Tennessee and Georgia Put Up Their Dukes

posted by Zach Patton

Georgia's quirky plan to move its border with Tennessee seems to be getting, well, less quirky.

The House and Senate in the state have each passed a resolution calling for the state to revisit its longstanding border dispute with Tennessee. If Georgia can move its border one mile north, the water-deprived state will be able to tap the Tennessee River.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue thinks the idea is swell -- and serious:

“I don’t think it’s a gimmick,” Perdue told reporters[....]

“I think we have to be very careful in the way we proceed in this effort. As it gets more and more serious, the people of Tennessee get more and more concerned. There was probably a better way to do this — legislation’s a sort of in-your-face sort of thing,” the governor said.

Meanwhile, Tennessee lawmakers are debating a bill to rebuke Georgia and to say they refuse to engage in border talks:

Tennessee lawmakers introduced a resolution Monday that criticizes the Georgia General Assembly’s attempts to reopen a 190-year boundary dispute between the two states as an “ill-conceived” and “heinous assault on the sovereignty of Tennessee.”

The resolution, sponsored by House Majority Leader Gary Odom, D-Nashville, says the Tennessee General Assembly “refuses to participate in the Boundary Line Commission purportedly established by the Georgia General Assembly, or any similar commission established for such purpose.” [...]

“What I thought was a joke has turned out to be rather disturbing,” Rep. Odom said.