MORE EMINENT DOMAIN OR VOLUNTARY BUYOUT?

As I drive back and forth to work, sometimes taking the State Street route, I find myself wondering how in the world the curve on State Street between Westbrook Drive and Spy Run will be straightened without removing a number of homes. The curve starts just to the west of Westbrook Drive and straightens out near the BP Station at the corner of Clinton and State.

Here is my question. How is the curve going to be straightened without taking out several homes in the path of the project? The Google Earth view below shows a number of homes in the curve area that sit smack dab in the road of any effort to straighten the curve.

Eminent domain has been a sore spot with property owners since the early days of our country. The Fifth Amendment contains the “eminent domain” or the “takings” clause.

“nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

Historically, eminent domain was to be used for such public uses as constructing schools, building highways, providing public parks and such other projects that are necessary for the public good. Although the government may exercise such takings under the Fifth Amendment, it must also pay just compensation.

Through the years, the use of eminent domain has been broadened to include takings that benefit private property owners - not just the public.

The Grand Wayne expansion here in Fort Wayne was just such a use. The City used the concept of “blighted” to take several private properties - fast food restaurants and a package liquor store - for the purpose of transferring the properties to the private entity overseeing the Grand Wayne expansion - no public use such as a park, a school, or a highway was involved.

Then in June 2005, the infamous decision of Kelo v. City of New London Connecticut, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) was handed down by the Supreme Court. That decision upheld the taking of private property - homes and businesses - by the City of New London, Connecticut, in order to turn them over to the pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, for the purpose of economic development in the form of creating jobs and increasing the tax base. Of course, “just” compensation was required.

The decision triggered outrage across the country. Many states immediately established commissions to research and prepare legislation to thwart what was seen as an abuse of the eminent domain power.

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Now, back to the State Street curve. The Google Earth picture and my own photos show the homes located in the path of the project. The City has already approved preliminary engineering work to straighten and expand State Boulevard between Spy Run Avenue and Cass Street for $772,000 with the total project cost to run around $9,000,000.

So, my question remains, will the City fall back on its power of eminent domain or will the home owners be approached to voluntarily sell the properties? I honestly don’t see the curve being straightened without infringing on the private property interests of the home owners.

If eminent domain is used, how is the straightening of a curve to ease traffic flow a public use justification?

EARTHQUAKE! 5.4 EARTHQUAKE HITS SOUTHERN ILLINOIS - RUMBLES NORTHWARD

As I was getting ready this morning, I suddenly felt my entire home tremor. The tremor lasted only a few seconds and occurred at about 5:40 a.m. Startled, I started thinking of reasons for the shaking. Was it a train rumbling by several blocks away? I often feel the vibrations of trains as they travel across the St. Marys River trestle at Van Buren and Main Street and head east through Fort Wayne.

Was it a large semi of some kind that had passed by? Sometimes those vehicles also trigger vibrations through my home. I worry about the foundation of my home since it has suffered over the years from water seepage from the flooding St. Marys. The last five years have been particularly harsh with four floods since July 2003. Each flood leaves me anxious about the condition of my home, and, in particular, my basement foundation.

But as I was listening to the news on Channel 15, the announcers - somewhat incredulously - said we had experienced an earthquake. The epicenter - the point of origination - was about 60 miles northwest of Evansville near West Salem, Illinois, which is about an hour’s drive northwest from Evansville.

Although we typically think of earthquakes as specific to certain regions such as California, we, in the Midwest, have one of the most active earthquake faults in the country - the New Madras fault. The following map shows earthquakes that have been recorded from that fault since 1974.

Photo credit: Live Science

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Photo Credit: Wikipedia

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Although this morning’s quake appears to have originated farther north, earthquakes in the Midwest are fairly common if the above map is any indicator. So, as we go through today, we will hear more about the New Salem earthquake.

Now, I am off to work to find out if my co-workers also felt the quake and to excitedly discuss the phenomenon that we do not experience too often here in our area.

HILLARY HITS THE FORT

Yesterday Hillary Clinton came to town in what will probably be a number of stops in Indiana before our May 6th primary. The location chosen was a small diner in the Village of Coventry. What was formerly a Captain Ds was converted into Sara’s Restaurant, a family-style eatery with an atmosphere of politics and patriotism.

When I got to the restaurant at 2:00 p.m. only a few people were present. The day was sunny, but the wind was cold and biting. We signed up individuals as they strolled onto the parking lot beside the restaurant. We had initially been told that, as volunteers, we would be able to go into the restaurant for the event. It was quit disappointing to find out that this wasn’t accurate. It was also disappointing to find out that those who would be admitted had already been picked early that morning when they showed up to get a wristband. The wristband had either blue stars or red stars and entitled the wearer to enter the event.

But knowing these things are quickly planned, I stayed to help. Slowly the lot began to fill with onlookers. A sound system and stage had been set up in the parking lot. Hillary would speak to the outside crowd first from the stage and then go inside to address the crowd and answer questions.

She arrived about an hour late and signed autographs and chatted with volunteers standing in the front. I had given up at about 5:30 and left. Standing for hours on end is very difficult for me with my physical disability. When I got home though, a TV station was broadcasting the complete question and answer session being held inside the restaurant. I watched the broadcast in the warmth of my living room, admiring how well Hillary related to those in the crowd.

Photo credit: Shirley Hirt

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She definitely excels in the smaller, more informal venue. She appeared relaxed and comfortable as she fielded various questions from the audience. I read in a few Hillary Hater blogs that the audience had been hand-picked to assure that those in the room were Hillary supporters and would not ask uncomfortble or tough questions.

I know from being in the parking lot that that was not true. As I walked around signing up people, I ran into two women who had wristlets that would enable them to enter the event. As I talked to them and asked them to sign up and volunteer, they both told me they were not voting for Hillary. They declined to sign the volunteer sheet and said they just wanted to see Hillary and ask a question. I saw the two women on TV as I watched the recap, and they were sitting about two rows in back of Hillary.

Photo credit: Shirley Hirt

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Even though I did not stay for her actual arrival, I am sure she will return. And, I anticipate her next appearance to be a larger venue where it is nice and warm.

16 MONTHS - A HALF MILLION DOLLARS - AND NO VA REPORT

Sylvia Smith has kindly uploaded the controversial redacted report about our VA Hospital. The report cost taxpayers $530,000 - over a half million dollars. And what does the public get? A 78-page report with three-fourths of it unreadable. Of the 78 pages, only 21 were released through an FOIA request by the Journal-Gazette. Of those 21 pages, about half were withheld in their entirety and others were subject to black lines through entire paragraphs.

The following is a refresher of what has happened over the past four years since the initial announcement that the inpatient beds would be closed:

• May 2004 - Anthony Principi, Secretary of the VA announces the inpatient beds at the local VA hospital will be closed pursuant to a recommendation by the Capital Asset and Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) Commission decision.
• August 2004 - Congressman Souder holds public meetings to address the issue of ending inpatient care at the Fort Wayne VA Hospital
• August 2004 - Veterans for Better Health Care (VBHC) is established as a grass-roots organization to combat the closing of inpatient care at the Fort Wayne VA Hospital
• August 2004 - November 2007 - VBHC participates in parades, writes letters, hands out thousands of flyers, and holds a rally at the World War II Museum in Auburn and is joined by the public in protesting the closing of the inpatient beds
• November 16, 2004 - Anthony Principi submits letter of resignation as VA Secretary and steps down from post
• February 1, 2005 - Jim Nicholson sworn in as new Secretary of the VA
• July 2005 - VA Secretary Nicholson promises new study of Fort Wayne VA Hospital
• June 2006 - Congressman Souder announces new study of Fort Wayne VA Hospital
• September 2006 - Congressman Souder announces his belief that Fort Wayne VA Hospital has a “great chance” of remaining open
• November 29, 2006 - BAH undertakes new study of VA Hospital and holds private meetings with various veterans groups in the morning and a public meeting in the evening -study to be completed and be on VA Secretary’s desk by May 2007
• May 2007 - no BAH Study released
• September 2007 - Final Report by BAH given to VA but withheld from release
• September 2007 - February 2008 - no information on study forthcoming to the public
• October 1, 2007 - VA Secretary Jim Nicholson officially steps down from position
• December 20, 2007 - James Peake sworn in as new VA Secretary
• February 2008 - VA announces another study of the Fort Wayne VA Hospital
• March 2008 - VA refuses to disclose original report findings, skirting the disclosure by redacting three-fourths of the report

The February 2008 announcement that the VA would now contract for a follow-up study of outpatient services caught us by surprise. Focusing on the outpatient resources could mean one of two things - either the VA will keep the inpatient beds and beef up the outpatient care in an effort to provide better services to the hospital’s clientele, or the VA will discontinue inpatient care and use the facilities for outpatient services only with inpatient care contracted out to area hospitals. I certainly hope it is the former and not the latter.

The National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2008, which extends the registration period for the guard and reserves, as well as the modification of the VA benefits booklet to include the guard and reserves, makes closing our inpatient beds fly in the face of logic. With the increase in National Guard and Reservists coming home to northeastern Indiana, we need increased care not diminished care.

Photo Credit: National Guard website

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THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT OF FISCAL YEAR 2008

As I noted, two factors should work in favor of keeping inpatient beds open and increasing outpatient care. First, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of Fiscal Year 2008 signed by President Bush on January 28, 2008, extends the period of enhanced enrollment opportunity for health care eligibility provided to veterans who served in a theater of combat operations after November 11, 1998 - commonly referred to as combat veterans or OEF/OIF veterans.

The enhanced enrollment minimum duty requirements are as follows:

• Currently enrolled combat veterans will have their enhanced enrollment period automatically extended to 5 years from their most recent date of discharge.

• New enrollees discharged from active duty on or after January 28, 2003 are eligible for this enhanced enrollment health benefit for 5 years after their date of their most recent discharge from active duty.

• Combat Veterans who never enrolled and were discharged from active duty between November 11, 1998 and January 27, 2003 may apply for this enhanced enrollment opportunity through January 27, 2011.

Second, the standard VA federal benefits booklet for veterans and their dependents has been updated to include those in the National Guard and Reservists, who previously had been excluded from receiving benefits based on past general eligibility requirements.

The 2007 Federal Benefits booklet limited general eligibility to discharge from active military service under other than dishonorable conditions. Active service meant full-time service, other than active duty for training. Under the 2007 guidelines, Guard and Reservists were not eligible for benefits.

However, the 2008 benefits booklet changed those requirements to read:

“A person who served in the active military, naval, or air service and who was discharged or released under conditions other than dishonorable may qualify for VA health care benefits. Reservists and National Guard members may also qualify for VA health care benefits if they were called to active duty (other than for training only) by a Federal order and completed the full period for which they were called or ordered to active duty.”

The newly included reservists and national guard will expand the number of veterans who need services in all areas of the country. Indiana has more national guard members on duty than any other state in the Union and that includes larger states such as Texas and California. Many of the 4,108 members - 3,200 - now on active duty are from the 76th Brigade Combat Team located in Warsaw, Indiana. Those 3,200 members will come home to this area and will need care and services just as many others from northeastern Indiana now receive.

Northeastern Indiana not only has the highest number of national guard members on active duty but also is home to the 122nd Fighter Wing of the Indiana Air National Guard based at Fort Wayne International Airport. The 122nd Fighter Wing - known as the Black Snakes - recently acquired land for an expansion needed to absorb fighter jets and crews from Terre Haute, Indiana, and Springfield, Illinois.

Logic dictates that we should keep our inpatient beds. Yet the actions of the VA in withholding the Booz, Allen & Hamilton study do not fill me with a sense of security. We have spent 16 months waiting on a $530,000 study funded by the taxpayers which has resolved nothing and has created a sense of, once again, being bamboozled by the government.

DISRESPECTFUL - DISGRACEFUL - DISINGENUOUS - DISHEARTENING

In May 2004, VA Secretary Anthony Principi accepted the decision of the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) Commission to close the inpatient beds at our VA Hospital.  The news triggered outrage and activism among area veterans and veterans’ groups.  Our group, Veterans for Better Health Care, was born of that outrage and activism, and we have now been together for almost four years. 

For almost four years, we have participated in parades, wrote letters, held a rally, and handed out thousands of flyers - all with the goal of keeping our inpatient beds open.  When a new study was announced based on updated and more accurate information, we had hope that our efforts were going to pay off. 

In November 2006, the firm of Booz, Allen & Hamilton came to Fort Wayne and held private hearings as well as a public hearing to gather our thoughts and input.  They returend to Washington, D.C. to prepare their report, and we breathed a sigh of relief.  We actually dared to hope that we had been taken seriously and that Booz, Allen & Hamilton would provide a fair report that would be presented to the new VA Secretary Jim Nicholson.

Photo Credit: Department of Veterans Affairs

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We were told that the report would be ready in about six months which would have been May 2007.  So we waited, and we waited.  May came and went.  Summer rolled into fall, and we received more discouraging news - Secretary Nicholson was leaving and a new secretary would be sought.  More delays.  Supposedly the report was ”on the desk.”  But if it was, it was buried under piles of bureacratic red tape.

The new secretary, James Peake, was nominated and confirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate.  Still no report.  Then, out of the blue, an article appeared in the Journal-Gazette in February that another study would be done.  This one would be of the outpatient resources at our VA Hospital.   Another study?  The taxpayers already have footed the bill for $530,000 - half a million dollars - the price of the November 2006 study by Booz, Allen & Hamilton.

Something is wrong - very wrong.  The Journal-Gazette filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get to the study, but it has been met with a disingenous attempt to hide it by redacted - marking out - three-fourths of the document.  The table of contents was even marked out. 

Enough is enough.  The Bush administration and the Veterans Administration are playing fast and loose with the health and care of our veterans.   Perhaps this is simply a game to them.  Years have now gone by with no resolution of the inpatient bed issue at our VA Hospital.  Our area veterans need this hospital, and they have earned this hospital.

Disheartening, disrespectful, disingenous, but most of all disgraceful.   Every citizen in this area - veteran or not - should be hopping mad that the government is treating us with disdain.  And one more “D” word - determined.  We are determined to keep this alive, and we are determined to hold the government to its promise to provide health care to those who served our country.  For us, that means keeping the inpatient beds at our local VA Hospital.

VERA BRADLEY - ANOTHER SNOW JOB IN MARCH

 

So Vera Bradley has decided to close three Indiana plants and one Ohio plant in order to move production “in-house.” The decision to move production in-house was made, according to a spokewoman, to consolidate manufacturing and cut costs.   But exactly just what does “in-house” mean? When the term is used, it usually means manufacturing will take place in the company’s digs. Somehow I suspect that may not be what happens in Vera Bradley’s case.

The three plants that will close - Summit Production Systems LLC, Mercury Manufacturing LLC and Phoenix Sewing Inc. - are located in Fort Wayne. The fourth plant, KAM Manufacturing, is located in Van Wert, Ohio, and will discontinue most operations by the end of the 2008. 

Management states that it will keep production in Fort Wayne, yet the company’s new location is being built outside Fort Wayne city limits, close to the GM plant south on 69.  I guess that makes it easier to avoid scrutiny - out of sight, out of mind. 

Photo Credit: College News.org

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The company has transformed itself from an Indiana for-profit corporation organized in 1982 to its latest morphing into an international corporation formed in 2006.  Vera Bradley designs now operates under the moniker of “Vera Bradley International, LLC” and, of course, is outsourcing work to China. 

The outsourcing makes Vera Bradley just like so many other corporations who have decided that profit is king.  That means that Vera Bradley is now exploiting the cheap labor pool in China as well as adding to the environemntal damage occurring from China’s lack of environmental protection laws.  The following is a quote from Patricia Miller given during a speech in Greenscastle, Indiana, in October 2005:

“Doing business is all about relationships. It’s like anything else — it’s the people you work with, it’s how your treat them and how they treat you, and you want to do business with people that are honest, that are hard-working, that deliver for you.”

Three months before making that speech, she had already headed a trade delegation to Asia in the summer of 2005.   The company began outsourcing in 2006, and labels with “Made in China” began to appear in products by 2007.  Just when I thought the weather was improving, we get another snow job - and this one from a company that has long touted its ties to Fort Wayne and the local economy.  

THOUGHTS ON TURNING 60

Last month, I turned 60 years old. I am still mulling over in my mind where some of the famous, “Gee, it’s great to get old” expressions come from.

One of my favorites uses the ever-brilliant word “gold” as in the “Golden Years.” I am not sure where this comes from, but some suggest it arises from the gold watches that retirees receive as a parting gift when they retire. Others say it is in reference to the golden environment of wiling away time in sunny Florida. I have no intention of wiling away hours anywhere other than here in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Seriously, I think 60 is a smack in the face about your own mortality. Not that I think I am immortal, but the notion of only 5 years until 65, is fairly disconcerting. The only thing I can do now is get really old. But I do not intend to retire unless I have to - I would be bored to death. I love my home, and I would like more time to work on it, but I know after a couple of weeks I would be bouncing off the walls.

I have picked up the annoying habit of looking at the daily obituaries. As I scan the announcements, I look at the age groups. Sometimes I swear I am on the verge of hyperventilating when I see people who have died in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. The first thing I do is look at the memorial designation. If it is to an organization for some disease or illness, I breathe a sigh of relief. That means something untoward happened, and the reason for death wasn’t just age.

I remember back to my high school days in South Whitley when our class president, Mick Bishop, was killed at the age of 17 - a month shy of his 18th birthday. He was a popular person: he was our class president, he was in sports, he was cute, he was smart, and he had so much to look forward to in life. But, on his way home from Peru, Indiana, with a couple of friends, the car went out of control and hit a tree. My understanding was that he was lying down in the back seat asleep, and his side hit the tree. He died of a broken neck.

Most of us in our class were between 17 and 18 at the time he died. We couldn’t fathom a random death such as Mick’s. We could understand those who had lived a full life and then passed away. And our concept of a full life was someone who had made it to their 30s or 40s.

It is funny how over the years my idea of “old” has changed. When I hit a milestone such as each decade, I just add 25 or 30 years to it and that is my new definition of old. My co-workers, being ever so kind, kept telling me my “60 is the new 40.” Yep, sure hope that means my body feels that way too.

One of my favorite gifts was a t-shirt with “I’m 60 and still not ready to make nice.” Of course the slogan is from the Dixie Chicks hit album, Taking the Long Way. You all probably recall that Natalie Maines made a comment about King George that didn’t sit too well with all those patriotic, flag-waving Americans. Scores of anti-free speech people - carefully wrapping themselves in the flag - destroyed the Chicks CDs. “Taking the Long Way” was a comeback success for the Chicks, and one of my favorite songs was “Not Ready to Make Nice.”

Three of my friends and I spent the day in Indy to celebrate my big 6-0!

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I think one of the hardest things to absorb is how fast time has flown. It seems like yesterday that I was going to sock hops, learning to drive our ‘58 Chevy Biscayne, working at our family grocery store, singing “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You, Yeh, Yeh, Yeh” as loud as we could on the bus traveling to away basketball games, and raising my boys. Gosh, so many memories!

I do know one thing though, when my heart skips a beat or I get those little butterflies in my stomach - it is no longer love; it is an arrhythmia and indigestion.

I suppose I had better brace myself for my journey toward my 70th birthday because I am sure the upcoming 10 years will seem to go even faster. But, just think, at 70 I will have to get a new t-shirt that says “I’m 70 and still not ready to make nice.” Lookin’ forward to it!!

TAX ABATEMENT - NOT FOR FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS ANY MORE

I don’t get it. Why was Mitch Harper the only one who questioned the propriety of the tax abatement given to the new Harrison Square condo owners and had the wherewithal to vote against the proposal? Why would buyers who can afford the condos need a tax abatement?

I have always supported Harrison Square, but this goes too far. Councilman Pape mentioned that we need to be sure we can draw new development to the downtown. Pardon me, but I thought the condos had already been purchased. I also thought we were well on our way to building Harrison Square. Sounds to me like development is already being created.

Why would City Council need to give an abatement after the fact? Did the purchasers agree to buy the condos with the understanding that a tax abatement was in the air? Or am I missing something here?

First, Council provided tax abatements to such illustrious businesses as fast food restaurants which pay paltry wages and do not do much for the community, and now, it appears that certain lucky private property owners will get the benefit of a tax abatement. Okay - where is my abatement? Why shouldn’t I have the benefit of a 10-year abatement?

The following YouTube video is of Councilman Harper explaining why he voted against the tax abatement. And, you know what, he makes perfect sense.

THE RIVER WIDE - AFTERMATH

Wednesday and part of yesterday was a bad day for the flood-fighting effort. The city had brought in one pump, but it had problems and wasn’t working properly. When I got home Wednesday night, the water around my home was higher than when I had left Wednesday noon after checking my home, but the city workers had erected the clay dike and were busy maintaining it.

Parking was a problem, but I found a spot up the block from my home. A huge pump was brought in and set up out in the street at the northwest corner of my house to try to get the water pumped back over the dike.

Pump brought in by the city - the St. Marys is visible yet at the top of the dike-the sandbags piled in the middle are holding down a manhole cover where the river was backing up onto the street

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Let me digress for just a moment. In July 2003 when we flooded, the city had brought in dump truck loads of sandbags to use, and we got those put in place. But the water was still getting through and running down into my basement. I am the lowest point on the block, so naturally the water came down to my one, little old corner to build up. And since the yard was a total disaster anyways, we dug a trench from three houses up down to the corner of my house.

My neighbors, who own the rental property next door, and I went together and rented a four-inch pump to decorate the corner of my yard. I had never run a pump before, so that meant I needed to learn the ins and outs of how to run the thing - not that it takes a rocket scientist to figure it out.

We put down plywood to support the weight of the pump. During the day while I was at work, one of the owners of the rental house watched the pump. When I got home, I grabbed a couple of hours of rest, and then went out at about 7:00 p.m. to spend the night on the porch swing. It was July, so at least it was warm.

I took out a couple of pillows and a light blanket and slept in the porch swing for three nights straight. I would doze - kind of hard to sleep really comfortably in a porch swing with a loud pump running close to you. I would get up every two hours to fill the pump with gas. My worst fear was that I would be so tired, I wouldn’t wake up and then the pump would run out of gas.

To further complicate things, my youngest son and I had just refinished the narrow strip of yard running along side my house the summer before. We had laid landscaping fabric down and lined the length with landscape timbers. We then put down lots of pretty red mulch to brighten it up. Let me tell you, pretty red mulch does a number on a pump. But good old ingenuity set in, and I brought out one of my spaghetti strainers, and we secured it to the end of the hose.

The first time I shut the pump off to put gas in, I forgot how I had been instructed to turn it back on. Dang - where was that rocket scientist manual when I needed it.  I about panicked when I thought I couldn’t get the thing started. After talking to myself a minute or two and fiddling with every switch on the thing, I remembered how to turn it back on. And at 2:00 a.m. with not a soul around, I could laugh out loud at my stupidity. And, I could laugh with relief. I didn’t forget again how to turn it back on.

So back to this ginormous pump sitting in the street by my house rattling and humming right now. It is huge. Wednesday night as it tried mightily to begin throwing the water back out into the river, I could feel the vibrations. All I could think about was my basement wall which had a large crack in it and had sprung a leak Wednesday night. One of my neighbors who had been helping me told me to just plug it with my finger like the little Dutch boy. Uh huh, right.

So tonight as the pump growls for the third night in a row, I have been keeping the city workers supplied with coffee and snacks. It is the least I can do for those who have put in long, tiring hours to protect us and help us save our homes. It is cold out, and I thought about sitting out on the swing for a while, not that it would do me any good. But it is also hard to relax. The workers don’t complain, and they don’t even ask me why I don’t want a wall along the river. And for that, I am thankful.

How do I explain the love I have for my little area and for the St. Marys and Thieme Drive? How can I make anyone understand when they see these pictures and wonder why on earth I wouldn’t want a wall to protect me and my neighbors? I can only ask that you sit on my front porch on a warm summer’s day with a breeze blowing softly and the trees green with life and the twitters and chatter of the wildlife along the river bank and the sun shining down and the river peacefully flowing through the city - then tell me you don’t understand.

THE RIVER WIDE - ST. MARYS TOPS ITS BANKS AGAIN

After going through three floods in a year and a half, I have become familiar with the ebb and flow of the river just across Thieme Drive from home. Yesterday was the the fourth time in four and a half years - July 2003, June 2004, January 2005, and February 6, 2008 - that this small “cup” area of Thieme, Nelson, and West Berry has been the victim of flooding.

Not many of us are affected, and when we do flood, it is an aggravating inconvenience. My basement takes in water primarily from filtration as the St. Marys travels through the “fill dirt” which is the foundation of Thieme Drive and adjacent properties.

I have found that I pay much more attention to the weather forecasts, especially when rain, snow, sleet, and other variations of moisture are predicted. What is strange is that I have come to recognize the signs of whether or not the river will top its banks. If it rains heavily for several days or if we have a snow melt combined with rains, the river will get close to climbing out of its banks. If we have a couple of days where we have clear skies, the river has a chance to discharge and the levels drop.

Tuesday night, as I drove home along Thieme Drive, I saw that the river was extremely high - higher than usual when it has approached its banks - and thought to myself, “Oh, oh, this could be a problem.” Yesterday morning when I anxiously looked out my front window, I could see the river creeping across Thieme Drive, and I knew the river would be up to my yard in a few hours. I grabbed my camera to see if I could get some pictures in the dim morning light. The picture below is of several vehicles driving through the water before the City blocked off Thieme Drive.

Thieme Drive traffic - early morning February 6, 2008

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I went to work with that kind of sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, knowing that when I came home, more than likely the river would have advanced to the top of my front lawn. I got through my morning class and then ran home to check the water level and to check my basement for water.

St. Marys River overflowing banks - February 6, 2008

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The City had blocked off Thieme Drive, but I have learned that I can cut down an alley to get to the side of my home. Once there, I am able to get into my house. It sets on a slope, and, in all the times I have flooded, I have always been able to get into my house.

I ran in and immediately went to the front door to go out onto my front porch to see what was happening. The City was hauling in load after load of clay to again construct a dike like the one that was put in place in January 2005. This time, though, it would be a different battle since the river had already topped its banks and covered Thieme Drive. Water was already over to our yards and up to the tops, so the City workers had to dump the clay on top of water along the river side.

City worker along Thieme Drive

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But just knowing that the City was going to work to protect our homes made me feel so much better. One of my friends came by to see how I was doing, and I talked to him for several minutes on my front porch. After he left, I went back to work. Coming home last night, I knew what would be facing me. I have been through this now enough times, but several of my neighbors have been through this even more.

I drove up and parked, and, as I suspected the river was up to the top of my lawn. The City workers were working diligently to build the clay dike, but the river was coming up through manhole covers. I spent about an hour just watching and thinking about what was to come when I would get off work and come home last night.

That is all for now. I spent a fairly restless night and did as much as I could to help sandbag. This morning I am really tired, but I have to go to work. I hope to take a half personal day this afternoon and come home. It is hard for me to concentrate when I know what is going on around my home and my neighbors’ homes. I will follow up with the efforts from yesterday evening in a post with pictures later today.

The water level yesterday afternoon - from my front porch

But doesn’t that new fence railing look nice against the drab background?

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