John Hightower wrote:

Firstly, I'm totally ignorant of the "road to nowhere" and the GSMNP,
and I have no earthly idea of the damage a road or road building
could do to the area. But, after reading all of the posts made on
the subject, the thing I wonder about is the initial formation of the
GSMNP. If the lands were taken/eminent domained/whatever from the
folks of the area, albeit a bunch of years ago, then didn't the big
guvment of the time just tramp all over the residents of the area-
and don't we all owe them what was originally promised, in fact
shouldn't the guvment be forced by a court of law to comply with the
original terms of the creation of the park? I understand that it is a
National Park that belongs to "ALL Americans", but it belonged to a
pretty specific set of residents before it was a park, and it sounds
to me like it wasn't exactly a voluntary kind of thing for the
residents of the area that were displaced. Did they adequate
(whatever that is) representation? compensation? Or maybe it's ok to
just let it slide after a few decades when everyone dies/forgets the
whole damn thing? Trust us we know what's good for you.

John, there is an article in today's Times that gives a
pretty good "in a nutshell" account of the controversy.
One thing I didn't know is that Charles Taylor is the
chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that
controls the National Park Service budget. That would
explain the Park Service's neutral stance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/na...1parkroad.html

--
Ken Fortenberry