----- Forwarded Message ---- From: jean johannigman <decoratorj4@gmail.com> To: jean johannigman <decoratorj4@gmail.com> Sent: Wed, March 9, 2011 11:12:32 AM Subject: Fwd: Letter to the Editor on the Airport ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 11:07 AM Subject: Fwd: Letter to the Editor on the Airport To: Jean Johannigman <decoratorj4@gmail.com> Begin forwarded message: Date: March 9, 2011 11:06:15 AM EST To: "Adam Huening" <Adam.Huening@greensburgdailynews.com> Subject: Re: Letter to the Editor on the Airport Your comparing my ties to decatur county to Tribitt? My great great great grandfather founded the city and gave land to build the first constructions. My family has dedicated much money and scholarships for students of the community. I lived in greensburg for my first twenty years while my dad served honorably on the decatur circuit court. I merely own land in the path? I pay taxes there, I own property there other than the farm, I have a heritage going back to the founding of the county. How dare you compare my association with the city withy Don Tribbet. It confirms how oblivious you are as to what you are writing about. On Mar 9, 2011, at 10:51 AM, Adam Huening wrote: That the people do not want it has yet to be proven Phil. I believe the smoking ordinance has more to do with the last adminstration's downfall than the airport. I covered it. I was there. You also do not live in our county, sir. You merely own land in the path. Tribbett is their lawyer, Don Wall is on your side. One for one. that's the policy. Period. Thanks Adam -----Original Message-----
To: jean johannigman <decoratorj4@gmail.com> Cc: Adam Huening <adam.huening@greensburgdailynews.com>, Sandy Biddinger <sandybiddinger@yahoo.com>, Bob Segall <bsegall@wthr.com>, jack.delaney@faa.gov, Benjamin Mello FAA <Benjamin.Mello@faa.gov>, Bobb Beauchamp <bobb.beauchamp@faa.gov> Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2011 10:36:38-0500 Subject: Re: Letter to the Editor on the Airport Tribbet writes a strong letter supporting the expansion of the airport. However, Tribbet does not live in Decatur county and has no interest in the county other than generating high fees. Thenpeople of Greensburg do not want this silly expansion. We had one Mayor want it and they threw him out of office and now we have another mayor who wants it and they will soon throw him out. The people simply do not want this thing and politicians are acting like the drunken sailors we have in Washington. On Mar 9, 2011, at 9:55 AM, jean johannigman wrote: LETTER TO THE EDITOR The headline in the January 26th, 2011 Greensburg Daily News (GDN) read: Mayor Makes Request Of Airport Board To Prove Point. In this article Mayor Herbert said the following: Therefore, I would like the BOAC to consider the following with all due respect. Whether it is reasonable or productive to form a committee of uninterested persons to explore alternative site locations for the airport. This is merely a suggestion, he said in a prepared statement. The GDN article goes on to say: Herbert clarified he was asking the board for this consideration not because his belief in an expanded airport had wavered. What I am trying to do is confirm there is no property out there that can be purchased. There is no land we can use that can t be taken any other way but eminent domain, Herbert said. I m trying to prove a point. END QUOTE. In response to this comment by the Mayor perhaps the BOAC and the Mayor need to ask Honda how they accomplished the purchase of all the land they acquired which is much more than is needed with this venture. In a letter dated February 10th, 2011, Don Tribett the attorney for the Greensburg Board of Aviation Commissioners (BOAC) responded on behalf of the BOAC to Mayor Herbert s request. This letter can be found on Mayor Herbert s campaign website at : http://www.reelectgaryherbert.com/inthenews.html <http://www.reelectgaryherbert.com/inthenews.html> Imagine that! My initial response to all of this as Contact person for the Concerned Citizens of Decatur County (opposition to the current
plan for the airport) and Chair of the campaign to Elect Bill Wenning for Mayor is: what gra ndstanding! The Greensburg Board of Aviation Commissioners is a board of the City of Greensburg appointed solely by the Mayor. The Mayor states he is trying to prove a point. He makes this request of the BOAC board and they have their attorney, Mr. Tribett respond. Mr. Tribett charges in excess of $200.00 per hour and the response is a four page letter. I know what my thoughts are on this but I will leave you all to form your own thoughts on why this all took place. Let s turn to some things said in Mr. Tribett s response letter to the Mayor. Mr. Tribett goes through some length to explain IC code and how the BOAC has the authority to make these decisions on behalf of the people of this community. Then he goes on to say : quote: In spite of the statutory directives, a site selection committee was formed in 2006 to evaluate the appropriate site for the Greensburg Airport. My question all the ordinances that empowered the Board of Aviation Commissioners to make these decisions on behalf of the City of Greensburg and it s constituents were enacted in April, July and November of 2007 (right after the election when there was a majority sweep).so how did the ordinances (based on the statutory directives of IC code) passed in 2007 that CREATED this Board of Aviation Commissioners for the City of Greensburg have any bearing on the committee that had compiled and signed off on their results by August the 11th, 0f 2006? OOPS!! In conjunction with this OOPS.Mr. Tribett neglected to state that the reason the alternate site selection committee was formed was by the request of the Decatur County Council who were part owners of the airstrip at that time and they demanded it because of the eminent domain. The County eventually removed themselves completely from this scenario and that is when the empowerment of this board took place. Then Mr. Tribett states the following concerning the alternate site selection committee and some members of it in some cases: quote: the committee unanimously recommended that the Greensburg Airport remain and be improved at it s current location..then this statement : quote: Interestingly, one of the members of the site selection committee has flip-flopped and is now actively opposing the current site. Although Mr. Tribett did not name me he was referring to me on this. Mr. Tribett has never talked with me about that alternate site process. Let me explain my perception on that now. I have a copy of the alternate site report that I signed. While all locations considered were scored on in this report including the current location the only vote noted in this report was between site 2 and 4 which are not the current site. Every time I made a positive comment about sites other than the current site I was gently chided to consider that infrastructure was already in place at the current site so that any of the other sites would have to score less than the current site for that reason. There was no chiding to consider the opposite effects of what would happen if we expanded at a new location.
Opposite effects and facts like the facility would not be landlocked for future growth. Facts like it would be safer for our ballpark, pool, park, fairgrounds, golf course etc. Facts like there could be a commerce park adjacent to the new airport because there would be plenty of room to do so. This was all early on before any of the alternatives were weighed. I was also of the belief that we were scoring the alternate sites and that the two finalists (which would be the current site and the one we determined as another alternative) would be submitted to the FAA together for their evaluation. I have emails with Jack Delaney that I can produce that show that I was definetly under this impression and you need but look at my platform for Mayor when I ran to see that I was always for an airport expansion but NOT at the current site. Needless to say that I very much feel these were contrived results. Another quote by Mr. Tribett: they also suggest that there is no need in Greensburg for a modern airport in compliance with FAA standards. Notice he uses the word suggest.. I would personally like to see proof of that statement. The stance of the Concerned Citizens has always acknowledged that FAA compliance could be minimally met at the current site in a much less expensive and a much less invasive way than is being proposed and the FAA would still provide Grant monies to do so. Personally, I am looking forward to the Public Response period after the Environmental Assessment is either approved or not approved by the FAA. The attorney the Concerned Citizens have hired is an aviation specialist and a former FAA attorney. It will be nice to turn the wheel over to someone who is informed on this process and who will represent the taxpayers of this community who truly have had no say in this issue. Jean Johannigman Greensburg, IN