From an article in the Geneseo Republic on funding cuts to the Illinois State Park System:
"Geneseo, Ill. -
When construction on the Hennepin Canal finished a century ago, the waterway was considered built too small and too late to be useful in the railroad era.
Not wanting the canal, the Corps of Engineers turned it over to the State of Illinois, and, for many years, the 104-mile waterway struggled to find its identity.
Though it may once have been unloved, the formerly obsolete canal is a thriving state parkway beloved by nearly everyone ...everyone that is, except Illinois state governor Rod Blagojevich."
The article goes on to describe how the Governor planned to close all the state parks to save costs, even though they generate more money than it costs to operate them. The closures would include the canal, and the article then describes how a county Sheriff announced he would be asking for many thousands of volunteers to help him enforce the closure, effectively opening it to the public as "volunteers".
Ah, the creativity of politics and policy!
Thanks to Tim Wachtel, a Genesean himself, for the reference.
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