Another plan to pick pockets of citizens

Along comes another special interest group to push a dumb idea on local people for the sake of private profit. This time it's the highway engineers who want to make Ohio 16 a toll road. Can you imagine a toll road through the heart of Newark and Licking County? Sheesh.

A representative of the Ohio Engineers Association told a gathering of officials from seven Ohio counties this was the only option for pushing westward on the Columbus-to-Pittsburgh connector; that no other funds are available.

He failed to mention who, exactly, needs such a connector. He failed to mention that, if and when motorists ever need such a connector, the road would be funded exactly as are other highway construction projects.

But the idea for this thing doesn't come from motorists' needs. It comes from profiteers like the engineers and other profiteers up and down the connector.

The engineers' mouthpiece said, according to the Advocate report, that it would be difficult to get support of local officials. He failed to mention that the reason is nobody wants or needs such a monstrosity - expensive to build and expensive and inconvenient to use.

Though he didn't commit himself in the Advocate report, likely the engineers could count on Doug Smith. He's the Licking County commissioner who so far has dodged voter retaliation for his part in placing a sales tax on citizens without their consent. For elected officials to back the idea of the toll road would require they "not think of it as impediment to the next election," he was quoted as saying. Right. They may not be as lucky as Commissioner Smith.