To the editor:

As someone who has been involved with many others for a decade now to curtail this SLT idiocy, the actions of some Douglas County commissioners and the Federal Highway Administration don’t surprise me. A decade ago, this county had to be sued in federal court to follow federal guidelines for this proposed roadway.

The actions of the two commissioners and the FHWA are Bush administration-like in attempting to sneak this memorandum under the radar of the public. What are they afraid of, being required to follow their own laws?

This state and its original immigrant citizens forced this state open in the early 1850s by squatting and pushing the original citizens out of the way. I wonder if there’s any difference between the actions of the original land swindlers Samuel Pomeroy, Andrew Isaacs, George Ewing and Charles Robinson, and the commissioners, federal agencies and religious colleges who are currently acting like their 19th century predecessors. If numerous agencies knuckle under to development and Republican pressure, and ignore overwhelmingly pertinent information that was put forth by numerous indigenous individuals and their tribal nations like they did in the EIS and SEIS documents, then where is justice? Is it at the hands of a lawless mob willing to insult, attack and destroy cultures in the name of a shorter path across town?

This isn’t the 19th century, is it?

Mike Ford,

Baldwin City