Simpsonwood redux: Isolation is a state of mind

In the comments of Skeptico's takedown of RFK Jr.'s distorted and one-sided description of the Simpsonwood Conference on the postulated link between thimerosal in vaccines and autism, David Schmitt made my day yesterday. As you may recall, JFK Jr. started his article out with this ominous-sounding introduction:

In June 2000, a group of top government scientists and health officials gathered for a meeting at the isolated Simpsonwood conference center in Norcross, Ga. Convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the meeting was held at this Methodist retreat center, nestled in wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River, to ensure complete secrecy.

Fortunately, David Schmitt lives not too far from Norcross and Simpsonwood, and was willing to point out yet more support for RFK Jr.'s distortions in the comment section of Skeptico's piece:

And for a visual look at the retreat center "nestled in the wooded farmland next to the Chattahoochee River", look here.

(zoom in and click on the Satellite link)

I live near this place, and it's smack in the middle of the suburban "sprawl" that environmentalists like Kennedy are constantly criticizing.

To me, it looks as though the conference center is located in an area that's pretty densely built up. It also looks as though it's surrounded by multiple subdivisions in suburban Atlanta, complete with the usual cul-de-sacs and winding streets, as any quick search using Google Maps, Mapquest, or Mapblast would have shown. The satellite picture in Google Maps just makes it all that much more obvious.

I guess "isolation" is a state of RFK Jr.'s mind. Of course, the real reason Simpsonwood was chosen was not to "ensure complete secrecy," but rather because a huge computer conference was in Atlanta at the same time, and Simpsonwood was the only facility that had space on such short notice.

On the other hand, to be fair, the Simpsonwood website does have lots of bucolic pictures, with deer and walking trails; so maybe it's similar to some of those large office complexes you often see in outer suburbs that have nice wooded grounds around them but are surrounded on all sides by suburban sprawl. We have many complexes like that around where I live, some of which are corporate facilities. Too bad this didn't come up before my trip to Atlanta three months ago. I might have been able to cruise up there to check the center out for myself.

In any case, I've made my way through more of the Simpsonwood transcript, and I've yet to find evidence of the coverup RFK Jr. insinuated. It also looks as though Majikthise is also making the painful slog through the 11 MB and 286 pages. I look forward to seeing what she has to say.