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Demolition for NAFTA Superhighway Begins

John Blair
Valley Watch
March 11, 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNZ99VttE8s

First, it should be noted that Valley Watch has had the same position on I-69 and all other transport routes since the middle of the 1980s. We believe and support the proposition that ALL new transportation rights of way should be built using existing “corridors.”

Tom Tokarski, a long time I-69 activist with Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads (CARR) went to the starting point of the new terrain route for I-69 yesterday, March 10 to visually record the initial destruction of land and homes the new highway will cause.

When he got there, camera in hand, at a location about two miles north of Interstate 64, just west of Indiana Hwy. 57 on Indiana Hwy 68, he was confronted by an Indiana State Trooper.

According to a release issued today by Tokarski’s group, “Tokarski went to the site to photograph the homes scheduled for demolition and was accosted by State Police. He was thoroughly interrogated, and his person and car were searched. This was for a perfectly legal activity, photographing homes while he was standing on a public roadway.”

This violation of Tokarski’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure cut me the wrong way since I have previously be subject to similar abuses by police in the area..

This afternoon, I got a call from my friend Jeff Stant asking me if I would go to the site this afternoon to see if I could get some video of what was taking place.

Asking a friend who works as an AP stringer to accompany me, since I did not know what to expect, we ventured to the site. The Video below is what we saw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X38vIxD6Q4

We did have a chance to speak tone of the workers about the scope of their project.

Obviously, they are really cutting down some trees all along Hwy. 68. The worker told us that they were mainly interested in the trees and they had to be cut at this time since the endangered Indiana Bat would be migrating to the area soon and possibly using the trees for nesting. If the trees were no longer there, the tiny mammal would find alternative locations and thus would not have their mating and nesting disturbed.

The worker went further and told us that they only had a contract to demolish two of the several homes where trees were being cut.

Otherwise, most of the area was going to be left as is, for the moment.

I-69 just in Indiana will cost ore than $4 billion according to CARR.

$700 million has been appropriated in Indiana to build the first section of the highway that originally was slated to build the highway from Evansville to Crane. But like power plants, the cost of highway construction has gone through the roof and street speculation is that the $700 million may only build as little as to an area between Washington and Petersburg.

Opposition to the highway continues to mount, not only in Indiana but also all along the route of the so called NAFTA highway. Opponents are really getting vociferous in Texas where citizens are up in arms over the road and the taking of farms and ranches that have existed since the middle 19th Century.

Marci Kaptur North American Union Cintra

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DAs7XZVgKhI