Days after the federal government announced it would seize private land for a Flight 93 memorial, two board members have resigned in protest.

Pamela Tokar-Ickes, a Somerset County commissioner and Gregory Walker, a Stonycreek Township supervisor resigned form the Flight 93 Memorial Advisory Board.

Tokar-Ickes said, "I do not support the Department of the Interior's imminent action to condemn the property, therefore I feel it would be impossible for me to continue to serve in this official capacity."

Walker resigned for the same reason. He said in his resignation letter, "Although even despite the controversy, the mood of the people is that a memorial must still be built, but the argument is how it is evolving."

A representative from the National Park Service said they were saddened by the loss of Tokar-Ikes and Walker to the board, and extremely value their partnership.

Park Service officials said last week they will begin seizing land for the Flight 93 memorial in Somerset County from private property owners because negotiations have been unsuccessful.

The service said it will condemn about 500 acres still needed for the memorial to be built in time for the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Park Service representatives said they have been working with landowners for years, but negotiations have not been successful.

Park Service officials said, even with homeowners willing to sell, title questions and other claims can arise that could delay the project. The Park Service will need about 1,500 acres to construct the memorial, and about one-third of that land will come from the landowners.

Flight 93 was traveling from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco when it was diverted by hijackers with the likely goal of crashing it into the White House or Capitol. The official 9/11 Commission report said the hijackers crashed the plane into a Pennsylvania field as passengers tried to wrest control of the cockpit.

Construction on the memorial is set to begin by the end of the year.

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