Black lawmakers fight to help Sparta farmers save land from railroad
ATLANTA, Ga. - The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus said Thursday that a railroad’s effort to take land from Black families for a short spur is just more of the same thing that’s been happening in the South for hundreds of years.
The Sandersville Railroad wants a strip that runs through the properties of several families who have owned the land for generations.
They don’t want to sell it, but a judge has ruled that they have to under the principle of eminent domain.
Caucus members said at a news conference Thursday that the idea of eminent domain is that a sale can be forced for a project that’s for the public good.
Why we’ll never have to worry about another Hurricane Helene
The World Meteorological Organization has officially retired the name Helene after the 2024 storm claimed 249 lives and took a $78.7 billion toll.
But they said that’s not the case with Sandersville Railroad, a private company owned by an influential Georgia family.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall Sr. ruled the Sandersville Railroad could condemn a 200-foot wide strip of property running 4.5 miles to build a rail line serving a rock quarry and other users.
Landowners fighting the railroad had appealed a Georgia Public Service Commission ruling allowing the land to be taken, and the judge sided with the railroad.
The caucus says it won’t stand for this.
“The Georgia Legislative Black Caucus is watching,” said state Sen. Nikkie Merritt. “In every corner of the state, we are watching and ready to call out injustice where it strikes.”
‘Prices are going to go up’: Ga. builders brace for lumber tariffs
According to National Association of Home Builders, tariffs will cause the cost of building a home to increase by $9,200, on average.
And the caucus believes the situation in Sparta counts as injustice.
“We are here to push back on behalf of all marginalized people,” she said.
Rep. Al Williams discussed the railroad standoff after leading a prayer.
He said he’s spent much of his life in courthouses “where corrupt public officials took lands” from Black families.
And he feels this is just more of the same.
MORE FROM NEWS 12
Georgia: Latest from the state Capitol
- Ga. lawmakers battle state budget plans as session end deadline looms
- Ga. Democratic lawmakers walk out over transgender vote
- Ga. lawmakers pass religious freedom bill despite discrimination concerns
- There’s still life in legislature for bill attempting to ban DEI in Georgia education
- After emotional ending to school safety legislation talks, bill now heads to Kemp’s desk
- Ga. Senate hearing could lead to compensation for some who were wrongfully incarcerated
Schwall kept a freeze on construction for now, with landowners saying they would appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Organizers of the news conference aid many of the families have owned and cultivated their land for generations.
The Sandersville Railroad, owned by an influential Georgia family, wants to connect the quarry to the CSX railroad at Sparta, allowing products to be shipped widely. Sparta is a mostly Black rural town about 85 miles southeast of Atlanta in one of Georgia’s poorest counties.
The railroad has agreements to buy some of the 18 parcels it needs. But other owners say losing a strip of property would spoil land they treasure, and that some families have owned for a century.
“Eminent domain was put into law for the purpose of public use, not private gain,” Williams said at Thursday’s news conference.
EARLIER COVERAGE:
- Hancock County land owners lose battle against railroad company
- Sparta residents battle railroad in fight to keep their land
- Sparta residents go up against Sandersville Railroad expansion
The move to use eminent domain to take that strip of land aims “to enrich further just a few people who are already rich,” he said.
“This land is all a lot of these people have,” he said.
“We are here to tell the state of Georgia that this is wrong, this is abusive,” he said. “You have robbed those who have nothing left to be robbed of after you have taken so much.”
Rep. Spencer Frye noted that land ownership is the No. 1 way in this country to build generational wealth.
“What we’re talking about right now are some of the things that have been going on in this country for 400 years – longer than that,” he said.
“It’s heart-wrenching to see a farm bisected.”
A member of the Smith family said she’s been fighting “three long years” to stop the railroad.
She forcefully said the owner of the railroad wants something from the families – their land.
“We want nothing – nothing – from him, except for him to leave us alone,” she said.
“Let him go back to Sandersville, Ga., and focus on helping the poor Black families who live on Tybee Street,” where a railroad runs, she said.
She noted that her family and the others aren’t asking for anything – just to be left alone.
Some people in the rural neighborhood think the railroad would enable expansion at a quarry owned by Heidelberg Materials, a publicly traded German firm. They dislike the quarry because it generates noise, dust and truck traffic.
Supporters say if the railroad is built, the quarry will move its operation farther from houses, trains will reduce trucks on roads and the railroad will build berms to shield residents.
Lawsuit over Georgia’s voting machines dismissed
Curling v. Raffensperger was one of Georgia’s longest-running election lawsuits in history.
Railroads have long had the power of eminent domain, but Georgia law says such land seizures must be for “public use.”
Opponents targeted the project by saying it would only benefit the quarry.
The Sandersville Railroad says there are other users, including a company located at the quarry that blends gravel and asphalt for paving. Several companies have said they would truck products to load them onto the new line, saying they want access to markets served by CSX.
Schwall found the railroad met the public use standard, saying it was necessary for the “functioning” of Sandersville and “also serves a public purpose because it will provide a channel of trade in east middle Georgia.”
Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.
