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Macon TelegraphPOLITICAL NOTEBOOK:http://www.macon.com/198/story/131393.htmlPosted on Sat, Sep. 08, 2007 |
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In Shakespeare's "Macbeth," the title character is given a dire prophecy from three witches about trees from a local forest marching against him. A few acts later, the trees get up and march, thanks to some help from some clever humans, and Macbeth loses his head to his rival's sword. There weren't any trees at the Bibb County Commission meeting earlier this week, but plenty of people concerned about the destruction of trees - and the neighborhoods they are planted in - did descend en masse on the courthouse to vent their anger about a controversial road project. During a give-and-take that lasted more than an hour and a half, a mix of well-known community activists and concerned residents peppered commissioners with questions and comments about the state Department of Transportation's plans to widen Forest Hill Road. Imploring each of the commissioners "to be the hero," the crowd argued that the project should be redesigned to lessen its impact on local neighborhoods so that it includes the roundabouts some have continually argued in favor of. The crowd also wanted to know how many trees the currently designed project would claim along the road, which is currently shaded by mature foliage. Commissioners said there is no design money left and that they would find out how many trees were scheduled for the ax. Still unsatisfied, the crowd argued the project should be abandoned because it isn't even necessary, given that its original intent was to help traffic flow more easily to Macon Mall, which they claim is losing visitors. At times, the meeting boiled over into threats and accusations, with residents standing and pointing fingers and promising consequences for county officials who didn't cooperate with requests for documents and records or voted in ways they didn't like. Toward the end, Commissioner Joe Allen perked up and asked County Attorney Virgil Adams to see if the county had any wiggle room as far as the project is concerned. Specifically, Allen wanted to know if the county could punt and not do a project it promised when it presented the last special purpose local option sales tax to voters. "If y'all don't want it, then we shouldn't do it," said Allen, who admitted to the crowd that he has voted numerous times in the past decade to help shuffle the project through officialdom. Whether the spectacle and confrontation of Sept. 4 will lead to anything substantive is unclear. After all, plenty of people have been angry about Forest Hill Road before. The
outrage, which is generally voiced by a handful of residents associated
with the Macon Area Transportation Study's citizen's advisory
committee, seems to have little impact on county officials, most of
whom privately dismiss the group of angry folks as being unreasonable
and vindictive. - - - -
Telegraph staff writers Matt Barnwell, Travis Fain and Keich Whicker contributed to this report. |
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