The War Of The Rock
There is mayhem brewing between Ohio and Kentucky. The Kentucky House of Representatives has passed a resolution as has the Ohio House. There are threats of raiding parties and of armed resistance.
An eight-ton rock rested for generations at the bottom of the Ohio River, minding its own business as time and currents passed. It favored neither Ohio to the north nor Kentucky to the south. It just — was.
Occasionally, when water levels dropped, the boulder would break the surface long enough to receive the chiseled tattoos of mildly daring people seeking remembrance. But it stopped playing peek-a-boo nearly a century ago, leaving only ephemera in its wake, including a sepia photograph of a well-dressed woman in a frilly hat, standing in the middle of the Ohio, on this rock.
Now, because of one man’s obsessive good intention, the fabled rock sits on old tires in the municipal garage of this river city, awaiting the outcome of a border dispute that goes something like this:
Some Ohioans say the rock is an important piece of Portsmouth history and should be put on display. Some Kentuckians say the rock is an important piece of Kentucky, period, and should be returned. And some in both states say: I’ve been distracted by war, recession and a presidential campaign, so forgive me. But are we fighting over a rock?
Last month the Kentucky House of Representatives passed a resolution demanding the rock’s return to its watery bed, with one of its members suggesting that a raiding party to Portsmouth might be in order. Not to be outdone, the Ohio House of Representatives is considering a resolution that asserts the rock’s significance to Ohio, and its speaker has said he is ready to guard the boulder with his muzzle-loading shotgun.
All this has stunned Steve Shaffer, 51, the earnest local historian who rediscovered the rock, raised the rock and anticipated a more enthusiastic celebration of the rock. But at least the rock is happy, he said. “It loves to be the center of controversy.”
This is one of those silly things that politicians get sidetracked on instead of doing anything useful.
By Mockinbird, Monday, 11 February , 2008 @ 10:14 am
Let there be rock!
By RebeccaH, Monday, 11 February , 2008 @ 10:36 am
As long as they’re fighting over the rock, they aren’t doing anything that can hurt the taxpayers. It’s when they decide to build a compromise platform in the middle of the Ohio River, at taxpayer cost of, say, a couple of billion dollars, that there will be war.
By NortonPete, Monday, 11 February , 2008 @ 2:46 pm
I read the article. I think the reporter should have spent more effort in describing how they were able to hoist a 16000 lb rock out of a river.
I read about the air bags and such but there is much more to that story.
By martian, Monday, 11 February , 2008 @ 3:05 pm
“its speaker has said he is ready to guard the boulder with his muzzle-loading shotgun”
Muzzle-loading shotgun? What century is this? Does he have a blunderbuss?
By robert ivers, Monday, 11 February , 2008 @ 7:44 pm
I think the rock should be split in to two pieces and apeice given to each state.
By Gaius, Monday, 11 February , 2008 @ 7:51 pm
Too Old Testament……