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'2. 8 NO\] 2r$'tJ UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION Clipping Service [phone] THE DAILY (Group seeks tq preserve camp; HRRAT ,n Alb, SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- ,' People seeking to preserve the Topaz internment ,camp for Japanese-Ameri:cans during World War II ,are hoping to get help from ,a new White ,House initiative to preserve such camps. President Clinton and Attorney General Janet ,Reno aIinounced the plan Nov. 9 to acquire and protect the sites of the 10 prison call1ps that incarcerated some 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent during the war. Topaz, in the desert 140 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, was home to 8,000 Japanese-Americans, nearly all from the San 'Francisco Bay area. In the past decade, local residents, former internees and children of those imprisoned at Topaz have worked to purchase the land and preserve the relics, "There is a total of 640 acres where the camp was, and we've bought 415 acres of it, with 100 of the acres owned by a group of people and then another 80 acres held by another individual," said Jane Beckwith of Delta, president of the Topaz Museum Board. , "We became one of two projects in Utah for the Save America's Treasure program of the National Trust for Historic Preserva\ ' ' "I'm all for preserving the sites and not letting history.repeat itself." _ . ...:-- .... -> _u '"" - . . • ""~ "':-; " . ~~ tion, which ;didn't bring us Site, an internment any money ' directly but it California. Beckwith ' did bring us some prestige other Topaz board lll~lllLJI~.l" and the ability to apply for a have yet to learn from federal or congressional officials Getty grant," she said. The museum board what plans may be in store recently received a , Getty for Topaz. "We've already begun oUr foundation grant, which will be used to hire consultants long-term planning so , I to develop a long-term would hope that the Interior preservation and manage- Department's recommendament plan for Topaz. Pro- tions would take into con- ", posals from firms bidding on sideration some of the work the Topaz project were pre- we've already done," she said. , :,' sented last week. Ted Nagata of Salt LHke ' The board also has received donations, most City, who was 6 when lfris recently from Zions family was taken from tt.t1!it " i '~ Bankcorp, toward a fund to San Francisco home Gna r construct a museum to dis- sent to Topaz in 1942, said play and interpret artifacts he supports efforts to teU-' and mementos from Topaz. the story of the people who CWTerit1y; ~many of the lived ' in what was . brlifIY?~ artifacts are 'on display at Utah's fifth-largest CIty. , .;, ..I, the Great Basin Museum in 'Tm all for prese~ Delta, where restored par- sites and not letting his , '," tial barrac~(rom the camp repeat itself," said N whose family was one o'l: ' has been erected. i Congress has approved ' few from the camp vift'tf ''C' $5.1 million in the fiscal remained in Utah after the A 2001 budget for Japanese- war ended. "Our ultimilte ' American ipternment site goal is to get a niuseum;~ protection, ~tJ1ough most ~f house the items 'r)iij~;J that money I ~'as been dedi- mementos from Topaz,tiut':-.l. cated , to con~ruction of a we still have a lot of JllQnet~ new visitoreenter at Man- to raise for that project,~ " ' , ....f:~, ......, zanar National Historic it's a ways off'" • I' !" .. ' :<: " a I i .,';'; · ." .' . , ~ . ~ .