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December 21, 2005
Stop I-3 partners with SAFC
December 14, 2005
Stop I-3 Petition Drive Underway
September 7, 2005
Stop I-3 Coalition calls on Congress to redirect
highway money to Gulf reconstruction
August 24, 2005
Mountain residents raise common-sense questions
and concerns about Interstate
August 8, 2005
Norwood goes into "neutral" on I-3 for
constituents in Georgia mountains
August 4, 2005
White County Commissioners Take Strong Stand, Oppose
Interstate 3
July 27, 2005
Federal studies cast doubt on economic benefit of
Interstates
July 26, 2005
Mountain communities organize to fight new interstate
highway
July 9, 2005
Rabun commissioners declare unanimous opposition
to Interstate
July 4, 2005
Rabun residents form Stop I-3 chapter,
Urge large turn-out at board meet Thursday
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For immediate release, August 8, 2005
Norwood goes into "neutral" on I-3 for constituents
in Georgia mountains
DILLARD, Georgia -- Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-9th, today (August
8) took a somewhat neutral stand regarding the proposed Interstate
highway that would cut through north Georgia and Southern
Appalachia on its way from Savannah to Knoxville.
First, he wants to see the results of a federal study of
the proposed Interstate, he told an audience of about 70 area
residents at a public breakfast meeting in Dillard. "So,
I'm not sure if I'm for it or against it at this point,"
he said.
At the same time. Norwood, one of the prime architects of
the push for the so-called Interstate 3, said he would ultimately
"support the majority of people in my district"
regarding this proposed highway.
"I'm telling you the people of this district may be
favoring it," Norwood also said. "Everybody wants
it from Savannah to Augusta. The only place I have to concern
myself is north of Toccoa."
The $1-plus million study, he said, would take some 18 to
24 months to complete, after which he would revisit the issue
and again take the pulse of his district, which stretches
from northeast Georgia to the Augusta area.
Lucy Ezzard Bartlett, a spokeswoman for the Rabun Chapter
of the Stop I-3 Coalition, was not overly pleased with the
congressman's stance.
"The concern is that the congressman is telling us
one thing here in north Georgia today, while the study will
be bent on proving that it should be built," she said
after the meeting. "The study is to be done by the Department
of Transportation. Who is going to protect our environment
from an Interstate through the Southern Appalachians? Who
will protect our air quality and our water quality? These
are major concerns of all people, not just those who live
in the mountains."
About 70 area residents from Rabun County and neighboring
locales attended the breakfast. About 30 of them were recognizably
opposed to the I-3 proposals, judging from the homemade, anti-I-3
name tags they wore. The congressman fielded about 10 questions
on the proposed Interstate, with only one of those, from a
local Republican party official, echoing the GOP party line
about how everyone should wait for the results of the study.
Norwood also attended a meeting in Towns County today, where
he largely echoed the stand taken in Dillard.
"It's disappointing that now we'll have to wait one-to-two
years for a study, which we hope will confirm what we already
know -- that it makes no sense to build an interstate through
these mountains," said Janet McCallen, of Hiawassee,
the I-3 Chair for the Towns County Homeowners Association.
McCallen also asked Norwood how citizens "could have
input into the study."
"The congressman replied: 'You can't,'" McCallen
continued. "But we don't intend to let up on our efforts
to communicate the destructive impact an interstate would
have on our community, our economy, our environment, and our
quality of life."
The proposed Interstate is strongly opposed in Towns County
by the homeowners association, as well as in Habersham, White
and Rabun counties, where local board of commissioners already
have taken strong public stands against running this highway
through the mountains.
The STOP I-3 coalition was organized in response to congressional
I-3 proposals, on grounds that there are numerous economic,
environmental, and safety concerns that urge against running
such a huge highway through mountain communities that neither
want nor need such an Interstate. Locals residents and local
chapters have banded together under the STOP I-3 coalition
from the following locales: Oconee County, S.C.; Stephens,
Habersham, White, Rabun, Towns, Union and Lumpkin counties,
Georgia; Jackson, Macon, Clay, Cherokee and Graham counties,
North Carolina, as well as residents of the Maryville and
Knoxville, Tennessee, areas. In addition, a dozen community
and conservation groups support the Coalition.
Contacts:
Lucy Ezzard Bartlett
hlbartlett@alltel.net
706.782.7262
Janet McCallen
janetmccallen@alltel.net
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