Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion

I know you probably missed it. It wasn't that big of news when it was released on Monday, seeing as Britney Spears had just been ordered to have an extended 14-day stay at the UCLA Medical Center while her estate was put under the control of her father. Or perhaps you missed it because the over covered and over analyzed Super Tuesday was happening the following day. With the news media fixated on covering these two topics, the lesser covered story you likely missed dealt with some of America's most important national landmarks.

On Monday, MSNBC.com released an investigative story written by Jim Popkin, an NBC News Senior Investigative Producer. In the article, he analyzes a report released by the Interior Department's Inspector General explaining how the Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and Jefferson Memorial were found to be woefully unprotected by absent guards, sleeping officers and disinterested, under-trained police forces.

In the report, it is stated that 95 percent of Park Police officers interviewed in New York said staffing at the Statue of Liberty is insufficient. During a site visit to the Statue of Liberty, the IG was unable to find any uniformed personnel for several hours, while only one or two people were found to be monitoring the 110 surveillance cameras that are on Liberty Island and Ellis Island, 27 of which were inoperable during the surprise inspection.

Security at Washington D.C.'s many monuments is no better, the IG report states. In fact, the IG staff photographed contract security guards at the Washington Monument reading newspapers and chatting on cell phones, while guards at the Jefferson Memorial were seen taking naps in their squad cars.

In response to the report, Park Police Chief Dwight Pettiford stated to the Washington Post, who originally broke the story, that the monuments are "still standing."

The report and the response from Pettiford bugs me for several reasons. Still standing? Even the Statue of Liberty in "Cloverfield" was still standing after its head was knocked off by the invading monster that terrorizes Manhattan in the film. It scares me to think of how long it will take for Pettiford, the person apparently in charge of taking care of National Monuments, to realize that something "still standing" isn't good enough. And even if he didn't mean it that way, it scares me that these things I hold precious are in the hands of someone who can't logically put out a statement that shows some sign of appreciation for the significance of these monuments.

National monuments are some of the greatest things America has to offer, and to allow them to be inadequately looked after is just a shame. Yes, they are great places to go, I will never dispute that. I have had my fair share of trips to all of the mentioned monuments minus the Statue of Liberty, and many more that were not mentioned in the report. All of those trips left great memories in my mind, and left me hoping that some day I would be able to take my children and my wife to the places my parents took me and my sister when we had the privilege of not having to pay for our own trips.

What makes the monuments truly great, however, is the symbolism they provide. As I said, they are great places to go see, great things to experience. But there is a reason that in every alien invasion or natural disaster movie a national monument is destroyed. They are symbolic, and represent something greater than just a fun place to head off to during summer vacation or spring break.

Each monument represents something different, but collectively they all mean something. The Statue of Liberty, originally intended to welcome immigrants to America, now symbolizes the American spirit in welcoming those who want to attempt to achieve the American dream. The Lincoln Memorial stands as a symbol not only in reminder of the great president it is named after, but has come to represent the ever lasting search for unity and equality between the different races of people that are located inside the American borders.

To continue to allow these monuments to be taken care of as poorly as they currently are will be detrimental in the future. Not only will it allow people of our generation not to be able to take their kids to the national monuments they once had the privilege to go to because they will have been either destroyed or been vandalized beyond the point of repairing, but the monuments also will have lost their meaning.

If America continues to focus on what Britney Spears does with her life, or continues to analyze things like Super Tuesday two years in advance and four months after the fact, then most of what symbolizes the American way of life will in fact be lost. If that happens, everyone around the world will be justified in their thinking of us.

Hansen is a sophomore print journalism major and chief copy editor of The Spectator.

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