Lorton meteorite should be 'the people's rock'

As one of the many local residents who saw the Lorton meteorite fall to Earth on Jan. 18, I was disappointed to read that the landlords of the office building it struck are taking steps to prevent it from being donated to the Smithsonian ["The sound a crashing meteorite makes? Ka-ching!," front page, Jan. 29].

I was sitting on my patio that Monday evening, watching the moon, when I became aware of a bright light above me and looked up to see a huge fireball hurtling south, by far the brightest "shooting star" I had ever seen. It left a trail of smoke, like the contrail of a plane, that lingered in the sky for five to 10 minutes. I called my wife and 7-year-old son out of the house to see the smoke trail and described what had made it. Although they had missed the brief event, I was happy to know that I could at least take my son to the Smithsonian and show him a piece of what I had seen.

The landlords' plans for the meteorite, however, may keep it from the Smithsonian and from public view. Even though the landlords may have a legal right to dispose of the Lorton meteorite, I agree with the quote in The Post's article that it is "the people's rock."

John Davison, Vienna