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Local residents who want to add their two cents about the proposed Interstate 69 construction won't have to fill their tanks to do it. TxDOT is coming to Longview. The Texas Department of Transportation is holding 46 public hearings this month in East and South Texas along the planned corridor, including Tuesday's meeting in Longview. The hearings will give Texans a chance to comment and ask questions about the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, a collection of passenger and freight roadways, utility and rail lines from Texarkana to the Rio Grande Valley. A draft environmental impact statement released in November suggests...

The majority of residents from Walker and area counties made it clear Wednesday night how they feel about the proposed I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor. They are strongly opposed to it. An estimated 800 people took action on the controversial issue. The second town hall meeting in Huntsville, offering a chance for open dialogue between residents and the Texas Department of Transportation, took on a different tone than the initial meeting Jan. 23 at the Walker Education Center. With the main building at the Walker County Fairgrounds able to accommodate the large crowd, property owners and other residents expressed their dissatisfaction with Gov....

Some Texans are afraid of losing their land to the Trans-Texas Corridor while others loathe the thought of a quarter-mile-wide swath of toll roads and railway lines transforming the countryside into a superhighway. People continue to turn out in droves at public meetings concerning the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor proposal, specifically the portion known as the TTC-69 proposed from Brownsville to Texarkana. A meeting Monday, Jan. 28, at the fairgrounds in Austin County was no exception, drawing more than 1,000 people. Opposition to the proposed corridor has come from people in all walks of life, said Chris Steinbach, chief of staff...

BELLVILLE — In what is becoming a regular occurrence in Southeast Texas, more than 1,000 Austin County residents and interested outsiders jammed a county fairgrounds exhibit hall Monday night to let a panel of state transportation officials know that the Trans-Texas Corridor was not welcome here. State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, opened the public remarks to thunderous applause when she told the panel, "You all thought I was crazy in Austin when I said my people don't want it and I don't want it." The panel, which included Texas Department of Transportation Executive Director Amadeo Saenz and Deputy Executive Director...

Gov. Rick Perry's ambitious Trans-Texas Corridor plan, and his advocacy of toll funding for future roads, hit the skids in a skeptical Legislature last spring. The road shows no signs of getting any smoother as state transportation officials try to sell the plan to Houston-area audiences. "This will wipe me out," Dee Bond told a panel of corridor advocates at a town hall meeting in Rosenberg last week. The panel, which included Texas Transportation Commissioner Ned Holmes of Houston and Steve Simmons, deputy executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation, was there to explain and gather comment on a...

WEST COLUMBIA — When private property gets in the way of a road project, its owners will be moving out of the way, one way or another, in almost every case. With a widening of Highway 36 on the horizon and state and federal officials ready to drive the Trans-Texas Corridor through the Lone Star State, many land-owning Texans are preparing to defend their property from their own government. Brazoria County residents troubled by the looming eminent domain fights came to the Gulf Coast Christian Center on Saturday morning to voice their views to Tom Lizardo, chief of staff for...

Austin County residents get their chance Monday to comment on a massive “superhighway� that could be coming through their county. And if the public meeting in Bellville is anything like those already held by the Texas Department of Transportation, it will include hundreds of angry property owners lining up for a chance to lambast the proposed project, called the Trans Texas Corridor. Gov. Rick Perry first proposed the TTC six years ago. If completed as much as 50 years from now, it would roughly parallel interstate highways with up to a quarter-mile-wide stretch of toll roads, rail lines, pipelines and...

Leaders with the Texas Department of Transportation sought to allay fears about the Trans-Texas Corridor Thursday night in Rosenberg with a “town hall” meeting. The meeting proceeded fairly smoothly, but hardly seemed to put a dent in the large crowd's seemingly uniform opposition to the proposal of a massive transportation corridor. Hank Gilbert, a regular speaker at TTC events and leader of an anti-TTC non-profit group, drew cheers for suggesting TxDOT officials have failed to make the case for a large, privately owned transportation cluster. “No good argument has been made for the TTC that would allow farmers to be...

More than 400 people from Walker County and surrounding counties attended the Texas Department of Transportation town hall meeting Wednesday night at the Walker Education Center. According to Bob Colwell, TxDOT public information officer for the Bryan District, the Huntsville meeting was one of 11 town hall meetings scheduled throughout the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor study area. Colwell said 25 TxDOT representatives attended to answer questions. “Tonight is the opportunity for people to ask any questions that they want,” Colwell said. “In the past, TxDOT has gotten knocked for not having open discussions, so that’s what we’re here for.” After the town...

State Sen. Glen Hegar says he opposes a route that would bring the mammoth Trans Texas Corridor through his district. The Texas Department of Transportation has kicked off a series of public meetings to discuss the project. Meetings are scheduled for Tuesday in Hempstead (6:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 22892 Mack Washington St.) and Jan. 29 in Bellville (at the Austin County fairgrounds, also beginning at 6:30 p.m.). No meetings are scheduled in Washington County, which likely wouldn’t be impacted much by the highway project. Much of the discussion in public meetings already held centers on Interstate...

Hundreds showed up to a town hall meeting Thursday night in Lufkin, many with questions for Texas Department of Transportation officials about the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor that could run through or around Lufkin, Nacogdoches, Huntsville and other East Texas towns. As it's drawn up, I-69/TTC would include toll roads, high-speed freight and commuter rail, water lines, oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines and telecommunications infrastructure in one corridor running north/south through Texas. One primary purpose of the corridor would be to help with the state's projected traffic congestion. Although TxDOT directors assured everyone that nothing is set in stone and...

CARTHAGE — James Mason doesn't want a new highway cutting him off from his property. James Boggs wants to keep American jobs here. They were just a sample of about 140 residents who asked, commented and listened during a public forum with state transportation leaders Wednesday night in Carthage. It was the second of several forums scheduled along the Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, a proposed superhighway that likely will parallel U.S. 59 from Texarkana to the Mexican border. "We haven't done a very good job of (communicating) in the past," said Steve Simmons, deputy executive director of Texas Department of Transportation....

STAPLES — Dennis Elam knew he wasn’t cut out to be a city dweller during the one month he lived in San Marcos with his new wife, Brenda, after they were married in 1963. “I’ve got to have my horse. They won’t let me keep him in an apartment,” Elam said. The problem for Elam and his family is that the State Highway 130 construction contractor and the property acquisition firm has tapped the 57 acres they live and work cattle on and it is smack in the middle of the path of the highway where it will connect with...

Texas needs the Trans-Texas Corridor because of its surging population, a representative for Gov. Rick Perry said Tuesday while speaking in Cleburne. Plans are to build the multi-lane highway and rail system parallel to Interstate 35, north-south through the center of the state. Kris Heckmann, deputy director of Perry’s Legislative Division spoke at the Cleburne Civic Center at the invitation of the Johnson County Republican Women for their monthly meeting. Every decade since World War II, Texas’ population has increased by at least 20 percent, Heckmann said. In 1990, the state’s population was 16.5 million, and today the population is...

LUBBOCK, Texas — One Central Texas farmer said Monday he was "dumbfounded" by Gov. Rick Perry's veto of an eminent domain bill designed to protect landowners when the state wants to take their property. Robert Fleming is not alone in an area worried about the massive Trans Texas Corridor proposal. The planned route cuts through Fleming's Bell County farms. He's bewildered by Perry's veto. "We were so close to getting something done," Fleming said. "We've worked hard trying to get private property rights." Perry vetoed the bill, and 48 others, Friday. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Kelo...

Landowners urged to register By Laura Clout Last Updated: 12:47am BST 10/04/2007 A picture of who owns Britain could soon be revealed in the biggest survey of land ownership in 130 years. Thousands of aristocrats and farmers who own large swathes of the country are being asked to register their ownership under a new campaign by the Land Registry. More than 40 per cent of land in England and Wales has not been publicly registered, including more than half of all rural land. But tighter rules to be considered by the registry this year could see more landowners forced to...

Those familiar with the political scene know the unexpected is often expected, and March 2 was an example of that when opponents to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) and Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) marched to the state Capitol in Austin. The event included people from all over Texas, either walking or riding one of the many horses, tractors, or flat-bed trailers. The march included a woman with a caged chicken on the head, children enjoying the excitement, and plenty of signs that ranged from “Don’t Tag Texas” to “Think green ... not pavement.” One person in the parade was NAIS...

The conventional wisdom among conservatives about the benefits of privatizing government programs is being severely tested in a heretofore largely obscure controversy that is now blossoming in America’s heartland. When up to several thousand people gathered in vigorous protest March 2 at the majestic state capitol in Austin, there were echoes of the formative beginnings of similar grassroots protest movements of other eras, in which the organizers were not professional political activists, but rather genuinely fed-up ordinary citizens motivated by a combination of self-interest and patriotism to seek a legitimate redress of grievances. Almost 30 years ago, a similar citizen...

AUSTIN - Thousands of Texas residents from across the state gathered at the state capitol Thursday and Friday to protest the issues of public private partnerships, the Security and Prosperity Partnership between Canada, Mexico and North America, and the issues surrounding the Trans-Texas Corridor. Only a public all-day hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security on Thursday and a protest march on Friday by anti-toll parties from across the state settled the angry and frustrated mood of many who entered the capitol doors or stood on the steps. Bus-loads of residents and elected officials descended on...

The Trans-Texas Corridor, Gov. Rick Perry’s massive transportation project, hit some speed bumps Friday. A sharply-worded report from the State Auditor’s Office was released - and a member of the Republican leadership in the House filed a bill to repeal the plan, which could encompass up to 8,000 miles. Brenham Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill is almost identical to one already filed by Democrat state Rep. David Leibowitz of Helotes, near San Antonio. With lawmakers from both sides of the aisle questioning the project, organizers of a March 2 are hoping thousands of Texans will make their way to the state...

In the past weeks we have been looking at the historic and needs perspective of the Trans Texas Corridor. Lets examine if the project is enough to help with traffic and examine economic growth. In 2007 there are 80 thousand vehicles that travel along 35 in Waco everyday. The TTC-35 project would leave I-35 as it is for the most part, but would add this 12 lane superhighway with a commuter train just east of 35. Opponnents say look at the cost. Linda Stall with Corridor Watch says, "This is a huge project. 184 billion dollars, it's a 50 year...

Since last year's coastal evacuation during Hurricane Rita, improvements to the former I-69 corridor have been on the fast track. Previously, Interstate 69 from Texarkana to South Texas was introduced as a concept with minimal federal funding in 1994. Eight years later, Gov. Rick Perry would introduce his concept of the Trans-Texas Corridor, which confused local residents and intermingled plans for the proposed Interstate corridor. But it wasn't until last autumn, when the state learned what a nightmare a Houston evacuation could be on the existing U.S. Highway 59, that Perry instructed the Texas Department of Transportation commission to recast...

The governor's race is becoming a referendum on the Trans-Texas Corridor toll road. Republican incumbent Gov. Rick Perry supports the TTC that would parallel Interstate 35 from Laredo to Oklahoma. However, it could gobble up 81,000 acres of rural land according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Also, a large chunk of the land used would be in North Texas. Lance Haynes, a Republican, said he wonders if his family's 68 acres in rural Collin County might be covered in concrete in the near future. The land lies within the path where the state could route the TTC and he's...

About 30 opponents of Gov. Rick Perry’s controversial Trans-Texas Corridor plan for superhighways statewide rallied at the McLennan County Courthouse Saturday morning, waving plastic bags of soil and vowing to resist any efforts involving eminent domain to seize their land for highway construction. “This is a little piece of my land,” Riesel rancher and farmer Robert Cervenka said. “And this is all they’re going to get from me without a fight.” Although some of those gathered at the steps of the courthouse were allied with independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn, others said they were for any political force capable...

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Protestors turned out across the state Saturday to voice their concerns about the multi-billion dollar Trans-Texas corridor. The 4,000-mile highway is being developed, in part, to relieve traffic on Interstate 35. The corridor would be three times wider than the average highway, wide enough for cars, trucks and trains. It would also be used as a route for utility lines. However, not everyone supports the plan for a highway that would run from Mexico to Oklahoma, because in order to make this ambitious project a reality the state will have to take land through eminent domain....

(July 24, 2006)—As the state wraps up a series of Central Texas hearings this week on the massive Trans Texas Corridor project, it’s becoming apparent that opposition to the futuristic highway system is mounting, especially in rural areas, and that could pose a problem to Gov. Rick Perry’s re-election bid. Leroy Walters of Hillsboro, for example, has survived many a threat on the farm that's been in his family for 120 years including drought and tornadoes. But now Walters is concerned about the 600-mile superhighway that could plow across Texas, perhaps cutting through his fields and robbing his grandchildren of...

WOODBINE —About 450 people packed the cafetorium of the Rad Ware building of Callisburg Elementary School off FM 3164 for an informational meeting regarding the Trans-Texas Corridor. At the starting time of 7 p.m. a line of people stretched past the library’s door to sign in. As the meeting commenced it was standing-room-only, as visitors took to the cafetorium stage and steps for seating. “Oh wow,” said Billy Baldwin, a Woodbine area rancher and one of the organizers of the meeting. Baldwin led the opening and closing prayers for the gathering, then asking for each person in the audience to...

ZABCIKVILLE - David and Linda Stall of corridorwatch.com aren’t sure that grassroots organizations opposed to the Trans Texas Corridor can stop the multi-billion dollar highway proposal in its tracks, but at a meeting of the Blackland Coalition on Friday night, they urged coalition members to stay involved in the process. “You are the only thing that can change this,” Linda Stall told more than 300 coalition members early in Friday’s two-hour meeting, which also featured an Austin attorney who outlined the eminent domain process. “You can move a gas station a couple of miles away, but you can’t take fertile...

AUSTIN — The southernmost stretch of the proposed Canada-to-Mexico interstate could come to the Rio Grande Valley as a brand new toll road cutting through untouched ranchland rather than an upgrade to highways 77 or 281. The proposal by the Texas Department of Transportation for the road known as Trans-Texas Corridor 69 is drawing sharp criticism from South Texas landowners and elected officials who say the state should instead spend its money turning one or both existing highways into interstates. Three options are on the table for building the first interstate to the Valley: expansion of Highway 281, expansion of...

Part of the problem is that the people who decide national policy are headquartered in Washington, D.C., where large plots of private property are rare. Those of us who live in urban or suburban areas imagine endangered species protection to be as simple as being kind to blue whales, grizzly bears and bald eagles. We don’t stop to consider the dilemmas facing people thousands of miles away from us. Bill Snape, Chairman of the Endangered Species Coalition, is an example of one who lives in either ignorance or denial. “There just aren’t private landowners that I can identify where the...

South Africa moves to ban foreign landowners By David Blair in Pretoria (Filed: 18/02/2006) The era when Britons were free to acquire farms and homes in South Africa was drawing to a close yesterday when an official panel recommended a "moratorium" on foreigners buying or selling any land. This freeze would apply to every category of land, ranging from housing and farms to private game parks and industrial sites. It could be followed by new laws banning foreigners from buying freehold property and restricting them to 99-year leases. Foreigners are accused of forcing prices too high Estate agents criticised these...

It's decision time for Texas once again, as we choose those who will lead our state. For farmers and ranchers, these decisions take on great importance because of our relatively small numbers in comparison with the general population. Despite this obvious fact, Farm Bureau and agriculture have remained very effective in the legislative process. One reason is AGFUND. We support our friends. Farm Bureau and agriculture stand behind those elected officials who understand our industry and support it in Austin and Washington. In Farm Bureau, political endorsements are made according to a carefully planned, grassroots driven system. The recommendations of...

You can count on your constitutional due process rights if you are a thief, a rapist, or a murderer. But if you're accused of committing a crime against the environment, you may as well tear up the Constitution and bury it in a landfill—or better yet, send it for recycling. That, at least, is the message of the legal tactics that the government has employed in its two-decade-long crusade against John Rapanos, a Michigan developer. Rapanos' crime? He shifted sand from one part of his property to another without a wetland permit, a felony under the Clean Water Act. Rapanos'...

Are Zimbabwean thug Robert Mugabe's increasingly brutal crackdowns on virtually every segment of society leading the country toward inevitable civil war? In a race against North Korea to claim the world's biggest basketcase title, the government recently attacked poor citydwellers and announced plans to nationalize all farmland, abolishing private land ownership.

Andreas Wiese, a fourth-generation Namibian of German descent, is preparing to quit farming. His family raise cattle, grow vegetables and cultivate calla lilies for export to Europe and South Africa on an arid 4,000-hectare ranch 50km north-east of the capital Windhoek. Last month the government ordered the Wieses to sell their property to the state within two weeks. The family have since made an offer and the 32-year-old farmer, who also holds a German passport, says he may emigrate. "We are selling," he says, ending a day's work in the family's Windhoek flower shop. "I personally don't see a future...

Those Scots sure do have a funny way of celebrating their fledgling legislative autonomy — by seeking to destroy one of liberty's fundamentals. The toddling Scottish Parliament in January overwhelmingly passed a land "reform" bill, The New York Times reports. Some reform. If signed into law by Queen Elizabeth II — and it is expected to be — three liberty-defying provisions will be hatched: First, small tenant farmers, known as "crofters," will be allowed to — collectively — buy parcels of the estates on which they live. That's fine. But under this law, the property can be bought even if...

$50 Million Available for Private Conservation Efforts WASHINGTON, DC, October 7, 2002 (ENS) - Wildlife agencies, tribes and private landowners can now apply for some of the $50 million in grants available to help conserve natural habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced last week it is seeking proposals for funding under the Bush administration's Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) and its Private Stewardship Grants Program. "Private landowners and conservation groups want to help conserve fish and wildlife but the costs of protecting, restoring, and managing habitat can be prohibitive," said USFWS Director Steve Williams. "The Bush Administration...

Your Hobby Versus Their Hobby Your Hobby is fishing and hunting. Theirs is STOPPING YOU. Nothing has made this more clear than in Eric Orff’s column in the July/August issue of New Hampshire Wildlife. New Hampshire Wildlife is the official publication of the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation. Orff is a wildlife biologist living in NH, He is a member of the Board of Directors for the New England Outdoor Writers, and is an avid fisherman, hunter, and conservationist. In his column titled “New Hampshire Sportsmen Under Attack” Orff describes the actions of one anti-hunter whose obvious hobby is one of...