Hmmpfff, hrunggink, umpfh. Excuse me while I drag my soapbox over closer to my keyboard. I admit it. I’m one of those pansy consensus freaks. Sure I have personal convictions that I don’t waver from, but usually when it comes to public policy, I sense that often reality lies somewhere between opposing factions’ agendas. These agendas too often cloud judgment and create rhetoric that may be enhanced to support a particular position. Often personalities get in the way and arguments turn into ad hominem attacks.

I was recently given a tour of the north shore of Fontana Lake by people who had a lot of knowledge and strong familial ties to the Swain County communities uprooted by the flooding of the reservoir and associated expansion of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I learned a lot about the history of the area, the history of the 1943 north shore road agreement, and about the grievances many Swain County residents have with the Park Service.

Not long after that I was talking with an environmental advocate and I mentioned “The Road to Nowhere.” Fireworks were immediate. I didn’t even get the chance to relate any of what I had learned on my north shore sojourn.

I was informed that anyone supporting a north shore road had absolutely no regard for the environment (not so), and that it was an issue of the greater good (whose?), and that the only reason Helms and Taylor appropriated money for the project was to buy votes. (It couldn’t have been they were responding to constituents.)

There was probably some merit in all facets of the above arguments, but they were stated as inviolate truths.

Proponents of a north shore road can be just as rigid. The road was promised. It was, but that was 58 years ago. Are there other possible solutions today? Swain County had to pay for the flooded N.C. 288. TVA donated $400,000 in 1943 to the state of North Carolina to pay for that road.

Actions — whether intentional or accidental — can create ill will. GSMNP staff annually join with Cataloochee Valley descendants for celebrations at Palmer’s Chapel. For over 20 years, north shore descendants have gathered at Deep Creek for the same type of memorial and never have GSMNP staff attended.

The Park Service quit construction on the north shore road in 1971 after encountering acidic anakeesta rock that creates environmental damage. That was 1971, this is 2001. Roads have been built through anakeesta rock in Western North Carolina, so surely someone knows what it costs. The Park Service estimates $150 million dollars to complete the project. Road advocates say existing roadbeds along the north shore could be utilized, greatly diminishing costs. Couldn’t this be determined?

When divisive issues like this are broached, the public would be much better served through honest investigation and dialog than agendas and rhetoric. There are too many important honest issues — what is the best way to balance care for the environment with a community’s link to its past? How do you resolve a 58-year-old legal battle in the best interest of all stakeholders?

What’s the best way to resolve these types of arguments? Through steadfast adherence to personal and/or political agendas or by weighing arguments according to their merit and striving for consensus?

(Don Hendershot can be reached at don@smokymountainnews.com)

 

Back to Top
The Smoky Mountain News