thedrifter
09-10-06, 06:46 AM
Museum director has sights set
September 10,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Jim Williams rolled up his sleeves and went to work a month ago. Today, the new executive director of the planned Marine Corps Museum of the Carolinas may be near a solution to the proposal’s biggest question to date — where the museum will go.
Williams said Friday the museum has zeroed in on a piece of land along the U.S. 17 bypass behind the Beirut Memorial in Jacksonville and adjacent to the site of the future Vietnam Veterans memorial.
Since the land is part of a military reservation, the museum will need permission from the Pentagon to build there. It would be a “land lease” agreement, Williams said, and he’s hoping they can get approval in about two or three months.
“We have not yet secured that,” he said. “We have to go through an approval process that goes all the way to Washington.”
Camp Lejeune has favorably endorsed the land request, Williams said.
The pursuit of this land gives the museum organizers the first site they can set their sights on since the original plan to build a museum and conference center complex along the Jacksonville waterfront fizzled out.
The museum’s future home and fund-raising were the largest issues facing Williams when he took over his new job on Aug. 14. He’s a retired Marine officer who came to the museum from the New Bern Police Department, where he was the services division commander.
He replaces Gail Walters, who left at the end of June because her Marine Corps husband was transferred to the Pentagon.
For Williams, it’s a chance to immerse himself in the history of the Corps.
“Just to be a part of something so close to my heart, which is the Marine Corps and the preservation of the heritage of the Marine Corps, is something very close to me,” said Williams.
A retired lieutenant colonel, Williams is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has degrees in applied science and management.
His military and civilian experience made him a “natural choice to drive the development efforts of the museum,” said retired Col. Bill Ayers, the chairman of the museum’s board, in a press release.
While most of Williams’ first month on the job has been spent gathering information and learning about his duties, there are dozens of issues in progress. While museum officials wait for the land design, Williams said other planning is continuing. The staff has been working on managing a growing artifact collection and the architect — Calloway, Johnson, Moore and West of Winston Salem — has begun designing the building, a process that will take about a year.
Fund-raising is also continuing in earnest, Williams said. So far, the museum has raised about $4.7 million of the $20 million goal.
The museum’s stated purpose is to honor the service and sacrifice of Carolina Marines and sailors and to highlight the contributions of the area since the Marines moved into the Carolinas in 1941.
“It’s a unique opportunity for this whole region to have a heritage or cultural-type venue to be headquartered here,” he said. “I think the natural attraction it will have for tourism here will just be tremendous. I’m just very excited to be a part of something that will help the museum become an icon in Jacksonville.”
Museum officials hope to have the 40,000-square-foot complex open sometime in 2009.
For more information about the Marine Corps Museum of the Carolinas, log on to www.mcmuseum.com.
Contact staff writer Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 229.
September 10,2006
CHRIS MAZZOLINI
DAILY NEWS STAFF
Jim Williams rolled up his sleeves and went to work a month ago. Today, the new executive director of the planned Marine Corps Museum of the Carolinas may be near a solution to the proposal’s biggest question to date — where the museum will go.
Williams said Friday the museum has zeroed in on a piece of land along the U.S. 17 bypass behind the Beirut Memorial in Jacksonville and adjacent to the site of the future Vietnam Veterans memorial.
Since the land is part of a military reservation, the museum will need permission from the Pentagon to build there. It would be a “land lease” agreement, Williams said, and he’s hoping they can get approval in about two or three months.
“We have not yet secured that,” he said. “We have to go through an approval process that goes all the way to Washington.”
Camp Lejeune has favorably endorsed the land request, Williams said.
The pursuit of this land gives the museum organizers the first site they can set their sights on since the original plan to build a museum and conference center complex along the Jacksonville waterfront fizzled out.
The museum’s future home and fund-raising were the largest issues facing Williams when he took over his new job on Aug. 14. He’s a retired Marine officer who came to the museum from the New Bern Police Department, where he was the services division commander.
He replaces Gail Walters, who left at the end of June because her Marine Corps husband was transferred to the Pentagon.
For Williams, it’s a chance to immerse himself in the history of the Corps.
“Just to be a part of something so close to my heart, which is the Marine Corps and the preservation of the heritage of the Marine Corps, is something very close to me,” said Williams.
A retired lieutenant colonel, Williams is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and has degrees in applied science and management.
His military and civilian experience made him a “natural choice to drive the development efforts of the museum,” said retired Col. Bill Ayers, the chairman of the museum’s board, in a press release.
While most of Williams’ first month on the job has been spent gathering information and learning about his duties, there are dozens of issues in progress. While museum officials wait for the land design, Williams said other planning is continuing. The staff has been working on managing a growing artifact collection and the architect — Calloway, Johnson, Moore and West of Winston Salem — has begun designing the building, a process that will take about a year.
Fund-raising is also continuing in earnest, Williams said. So far, the museum has raised about $4.7 million of the $20 million goal.
The museum’s stated purpose is to honor the service and sacrifice of Carolina Marines and sailors and to highlight the contributions of the area since the Marines moved into the Carolinas in 1941.
“It’s a unique opportunity for this whole region to have a heritage or cultural-type venue to be headquartered here,” he said. “I think the natural attraction it will have for tourism here will just be tremendous. I’m just very excited to be a part of something that will help the museum become an icon in Jacksonville.”
Museum officials hope to have the 40,000-square-foot complex open sometime in 2009.
For more information about the Marine Corps Museum of the Carolinas, log on to www.mcmuseum.com.
Contact staff writer Chris Mazzolini at cmazzolini@freedomenc.com or 353-1171, ext. 229.