Grave News: Oxford, AL using grave dirt to level Sam's Club parking lot

I'm not sure how they thought they'd slip this under the radar, but apparently the City of Oxford, Alabama and WalMart Stores, Inc are working together to destory a 1500 year old piece of history. The history in question is a large ceremonial mound (which likely contains human remains) that is being destroyed to provide fill dirt for a Sam's club parking lot. A local blogger has been covering the story here and here.

Now, I realize we cannot save every single site for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the land is needed, sometimes the site is in danger from natural forces, etc. In this case - none of that seems to apply. It's not that the Sam's Club is being built where the mound was, or that it was the only spot available. No, it seems that the city has taken it upon itself to destroy an ancient monument for cheap fill dirt. Think on that for a minute - irreplaceable history needlessly destroyed for nothing more than a bit of convience. Surely there are other sources of fill dirt in the area? Why isn't Walmart Stores, Inc stepping in to stop this destruction on their behalf? There's a lot of unanswered questions in this. I can say Wal-Mart/Sam's has moved even further down on my list of stores where I shop! Wonder if they're going to dynamite the veteran's monuments in town for gravel to pave the parking lot while they're at it?

Edit: More information and links to the Anniston Star, the newspaper which originally broke the story, here. Sphere: Related Content