Your Opinion: Move forward, together, on Rock Island Trail

Dear Editor:

I recently attended the Rock Island corridor meeting, which Representative Tom Hurst hosted at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Westphalia. It appeared about half of the nearly full hall were supporters and the other half landowners.

The, we vs. them, approach the landowners brought to the meeting surprised me. I spent my growing up years on a farm. I have a deep respect for farmers and their land and it hurt to suddenly be "them" to them. I grew up looking forward and being inclusive.

What I wanted to hear from the farmers and landowners is that we have some concerns; how can we best address these concerns and move forward. One of the farmers said their ancestors had given up their land for the common good of the community (the railroad) and now they are being taken advantage of for their ancestors' generosity. Where I saw that they had an opportunity to continue their generosity for the common good, by making this a bike trail for all to enjoy.

Farmers seemed to indicate that only "city people" would be the ones to take advantage of the bike trail. If so, what an excellent opportunity to share with "city people" what farming is all about. They could do this with signs explaining the crops; they could invite people to their farms, perhaps with monthly tours of their farms, on certain Saturdays.

I certainly do not know all the answers, but instead of driving a bigger wedge between farmers and "city people" how about using this opportunity to learn from each other.

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