Maureen Hayden, writing for CNHI, has an article entitled “Retracing a border incites tensions between Hoosiers, Michiganders” (h/t Indiana Law Blog).
The issue has to do with surveying the border between Indiana and Michigan. (If you’re a Michigander, dependent on hand-based maps, that’s the area between the palm and wrist.) When the original survey was performed in the 1820s they used wooden posts, most of which are long gone. The boundaries are generally known, but small differences can lead to problems. So, the states agreed to re-monument the border.
The new snag is that it’s taken awhile to get going, and Michigan doesn’t think the original cost estimate is reasonable. Apparently the original estimate from 2009 figured for about $1 million in expenses with each state footing half the bill. But, Michigan thinks that the estimates weren’t accurate Michigan anticipates that the true cost is more like $2 million.
Michigan insists that a survey crew needs to spend eight hours a day occupying a point on the boundary to get an accurate global positioning reading from satellites, for example. Indiana surveyors think the same work could be done in less than three hours.
“If you do it their way, it costs about $1,600 a day. If you do it our way, it costs $600 a day,” [St. Joseph County Surveyor John] McNamara said. “You can see how fast the extra costs add up.”
Indiana has only appropriated $500,000. So, it sounds like the states are going to haggle over the budget before they get started. Michigan should figure a way to get a bridge involved so Indiana could give them $1.7 billion the way we are to Kentucky.
ZING
This is why Indiana needs a militia. We need to invade Michigan so that we can put this nonsense to a stop AND benefit from all the economic advantages YES Michigan! has to offer Hoosiers. This is a neocon philosophy that has worked quite well in United States foreign relations. The interactions of the States, back in the days after the Revolutionary War, were not much different. This encourages competition. Of course, Darwin was not yet around so The Framers did not talk about survival of the fittest, so, obviously, those principles did not yet exist. I think, however, a General Pence would look remarkably fit for a GOP leader against those who would seek to steal Hoosier soil. Since I am beyond the age of military service, I shall cheer on our militia. Some will die—that is unfortunate—but we shall conquer Michigan! YES! The “war” debt will not exist, as debt is not permitted to fall on the State of Indiana, by Constitution. Next we shall invade the Commonwealth of Kentucky and put aside for all time their basketball program. These are the things that really matter.
And General Pence should lead the troops on to victory, so he will be present when we vanquish the enemy.
The Indiana Constitution provides for a militia–all persons 17 and over, Article XII, §1.
Instead of invasion can’t we just go to the Supreme Court like we did with Kentucky?
SOP for Indiana – under estimate and over pay.