We've been waiting and waiting and this IS front page news! Finally, Montgomery County is making good on their promise to stop Philthadelphia from stealing, yes stealing Lower Merion's Art Trasures!

Shame, shame, shame on all those Philandering Philanthropists with ties to the Lower Merion Community for giving Philadelphia money to do this. And "P-ew" what's that smell? Oh, must be the Pew Charitable Trusts, those fine folks also assisting in this thievery.

Saddle up Lower Merion - whether you are an official "Barnes Friend" or not, get your groove on today, this minute! Write a letter! Protest! Help! See http://www.barnesfriends.org/

Montgomery County To Fight For Barnes By:Margaret Gibbons 06/01/2007

Montgomery County will make an effort to reopen the Barnes litigation in an attempt to block the move of the museum from Lower Merion to a new home in Philadelphia.

"The move is gaining momentum and we have to act now," said county Commissioners Chairman Thomas J. Ellis Thursday.

Ellis cited last week's decision by the Fairmount Park Commission to approve a 99-year lease with the Barnes Foundation for property the commission controls along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

Ellis said the county commissioners next week will take action on the hiring of Bryn Mawr lawyer Mark D. Schwartz to represent them in the legal action.

"We don't expect the litigation to be lengthy or costly," said Ellis, adding that Schwartz will be paid $200 an hour for his work.

The Barnes museum, which owns more than $2 billion in art including paintings by Matisse, Renoir and Cézanne, is located in Lower Merion on property owned by the late Dr. Albert C. Barnes.

Struggling financially, the Barnes Foundation went to the Montgomery County Court to get the approval it needed to relocate the museum to Philadelphia to make the museum economically viable. Court approval, which was subsequently given after protracted litigation, was necessary because Barnes, in his will, had specifically detailed that the collection should remain in place.

Ellis said he believes that sufficient new evidence has been uncovered by The Friends of the Barnes Foundation, a citizens' group opposed to the move, to warrant the reopening of the case.

Schwartz has been working with the Friends group in the developing of this new evidence and the county will not have to pay for any of the research he will use in petitioning that the case be reopened, said Ellis.

Ellis said the county also is working on several financial angles that could block the move.