
In it’s place, our DEAR LEADER will erect a 50 foot golden statue of himself for the throngs of the faithful to lay bouquets at his feet.
Report Post »POdVet
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 6:42amYes, Obama on a Golden Throne with his nose up in the air as he wipes his a$$ with the Constitution.
Report Post »Veritas
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 1:26amRead this….
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/lausdeo.asp
The monument has already been desecrated, this is just a worsening of the effect!!!
Report Post »mlcblog
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 3:12amI have recently read that snopes is soros-controlled. Anybody else know about this??
Report Post »Sego2011
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 8:14amMLCBLOG – Yes, Snopes is Soros controlled as well as ICLEI and MANY MANY other things!!
Report Post »tradexpertbuysell
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 12:34amHuricane Irene raining in on the inside of a crack caused by an earthquake. Two natural events more or less coinciding.
Humm! The odds…
Report Post »donh2
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 11:33pmI have spoken of this event being a Mighty Omen from God a day of DOOM approaches . The crack in the rock marks the very day the Lord shall reap his retribution for making these the days of Jeremiah. Today a great miracle happened upon me. A rock came into my possession with an old tag ” St. Paul Holy Land.” It is a rock from the very prison which held Saint Paul and Silas in Acts 16:26 for preaching the way to Salvation. All could hear St. Paul in his cell that night praying to the Lord and before morning the earth shook the prison to its foundation breaking the stones apart. The prison guard begged ” what must I do to be saved? 16:31 “ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ” …The Lord has given you this sign for he is merciful as he is mighty. Make good use of it and be spared as Abraham’s son from the plunging dagger….. http://www.box.net/shared/static/l78izep0be15r86edlah
Report Post »Liberal Basher
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 11:53pmYou’re a religious freak. Get out of here!
Report Post »Uranium Wedge
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 12:06amDid it say a “brick” or a “rock”?…. Cause that looks like a brick to me.
Report Post »Uranium Wedge
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 12:09amI hate it when people put their life story on the COMMENT section.
Report Post »thegodfather
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 8:16amBased on that observation, God must have been totally pissed at the Japanese
Report Post »AnAmerican111
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 11:23pmIt was Washington rolling in his grave over having such a pathetic anti American President as OBUMA!
Report Post »mlcblog
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 3:13amThat is great!! I hadn’t thought of it.
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 11:16pmWhat happened to the man with the hat? He runs down the stairs, comes back up the stairs, picks up something that looks like a camera, runs back down the stairs, comes back up the stairs and we never see him again. What happened to the man with the hat? Did he take some really cool pics from the top?
Report Post »mlcblog
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 3:14amI think he’s one of those park ranger dudes.
Report Post »J144
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 9:06pmThere are two stairways from that floor. My guess is he ran back to get something and headed down the other stairway.
Report Post »eramthgin
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 11:03pmIt will never open again! This is part of the problem with government thinking it can do everything. The NPS shouldn’t even have engineers. They should pick up the phone and call the best structural engineering firms in the country check it out. Let them handle the repairs. It would have already been completed. But since it is a big symbol of our Founder and of our history the socialists will keep it closed forever.
Report Post »neverending
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 10:57pmDon’t hold your breath while waiting for it to be restored as long as the bastard in chief is in office.
Report Post »rightwinglefty
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 10:00pmI am afraid that most politicians and bureaucrats see the monument as a memorial to a man who is now ust as out dated and obsolete as the notion of the U.S. Constitution.
Report Post »American_Woman
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 10:00pmThat was either God talking or George Washington rolling over in his grave…
Report Post »encinom
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 10:20pmneither, it was an earthquake.
Report Post »freedomofspeech
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 6:12amI heard it was our 14T check bouncing.
Report Post »Rawrwtf573
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 9:57amHaha Encinom
Report Post »cassandra
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:58pmPlease hire a private firm to do the repairs !!!!! it will take the bureaucrats and unions 20 years
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:47pmDo not be suprised if Mr Obama orders the demolition of the Washington Monument for a series of memorials to himself the Pharoah of DC.
Report Post »Nick84
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 2:44amDo you actually believe things like this? Normally I would just think you were joking, but I constantly read posts from you raving about some new grand scheme of the presidents. If you don’t actually believe what you write, maybe it’s time to tone down the rhetoric a bit? I can’t imagine the life you must live if you actually believe half the garbage you type.
Report Post »Nick84
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 12:24pmThis comment was for snowleopard. I’m not sure why it posted as a separate comment.
Report Post »Parkeralan
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:29pmForeshocks always precede the Big One. I think DC may be in for a big shake up. One can dream…
Report Post »milkah
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:47pmMaby President Obama will give a speech encourageing people to send their campagne contribution to a fix the monument fund instead of to him.
Report Post »912american
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:31pmThis sounds like the perfect shovel ready job. Why should it take so long to fix millions are out of work!
Report Post »jb.kibs
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:18pmexactly, i posted something about that, but it never made it through, in fact my dns magically got messed up and i couldn’t get back to theblaze.com … i had to change to someone elses dns servers for it to finally work…
Report Post »crazy…
anyway. it should have been fixed within the month of it happening, look at the shape obama is leaving this country in, even the monuments are in despair… barack, you sir… are a pathetic…
Gypsy123
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:57pmwow that just kept going and going and going if that wasn’t a message from God somebody is brain dead,
Report Post »momprayn
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:02pmYep — that’s how I saw it — a sign what is/will be happening in D.C.
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:12pmWe the People are going to shake Washington in November 2012. The monument may fall…
Report Post »Restored One
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:13pmI have been through the Whittier (So of LA) and Loma Prieda (SF), they did not last long. I know that from 500 ft the swaying will tend to last longer, as well as a camera shaking for a bit longer. But that did seem like a really long earthquake. I must admit I was kind of hoping for a Quake here in CA while Obama was here.
Report Post »decendentof56
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 9:01pmI admit I have only experienced one other Quake (1973-3.8), and 10 mi from where I lived. It was centered in the Delaware river near Claymont, De.
Report Post »This one, though centered much further away, shook a H Depot store a few mi south of Wilmington, De. The whole building shook (floor, everything) for 45-50 sec. Huge boxes with windows in them ( up on the top racks) were rocking back and forth.
This was 5.8, and centered 5 hrs south of where I live in S Jersey. I now have a whole new appreciation for what others have gone through with the big magnitude quakes.
The-Monk
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 1:55amWhy would God want to destroy the Washington Monument?
Report Post »SH4D0W
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:28pmNo problem… I think the Epoxy injection idea is the best one for the job. I worked on the elevator during the renovation about 11 years ago. Got my name on a bronze plaque inside the elevator too. If I told you where it was hidden I would have to kill you…
Report Post »rpp
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:25pmI thought it was good that the guard tried to be last one out. Then that nut ran back UP! What was he thinking? I mean he had to have pushe through a lot of people, including that guard.
Report Post »Marci
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:09pmThe guy who came up was a ranger who went back to ensure all visitors were out.
Report Post »Restored One
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:10pmNot the first one who was texting and picking her fingernails. She was mixed right in the crowd.
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:25pmLet some AMERICAN engineers in there (not foreigners who pretend to be us), fix it (if indeed it needs fixing at all) and reopen OUR MONUMENT!
CLOSE the white house and congress. They are un-AMERICAN!
Report Post »scout n ambush
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:39pmI agree no foreighn aid needed i will work for free on that job .My ancestor was requested by George Washington to build his pew in his church for him he did and built the aquia church in Va too.
Report Post »scout n ambush
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:22pmI suppose they will accidently cover up with mortar the refrences to god while they repair the monument .
Report Post »TEXASGRANNY73
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 8:02pmSure and they’ll insert Oba ma. Oh wait, is that an obelisk?
Report Post »AmeriCat
Posted on September 27, 2011 at 3:45amYes…their chance to completely erase…cover up the scriptures
inside the monument staircase….all the way to the top.
Glenn mentioned these before 8-28….
He mentioned how he would like to walk all the way up,
filming the scriptures along the way…
Report Post »before they disappear. A foreboding?
patriot4ever
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:15pmEpoxy injection for lasting structural integrity…re-open it.
Report Post »vennoye
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:23pmAfter watching that video, I‘m surprised it’s still standing!
Report Post »Will M.
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:23pmBilly Mays could have fixed it! (Crackers For Cain).
Report Post »SH4D0W
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:24pmAMEN…. No problem at all. My rock climbing club could pull that one off. What seems to be the problem? Need someone to get-R-done? Call me… I work for cheap…
Report Post »momprayn
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:54pmINTRAN — Yes, I just read it a little earlier and wondering if/when the Blaze would have it. I‘ve noticed they are a little slow and don’t have the most important news many times. Many ppl will be waiting anxiously to see how this turns out……
Report Post »BigM4U
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:13pmHopefully this is not a symbol/omen of how our government has been handling things since the erection of this monument. Based on what I see going on these days, it sure could be taken that way. They’ve surely fractured our constitution!
Report Post »Cranky
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:11pmI’m in my late 50s now but can still remember when I was 12, on a student tour to DC. A friend and I decided to climb the steps rather than taking the elevator. So, like kids do, we starting running up the steps. I’d guess we were about half way up and we were whipped!
Said to see this happen knowing that the current administration has no appreciation for our history and what (who) this great monument stands for. 2012 can’t come fast enough for me.
FREEDOM OR OBAMUNISM – YOU DECIDE!
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:04pmThe falling debris could represent the tears of George Washington as he looks down and sees what our country has become today.
Report Post »Will M.
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 7:02pmGlobal warming…? Another shovel ready job on the books…
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