Wal-Mart awaiting Va. battlefield site decision

Bentonville, Ark. Wal-Mart Stores said Monday it is awaiting a decision about whether it can open a superstore in Orange, Va., near a Civil War battlefield.

Orange County officials will hold a public hearing Monday evening that will likely be followed by a vote on a special-use permit by the Board of Supervisors. Wal-Mart needs the permit to build near the Wilderness Battlefield site.

Historians and Civil War buffs have rallied against the location less than a mile from where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant first met in battle. They contend the store will draw more commerce and traffic.

Wal-Mart argued that the property is already zoned for commercial use, and that the store will not be within sight of the battlefield's 2,700 protected acres.