Some Pressing Flooding Concerns

So, another year, another disastrous flashflood event. Is it just me, or does it occur to anyone else that we’re getting into a bit of a rut here?



The first reports on WYMT’s web site about the flood saw comments that reflect the reality in which we live in this area. Someone suggested that mountaintop (MTR) removal might have been responsible. This poster was immediately set upon by supporters of mining, and the beat (down) was on.



I had it in the back of my mind that there was an MTR site in the woodpile somewhere, but until I had proof positive, I wasn’t going to say anything. And, since Google Earth is only one way to find out what Pike County looks like from the air if you don’t have a helicopter or airplane, that would mean using this app first.



One thing here; I don’t know how old Google’s images are, but there are ways to estimate. Take construction on new U S 460. These images seem pretty well up-to-date. So I’ll assume the rest are close enough for government work.



To get over Pike Co., enter Pike County, Kentucky on the “Fly to” space. When you’ve done this, you’ll be taken to a spot that is over Pikeville and the surrounding environs. From here, you can zoom out until you pretty much see the whole of Pike Co. From that overall image, it is pretty obvious that MTR is taking place.



South of Pikeville, sort of halfway between the big city and the Va. state line, you’ll notice several large, barren areas. Zoom in a bit and you will be able to recognize Marrowbone Creek road. Those large, barren areas are just to the north of the Marrowbone intersection and situated around the head of Jimmie’s Creek and Harless Creek.



Those at the head of Harless Creek all seem to drain into that creek. From the pictures published on facebook by the News-Express, and from the stories written about the floods, it would seem that Harless Creek was, arguably, hit the hardest of all the flooded areas. There was an incredible amount of damage done here, and you have to suspect that matters weren’t helped any by the large area laid bare by these mining operations.



Here’s the point; we may not know why these floods were so catastrophic, but the people who live in this county are owed more than just a rush to clean up and move on. We need to know why these floods came on so strongly and so quickly, and that will take a thorough, complete, scientific investigation. Every aspect of these floods needs to be studied in order to limit this sort of damage in the future.



It was suggested, for instance, that the floods around Raccoon Creek were exacerbated by the new four-lane U S 119. If this is so, we need to know it. If MTR mining has changed the definition of flood-proned areas, so be it.



We need to move as quickly as possible to protect all residents from any future flash flooding before we are hit with a real catastrophe, such as a rainstorm that drops that much water that quickly in the middle of the night, when everyone is asleep.

Weather, (not) Stories

Now and again, we are witness to ideas whose very nature changes the way we live, such as the Weather Channel (TWC), launched in 1982. This novel cable station proposed to do nothing more than keep us apprised of the weather, 24/7.



Well, like all good ideas, all it takes is a few years to foul the thing up. That has happened with TWC. It seems as though most weather is mundane stuff, and doesn’t keep the viewers tuned in as much as the execs there would like.



So what’s a company to do, to make sure someone is watching when the commercials are aired? Almost from its infancy. TWC was known as airing considerably more commercials than the average channel, traditional or cable. But if no one is tuned in… .



So, sometime back, when TWC was stilled owned by Landmark Communications, shows such as “Weather Stories” or “When Weather Changed History” began to air in place of dull weather forecasts. Later, when a group that included NBC purchased TWC, movies with weather-related motifs were thrown up on Saturdays as well.



Okay, at first this was no problem because of what TWC calls “Locals on the Eights”. This meant that at set times, ending in an 8, you could tune in for a look at local weather. Except that “Weather Stories” became an exception to that rule. But you could still get a forecast at the top or bottom of the hour. That is, until NBC, et al, took charge.



NBC has taken the idea of airing commercials to another level at TWC. Now, it has axed those “Locals on the Eights” during its “special programs”, and has shortened them so that the info is bare bones, to say the least. And it seems that when you most want some idea of what is going on with local weather, that is when you’ll find Jim Cantore relating the history of a hurricane or tornado or cold spell, etc.



That is what took place on Saturday, the day of that disastrous flash flooding, perhaps the worst in Pike Co.’s history. That evening, when the rain began to come down in earnest, I repeatedly turned to TWC to find “Weather Stories” on. And the show’s commercials took the place of “Local on the Eights”.



Outside, the rain was as heavy as I have ever seen, and I was worried, and despite repeated efforts, I could glean no information beyond that info that was contained in the crawl, in red, that warned of a flash-flood warning for central Pike Co.



I now know that I wasn’t the only one who needed vital information that wasn’t being transmitted. From the few stories that I have heard from survivors of the floods, they literally had no warning of what would take place. Some had just enough time to scramble to safety before their homes were washed away, while others, plucked from the roofs of their houses, lacked even that little amount of time that adequate warning would have given them.



I’ll grant that certain severe weather situations can take everyone by surprise, but when local weather could potentially turn that deadly that quickly, something at TWC needs to give. Then, it’d be nice to see real-time forecasts instead of “Weather Stories”?

SCRAM, Lindsay!

Hollywood and La-La Land, for the most part, would seem to have very little to do with everyday life, except to provide us with a little diversion from time to time. And that isn’t always via their movies.




Take Lindsay Lohan, for example. Not content to be in the public’s eye for her roles in films, Lindsay has decided that any publicity is good publicity. Currently, all the publicity surrounding her concerns a court appearance that resulted in a 90 day prison sentence from a judge who has apparently had all she can stand from what she views as a real-life prima donna.



All of this started with a drunk driving conviction several years back that saw Lindsay fitted with what is known as a SCRAM device. SCRAM stands for Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor. One of the conditions in the settlement in this case was that Lindsay could not consume any alcohol until she pays her debt to society. To ensure that she complies with the Judge’s order in the case, this SCRAM device, which does just what it implies it will, was attached to the actress, and it ratted her out when she either forgot she was wearing it, or just decided to chance it by having a drink, anyway.



Okay, it was more than that one infraction that got Lindsay a room at the Gray Bar Motel. It was her attitude that really did the trick. There was the matter of not showing up on time for court appearances, and her spotty attendance at those alcohol education classes which was also a part of her DUI sentence. All in all, Lindsay seemed to have the idea that she was above the law, a misconception the Judge seems intent on correcting.



Back to everyday life, Hollywood celebrities aren’t the only ones with the idea that their excrement isn’t odiferous. Anyone who reads the arrest records in the News-Express has noticed the number of people who are arrested for multiple DUI”s, and for driving on a suspended license.



This even extends to people who have either injured or killed others through their drunken driving habits, and, in one notorious case, saw the offender brag that he had connections, and wouldn’t spend any time in jail, even though he had only recently been released from prison after a drunk driving episode cost the lives of a young mother and her unborn infant.



So, the question arises, what’s society to do to protect us from the habitual drinkers who insist on getting sloshed and then going for a little drive? Obviously, the status quo isn’t working too well. These scoff laws serve whatever time they have to serve, and then it’s bottoms up, and on the road again.



Well, how about the Lindsay treatment? First time DUI offenders need to see the same type of sentence that this actress saw, one that forbids any consumption of alcohol, and a SCRAM device firmly and irrevocably attached to the ankle to ensure that they adhere to this condition, and those alcohol education classes so that they are fully informed of the dangers of their actions. And that SCRAM device should be paid for by the offender. Otherwise, none of us will ever be safe from these seemingly uncorrectable drunken drivers.

Working on a building.

One of the landmarks around Feds Creek, at least in my mind, was the old two-story block church building that stood for at least 50 years, about ¼ mile past the Feds Creek bridge on 1499E, on the right.

The building was fairly large, but consisted mainly of two large rooms on each floor. The first floor, which had four small rooms on each end of the building for Bible Study, was the home of the Feds Creek Church of Christ, while the second floor, vacant for many years, housed a fraternal organization briefly in the ‘50’s, if I am not mistaken. One thing I know for sure is, it did have a flag up there for a while with 48 stars.

Disparate factors, such as time and weather, all combined to weaken this structure, and eventually the congregation that met there deemed the building to be unsafe for further use. Buddy Hall, one the congregation’s elders, contracted a friend from the mining industry who had an excavator, and early one morning several years back, the excavator brought the building down, with a resounding crash.

To replace this structure, the members arranged to buy a doublewide building from another church that no longer needed it for that purpose, and after worshiping in exile for a spell, the new building was brought in and set up, and once some improvements were made-all done by the members of the church, by the way-the building was adopted as its new home.

But for those who have seen the congregation’s new home, it is all too painfully evident that not all the improvements have yet been made. Yes, the foundation is in place, but those little metal tabs which are meant to hold brick in place and shine so brightly in the sun, testify to the fact that these bricks have not yet been laid.

Well, that is about to change. As of last week, several thousand bricks were brought in, along with all the various accoutrements that are needed to successfully lay brick, and this week, members of this small congregation, will once again answer the call, and begin what will, no doubt, be a very laborious task, of bricking the new building before the summer is over.

This is, as anyone who has ever laid bricks knows, a very labor-intensive effort, and the fact is, those members who are attempting it, to put it politely, could really use some help. The easiest way would be to hire an experienced crew to do everything, but since the congregation is small, and since its resources are limited, this is sort of, well, out of the question.

Once upon a time, if a fellow’s house burned down, his neighbor’s would have a house raising, wherein everyone would pitch in, and a new structure would be in place in short order. No, it’s true that that hasn’t been done for a while, but for good reason; those houses were log cabins, and no one lives in log cabins anymore, do they?

Here, though, if anyone is willing to lend a hand, I wouldn’t think the church members would turn you down.

What’s in it for you? More than you may think. The Bible does say: “Cast your bread upon the waters…” .