Drought-stricken Georgia, eyeing Tennessee River, revives old border feud

Some see the legislation as a publicity stunt. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue eased watering restrictions for landscapers the same week the legislation was introduced.

Tennesseans say that Atlanta has grown pell-mell at the expense of other Southern states and that the drought reveals Georgia's lack of planning.

"The real issue is the use and conservation of water and responsible land management," says Tennessee state Sen. Andy Berke. "Let's remember that all of us throughout the South have water issues, and that their proposed land deal encroaches on [Tennessee's drought-stricken] Marion County. The cruelest joke is ... when they say, 'Y'all have plenty of water' to a place that was just mowing the lake."

The border feud may ultimately land at the US Supreme Court. In such cases, the court often appoints a special master to play the role of a "bird dog trying to track down all the facts and getting them straight," says Joseph Zimmerman, a political scientist at State University of New York in Albany.

Part of the problem is that a frontier mentality shaped the Georgia-Tennessee border, says Daniel Cates, the unofficial town historian of Lookout Mountain, Ga. In the early 19th century, merchants coming up through Georgia to claim the land were a different bunch than the rough-hewn adventurers claiming turf along the first western frontier.

Moving the border would also have practical effects. Most residents have made a conscious choice about what side of the border to live on, says Tennessee resident Lynn Lantz, in part because Tennessee has no state income tax.

The laws of the two states are "different in every way," says Randy Bowden, police chief of Lookout Mountain, Tenn. If the border shifted, he says he'd have to go to work for his friend, Wallace Taylor, the chief of Lookout Mountain, Ga.

But for those in Georgia, it could be a coup. On the Tennessee side, property values are higher and the town hall there is more modern than the shopworn digs in Georgia. "I wouldn't mind moving in over there," says Dana Driver, town clerk of Lookout Mountain, Ga. "We call it the chalet."

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