State officials believe a ballot measure is the way to decide
“I’m more against it than anything. I’ve yet to hear anyone say they are for it.”
Brantley County Commissioner Rand Davison said he had already been against the idea of a bypass running from Hwy. 84 to Hwy. 82 running through Brantley County, Ware County and Pierce County.
The commissioner added, during the third tri-county meeting held Monday, December 1, he had heard nothing to change his mind, which was met with applause from residents gathered in the standing room only Ware County Commission meeting room.
The Monday morning meeting of tri-county officials was to discuss ideas for a proposed bypass around Waycross. It drew a crowd set not on observing, but demanding answers — sometimes in very loud voices.
Little progress was made and those whose homes and property might be impacted by the bypass left with few if any reassurances.
“I am here to listen and I heard you loud and clear,” said District 3 State Senator Mike Hodges, who represents Brantley County along with Camden County, Charlton County, Glynn County and McIntosh County.
District 174 Georgia House Representative John Corbett, who’s district includes Brantley County, Charlton County, part of Ware County, Clinch County, Echols County and part of Lowndes County stated, “I think the ballot measure is the way to go.”
Corbett’s sentiment was agreed upon by Rep. Steven Meeks (R-178), whose district includes Bacon and Pierce counties, as well as portions of Appling and Wayne counties, and District 8 Sen. Russ Goodman, who represents Atkinson County, Clinch County, Echols County, Lanier County, Lowndes County and Pierce County, as well as a portion of Ware County. The trio expressed approval for putting a referendum to be voted upon by the public.
Prior to the quickly filling meeting room and the 10 a.m. start, Ware County Clerk Melinda Brooks made a statement concerning a circulating map “was not set in stone” and the meeting was “just a roundtable discussion, not a public hearing.”
Explanations of the maps and images currently circulating were just one of many met with skepticism and calls to know just how many different bypass plans there were to choose from.
Seats for the public were already nearly full before the start with many others filing into the meeting room. Many lined up along walls or took seats on the floor.
Some of the confusion stemmed from public comment forms from the last Ware County Commission meeting having been left on a table outside the entrance. More than one member of the public had already filled out a public comment form, thinking they were meant for the Monday morning conference.
Scheduled or not, public comment was going to happen.
Brooks’ statement would be echoed several times by several different Ware County officials and District 176 Representative for James Burchett.
Ware County Manager James Shubert, Ware County Commission Chairman Elmer Thrift, Burchett and others all sought to clarify the meeting was a tri-county discussion to which the public was entitled to attend, but for which there was no provision for public comment.
One member of the public angrily demanded, “Then why did you invite us?”
After a few false starts, with those stuck in the hallway outside yelling that they could not hear and one gentleman loudly suggesting the meeting be moved to a courtroom downstairs, extra room was made in the council chambers as even more people piled into the confined space.
A young man arrived with armfuls of “NO BYPASS’ signs and passed them out to the crowd. What followed the Pledge of Allegiance can only be described as controlled chaos.
Originally meant as a chance for officials to confer about the viability of a proposed bypass road around Waycross, and to consult with members of Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and state senators and state house representatives, the bulk of the meeting was spent engaging with and attempting to mollify a crowd who demanded to be heard, sometimes all at once.
Tempers ran more toward anger and confusion than they did jolliness.
Some in the crowd accused Chairman Thrift of looking to personally profit from the bypass project.
“Of course you aren’t against it,” one voice rang out, “You own an asphalt company!”
Shubert, the county manager, even pounded his open palm on the table and yelled for order. He singled out one lady saying, “If you interrupt me one more time, I’m going to ask you to leave. I’m tired of your mouth.”
Porter Johns of Ware County said, “They’ve (commission) been talking about a bypass since I moved here in 1988. I ain’t seen it or an overpass yet.”
David Lowman, commissioner for Pierce County’s fourth district, said votes, not phone calls would make his decision for him. He would vote the way the taxpayers decided on the ballot.
In the end, little actual exchange of ideas or fine tuning of plans for the proposed project occurred.
Those gathered to witness the meeting, protest the bypass or both, extracted various promises from elected officials of all three counties to support a ballot measure in the coming year placing the decision to move forward in the hands of the taxpayers.
