A touchstone in my life is gone, my childhood home once stood here. My dad planted the tree, it once stood in our front yard. A sapling when I was a boy, like all the other trees in Carrollton, it's much bigger now.

After being gone for 30 years, it was surprisingly difficult for me to see this. It's hard to imagine how the people felt who were forced to move away so their home could be destroyed.

It's harder still to accept that none of this was even necessary.