Excitement is growing as Hundreds of Southwest Indiana residents get ready for the I-69 Sunday Drive of the New Terrain Routes this Sunday, October 27.  A simultaneous traveling of four of the INDOT proposed routes on the most colorful weekend of the year promises to bring attention to the COUNT US! message:  "US 41 & I 70 is the least damaging and least expensive proposed build options for the I - 69 interstate.  O’Bannon and Kernan seem to be supporting the most expensive most damaging New Terrain Routes.  Save up to $1 Billion Dollars to Fix the roads we have.
 
 

Sponsor:  COUNT US! , a citizens group formed in August by homeowners who find their homes on the routes of the proposed I-69 highway from Evansville to Indianapolis.  The name refers to the statements made by the INDOT commissioner who said they were not counting the number of persons opposed to the I-69 project.   “COUNT US!”  is  also an  acronym for COunty Under New Terrain US I-69.

Contact:  John Smith is the COUNT US! director.  countus@i69tour.org, (812) 327-6142
Leader of Routes 2 & 4 (Owen county routes) John Loveland
Bruce MacCallister, Owen county CARR leader/ organic farmer.
Jim and Jane Gillooly:  Prominent Davis county farmers. (812) 254-2852
Rev. Valarie Foughty-Killion - Bethel United Methodist Church S. Washington
Parish   812 254-1854
Home   812 254-1382
Thomas and Sandra Tokarski- Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads (CARR) founders (812) 825-9555
Andy Knotts:  Hoosier Environmnetal Commission (HEC)
John Braun: Marion County Alliance of Neigborhood Associations (MCANA) (317) 889-0029
Pat Andrews: Decatur Township Civic Council  (317) 821 0805
Deleted by request: Maryland Ridge Historic Neigborhood district (Stanford/ Hendrickville area) # Deleted by request

PHONE: 812-327-6142.  E-MAIL:  countus@i69tour.org Web: www.i69tour.org

Updates to the event:
We would like to remind:
Participants are encouraged to bring along two pictures of what they will miss most if the highway is built near their community as well as a picnic lunch, a full tank of gas and a recent restroom stop. All persons participating are asked to be respectful of those who will lose their homes by participating in a peaceful fashion.

Purpose of the event:  To focus attention on  the area of proposed damage and to support  those whose homes and communities are being considered for destruction for I-69.  To make residents of the state aware of the economic and environmental effects locally and state wide.  To show the human and natural costs that are ignored when bulldozers and politicians purposefully inflict damage greater and more permanent than that done by natural disasters like tornadoes. To do this while the decision is still pending and before the official end of comment period November 7th.

Structure:  The event will build throughout the day as it travels up the various routes and passes through many media gathering points in the counties that it passes through.  The caravans will not stop after the official 12:30 start.  Residents will gather in anticipation of the Tour’s arrival and join in as it passes.  Media representatives are invited to precede the tour to these gathering places.  Maps for media representatives will be provided on request, but please ask asap. Participants are asked to obey all traffic laws and at all times be respectful of others.

Support and participation has come from members of the following groups:  Oliver’s Winery, Bikesmiths, The Maryland Ridge Association, Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads, The Hoosier Enviromental Council, The Decatur Twp. Civic Council, Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations, The Center for Sustainable Living, Heartwood, The Indiana Forest Alliance and Bethel United Mothodist Church.

Continued....

Page 2. Press Release  Regarding:  I-69 Sunday Drive Tour of the New Terrain Routes, Oct 27.
 
 

The I-69 Sunday Drive of the New Terrain Routes, Oct 27,  has been developed with door to door distribution of maps to approximately 5000 persons whose homes are within 1000 feet of the proposed I-69 routes. Ads will be place in the region this week.  A direct mail campaign developed with GIS technology will sent notice to 1345 property owners in Monroe County.   COUNT US! Director, John Smith, estimates that 10,000 Hoosiers can look at one of the COUNT US! photo copied maps of the proposed routes and see their homes under the threat of eminent domain. To date they have reached about 50 % of those homes, but about 75% of all the homes on the most preferred routes of #3 and #4.   This notification process is still on going.
 
 

COUNT US!  will publish an I-69 Voters Guide which will be released at the I-69 Sunday Tour of the New Terrain Routes, Oct 27.  This guide will be available in quantity for distribution until the election, and on the COUNT US website at www.i69tour.org.

The COUNT US! PAC may make voter recommendations statements as well as educate.