Cyprus-Forum.com

[insan]

NOT-SO-NEIGHBORLY NEIGHBORS: The road to bad feelings

No common ground on Tienken dirt pile
January 26, 2005



BY TAMARA AUDI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


Two Hills — Rochester and Auburn — are fighting over another, a dirt pile Auburn Hills used to block Tienken Road just west of the Rochester Hills border in 1990. Rochester Hills officials are indignant; Auburn Hills officials say "Who asked you?"

The top of the home page of the official Web site of Rochester Hills declares: "Vivimus in pace et benevolentia."


Translation: "We live in peace and goodwill."


Except, apparently, when it comes to a certain pile of dirt (now more garden-like after a $50,000 manicure) dumped nearly 15 years ago by a certain neighboring town (you know who you are, Auburn Hills) on a certain road (Tienken, a vital connector between Adams and Squirrel roads).


Sometimes a dirt pile is just a dirt pile, but in this case, it's a stubborn symbol of an escalating battle of wills between the two Hills -- one that went all the way to the governor in the form of a bill that would have given Oakland County the authority to remove the roadblock.


The governor vetoed the bill in mid-October, and in doing so gave the local battle new life.


One politician recently said it would be easier to win peace in the Middle East than find a resolution to Tienken Road.

...................



It's what it symbolizes
For a clue as to how a pile of dirt could have stirred such animosity, it helps to get some distance, and an expert.


For both there is David W. Johnson, a professor who teaches the psychology of conflict resolution at the University of Minnesota.


"It's not the dirt," Johnson said, after learning the details of the Tienken Road conflict. "It's what the dirt symbolizes."

If there's one thing on which both sides might agree, it's that Johnson -- who compares the dirt pile tactic to the U.S.-Soviet Union nuclear stand-off -- is right. The roadblock may symbolize different things to different people, but it is clear that everyone sees a lot more than just dirt in the road.



.................................................



"I can go from here to eternity and not run into something like this," Raschke said. "For Pete's sake, even the Berlin Wall came down."


Johnson, the conflict expert, said that comparison makes sense. The dirt pile, he said, is not unlike the hateful division of Cyprus between the Greeks and the Turks, who manage to inhabit the same small island while drifting further apart.


"It's so very easy to create hatred," he said, adding that the longer the standoff lasts, the more difficult it will be for the two communities to find a resolution. "When people get angry, they begin focusing on only one issue. Their focus narrows to the one issue and they don't see the other issues involved," he said. "They can't see the other side's point of view."

That's as true in the Mediterranean as it is in Oakland County, Michigan, Johnson said.



http://www.freep.com/news/locoak/tienkr ... 050126.htm

[brother]

LOL.... .....now any dispute that deterioates in the world will be resembled to the cyprus problem, do not be surprised in the near future if people start to say in any disagreement "this is a completely CYPRUS situation"
Our problem is making a laughing stock out of us to the world.

[turkcyp]

Auburn Hills resident seem to have a point. I would not want others creating traffic in my neighbourhood, and do not pay for the expenses and upkeep.

[insan]

LOL.... .....now any dispute that deterioates in the world will be resembled to the cyprus problem,

Not any ra brother, just one I came across so far, in 40 years. The remarkable points here are the ones which put an insight to the historical, psychological, communal(seperate district communities) and economical aspects of the conflicts.

[brother]

Fair comment but if there is one you can bet your last dollar there will be another and another........

[Mills Chapman]

Insan,

Thanks for posting this article. I found it fascinating. David Johnson, who is quoted in this article, is the cooperative learning/conflict resolution researcher whose work most interests me and under whose guidance I might try to study for a PhD in a couple of years. I even mentioned some of his ideas on my website.

David is a nice - and very smart - guy who is committed to cooperation and peace work. He gave a presentation in the RoC in October of 2003 (on cooperative learning).

On another note, there is too much snow and ice here in Pennsylvania. -Mills