Letter: Property Rights Alliance meets Thursday

The buzz around the area is all about the new Property Rights Alliance (PRA).  It’s a recently formed anti-Mid States Corridor group comprised of farmers, land owners, business owners and concerned residents of Dubois, Martin and Daviess counties. This Thursday, December 5, 2024 they are hosting a meeting open to the public. Complete details can be found in area papers and on Stop the Mid-States Corridor Facebook page. I encourage all who are opposed to the Mid States Corridor to attend this meeting.

Tom Bartelt, a Huntingburg farmer, has commented extensively about the fraud being presented as facts by INDOT and the Loch-Mueller Lobby, regarding the justifications for the Mid States Corridor in the Tier 1 and now the Tier 2 studies. His comments have appeared in the Dubois County Free Press and on the Stop the Mid States Corridor Facebook page.

He has debunked the FAQ’s that the Loch-Mueller Lobby posted on their Mid States Corridor Facebook page. These FAQ’s are on the November 25, 2024 postings. Pseudo-facts from the Tier 1 justifications such as safety, congestion and accidents have all been debunked by Mr. Bartelt.

The Mid States Corridor is an unneeded new terrain highway that will drastically impact Martin, Dubois and Daviess counties; and the impact will be negative. On November 19, 2024, the Loch-Mueller Lobby posted a link to a survey. Your comments are being solicited and I encourage all of you to respond. Go to the link on the Mid States Corridor page and reply. Your comments count and will make a difference. The Mid States Corridor is not a done deal and we can stop it. If you think your comments will be ignored, I can assure they will not. The PRA is gathering all comments to use in it’s presentations opposing the Corridor.

Here’s something to consider, if all the issues of safety, congestion and reduction of accidents were true and could be alleviated by removing truck traffic from US 231, then why haven’t Mike Braun and Hank Menke changed their hours of operations? If all of their trucks were running at night then the daytime volume of traffic would be reduced significantly.

Maybe the reason they haven’t made this simple change is because it’s not about the traffic. Maybe it’s about the money the Cabal is going to make on the construction of a new terrain highway. If it’s not about the money on a new terrain highway, then why hasn’t the Cabal pushed the construction of making the current US 231 a Super 2 highway. Remember, the current US 231 could easily and for a lot less money be converted to a Super 2 highway. There would be no need for a survey, no need for the Loch-Mueller Lobby, no need for proposals to by-pass Huntingburg, Jasper or Loogootee.

Let’s support the Property Rights Alliance and stop the Mid-States Corridor. Keep saying no, keep attending public meetings regarding the Corridor, and keep telling our Councilmen and Commissioners that we don’t want it. We can and we will stop the Corridor.

Jim Arvin
Rutherford  Township
Martin County