Ernie, this was a very well written piece.
I have exchanged several e-mails with the gentleman that first posted under this subject. He was reacting to how I appeared in the newspaper articles and after I explained what I had said that wasn't quoted in the paper, he saw things much differently. I hope to meet him personally at the meeting in Lake County on Wednesday.
My experience with other Yahoo Groups has shown that internet arguments are really non-productive and can cause great harm. I hope you all will see why I handled this the way I did. I do not want to censor in any way what's said on the list, but I do want to keep things focused.
The gist of what I said at the press conference was that while concern for our home and land was what fired us up in the first place, further research showed that there were far reaching impacts from a public works project like the Illiana Toll Road, and that it was a mistake to look solely at the project and not take a wider view of planning for the NWI area. What I said about the boarded up buildings and closed businesses in Hammond and Gary was absolutely my true feelings. We cannot continue to turn green fields to brown fields, and just because we want to protect the green fields, doesn't mean we can't care about the brown fields.
It's really difficult to boil these thoughts down to the "quotes" the media wants to print, and in this case, apparently I wasn't successful. That won't stop me from continuing to try.
Dave
Jim Woessner <jimwoe@...> wrote:
Ernie Jones for Governor
--- ernie jones <epj69@hotmail.com > wrote:
>
> I am far from where all the activity is, but I
> still have
> concerns. Suppose it is losing their property,
>
> 1. will they be offered fair market value for their
> property
> 2 will they be able to purchase property of equal
> value.
> 3. Is it okay to evict a family, forcing them to
> move away from
> friends, schools, churches, work
> 4. Is it okay to the people who might not leave
> their homes, but the
> road is thirty feet from their
> house,
>
> depreciating their property just when there is
> a soaring demand
> for ethanol boosting farmland more
> than 15% in the last year.
> 5. Is the appraiser local who knows the value of
> property in the area
> 6. If they can't settle, can they afford to fight
> the state, the
> county, and probably the federal in courts and
> be fair to all concerned
>
> The list can go on and on, this is just to name
> a few. The main
> concern is the lack of funding the counties once
> received. Since
> major roads was brought to the surface, speaking for
> my area, Henry
> County has had an increase in property tax, a wheel
> tax has been
> imposed. Our water bill has doubled. Our roads are
> a shamble, some
> resurfaced with dusty gravel. Crime has increased
> tenfold. Two
> schools are looking at layoffs. Meanwhile, there is
> billions drawing
> huge interest for roads that haven't been proven
> that is really
> necessary. Roads that tax payers will pay for and
> pay again if they
> want to use their own roads. Some foreign company
> will operate the
> roads, money leaving the state where once it was
> revenue. The toll
> road seemed to operate just fine until your man
> Mitch became
> governor. Removing thousands of acres that will no
> longer be taxed
> adding more tax increases in the near future.
>
> A lot of existing roads could be widened and
> repaired, instead
> of chopping away at farmland that is so desperately
> needed. A lot
> of farmers have decided to plant all the corn they
> can for ethanol.
> The farmland they want to bury with concrete and
> asphalt might be the
> very farms that grow food for your kitchen table
> instead of corn.
> Idiots out there are saying, "we've got to look
> toward to the
> future". Without the farms growing food, there
> might not be much of
> a future, don't you think? I suppose you could buy
> wheat from China
> that was tainted with poison that our farmers do not
> use. You are
> smart enough to know that is the reason for the
> recall of dog and
> cat food that was killing our furry pets? Who
> knows, it might have
> been purchased for human consumption. Hoosier
> farmers have never had
> a crop of any kind that had to be recalled.
> Hoosier farmers are the
> best, the pros, and Mitch wants to take some of that
> away from us?
>
> I really feel for the people that might lose
> their property.
> It's not a good feeling to think you own something
> and find out that
> it takes a greedy mind to take it away from you.
> If they are lucky,
> they might find a place close enough to keep their
> children in the
> same schools, but wherever they relocate, IT WILL
> NEVER FEEL LIKE
> HOME. While these people are fighting for
> something they believe
> in, you sit back and ridicule their efforts. And
> you think they look
> foolish?
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
> (Yahoo! ID required)
>
>
mailto:noillianatollroad-fullfeatured@ yahoogroups. com
>
>
>
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