THE ISSUE
Hancock County is being asked to donate portions of Davis and Meridian Roads to Eli Lilly within days. Sections of these valuable and irreplaceable assets including Davis Road between Franklin Road and 150 West and Meridian Road between US 40 and 200 South are to be given to Eli Lilly. By destroying these historic arteries of communication and commerce, Eli Lilly’s plan will effectively divide our integrated communities not only of our own land and resources but also of our heritage and economic self-determination.

HISTORY OF HANCOCK COUNTY ROADS
The roads known as Davis Road and Meridian Road have served the community since the County was first laid out, and our ancestors were striving to establish the infrastructure for the future of the County. Due to our ancestors foresight, these roadways designed for horses, now perform admirably in moving today’s automobiles.

These county roads were crafted and tended by those generations who went before each of us and created for us a permanent gift of a transportation design and facility enabling an enriched life. These roads have always played an integral role in our lives - from being a handy road to town or the way we got to our public schools and churches. In addition, they have provided a bridge to our future as the gateways to our economic sustenance - from the road to the mill, or to town to the railroad for travel and later to jobs and markets and activities that enriched our familys' lives. By 1915, there were 281 miles of free gravel road in the County.

My roots go back in Hancock County to the settlers. My years on the farm instilled in me a reverence and gratitude for the land. My Grandfather lived in the homestead - 2 miles South on Meridian. As a farmer and nursery salesman, he rode his horse to town on what is now known as Meridian and Davis Roads. Often, he rode to the railroad stop in town and loaded up his horse and himself to travel to neighboring towns as a salesman. This heritage lies in the foundation these roads have provided, that our forefathers provided to us as a community asset for the good of all. This heritage and connection to our community and history is not something that one individual person or private corporation should be able to assume - it belongs to all of us.

To their credit after all these years, these same county roads, functioning importantly as direct and efficient commuting links, serve us daily and have significantly increased in use and importance. And in the future, our County, our community, will be looking for more and more roadways - the connections to both our past and future. This future lies in the boundless and infinite horizons of our roads not in the gated obstructions of self-interest and corporate greed.

DAVIS and MERIDIAN ROAD TODAY
Specifically, Davis Road and Meridian Road carry an extensive amount of traffic and are particularly valuable to the community for commuters to jobs in Indianapolis. The commuters are a valuable resource to our economic development - they work there and they spend here.

These secondary roads relieve what is already obnoxiously congested, rush-hour, stoplight traffic east and west on historic US 40. Routing more traffic through the city will create another problem requiring a lot of money and human disruption.

To replace roads like Meridian and Davis would cost millions in land acquisition, engineering and construction and cause significant human disruption. To extinguish these roads and right of ways forever for private, corporate purposes is not to be taken lightly when there may be other, better solutions. These roads are valuable resources which should be preserved. You are asked to determine the destiny of this County – protect our basic infrastructure – the longer horizon.