Save The Road! - Archive

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------------------- 2004 "Period" 1 ----------------
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County,Lilly sign deals on closings 06/17/03
As the 30-day remonstrance period on the Lilly road closings begins to tick down, county officials and the company are moving forward on the various agreements that will be needed to make the move final.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) www.GreenfieldReporter.com

Commissioner backs vote to close roads 6/17/03
Would the road closing vote have gone differently if Commissioner Armin Apple had not recused himself from a vote? Absolutely not, Apple said this week.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) www.GreenfieldReporter.com

Businesses continue to build on north side’s momentum 6/16/03
“The last parts of the toxicology additional are complete – as is all of the new infrastructure,” said David O’Donnell manager of plant engineering, maintenance and utilities at Lilly’s Greenfield Labs. The company has invested $122 million in 300,000 square feet of new additions in Hancock County over the past several years, including some new research facilities. Some of that space already is in use. Several other facilities have yet to be completed, including a new facilities management building. O’Donnell said that building should be complete by next year.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) www.GreenfieldReporter.com

City may attempt to annex Lilly labs 6/13/03
With the spotlight still on Eli Lilly and Co. because of its efforts to close county roads cutting through its property, Greenfield city councilman Dick Pasco raised another issue that makes that light shine even brighter.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) www.GreenfieldReporter.com

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Road-closure parties: Calm before the storm 6/10/03
Now that the Hancock County Commissioners have voted to turn parts of two county roads over to Eli Lilly and Co., the battle is expected to move into court.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) www.GreenfieldReporter.com

Hancock County Grants Lilly Request to Shut Down Roads 6/9/03
Economic development isn't always welcome, especially when people feel they're being pushed aside. Such is the case in the Hancock County community of Greenfield. Eli Lilly and Company ran into a roadblock there as they made plans to expand.
- www.WISHTV.com Channel 8 (Indianapolis, IN)

Commissioners vote to close 2 roads 6/9/03
Bracing for an almost certain legal challenge, the Hancock County Commissioners voted today to approve Eli Lilly and Co.’s petition to close portions of two county roads.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Lilly wins OK to close sections of Greenfield roads 6/9/03
The Hancock County Commissioners today approved a request by Eli Lilly and Co. to close sections of two roads that intersect the 1,600 acres surrounding the company's Greenfield Laboratories.
- The Indianapolis Star (Indianapolis, IN) http://www.indystar.com

Job numbers at Lilly Greenfield decrease 6/7/03
Jobs at Eli Lilly Greenfield have decreased over the past decade despite all the promises. You do the math...

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Readers debate road closings 6/6/03
A compilation of letters to the editor reveals a variety of proposed strategies and viewpoints on Eli Lilly and Co.'s road-closing petition.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Pivotal road-closing vote is still on track 6/6/03
Contrary to popular belief, county commissioners Brian Kleiman and Jack Heiden say that as of today they have not made up their minds about the Eli Lilly and Co. road-closing petition.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Overflow crowd forces move 6/4/03
Tuesday’s public hearing on Eli Lilly’s proposed road closings had no sooner started when it was stopped.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Lilly, critics weigh in 6/4/03
For five weeks, a battle of words and wills has simmered between Eli Lilly and Co. officials and county residents who believe the drug maker’s request to close portions of two county roads near its facilities defies the public interest.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Commissioners say they'll have a decision by 7.30a 6-8-03 6/3/03
- Hancock County public hearing

Lilly now says animal terrorism an issue 6/03/03
Why would animal rights activists care about Greenfield Labs when Lilly claims they are are obligated "to ensure the appropriate treatment of animals"?
- Hancock County public hearing

Critics muster to fight closings 6/2/02
In the five weeks since Eli Lilly and Co. announced it would ask the county to close portions of Meridian Road and Davis Road (CR 100S) near its facilities, critics of the move have responded in a fashion seldom seen.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

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Road closure request is rare 5/31/03
"it is rare for a private company to ask that a well-used street or road be vacated for its own purposes. Unless you’re talking about Eli Lilly".
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/
note: For those interested in further research, and unfortunately for Lilly, they do not own the "easement" and/or "technically" control our roads.

Eli Lilly’s research records building to play major role in research, development of drugs 5/28/03
Lilly's new "bunker" keeps 126 years of discoveries safe from F5 tornadoes.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Lilly gets T'inated 5/28/03
Noting large amounts of traffic originating from Lilly [including from Europe] & tiresome of the voyeurism, all access to our site from Lilly and selected others has been T'inated - visit what they see by clicking here.

The Roads vs. Eli Lilly 5/27/03
Indianapolis Channel 13 News covers the proposed road closures. Now Lilly seems to be banging the growth drum - what happened to the "security" issue?
WTHR Channel 13 News at 11 (Indianapolis, IN)

Hancock County Commissioners change date of their regularly scheduled Monday 5/26/03 meeting to Tuesday 5/27/03 in observance of Memorial Day.

A Shot in the Dark 5/03
Distraught parents across the country blame their children’s autism on a vaccine preservative once made by Lilly. But is thimerosal just a scapegoat?
- The Indianapolis Monthly

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Lilly Now Says it Owns the Road 5/19/03
Live! from the 'Insert-Foot-in-Mouth-Here' Department, Don Pearson of Greenfield Labs’ community relations department is quoted in the Indy Eye as saying: "We own the land on both sides of the road, therefore we technically own the road." Hey Don, if 'you' "own" the road then why ask the County for permission to close them?
- The Indianapolis Eye http://www.indianapoliseye.com

Yard signs finally ready for distribution 5/19/03
By popular demand we now have signs ready for distribution. If you have not already requested signs from us, then please email us at info@savetheroad.com for how to get your sign. Please include your name and phone number for any potential last minute information. The signs are for placement in any publicly visible location you own - your yard, your store etc. They are 18"x24" blue type on white plastic and read:
-TAKE ACTION-
SAVE Davis Road
SAVE Meridian Road
before they close
FOREVER
www.SaveTheRoad.com

Handling of Lilly money again an issue 5/19/03
This is not the first time the bank's handling of Lilly's money has been at issue. In 1998, the Eyewitness News Investigators reported questionable spending practices, including hundreds of thousands of dollars for political contributions and lavish trips for huge entourages of Lilly's employees and their families.
- WTHR Channel 13 (Indianapolis, IN)

Lilly’s true motives 5/16/03
Taking aim at Lilly's "security" excuse, Steven R. Reilly of Greenfield argues they should not be given our public land.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Lilly, owners clash on offer 5/16/03
Eli Lilly and Co. and residents of a subdivision most affected by the company’s road-closing petition are headed for a clash of proposals and counterproposals after the company offered to buy their property this week.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

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No surprise: Lilly formally asks to close parts of roads 5/13/03
As expected, Eli Lilly and Co. formally asked the county commissioners Monday to close parts of two county roads that run through or next to its Greenfield campus.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Commissioners Seek Input from Alternate Channels 5/12/03
During their weekly 7:30am monday morning conference in the 2nd floor of the Courthouse the Commissioners asked attendees for more input especially:
* More attendees at their Monday morning meetings
* More hand addressed letters [c/o Commission Secretary]

Better Late than Never... 5/12/03
A day late and 2 roads short, Lilly filed their request for a public hearing on their proposal to have the County close approximately 4 miles of Davis and Meridian Roads. The Commissioners have set the hearing for Tuesday, June 3, 2003 at 6:30pm in the meeting room of the Hancock County Plan Commission, 110 S. State Street (courthouse Annex 2, or old city hall).

Lilly’s pipeline key to its future 5/12/03
For any pharmaceutical firm, Eli Lilly and Co. included, its drug pipeline means everything.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

The votes keep coming: 5/12/03
The last 3 days has seen a dramatic rise in traffic at the Daily Reporter ePoll, with an uncharacteristic collection of votes in nearly exclusive favor of closing the roads. Nearly 500 votes were cast over a weekend spent honoring our mothers and dodging tornadoes. Who had the time to cast all those votes? Our conclusion: dubious numbers all around - nearly 600 votes have been cast since our original posting of our technical analysis.

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VOTE in the Daily Reporter "Reed's Reader Poll" against closing roads for Lilly's expansion click here to go directly to the poll. Select what should be the second or middle option, "The roads should not be closed; they are important to traffic flow; Lilly should make do with that".

More ePoll Funny Business 5/9/03
Looks like our supporters have been busy over the last 12 hours or so. The vote against did shoot up shortly after we posted the technical analysis detailing how to vote unlimitedly. Last count was over 580 votes - keep them coming! You make your own conclusion...

Daily Reporter ePoll Rigged? 5/8/03
The ePoll on the http://www.greenfieldreporter.com has displayed some uncharacteristic behavior recently. This evidently changed the results from over 50% of votes resoundly against closing the roads to 50% of votes resoundly for closing the roads within 1 hour by some observations. David Hill, editor of the Daily Reporter, stated the poll is "unscientific" and had "no basis" since they are unable to track who is voting. He continued, that while the poll had collected 129 votes in its first 8 days, within the last 48 hours he observed the poll had now collected over 450 votes - "you make your own conclusion". They will be removing the Poll from their web site soon. Further, our technical analysis of the ePoll indicates voting unlimited times is easily achieved by simply deleting and then blocking "cookies" from the http://www.greenfieldreporter.com site within MS IE or with free trial software such as Cookie Pal. More to come...

Notes From the Field 5/8/03
Notes and comments from the meetings of land owners on 4/27/03 & 4/28/03.

Roads must remain 5/7/03
Pleading for the status quo, Stella Koch urges the Editor of the Daily Reporter to voice his dissent against closing the roads.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Lilly is a vital asset 5/7/03
In a first response from a supporter of Lilly's proposal, Dan Stultz of Greenfield lays an egg on the "cluckling" citizenry.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Trust Matters 5/6/03
Lilly asks for our trust in the rational behind their request for our roads. Do they deserve it?

Closures will clog streets, critics say 5/5/03
If the county agrees to close sections of two roads near the Eli Lilly and Co. campus, it could have an impact on other nearby streets, neighbors fear.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

3 Days Left...
As of the 5/5/03 meeting of the County Commissioners Lilly had still not submitted their proposal to vacate portions of Davis & Meridian Roads they promised to deliver in the 4/28/03 Daily Reporter article. Time is running short for Lilly.

Citizen Lilly: A corporate stalwart puts its good deeds on the line 5/3/03
Even though Eli Lilly and Co. has yet to file its petition asking to close portions of two county roads near its Greenfield campus, a good part of the debate on the issue this week has had to do with whether a private company should be given that much sway over public interest and convenience.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

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Lilly: The Rainmaker 4/30/03
Read a response to Lilly's position taken in the Daily Reporter article "Lilly seeks to close portions of 2 roads".

Neighbors debate closures 4/29/03
People who live near Eli Lilly’s Greenfield Labs have always figured the company eventually would ask to close the mile of Davis Road (CR 100S) that runs between Lilly’s primary complex to the north and Elanco animal research facility to the south.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Lilly has yet another community meeting 4/29/03
On Tuesday night, this time, Lilly had a invitation only meeting with with some affected land owners on Meridian road. Why so many meetings and why the secrecy? Perhaps the overwhelming concern of depreciating property values from attendees begins to scratch the surface.

Commissioner Apple officially recuses himself from the decision process 4/29/03
While leaving the residents of Buck Creek, Center and Jackson Townships without a represented voice in this decision, we will ensure all Commissioners receive every letter of concern sent through our One Click letter maker.

People understand Lilly strategy but fret about detours 4/29/03
The community reaction to Eli Lilly and Co.’s road-closing proposal varied among people interviewed Monday.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Lilly seeks to close portions of 2 roads 4/28/03
Citing a need to prepare for future growth and to enhance security, Eli Lilly and Co. plans to ask the county to close parts of two county roads that intersect the property it owns here.
- The Daily Reporter (Greenfield, IN) http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/

Lilly has community meeting 4/28/03
On Monday night Lilly had a invitation only meeting with with some affected land owners on Davis road. We will provide highlights of this private meeting about public affairs at a public venue. Lilly advised they will be filing a petition with the Commissioners "by early May" and that the Commissioners must "hold their hearing within 30 days."

Lilly earnings drop 35 percent on one-time charges 4/22/03
Eli Lilly & Co.'s earnings dropped 35 percent as the drug maker took a $354 million hit from employee severance costs, a disappointing test of an experimental drug and the reduced value of its manufacturing assets.
- Indianapolis Star (Associated Press)