Georgia-Tennessee border dispute gets The Daily Show treatment
'Is is difficult living on the frontlines?'
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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The Daily Show this week traveled to the frontlines of the Georgia-Tennessee border dispute, talking to residents and officials about the longstanding brouhaha over the Peach State's desired access to the Tennessee River.If you recall, Georgia lawmakers have pined for the right to tap the Tennessee River's flowing waters, citing an erroneous 1818 survey that inaccurately drew the state's northern border. Because of that, the satirical news segment decided to explore why Georgians think they have remained deprived from the resource for nearly two centuries.
To highlight the bloody "battle of the Jasper-Chattanooga corridor," Daily Show correspondent Al Madrigal chatted with several rural Tennesseans who don't seem to thrilled about the dispute and wryly compared the land brawl to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"It's actually our land, according to our survey rights," Ted Rumley, Dade County's executive chairman, says. "We're in dire need of water, especially the Atlanta region."
After Madrigal made a small Honey Boo Boo-water shortage joke, Rumley responded the matter wasn't a joking matter. "You don't fool with people," he says. "It's really a serious issue for the state of Georgia."
Tennessee Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, called out Atlantans for using 50 percent more water than Chattanoogans residents, and grimaces slightly at Madrigal's claims that we're excessive water users who don't know how to turn off a water faucet.
"It's our land, it's our water," says Powell. "The border was drawn almost 200 years ago. The land has been Tennessee's for almost 200 years. We're going to defend our border and protect our resources."
Where does it all end? According to the Daily Show, the answer just might lie in the form a peace summit at a north Georgia Hooters and some Sweetwater 420.