Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor

Friday, June 5, 2009

Eastern Greene road name questioned

To the Editor:

I would like to address the travesty which took place at the last commissioners meeting. Approximately 150 years of local history was totally ignored to soothe the bruised ego of one man. While I do not envy the commissioners their task of dealing with the headaches created by the naming of roads in the eastern part of the county it was obvious that only Commissioner Holtsclaw was familiar with or cared about the history of some of the roads in the area of the American Bottoms and in particular CR 625E which skirts the western edge of the bottoms.

The American Bottoms is a unique geologic feature which drains a few thousand acres through one sinkhole. If memory serves me correctly there are only two other sites like it in the world. There are four roads which run north to south which have traditionally been known in the area by the families which established the original homesteads on those roads. The Crowe Road, Holtsclaw Road, Sib Jones Lane, and the Wright Road. The Crowe, Holtsclaw, and Jones Roads were rightfully allowed to keep their traditional names through the 911 readdressing process. The Wright Road was not.

There is another Wright Road in the western part of the county so CR 625E was divided into three sections after one individual tried to have the road named after himself. The north end was to be called Harv-Wright Road, the middle section which runs east to west and into the American Bottoms Preble Road, and the southern end Little Road.

Unbeknownst to some of the residents on Harv-Wright Road a petition was circulated by Ken Gremore at the last minute to change the name to American Bottoms Road even though the road doesn't run through the American Bottoms! The petition was presented to commissioners at the May meeting two weeks ago. Upon learning that a petition was presented to the commissioners to change the name to American Bottoms Road another petition was circulated by the residents of Harv-Wright Road and presented to the commissioners by Ed Zuckschwerdt. Cynthia Roberts also presented a petition to change Preble Road to American Bottoms Road.

Perhaps due to misleading statements made by Mr. Gremore commissioners Beard and Lindsey did not understand that every resident of Harv-Wright Road signed the petition to leave the name alone.

Two statements were made by Mr. Gremore that really upset me. Comment number one referred to different ways for tourists to travel to the American Bottoms. When referring to the Crowe Road he made the comment that all tourists would see is a junkyard and a bunch of trailers.

Comment number two referred to my grandfather Harv Wright as a Joe Blow. If Mr. Gremore had lived in this area a little longer he would know that Harv Wright moved into the family log cabin in the 1920s with his wife Hazel and had five boys there. During the depression he built the house currently located at Greene County Wood Products and had another son and daughter there. Three of Harv's sons served in World War II and the youngest son in Korea. Even though Harv just had an eighth-grade education himself all seven children graduated from high school and two went on to go to Purdue.

Harv himself was active in his community serving on county agriculture committees and as a Democrat precinct committeeman for many years. Harv's family also donated the land for the easement on which CR 625E is built and Harv built the road himself. Not bad for a Joe Blow.

As a former county leader I think Mr. Gremore needs to show the county's residents and the families of his neighbors a little more respect. This decision ignored much local history and the fact that many of us are already receiving mail by the Harv-Wright address.

Sam Zuckschwerdt

Bloomfield