The Smithsonian won an appeals court decision in this District that exempts them from compliance with the United States Freedom of Information Act. No doubt the Smithsonian's "non-Federal" status has emboldened them to disregard any Federal Law they choose to disobey.

With regard to the Holt House, one of - if not the oldest Smithsonian buildings located on the grounds of the National Zoo in Washington, DC, the Smithsonian has:

1. Removed all the gutters from the House thereby maximizing the destructive effects of recent rains.
2. Refused to communicate with local government officials, journalists, historians, preservationists and the neighborhood committee..
3. Held up release of the Smithsonian's Office of Architectural and Preservation's study of the Holt House and related historical sites.
4. Failed to provide the land survey of the historic African American cemetery on the former Zoo dumpsters site.

The Public Affairs Director of the Zoo claimed he was unable to find the reported slave quarters in the Holt House basement, stating that some walls had recently been altered. It seems inconceivable that the Smithsonian allows such an important and sensitive feature of the house, related directly to the enslavement of Americans of African decent, to be under the control of a Zoo functionary tasked to convince the public that the Holt House should not be preserved.

I'd like to be totally wrong about all the above, so if anyone has been able to get through to the Zoo or the Smithsonian let me know. Eddie Becker. The proof is for anyone to examine. Visit the Holt House on the Grounds of the National Zoo. See the water soaked foundation and the gutterless House, it's just a one minute walk though the Gates adjacent to Walter Pierce Park off of Adams Mill Road. The Gates are open till about 7 PM on weekdays but closed on weekends.