…….The Division of Highways and the City of New Cumberland have been through a lot……and none of it’s been pretty. Why, I truly don’t know. When other areas say they need a road, even a whole bridge (look at Wellsburg) the Division hops to it the politicians and State officials jump on board and before you know it there it is….a bridge in Wellsburg. We in Hancock County tried to get a bridge adjacent to Mountaineer for years to make it easier for gamblers to get to WV and give us their money. You would have thought it was a win-win. But, when the idea was posed in Charleston, it met with derision. That was back in the day when we had political power and friends in high places, but I never saw support for that bridge budge an inch.
……..So one wonders why we would try so hard to get Route 2 through New Cumberland straightened out? Hadn’t time taught us anything? Nope, the Div. of Highways gave us false hope when they came up with five proposed routes. They wanted us to believe we had a say on the route, after all we lived in this town and we were the ones who faced the peril of trucks negotiating Station Hill on a daily basis.
…….How many years did we delude ourselves into thinking the route WE preferred would be the one chosen? How many meetings did we attend where the cardboard routes would be placed on easels to lead us down the primrose path.
……If you think the Route selected was the one they Dept. of Highway engineers had selected from the very beginning, you’re right. It just that the Dept. of Highways had to put us all through this “dog and pony show” to make us believe we had a say. We spoke up all right and said what route we wanted and it landed on deaf ears.
…….And, after we wailed and gnashed our teeth, we faced reality. Our next obstacle was “when”. When would we get the road. Would it be in our lifetime? What was entailed? The property involved had to be acquired and torn down before construction could even be contemplated. We were shown time frames that indicated the properties in question were to be demolished at the beginning of the Summer of 25. That came and is quickly going and no sign of demolition. I called Jamie Haspel, our local guy at the State Road Barn, to see what the hold up could be.
…….I was flabbergasted at the answer I received. It was bats. Yep, those tiny, terrifying creatures who carry rabies and can make a grown man run for cover: bats. There is an Oak tree in the path of the road that needs to come down only there are bats roosting there. They’re not only roosting, they are procreating and the tree can’t be cut down until they are done. Haspel said that would probably be November. Summer is when bats breed and give birth and we need them to create more bats. Bats are an endangered species and according to the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the Bat Conservation Trust, bats are vital to our ecosystem and we need to preserve them and encourage them to have more bats.
…….Now, I never met a bat I liked nor did I carry about it having baby bats. In fact, even writing about this makes my skin crawl and gives me the heebie jeebies. But here’s the scoop. Bats eat pests. So many, in fact, that it would cost the Federal Government $4 billion a year in pesticides were there no bats. Bats pollinate and disperse seeds for fruit. Bats have a declining population and thus they are endangered and therefore protected meaning if you do anything which might result in reducing that population, they (Big Government) can take legal action against you.
……..So that old oak tree’s staying until November and the bats depart. Haspel said the extra time can be used to evaluate the houses to be torn downfor asbestos. If asbestos is found then asbestos removal must take place and that’s a whole new ball game. I would think it would be more costly to remove and I’m wondering if the demolition work would need to be rebid.
…….In the meantime, we sit and wait. Once hopeful, we are now cynics not surprised that our project is now held hostage by bats. Halloween seems a fitting time for the Dept. to begin demolition because I predict they will discover a coven of witches in residence in the houses and we will be unable to eject them due to the “squatters” law.
