The state spent $2 million two years ago renovating the North Carolina Museum of Forestry in downtown Whiteville, so supporters were surprised by a move in the legislature to cut the museum out of the state budget.
The state Senate budget omits the $357,000 needed to operate the museum, which was developed to showcase the forest environment and its cultural and economic roles through state history.
Jim High, a founding member of the Friends of the N.C. Forestry Museum and owner of Whiteville’s newspaper, the News Reporter, said the proposal is oddly timed. High said the recent renovations to the 13-year-old museum made the homegrown attraction a cultural centerpiece for residents of Whiteville and surrounding Columbus County.
“We’ve just gotten this place to where it is a destination point,” he said. “This museum gives folks a reason to visit here, to see our museum and walk the streets of downtown.”
Sen. Andrew Brock, the Republican co-chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Natural and Economic Resources, said the Forestry Museum’s cutbacks resulted from “relatively low attendance and relatively high per-visitor operating costs.”
From The News Observer: https://www.newsobserver.com/2013/06/06/2944701/state-budget-brings-uncertainty.html