Fox News' On the Record reported Thursday on the government shutdown leading to the ordered closing of the Claude Moore Colonial Farm, a Virginia park that sits on federal land but receives no resources for maintenance or operation from the government.
The Washington Free Beacon first reported on the government's shutdown theater in ordering the closing Wednesday.
The National Parks Service said there were "no exceptions," despite managing director Anna Eberly explaining the farm had upcoming events. The parking lot was barricaded and police were sent to escort people off the property.
"We don't cost them a penny to operate, nor have we for a long time," she said. "Why wouldn't you leave us open? Why wouldn't you allow people to visit a national park?"
The farm was allowed to stay open in 1995 during the last government shutdown. Eberly said the closure had already cost the farm $20,000, and if it didn't re-open soon, it would never open again.
Reporter Griff Jenkins said that must make her and her co-workers upset.
"Yeah, we're pissed," she said.
The Washington Free Beacon reported:
According to Eberly, NPS sent law enforcement agents to the park on Tuesday evening to remove staff and volunteers from the property.
"You do have to wonder about the wisdom of an organization that would use staff they don’t have the money to pay to evict visitors from a park site that operates without costing them any money," she said.
The park withstood prior government shutdowns, noting in a news release that the farm will be closed to the public for the first time in 40 years.
"In previous budget dramas, the Farm has always been exempted since the NPS provides no staff or resources to operate the Farm," Eberly explained in an emailed statement.
"In all the years I have worked with the National Park Service … I have never worked with a more arrogant, arbitrary and vindictive group representing the NPS," Eberly told the Free Beacon.