Earlier in this century, a friend and I wrote and presented opposition papers to a piece of curriculum used by the BI Public Schools.

The curriculum occupied a month of valuable classroom time and, based on my previous independent research, I knew it contained inaccuracies and omissions and swung over into propaganda territory.

Social studies teachers called the unit “Leaving Our Island.” It was subsequently cut from the curriculum.

How my husband, James Olsen, candidate for public office, now gets credit for my brave act, I’ll never know. (I took lots of heat from the know-nothings, including in these pages.)

Neither of us was removed from a classroom for “creat[ing] such a ruckus.” The work was academic.

This was my baby. Check with the BI Historical Society: I wrote the application for National Historic Register status for Fort Ward 1939 Navy Edition – so I knew the history. It was me.

If journalism is the first draft of history, you guys are failing.

Mary Victoria Dombrowski

Fort Ward Historic District