DAVE ROSS

The electricity will have to wait

Jul 19, 2013, 10:08 AM | Updated: 2:29 pm

Robert Zornes of Forks Washington wanted a place where he and his wife could just get away.

“We wanted just a retirement place where we could walk and kind of get out of the mainstream of life,” says Zornes.

Zornes saw a piece of land for sale, 122 acres with a mile of deserted waterfront along the Columbia river. The price reduced to $100,000 because of the recession, and because there’s a giant electrical transmission line running across it.

Zornes and his wife bought it sight unseen. It wasn’t until he decided to visit that he got a tip that this was more than just a remote piece of land.

“There was actually two hobos that hopped off a train and said ‘Where’s the cave at?'” Zornes continues.

These caves on the land contained prehistoric drawings. Not to mention this property is on the Lewis and Clark Trail, which includes one of the last big Indian gathering places.

Remember that electrical transmission line? It’s getting a $200 million upgrade, an upgrade which Zornes is now single-handedly blocking.

“First of all just to install the tower involves a 38 foot deep and 100 foot wide crater,” says Zornes. He says the crater could destroy the view and could potentially destroy that prehistoric cave.

I pointed out to him that the point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was to open up the West to development.

“That’s exactly whats going on is progress, what would you think of if you went to Egypt and saw a transmission tower on top of a pyramid?” Zornes replies.

He is standing firm, which means the electricity may have to wait.

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