Corps’ hearing disintegrated into unflattering spectacle

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008

As a supporter of the connector I respect the opinions of those who stand in opposition to the construction for that is their right.

What I find offensive and frankly disappointing about this hearing was not the misstatements and lack of understanding by the opponents of land management and transportation policy; rather it was the total lack of professionalism by the corps in running the meeting. I was disappointed that the chairwoman who was chief of the regulatory branch in the Baltimore District Office seemed absolutely oblivious to the basic tenets of how to conduct a hearing, especially one as controversial as this one.

She failed at the outset to establish the ground rules for the hearing; she failed to exercise proper time management (her timekeeper must have been using a broken egg timer); and she failed to enforce proper decorum, allowing the meeting to turn into a circus of catcalls rather than a serious presentation of divergent views.

Her powerlessness to exercise control of this meeting was appalling, and it forced the county commissioners and sheriff to be unnecessarily humiliated by the lunatic fringe without any admonishment by her

The helplessness of the corps and by extension the two bureaucrats from the state of Maryland, who sat passively by as supporters of the connector were booed and insulted, turned what should have been a reasoned civil presentation into an unflattering spectacle and that’s a shame.

Joe Richard, La Plata