Letter to the Editor of Grundy County Herald 3-18-04:

I read the Grundy County Herald article (Feb. 26, 2004), "SOCM Installs Billboards In hopes of Saving our Mountain".

What about SOCM? Is it another environmentalist "Trojan Horse" in America? Unless Tennesseans understand the full picture, they will not make fully informed decision, based on common sense verses reaction.

Creating the Problem: Out of state corporations can move into our state, strip mine, or clear-cut in an area creating a pollution problem for a local area. Before we concluded that we have a "pollution problem", we need to be assure that an unbiased independent study has been done, and we are not relying on the research of any special interest group.

Facilitating the reaction: Special interest environmental groups who have agendas which extend beyond environmental concerns, muster up sympathy and support from local people effected negatively by abuses of the land and resources by negligent corporations. Cooperate harvesters operating negligently can act more like a greedy jackal. Once caught in poor and avoidable practices, they tend to run off with their paws and mouth dripping from of the fat and blood of the people and the land, leaving behind the remains of its prey. However, over reaction to the greed and abuse of one cooperate harvester, should not be the beginning of the demise of all cooperate harvesters, farmers and property owners.

Implementing the "solution": The vultures of social re-engineering, swoop down to pick the remaining meat off the bones of the community, who then get stuck with loss of Constitutional Rights to the use of their private property, and to loss of jobs as special interest groups try and pressure legislators into more and more progressive, unreasonable and unscientifically based restrictions in logging, farming and industry.

In the long run, we all get stuck with large segments of our nations land placed in Nature Bio-reserves, which often become property of international environmental corporations NGA or binding Foreign treaties such as the Sustainable Mountain Development, United Nations Charter, Agenda 21
( http://www.oocities.org/tnallianceforcitizensrights/Essays/sustainable_mtn_dev.htm ).

The state of California is a prime example of environmentalism gone to extremes. The end result there, has been massive acres and wild life lost to forest fires. Loggers and farmers were forced out of work, and much of the family farm in California has gone to the wealthy Cooperate Wine industry (many of whom are foreign investors). Let's not make the same mistake Tennessee! Lets "nip the problem in the bud" with real science and common sense approaches

Tn State Alliance for Citizens Rights (ACR) is taking an interest in this issue. The ACR is organizing an Alliance of concerned citizenry from the sportsmen, farming, logging, trucking, business community, and property owners who are both in support of justifiable regulations based upon real science (not on Eco special interest groups over inflation's), as well as preserving the right to use private property with out over bearing and unnecessary regulations.

Thank you,

Barbara Daugherty-Dwyer

March 14, 2004