Letter: Mid-States Corridor destroys irreplaceable farmland

In 1851, about the same time that Millard Fillmore was being sworn in as the 13th President of the United States, John Frederick Closterman bought 80 acres of farmland from Herman Henry Ruetepohler. Six months later, he purchased the 40-acre farm on the next hill to the west from Frederick Wismann. Two years later, he purchased the 40 acres of swampland in between the two hills from the State of Indiana with the provision that he drain and reclaim the swamp. He and his wife raised four children and lost one child on the farm. For 174 years, it has continued to be my family’s home.

Through generations of hard work, this farm has become some of the best land in southern Dubois County. Not only is it a farm that grows acres of crops every year, it has hardwood forests, ponds rich with fish, and an abundance of wildlife.

Now, some wealthy businessmen and their political allies have decided that they have a right to pave over this history so their trucks can save a little time traveling through Dubois County. They look at a map and see land that is available for their taking, not land that is being used to feed America. They feel that their money and power give them the right to destroy the lives, hopes and dreams of our family and many others.

Some supporters of the road argue that we can just buy more land and move on. Anyone who argues this does not know farming. Every productive acre of farmland in Dubois County is being utilized, with the farmers desperately trying to find more land to add in order to survive in a business where the producer has no control over the rapidly inflating price of supplies or the wildly fluctuating prices they get for what they grow. Any good farmland that comes up for sale in this area is quickly sold, often to developers who take it out of production. We don’t need a new terrain road destroying close to 2,000 acres of irreplaceable farmland.

The Stop the Mid-States Corridor Project and the Property Rights Alliance are working hard to protect the rights of farmers, homeowners, and businesses that the Mid-States Corridor Project is trying to trample. Please join us in this fight to stop this unwanted and unneeded road that will cost billions of your tax dollars, increase your property taxes to replace the revenue lost from the confiscated property, make it more difficult to travel within the county, and potentially cause significant delays in response to emergencies. By working together, it can be done.

Thomas Bartelt
Huntingburg