Bike-path foes don't need scary tales

Let's say this up front: The Evans residents who opposed a plan to run a public bike path through their back yards had solid reasons to fight it.

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They didn't have to make scary stuff up.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, at the government complex auditorium in Evans, officials will discuss the Euchee Creek greenway project.

It's an ambitious program, calling for the extension of a bike path all the way from Grovetown to Evans along Euchee Creek. Some property owners are understandably reluctant to have it built through their back yards.

But those warning that a bike path would provide easy access to child molesters ought to be embarrassed to voice such absurdities with a straight face. If that were the case, North Augusta would have shut down its wildly popular Greeneway long ago.

A very real difference, though, is that the Greeneway is built on an abandoned rail bed. The path of the Euchee Creek trail will have to be blazed.

But it won't be shoved down the throats of those who don't want it.

"At this point in time, we have no interest whatsoever in imposing this idea" on opponents of the path, says Preston Duffie, the county's community forester. A route that takes the trail behind the homes of some Stratford residents is no longer on the table.

As for other property owners, Greenspace Advisory Board Chairman Tim Tyler says he is eager to discuss the proposal. He hopes to encourage its fans and win over its opponents.

In any event, whether it's built or abandoned, the path's future should be determined by solid information and good community collaboration - not by bogey men.