By Pete Ciancone

Tribune-Star

Bloomington responded overwhelmingly and often loudly Tuesday evening to the Indiana Department of Transportation study about the proposed Interstate 69.

About 500 people from the city and surrounding counties filed into Bloomington North High School to make their point very clear to INDOT: we don't want it.

"The core goals that INDOT has established [for this study] are not our goals," said Richard Martin of Bloomington. Speaker after speaker emphasized that cost, farmland, forests and water were far more important than travel time between Indianapolis and Evansville.

Most said they would accept the improvement of U.S. 41/Interstate 70 as the best alternative while others said Indiana didn't need a new highway at all.

Hecklers and protesters frequently disrupted the meeting, including an incident during which Indiana University vice president Kirk White was escorted from the auditorium by Monroe County Sheriff's Deputies after hecklers, angered by his comments, surrounded him.

The comments were made during the second of three public meetings INDOT scheduled after the release of its draft environmental impact statement July 30. In that statement, U.S. 41/I-70 was listed as "non-preferred" despite it being the least expensive and least damaging route to the environment.

The third meeting is scheduled tonight in Evansville, where INDOT is expected to receive a more receptive audience.

Extra security was provided for the Bloomington meeting and bags were checked as people entered the auditorium. INDOT officials said the checks were necessary to keep signs out of the auditorium.

Hecklers frequently interrupted Mike Grovak, the project manager for the study's consultant, Bernardin, Lochmueller and Associates. When he finished a brief review of each of the 12 routes carried forward in the study, verbal jabs flew in abundance from the throng assembled.

"What about the no-build?" someone yelled.

"Where's your house?" yelled another.

Some of the public comments promised further action to keep the highway from coming through Bloomington.

Mary Brennan Miller of Bloomington promised to sit down in front of earth movers if they tried to work, a vow that brought a sustained round of applause. She said nothing about INDOT's study justified the mess I-69 would make of the natural beauty of southwestern Indiana.

"You can put lipstick on a gorilla, but it is still a gorilla. Ladies and gentlemen, I-69 is a gorilla," she said.

One speaker, Sarah Clevenger of Bloomington, made reference to the problems the Bloomington area has suffered with vandalism in logging and subdivision development. She questioned the safety of area road construction crews with the possibility of such acts, committed in the name of protecting the environment and referred to by some as "ecoterrorism."

Others saw I-69 more personally.

"[INDOT has] not considered our quality of life," said Chris Schleicher of Owen County.

Brian Garvey of southern Monroe County said he saw many people who live near his home at the meeting, which reaffirmed for him the sense of neighborhood he enjoys from living in the country.

"This study ignores that," he said.

The few individuals among the estimated 75 who spoke in favor of the route coming through Bloomington received murmurs of disapproval or were heckled by the crowd.

Dave Schulte of Greene County said the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center needed the highway to remain competitive, as many military installations are being closed.

Nathan Hadley, representing Bloomington Mayor John Fernandez, said the city needed the highway to continue to develop economically.

"The positive impacts of an interstate near Bloomington far outweigh the negatives." Hecklers responded to the comment.

White, vice president for community relations at IU, said he thought a route through Bloomington would be good for the university, a comment that caused several protesters to block his exit. White was escorted from the auditorium by sheriff's deputies.

INDOT Commissioner J. Bryan Nicol has said no one factor will determine the final decision and that INDOT will make its decision based on the state's transportation need, not a popularity contest.

The public comment period for the draft environmental impact statement ends Nov. 7, Nicol said, after which INDOT will publish a final statement that will include its preferred route, before the end of this year.

For those who cannot attend tonight's meeting in Evansville, INDOT invites comment through its 24-hour project hotline: 1-877-463-9386, or via e-mail on its Web site at www.i69indyevn.org.

Comments also can be mailed to: Mike Grovak, program manager, Bernardin, Lochmueller and Associates, 6200 Vogel Road, Evansville, IN 47715.

Copyright 2002 Tribune Star