More on Georgia Border Dispute: No Claim for Georgia?

From The Chattanoogan:

...[In] March 1972, just after the [Civil War train] "General" had been given by the courts to the State of Georgia despite Chattanooga’s objection, Rep. Robert G. “Bob” Peters of Ringgold[, GA] had issued the resolution to accept the current border. (No reference cited)

He simply felt that bringing up the border issue would do no good other than to create ill will between the two states.

The Peters’ resolution was approved by a vote of 116-12.

In a prophetic statement during the 1972 Georgia House vote, Rep. Thomason did say that the resolution would forever end any future negotiations between Tennessee and Georgia over the border dispute.

After the Georgia resolution passed, Tennessee also passed a resolution [by Rep. Al Edgar] accepting the Georgia peace offer. (No reference cited)

So, it seems to me that (thanks to the efforts of John Shearer) this will eventually become a moot point again (until the next time). Based on this article, both Georgia and Tennessee passed resolutions saying that the border separating the states that existed in 1972 would be the permanent border of the states. Even without having seen the actual resolutions in both legislatures, it would be fair to assume that there was no time frame after which there would be re-negotiation of this resolution.

Therefore, the recent House Resolution 1206 - and supporting Senate Resolution 587 - in the Georgia legislature should be struck down by the state supreme court, since it failed to overturn the 1972 resolution. (Of course, my lack of procedural law knowledge is a drawback for me at this point.) Of course, the Georgia House and Senate can easily draft a set of bills that seek to repeal the 1972 resolution, and - further - have it's effective date pre-date the passage of HR1206 and SR587.

Of course, this brings up two questions. First of all, shouldn't Georgia start its border dispute with North Carolina, where the 1.1 mile 'hiccup' starts? I mean, if this is where the origin of the "mismapping," shouldn't the first claim be from this point westward? More importantly, if Georgia can win a border dispute with North Carolina, it will strengthen its case against Tennessee (against which it apparently has several small legal saber-rattlings).

The second question it brings up is exactly how much of a legal expert Brad Craver really is. I mean, if he didn't know of the passing of this legislative resolution back in 1972, then what is the basis of his expertise. If he did know of this resolution back in 1972, then where are his professional ethics in not bringing it up in his until-recently confidential report?

However, the Walker County Messenger doesn't mention the resolutions from either Georgia or Tennessee.

1947-71: Many governors of Georgia contemplated reopening the border dispute but none did.
1971: The Georgia General Assembly enacts a joint resolution calling for Georgia governor Jimmy Carter to talk with the Tennessee governor about resolving the border dispute.
[1972: Resolutions in GA and TN to settle border dispute mentioned in Shearer's piece.]
2005: Dade County officials sign an agreement with the water firm of Brown and Caldwell in Walnut Creek, Calif., to research the possibility of an agreement with Tennessee to pump water along a pipeline into Dade from the Tennessee River.

So there are a few reasons I can think of as to why the resolutions in both GA and TN are not mentioned in the Messenger's time-line. 1) They couldn't find it either (which might indicate that Mr. Shearer's source is wrong, or that he's lying), 2) they purposefully omitted it (shameful, to be sure), or 3) they found it but didn't realize what they had (shameful, but not as bad as #2).

In any case, John Shearer brings up one other point in his piece. This time from the Supreme Court:

The [March 9, 1972] article also pointed out that the U.S. Supreme Court had some years before ruled that state boundaries as already established would not be questioned, even if the boundary was different from what was intended on original grants. (No reference given)

Again, sorry Georgia. Apparently, the Supreme Court has already ruled against you. However, it is strange that something this important would be forgotten about by the legal clerks in the Tennessee government.

However, the Messenger piece doesn't show any Supreme Court decision. This might be because they didn't include any Supreme Court searches when putting together their time-line (shameful, imho) or they omitted it (very shameful).

Anyway, the Chattanoogan provides a good article, but it leaves out important references that call into question the veracity of the source. Therefore, if Mr. Shearer could present the following references, it would be very nice, thank you very much:

1. The legislative resolution bill numbers passed by the TN legislature in 1972.
2. The legislative resolution bill numbers passed by the GA legislature in 1972.
3. The Supreme Court decision of the boundaries issue from "some years before" the 1972 article.

Oh, and while he's at it, if he could e-mail them to the Walker County Messenger as well as the Georgia state house, that would be very useful.