DANG! They done caught us plottin’ to overthrow the peaceful State of Atlanta Suburbia with our forces of motorized terrorists. Here we’ve kept it a secret for more than 30 years, but now all know: The proposed U.S. 411 Connector to I-75 in Bartow County, long No. 1 on the highway wish list for Rome, is part of the so-called conspiracy to build the Northern Arc.
Who let these looney tunes — one of them a candidate for governor — out of the nuthouse?
Being in the business of trying to keep the public informed with the truth, we know that things in the news are often not what they seem, including ridiculous charges. For those aware that this nation increasingly appears overrun with paranoid conspiracy theorists to whom everything is a lie except what they want to believe, this latest invention really won’t come as a surprise.
Frankly, this claim is so ludicrous as to not deserve a response. Indeed, it’s sort of typical of the wingnuts (of right or left persuasion) who specialize in the old trick of asking: “Have you stopped beating your wife?” Whether one answers “yes” or “no” it’s an admission of wife beating.
THE CONNECTOR was, of course, an approved and mapped out route before the Northern Arc, and the Outer Perimeter earlier, came up for discussion and before any politician chocking on Atlanta’s traffic fumes thought of such things. Nonetheless — true confessions — this newspaper has always argued that the Northern Arc, and indeed the entire Outer Perimeter, could save Atlanta from itself. Perhaps nothing can save the metro from its self-serving, not-in-my-back-yard suburbanites, but a bit of concrete action might work better than a lot of silly blather.
Of course, and unsaid, is the inescapable fact that this state is flat broke and its road funding made up of wishes, not dollars. The connector, as it is now a top-priority federal objective, can be built. A Northern Arc? Even if it had not already been off the table for some years, nobody’s got poker chips to toss into that pot.
This is a classic case of conspiracy theorists imagining something, which is what they do best.
This latest uproar began with the Northern Arc Task Force spending a wad of money to invent bogeymen in half-page ads in this and several other newspapers. Thanks, by the way, for again proving that for something to be taken seriously it has to be in print, not simply tossed up on the Internet or airwaves for free.
Also note that the group’s name is typical of the breed. Sounds like it is dedicated to create a Northern Arc, doesn’t it? The meaning for years has been the exact opposite. It is the Anti Northern Arc Task Force. “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when at first we practice to deceive.”
SEVERAL commentators have speculated that the Rollins family in Cartersville is involved. Actually, they typically spend their biggest bucks on lawyers, being the ones who originally blocked the connector because it would run through their farm ... er, ranch ... er, palatial estate. However, the current route like the first one would indeed require the state taking some of their acreage. Can’t blame them for wanting to save the old family homestead; most of us would do the same. Most of us would lose. More likely, this time, it’s a case of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
As for Karen Handel, the former secretary of state running for governor as the clear favorite of Gov. Sonny Perdue and almost nobody else, when she jumped in to support the “connector is evil” forces it was like the wicked witch warning Dorothy must be surrendered in order for Oz/Rome to survive. Remember, when in charge of elections she’s the one who saw a vote-stealing conspiracy everywhere. Heck, the fact that Democrats were still pulling some votes proved that!
Now we’ve got laws that assume all Georgians are illegal immigrants bent on putting Pancho Villa into power until they can prove otherwise. Her paranoia appears to be a core trait.
As the heat in the kitchen grew she quickly clarified that she was all for the U.S. 411 Connector to Rome — and all against the current route chosen after months of public hearings at which she was silent, all against any Northern Arc as well as how the DOT does things.
NONETHELESS, her late interest in the topic even caused U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey’s jaw to drop as he forgot his belief in the old Ronald Reagan dictum: Never speak ill of another Republican.
“I’m just so surprised,” he said, “that a candidate for governor would weigh in so strongly for something with such a sparsity of knowledge of the history of the project and its importance to the people of Bartow and Floyd County. I can’t imagine where this is coming from. This has nothing to do with the Northern Arc. They vetted this to a fare-thee-well. (Handel) is way off-base on this, and I’m disappointed because it’s hurtful to my congressional district.”
Mrs. Handel is pulling a massive 19 percent in the last poll on the Republican side of the gubernatorial contest and her war chest of contributions is anemic as well. Clearly, her handlers — the same as Perdue’s handlers in 2002 — have decided to try some last-ditch strategies to rebuild his winning combination, part of which featured the Northern Arc foes (and some Rollins money ... which it turns out Mrs. Handel is now getting).
The Northern Arc was actually dead before Perdue ever was elected and so, after he assumed the throne, was pretty much everything else his alliance was built upon. He promised a vote on the state flag, then reneged. He vowed to kill the idea of merit pay for teachers, the very thing he now advocates to the exclusion of any other basis of paying educators. He was a smaller government guy who built a bigger government. He showed himself to be a member of the Christian right mostly by praying for rain. He’s still sure, to this very day, that going fishing is the way to make the state prosperous. And so forth, ad infinitum.
FOR SOME “connect-the-dots” doodlers to now come up with the U.S. 411 Connector as the key link in a plot to build a superhighway with money that doesn’t even exist may, for a while, keep them from seeing UFOs.
That’s not to say a good conspiracy isn’t needed, as this clearly shows. It’s time for citizens and voters to start plotting to return sanity and common sense to state leadership and politics.
Anybody care to join us?
www.coalitionfortherightroad.org
“Looney tunes” and “nuthouse”: The state is approximately $1.3 billion in the hole and this paper is endorsing GDOT to build the most expensive, longer, environmentally destructive, etc. option? That sounds looney to me, so check yourself back into the nuthouse.
“Imagining something”: Nobody is imagining anything, its fact – about their preferred route. Comically, during those several GDOT meetings that y’all so candidly remember, there were other routes that were quicker, cheaper, required less condemnation, less environmental impact to threatened/endangered species and to watersheds, didn’t require leveling a mountain in several spots (am sure that’s cheap – and what’s the “ACTUAL” cost there?) and so on.
“Connector is evil” and “heat in the kitchen”: Continuing with your theme of imagination, did you all imagine this quote or something because in the Duluth Weekly her original statement (which I bet someone there received) read something like, “The 411 Connector must be completed as expeditiously as possible, and at the same time, it must be done in the most cost-effective manner available," said Handel. “Pursuing a route through a mountain opens up the state to significant legal challenges that will only delay this much-needed project. And, selecting a route that clearly will be the most costly - when other options are available - is irresponsible when our state is facing a budget crisis.” That’s hardly backtracking because of the “heat”. And P.S., I’m backing Scott.
“Connect-the-dots doodlers”: Just maybe, in Doodlerville (err Floyd or Bartow) there is something more going on here… This route, as reported, was originally rebuffed in court back in the early 90s (conceived in the 80s). Then, GDOT and “its engineers” identified several alternate routes (that were cheaper, shorter in distance, could be built quicker, less environmental impact, etc.) and yet magically they came back to this route time (Northern Arc) and time (411 Connector) again. So, ONE WOULD HAVE TO THINK, that someone stands to gain a substantial monetary windfall from Route D – from real estate, etc.? It’s only logical, given GDOT’s repeated attempts and little variation of the route’s path over the past 20 years. Would be nice if someone tried to connect-the-dots there!? David Doss, GDOT, is a real estate guy of 30 years. Maybe he could offer some “input” to the media.
Bottom line, Rome and all in between need the road NOW. However, if one connects the dots, I think it’s irresponsible to build a road that will be tied up in court for the next several years when there are other alternatives. The routes and studies are there, use them and get it done. Instead, GDOT is pursuing this reoccurring mythical route that stands to substantially benefit a select few - that’s privy to the inner circle. And, it’s naive to think otherwise. If they were SO serious about building this road, it would have been done many years ago – via another route.