Letter: We can win if we are united!
One hundred and seventy-five years ago, on February 22, 1851, Johann Frederich Closterman purchased 80 acres of land from Herman Henry Reutepohler, who had received the original patent to the land from the United States of America General Land Office signed by President John Tyler on August 1, 1844. Johann and his family built a life on this land and other neighboring land parcels they acquired over the years into a thriving farm that supported them and helped to feed their neighbors in the Dubois County community. Since then, the Klosterman and, through marriage, the Bartelt families have continued that proud agricultural heritage through seven generations.
Today, our family’s legacy is being threatened. A few wealthy businessmen have decided that a large portion of our farm, along with the land of many of our neighbors, should be turned from prime agricultural farmland, helping to feed America, into a paved monstrosity of a four-lane highway so that their trucks can reach their destination a couple of minutes sooner. They claim that this is progress. As the recent poll has shown, Dubois County residents do not want this kind of progress.
The Governor, Mike Braun, has made this road the top priority of the Indiana Department of Transportation, which has canceled hundreds of vital road project throughout the state, yet still has billions of dollars available for this highway that will dissect the county and destroy the lives and dreams of many local families, and cause hardship to many others who find it more difficult to navigate through the county and receive vital emergency services.
The proponents of this road tried to keep this project under the radar until it was too far to stop. The Indiana House Transportation Committee was unaware of this project, even though one of our Dubois County Representatives was on the committee. When the residents of Dubois County asked for help from their elected officials, they generally received the same answer: “There’s nothing I can do.” If that is what you believe, then why are you in office? Representative Carey Hamilton from the Indianapolis area is doing more to help the residents of our county than our own state elected officials. Indianapolis radio talk-show host Rob Kendall did a weeklong exposé on the project, which helped bring it out into the open in the legislature. He was let go by the radio station the next week. Unfortunately for those trying to silence him, he continues to speak out against the project through the internet, which has probably broadened his reach.
We, along with our friends in the Property Rights Alliance, Stop the Mid-States Corridor Project, Mid-States Update, and many other property rights, environmental, and agricultural organizations, will continue to fight this project until we are successful. INDOT has a timeline that projects that this project will start turning earth this summer. They do not have final approval or funding, and they don’t own any of the right-of-way. Almost all the affected landowners have vowed that they will not sell one inch of their property willingly.
It seems that the more we progress, the more desperate the supporters of the road become. When our properties were surveyed, many of us had the opportunity to talk with the people out in the field and find out from the people doing the work what the people who officially speak for the project aren’t telling us. Timelines for some of the fieldwork were moved up several months. Landowners are not allowed to see the results of the surveys of their own properties. All of this after being told in court that INDOT and the Lochmueller Group must communicate with the landowners as required by law. The supporter’s Facebook page, paid for by its big-money supporters, has recently made easily debunked posts trying to make us believe that the facts that opponents of the road have brought out don’t really mean what any reasonably intelligent person thinks they mean.
This is a fight that the citizens of Dubois County can win if we unite in one voice against the Mid-States Corridor. Call, write, or email your government officials, city, county, state, and federal, voicing your opposition. Attend the Property Rights Alliance and contribute to support their efforts. Ask your friends and neighbors throughout the state to do the same. Demand that the political candidates in this year’s elections state their position on the Mid-States Corridor unequivocally and do not vote for any that support it or refuse to state their position. Keep saying NO to this road that will benefit a few at a great cost to many.
Together, we can stop the Mid-States Corridor.
Tom Bartelt
Huntingburg
