Block Island will be featured on ABC show
The Providence Journal
Providence, Rhode Island
September 22, 2006
By PETER B. LORD
On Sunday, Good Morning America is scheduled to air a segment on the island’s success in preserving its open space.
More than a few people in Block Island’s tourist businesses were offended on Labor Day when one island resident hired a plane to tow a banner over the island saying, “It’s Over, Go Home.”
Sunday morning, the local tourism business will get a major make-up call, when ABC’s Good Morning America carries a story focusing on the island’s success in preserving open space and scenic spots and creating hiking trails.
The Block Island piece will be part of the “Weekend Window” series that runs at the end of the show — which airs from 8 to 9 a.m. on Channel 6 (WLNE) — and spotlights unique and special places around the world.
This year the “Weekend Window” has featured Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, Hells Canyon in Idaho and Oregon and Utah’s Bryce Canyon National Park. The show visited Newport last June.
“We try to give our viewers a look at places they haven’t visited,” said spokeswoman Bridgette Maney.
An ABC crew visited the island earlier this week and interviewed Scott Comings at The Nature Conservancy, town Harbormaster Chris Willi and Susan Shea of the Block Island Tourism Council.
Shea said Comings guided the crew to the North Light, the Hodge property and Rodman’s Hollow — some of Block Island’s most scenic spots. They also went out on Great Salt Pond. It was foggy, but they filmed a nice sunrise.
The crew had no interest in the island’s hotels or restaurants, she said.
“They really hit a lot of nature angles — the history, the beauty and the open space,” Shea said.
The Labor Day banner may have reflected the feelings of Block Islanders anxious to return to uncluttered roads and open parking spaces at the post office, Shea said.
And even though Herman Hassinger, a Town Council candidate, says it was a joke, Shea said it didn’t work.
“He may have meant it as a jest, but we were offended,” said Shea.
plord@projo.com / (401) 277-8036
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