Letter: A letter to our local and state politicians

The proposed Mid-States Corridor is a very controversial issue throughout Dubois, Martin, and Daviess Counties. It doesn’t matter if you are an elected local official, state legislator, political candidate, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or Independent; it is your responsibility to educate yourself on this proposed massive project before determining your position. You have an obligation to hear and get input from all constituents and not just from a small circle of your allies, business leaders, and your own political party, but from the entire community. Yes, for something as important as this, a project that will affect the lives of the entire community, a project that will cost billions and add extra burden on us taxpayers and local government, you need to do the hard work, dig into the data that is in the published studies, seek the facts, and ask questions. You need to determine what is fact and what is fiction. 

Recently, a few people have tried to make a simple comparison to the Patoka Lake project several decades ago. And while that destroyed many lives, you cannot compare the two as the same type of project. Some people still want to believe there is a safety and congestion issue through U.S. 231. There is none, and the data proves it. Some people are okay with destroying other people’s lives so they can save a few minutes to their destination. After all, it is not their property being taken. Some people want to make the case that it is the only path for economic growth and future survival. This “build it and they will come” mentality is an easy thing to state, with no proven factual data to support it. In fact, studies have concluded highways like the one proposed have a negative impact on small and medium size communities.

Finally, I am tired of hearing from our political leaders in office, both local and state level, that they don’t have a say in the matter, or they don’t have a vote. Quit using that as an excuse, as your scapegoat. If there are thousands of residents in your district or districts that you represent that are opposed to this project, you have an obligation to tell the few people behind this project and INDOT that it is not warranted and not needed.

Mark Nowotarski
Dubois County