<< Back 11/27/02 Swain should seek cash and a modified road SMN Swain County leaders serious about improving the lives of their constituents should convince the federal government that a cash settlement is long overdue as a means of settling the North Shore Road controversy. They should also demand part of the road. If that sounds like someone trying to have their cake and eat it too, well, perhaps it does. But the truth is that a compromise has been sought before and it may truly be the best solution to an issue that has divided this mountain county for decades. A road along the North Shore of Fontana Lake was promised in 1943 by the federal government after it built the massive lake. It would serve a dual purpose of allowing residents forced off their lands to return to old graveyards while also providing economic benefits and a route around the new lake. Of course the road was never built. After many delays, it was started in 1959 and worked on in fits and starts, finally abandoned in 1971 due to environmental concerns. Those same environmental concerns have prompted park officials now to publicly declare their opposition. The route for the road would go through acidic rock, and drilling and blasting through it would pollute the lake. To compensate for breaking their promise, many in Swain have argued for a cash settlement. A group calling itself The Citizens for the Economic Future of Swain County says $40 million would roughly equal the road construction price — plus inflation — at the time it was promised. We suggest double that amount. An $80 million settlement would still not adequately compensate the county for the way it has been treated by the federal government. It would, though, allow the county to provide a wide array of improved services for its citizens, turning its schools and other public services into some of the best in the region. Just as the casino-rich Qualla Boundary has done, Swain would have the opportunity to empower its citizens in ways never before imagined. And some of the road could also be built. Swain Commissioner David Monteith has proposed that five miles of road be built and at its end a small visitors center displaying the history of the communities wiped out by the lake. Perhaps a campground for the many hikers, canoers and anglers that frequent the area. By building and maintaining a short road into the park, and perhaps constructing another campground, park officials could help Swain County without polluting the lake or compromising one of its largest wilderness areas. Momentum for a cash settlement is building. But while federal officials need to remember that the national park belongs to all its citizens — and therefore they need to prevent its degradation — they also need to make good to Swain citizens. Getting both is really not too much to ask.