Erin Meyer, Daily Reporter Staff Writer
They came by the scores to stand against the proposed outer loop Tuesday night, and they left with a resolve to block the planned tollway.
More than 75 tollway opponents showed up at the Hancock County Public Library for the first meeting of the Hancock Coalition for Rural Preservation. Motivated by their convictions that the tollway is an ill-fated road that will destroy the rural and tranquil setting of Hancock County, organizers outlined a game plan to foil the outer loop.
"I could not live with myself or sleep at night if I didn't try to stop this," organizer Debbie Borgmann said.
She arranged Tuesday's meeting and plans to follow up by attending Thursday's Greenfield City Council meeting, where the council is expected to consider a resolution in support of the tollway.
Borgmann encouraged people to contact their elected officials.
State Sen. Beverly Gard, R-Greenfield, voted against the tollway in the state senate. The bill, however, cleared the Senate and is now awaiting action in the Indiana House. A spokeswoman for state Rep. Bob Cherry, R-Greenfield, said Friday that he has not decided how he might vote on the bill.
Most opponents said they felt outmuscled by those who stand to profit from the outer loop, but the fledgling group is gaining ground and drawing support from residents who want to take action.
Steve Bonney, a farmer and activist from Lafayette, gave a presentation about quality-of-life consequences that arise in communities affected by similar projects. In addition to the usual suspects -environmental impacts and the loss of farmland through eminent domain - Bonney discussed non-compete clauses that prohibit states from improving roads that might provide alternatives to toll-paying drivers.
Bonney, who also is working with a similar group in Shelby County, challenged assurances from INDOT that the state's contract with a tollway operator from the private sector will not include a non-compete clause.
"It's like Clinton saying he didn't have sex with that woman," he said. "They can call it by another name but it's the same thing in the end."
Preservationist Tom Wolf planted 48,000 trees on County Road 300 North, just west of the route and study area identified by Indiana Department of Transportation maps.
"Instead of just saying no, we have to come up with alternatives," he said.
While others consider alternatives, Borgmann plans to open people's eyes by posting signs along roads that might be cut off by the proposed tollway if overpasses are not constructed.
"It could be your road," Bonney said, approving of Borgmann's plan. "It could be the road you take your children to school on or the road you take to church."
Others agreed with INDOT findings that traffic problems need to be addressed but maintained that the tollway plan is misguided.
John Neeb, who has lived in southern Hancock County on Ind. 9 for 71 years, called Gov. Mitch Daniel's proposed tollway a train wreck.
"State Road 9 runs parallel the tollway route. If there's a non-compete clause we won't be able to bring it up to par," he said. "What in the world is going to happen?"
When the bill comes up for a hearing in the Transportation Committee, Borgmann, Bonney and others from neighboring counties plan to rally at the state capitol in opposition.
Without the public-private partnership authority, dubbed P3, INDOT will discontinue its research.
Borgmann and a handful of residents turned community organizers are tapping into their personal accounts to have signs printed.