I have read and re-read the 2-4-2000 letter (Clarion - Ledger) from Jason G. Horne that was headlined "I-69 Nothing but a "pork barrel project" stuck in the cotton fields."
  I submit that it is a serious mis-judgment on his part to assume that "many live in the Delta because there are not a lot of InterStates running through it."  Just ask the parent of any Delta teenager how comfortable they are waiting for the return of their child as he or she negotiates through one of the scores of narrow, winding two-lane roads day or night.  Ask the
business man or woman trying to make appointments while stalled behind several tractors and cotton-pickers on the two laned roads.
  I submit that, if Mr.  Horne is overly concerned with Government's folly of true "Pork Barrel Projects", he will not have to look long and hard at over 500 other projects across the nation that by far fit that description better.
  Mr. Horne is fortunate to live in the Jackson area, where he reaps the multi-fold economic and other benefits from InterStates 55 and 20 which were constructed in the 1960s.  Yes, Mr. Horne, my tax dollar and the tax dollars of all Deltans helped construct your I-20 and I-55. These InterStates did not benefit the Mississippi Delta . . .  But they did benefit the State
of Mississippi.  You didn't hear the Delta complain about those improvements for your area.
  Like wise, I-10 was constructed across the coastal counties in the 60"s.  And, I-59 was built, connecting Picayune and others with Meridian.  These highways did not benefit the Delta.  All cities on those InterState routes have enjoyed enormous economic benefits. Neither of these InterStates benefited the Delta, but Deltans supported them as they benefited the State.
  As a commercial real estate developer and broker for 35 year in Mississippi and other States, I can tell you unequivocally first-hand that the Delta has been extremely penalized for not having access to an InterState Highway System routed through the Delta sector.
  With NAFTA having been launched into effect, I-69 is part and parcel of the Globalization of economics.  Mississippi stands to benefit from the resulting enhancement of commerce between the U.S.A, Canada, Mexico and Latin America.  I-69 is an important play on all of this.  Mr. Horne's review of the Hemisphere's Map concluded that "the Mississippi Delta is not between
Mexico and Canada."  Mr. Horne should know that Toronto and Eastern Canada is the financial center of Canada (with further international ties).  The linkage of Eastern Canada . . . through Indiana, Mississippi and Texas . . . to Mexico realistically does place Mississippi between Canada and Mexico.  Mr. Horne should feel glad that it does.  Had we had a Republican
President, Mississippi would likely have been awarded many more miles of I-69.
  Mississippi's InterStates have been in existence for 40 plus years.  By the time I-69 is completed, those sectors of the States will have had access to InterState road systems for a half-century.
  We in the remote "last quarter" of the State have happily supported the InterStates constructed elsewhere in Mississippi.  Why?  Because, these improvements benefit the State as a whole.
  For any who share Mr. Horne's ill-advised position, it is time to remove those blinders and welcome further improvements to the highway Transportation System of your State . . . this time, the often-neglected Mississippi Delta, albeit nearly half century later.
  May I also recommend Mr.. Horne's reading Alexander Dumas' 1844 romance novel entitled THE THREE MUSKETEERS.  In reading that novel, I would hope that Mr. Horne would be captured by their Spirit . . . ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE!

MALCOLM S. KRETSCHMAR, JR.,
Greenville