Vernon Holt
Gone But Not Forgotten
The terms take on new meaning to citizens of the Cartecay Community in Gilmer County, of which I happened to be one.
The flood waters associated with the hurricane of 2004 (forgot the name) severely damaged the underpinnings of the Holt Bridge (so named for my Grandfather). This bridge spans the Cartecay River, and serves as a vital link for many in the eastern part of Gilmer.
The State Hwy. Dept. condemned and closed the structure. FEMA inspected the bridge and committed themselves to pay for rebuilding the bridge. The Hwy. Dept. designed a new bridge, and prepared an Environmental Impact Statement. The bridge plan and Statement was then passed to the Ga. EPA.
The plot then thickens. The EPA remembers that the Cartecay River is the home of the venerated Snail Darter. The whole proposal is then put on hold until the matter is "studied and evaluated" carefully.
Studying and evaluating can be defined in EPA terms as placing the matter in a cold file and leave it there for a year or so, just to see if the folks of Gilmer really need a bridge. This is not the first bridge to be "studied and evaluated" that crosses the Cartecay. The matter has been studied to death.
Two weeks ago, while serving on a Grand Jury, I requested that the District Attorney bring the chief governing official of the County before the Grand Jury to be interviewed. The response was almost immediate. I asked the Commissioner why the citizens of Eastern Gilmer County had seen no movement on the Holt Bridge after fourteen months. He states that The EPA has it in their hands and are just "holding it up".
I asked the gentleman, and he is a gentleman, to call the EPA and inform them that he is feeling heat regarding the delay in the bridge work. He reported back to the Grand Jury next morning, stating that the EPA had this very day approved the bridge plans, and that construction can get underway very soon (whatever that means).
My point in all this is to point out the folly of such matters. They never totally reject such a project. Their tactic is to delay. The Cartecay probably has fifty miles of tributaries that contain the Snail Darter. Yet their bureaucracy holds up a badly needed project which will require the temporary use of a strip only 50 feet wide. Nonesense.
Matters such as this have political overtones. Democrtats and the liberal press, and the rest of the hate Bush crowd, have strongly condemned Republicans for their "softness toward environmental matters". Until such time as some sanity is applied to environmental matters, my hope is that Republicans will run on a plank of getting serious about the environment and remove all aspects which defy logic.
My editorial for the year.
Vernon
The flood waters associated with the hurricane of 2004 (forgot the name) severely damaged the underpinnings of the Holt Bridge (so named for my Grandfather). This bridge spans the Cartecay River, and serves as a vital link for many in the eastern part of Gilmer.
The State Hwy. Dept. condemned and closed the structure. FEMA inspected the bridge and committed themselves to pay for rebuilding the bridge. The Hwy. Dept. designed a new bridge, and prepared an Environmental Impact Statement. The bridge plan and Statement was then passed to the Ga. EPA.
The plot then thickens. The EPA remembers that the Cartecay River is the home of the venerated Snail Darter. The whole proposal is then put on hold until the matter is "studied and evaluated" carefully.
Studying and evaluating can be defined in EPA terms as placing the matter in a cold file and leave it there for a year or so, just to see if the folks of Gilmer really need a bridge. This is not the first bridge to be "studied and evaluated" that crosses the Cartecay. The matter has been studied to death.
Two weeks ago, while serving on a Grand Jury, I requested that the District Attorney bring the chief governing official of the County before the Grand Jury to be interviewed. The response was almost immediate. I asked the Commissioner why the citizens of Eastern Gilmer County had seen no movement on the Holt Bridge after fourteen months. He states that The EPA has it in their hands and are just "holding it up".
I asked the gentleman, and he is a gentleman, to call the EPA and inform them that he is feeling heat regarding the delay in the bridge work. He reported back to the Grand Jury next morning, stating that the EPA had this very day approved the bridge plans, and that construction can get underway very soon (whatever that means).
My point in all this is to point out the folly of such matters. They never totally reject such a project. Their tactic is to delay. The Cartecay probably has fifty miles of tributaries that contain the Snail Darter. Yet their bureaucracy holds up a badly needed project which will require the temporary use of a strip only 50 feet wide. Nonesense.
Matters such as this have political overtones. Democrtats and the liberal press, and the rest of the hate Bush crowd, have strongly condemned Republicans for their "softness toward environmental matters". Until such time as some sanity is applied to environmental matters, my hope is that Republicans will run on a plank of getting serious about the environment and remove all aspects which defy logic.
My editorial for the year.
Vernon
