Oh. They weren't joking?

Fellow Georgia residents and those with close ties to the state might have heard a bit of this news already: some Georgia state legislators have devised the ingenious idea to move the state border a mile north so that the state (and its behemoth capital metro area) will have access to the waters of the Tennessee River.

When the proposal first hit the floor of the General Assembly a couple of weeks ago, the article from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted a number of Tennessee political figures making wisecracks about the idea, warning that a group of Volunteers would ascend Lookout Mountain with their rifles and defend their fair land if need be. The Chattanooga mayor (if I remember the source correctly) compared Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to Don Quixote, going on a quest and tilting at windmills, rather than addressing Georgia's water shortage through serious measures such as conservation.

Well, guess what Tennessee? Joke's on you, because Perdue and his pals in the state legislature are absolutely serious.

This snippet of an article from the Atlanta Business Chronicle details the plans of Georgia's leaders, which have been months or maybe years in the making, to build a pipeline from the Tennessee River to the metro Atlanta area. According to the article, a possible path for the pipeline has already been laid out.

The news out today: the Georgia state Senate unanimously passed a resolution proposing that the state border be moved about a mile north --- to the 35th parallel as originally intended before some surveyor screwed it up in 1818.

Of course, that doesn't make it so. The state House will look at a similar resolution. Oh, and then we have to talk to our northern neighbors, Tennessee and North Carolina, to see what they think about the idea.

Hm, I wonder what they'll say?


Georgia: "Gentlemen, I have called this meeting to claim what's rightly mine. Please deed over all property north of the current border extending approximately 1 mile to the 35th parallel."

Tennessee: (snickering) "Yeah, whatever you say champ."

(Tennessee and North Carolina whisper to each other. More snickering)

Georgia: (in stern tone) "What's so funny?"

Tennessee: "Huh? Oh, no, nothing. Nothing's funny."

N.C.: "Nope. Not a thing."

Georgia: (shouting now) "Then why are you laughing?"

Tennessee: "What? We're not..." (bursts into uncontrolled laughter along with N.C.)

(Tennessee and N.C. stand to leave the room.)

Tennessee: (fighting back more laughter and looking at his watch) "I'm sorry. We, uh, we've got a lunch date with Florida. We'll see you later."

Georgia: "Wait just a minute. We're not finished here."

N.C.: "You take care, all right pal?"

(Tennessee and N.C. leave the room)

You know, that's just one of many possible scenarios.

And eventually, if Georgia is serious enough about the idea, the state leaders will probably get the U.S. Congress and/or the federal courts involved.

So, we'll see what happens I guess. Who knows? If Gov. Perdue gets tapped as a vice presidential candidate (as some terrifying news reports have speculated) and then the elephants win back the White House, this plan could really have legs.

Personally, I hope not. For one thing, it seems a little like a cop-out for Atlanta in terms of managing its limited water supply. Plus, I've grown fond of the idea of metro Atlanta now having a real, tangible roadblock to slow its growth before it swallows up all of northern Georgia.

That's not to mention the fact that the Tennessee politician's remarks about ascending Lookout Mountain with rifles also might not have been a joke.