More from Oxford, Alabama

Oxford is a small town outside of Birmingham that is currently ripping down an ancient mound for cheap fill-dirt for a Sam's Club. The Birmingham news has reported on this issue, but apparently the city is now barring reporters from visiting the site according to rumors (guess that whole "First Amendment" thing was covered while the mayor et al were napping in high school). I stumbled across a blog post with a little more information. Apparently the city is claiming that the mound was "only used to send smoke signals". I'm honestly not sure what to say to that statement other than it's obvious they haven't had a survey of any sort done by a qualified individual. There is supposedly a mysterious survey done by "somebody at the University of Alabama" years ago, but a copy has yet to be produced. The story has made it to the iReporter site run by CNN

The greatest tragedy here is that there is no reason at all to destroy the mound. It is not in the way of construction - the city is just using it as a handy source of fill dirt, and hey if they happen to destory an irreplaceable part of local history too bad! In other areas of Alabama mounds such as this have been developed into parks and tourist sites - sure it' won't draw in millions of people a year, but it would draw a lot more people than the "spot where the mound used to be" will. That's what bothers me the most, this destruction is purposeless. It's akin to burning down a library just because it's there - it serves no good purpose and you lose so much. I actually travel through Oxford a few times each year when I visit my parents, by the time I travel through next the mound will most likely be gone.

Edit: This story was originally covered by the Anniston Star, see this post for more information. Sphere: Related Content