Macon road activist Lindsay "Doc" Holliday is in Bibb County Superior Court on Thursday morning, fighting to keep alive his lawsuit against a state widening of Forest Hill Road. Holliday hopes Judge Edgar Ennis will grant both temporary and permanent injunctions against the state's plans, which he says threaten to make the road more dangerous and destroy its tree canopy.
Ennis announced at the outset of the hearing that an earlier hearing had been "improvident" because it was held without proper notice to the state. "We're starting over, ground zero, here," Ennis said.
Mary Jo Volkert, a senior assistant attorney general, is arguing that Holliday's lawsuit should be thrown out of court for several reasons, including state law that says the state must consent to be sued, which has not happened. The only exceptions are if a state agency violated the law or abused its discretion arbitrarily and capriciously, which Holliday hasn't proved.
"I believe the court at this point with the evidence on record will grant the motion to dismiss," she said.
Holliday is no longer representing himself. Robert J. Waddell Jr. of Atlanta joined the case yesterday. Holliday said another engineer has offered a safer design for a widening of Forest Hill Road.
Volkert said construction barrels have been placed on the road, but no land has been disturbed yet.
Several current and retired Bibb County officials are in the audience.
For more on this story, read Friday's Telegraph and return to Macon.com.
