Dear editor,
As a former tourism director for the City of Chanute and member of the Southeast Kansas Tourism Region, I worked alongside representatives of cities, counties and tourist attractions to develop ways to attract visitors and their money to our area. One of the most frequent complaints I heard from business owners was that, after US-169 was improved, visitors who used to pass through towns in our area, and would shop, stay overnight, fill up, or eat, were re-routed and no longer stopped. Business owners in Chanute, for example, derisively referred to KDOTs ditch, US-169s new route on the west edge of town, as the source of their struggle to stay afloat.
One would think, then, that when the new US-169 closed recently for re-construction, it would have presented Iola, Humboldt and Chanute with a golden opportunity to reap the financial benefits of all of that traffic flowing, once again, through their towns down Old US-169. Unfortunately, in all of its bureaucratic wisdom, KDOT has detoured highway traffic west on US-54 to Yates Center, then south on US-75, then back east on K-39 again to Chanute, more than doubling the time and distance between the two towns. Being from Southeast Kansas and a frequent traveler back to our farm from our current home in Leavenworth County, I know area roads, including Old 169, well enough to get where I need to go without adding nearly 30 extra miles to my trip.
Last night, as my wife and I returned home via Old US-169 between Humboldt and Iola, we were stopped by Allen County Deputy Dathan Mc-Murtrey. Deputy McMurtrey asked where we were coming from and where we were headed. When I told him we were headed home from our farm south of Chanute, he proceeded to ask if I hadnt seen the detour signs at Chanute, directing traffic west on K-39. I said I did, but know the area and knew that Old 169 would get us home sooner.
Deputy McMurtrey then gruffly informed us that we were not allowed to drive on Allen County roads unless we were from Allen County going to Allen County and that since we were not from the area, that we had no choice but to use the much longer detour through Yates Center, adding that he was within his rights to issue us a $183 citation for this violation. Bear in mind, we were in a passenger vehicle, not a heavy commercial truck, and were traveling on a paved, public road that is funded, at least in part, with our tax dollars. We did not drive around barricades and were not on a closed road. We simply chose an alternate route to get home. In the end, Deputy McMurtry left us with a warning and a bad taste in our mouths for Allen County and its Sheriffs department.
Aside from the questionable legal grounds of Deputy Mc-Murtrys assertion that non-locals are barred from traveling on Allen Countys public roads and highways, his transparent hostility to out-of-towners left us with little desire to return to to the area, where we have frequently gassed up or eaten at one of the local restaurants. Instead of viewing the occasion of US-169s reconstruction as a possible economic windfall, Allen County leaders (who, for better or worse, are represented by employees like Deputy McMurtrey) have telegraphed loudly and clearly that they view visitors as a threat or a nuisance, rather than an opportunity. We got the message.
If it turns out that there is an obscure law or ordinance on the books that will require us to go as far west as Yates Center to get to our farm, rest assured, we will no longer pass down US-169 through Allen County. Instead, well plan to take I-35 west and US-75 south before turning back east to Chanute. We trust that Beto Juncion, Burlington and Yates Center will be more welcoming and appreciative of our presence and business than Iola, Humboldt and Allen County apparently are.
Attracting economic growth is hard. Driving it away is easy. Allen County leaders would do well to remember that one of the quickest ways to re-route economic growth to other areas is for representatives of the local community to display hostility toward visitors.
Kris Van Meteren,
Linwood, Kan.
