Letter: Election doesn’t stop Mid-States Corridor fight

To the Editor,

The elections are over, for awhile, Let’s take this respite to take stock, organize and strengthen our opposition to the Mid States Corridor. Where are we, today, now that the election season is over? We didn’t win the Governor’s mansion, we did not defeat Shane Lindauer nor did we get a change to our county officials. Sounds like a lot of losses; hut, fear not, what we did not lose was our resolve to stop the Mid States Corridor.

Organization is now more crucial than ever. The “Stop-the Mid-States Corridor” alliance has done and continues to do a good job at the local level. The Corridor is going to significantly impact Martin and Daviess Counties as well. We must not ignore the negative impacts in Daviess County as it will effect an entire community and way of life for our Amish neighbors. I know the Tier 2 study “only” impacts Dubois County; but, very soon INDOT will launch the Tier 4 and 5 studies which will “only” impact Martin and Daviess County. Now is the time to gather more support and plan how we will stop these upcoming studies and the entire project.

We are at the point where our opposition needs a funded citizen based Community Action Committee. We need a CAC that will be highly active at the city and county government level. A committee that will attend all city and county Council and Commissioner’s meetings. Advocate to press these various councils to enact/adopt proclamations of opposition to the Mid States Corridor. The Link 101 Corridor Project was defeated by just these type of actions.

Do not be discouraged by the elections, they are not the end of the world. Rome was not built in day, nor did it fall in a day. We can find support and resolve in the first two paragraphs of our Declaration of Independence and in the preamble to our Constitution. These documents express in simple, direct and concise terms what we the people demand from our elected officials. Things like “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”, “that all Men are created equal” and that governments “derive their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed”.

Recently here in Southwest Indiana the governments have been governing without the consent of the governed. It is our right, no, it’s our duty, to stand up to these usurpation’s of our right to be governed with our consent. When the people we elect ignore the voice of the people, then they are no longer governing with our consent.

Now is the time to continue our just fight. Keep saying “:NO”. Continue to ban the Lochmueller Group employees and the Surveyors from trespassing on our lands. No one is allowed onto our lands, for any reason, without our consent. Keep talking in opposition to the Corridor. Remember, this was just one election and we have not lost anything.

Jim Arvin
Rutherford Township
Martin County