Stephen Wright, great-grandnephew of Wilbur and Orville Wright and an Oakwood resident, spoke for the family when he presented its request for a special use permit to the Oakwood City County last week. (With him was his sister Amanda Wright Lane, great-grandniece of the Wright brothers. Council approved the request, overturning the planning commission's decision. Some neighbors strongly oppose the plan, fearing noise and traffic in their quiet, leafy neighborhood.)

Wright's statement largely recounted the events since NCR Corp. returned the home to Wright family ownership last year and the family's efforts to develop a plan for public access that won't disrupt the surrounding neighborhood. He closed by describing what makes the home special not only to the family, but to America:

"Until last year, Amanda and I had only visited Hawthorn Hill but a handful of times in our own lives because of its private ownership. This was a house that the previous three generations of our family had gathered in and enjoyed for 44 years as guests of their famous Uncle Orv. Hawthorn Hill for us represents and tells the story of the private life of Orville Wright, a shy in public, reserved, self taught genious who was half of one of the greatest inventive collaborations in all of human history.

"The Orville Wright my family new and loved privately at his home was a totally different person altogether as was his older brother Wilbur in private. The Orville Wright of Hawthorn Hill was a cordial neighbor. He was generous to his family and community. He was a fascinating and well-rounded conversationalist and irretrievably corrupted as a player of practical jokes. Anyone visiting Hawthorn Hill was fair game. He was a child at heart and as such, adored by our father, uncle, and all the cousins of their generation as well as the one preceding it.

"In short; there was an Orville Wright only a handful of people ever got a glimpse of and we would like to request from you the opportunity to share that side of the man with anyone who cares to visit his home as an interested, respectful guest. We ask that you grant Hawthorn Hill museum status as provided for in the City of Oakwood's articles of zoning under section 601.3.

"We feel it is time to allow the general public to hear this story and visit the home that until now was only possible if you were privileged enough to be an invited guest as was Thomas Edison, Vilhammer Stephanson, Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Carl Sandberg and Charles Lindbergh, to name a few.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again; Hawthorn Hill was a museum, monument and memorial to invention from the day in 1912 when the first brick was laid, like it or not. It has always been the subject of special attention, like it or not, and it has not truly been a private residence since the death of Orville Wright in 1948, like it or not. Amanda and I are here tonight to respectfully convey a final request for the City of Oakwood to accord Hawthorn Hill the status deserving of it's history and significance to not only Oakwood; but to our region as a whole. This is where aviation began and that industry lives on today as a vital part of our economy. It is who we are. We live in the Birthplace of Aviation, like it or not."