Just as promised, the County is out there making temporary repairs to the mud slide in our neighborhood. That’s a good thing!! Let’s hope that soon they have a plan to end the problem under the roadway for good. Ultimately, that is what is needed.
I fully understand that things take time, and in this case they didnt want to move too fast not knowing all of the details. At the same time though, with the rain today and more rain expected on Friday, there just wasnt time to develop a long term plan. They are currently stacking cages with rocks in them to slow the speed of the run off. That should help and buy some time.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Rain Rain Go Away....The Edwards Cant Take Another Day
Come and listen to my story about a man named Gary, his hill started caving and it was gettin kind of scary, then one day it started getting hotter, but up through the ground came a bubblin water – H2O that is, wet stuff…………
Ok, I know it sounds like I am poking fun at my friend and neighbor, but trust me when I say that I am not. Gary and Tracy Edwards live in our neighborhood (Jasmine Hill Estates) and recently their property had undergone a phenomenon that no one could have seen. One night as every slept peacefully and soundly, the hill beside their house turned loose. It was true to life mudslide that was moving right towards their house. Only, it wasn’t something that was just running wild. It moved ever so slowly, creeping towards the house breaking the driveway along the way. The sad part is that this quite possibly could have been stopped before it ever happened. Before I go on though, let me give the disclaimer that I am not an engineer, but living in the hills of Wetumpka or even Tennessee, you do have to educate yourself about water and its movements. In MOST cases, it’s not hard to learn that you must give water a place to go.
Rewind to about two years prior to this hillside giving up and caving in. There was a problem with the roadway directly across from this hill and where it started moving. The roadway was sinking and water was bubbling up and seeping from cracks in and around the sinking spot. There was some work done where they dug down, compacted some stuff, filled it in and patched the road. Done? I think not.
A few months later, the water showed up again seeping out from the edges of the patch. In addition the road has continued to sink ever since as water began to migrate towards the hillside. It’s my theory (or self educated guess) that this is due to two reasons. One, the water was diverted in that direction by the roadwork. (I will say though that it was certainly not intentional). The second factor to all of this as I see is that the roadway and hill have reached critical mass in terms of how much water they can hold. Take a dry sponge, lay it in the sink. Slowly pour water over it and you will see that it will absorb a lot. However, at some point it will begin to seep. Amazingly, just like this hillside has done.
I’m concerned for the safety of my family and just as importantly the safety of Gary’s family as well as all of the families that live here in regards to that roadway being compromised. As the Assistant Fire Chief of Wetumpka, we have a responsibility to provide a service to the people that live here. Should this road give way to the pressures of the water stored in it, providing fire protection will become an impossible task. Yet when we met with all of those concerned last week, we were told that the road would not be affected because it still had 10-12 feet of hillside. Well, that was a week ago, and now the cave in has moved to within inches of the road instead of yards. The rain keeps coming, it keeps finding its way under the road and into the hillside, and dirt keeps being removed as it moves along. Oh, and as I understand it, there is more rain on the way for Tuesday.
NOW is the time for the County Commissioner, the County Engineer, the County Lawyer, and the County Road Crews to move on this. The road is/will be affected more and real soon. The argument in the beginning is that this problem didn’t start on the right-of-way and I beg to differ because I think it started under the road two years ago. I’m certain the County is trying to stay away from pointing out that this may have started on their side because they don’t want to spend the money to fix the Edwards property. What happed was the problem showed itself off the right-of-way, yet started someplace else. All of that can be argued later; in the meantime the hill needs to be shored up NOW before the safety of lives and property are put into peril. Is the County working on the problem? Sure, but it’s not enough. They are in a race with Mother Nature, and they are still in the starting gates. There are a lot of temporary ideas that can be done starting tomorrow. It’s time that this issue become as important to the Commission as it has to us.
Ok, I know it sounds like I am poking fun at my friend and neighbor, but trust me when I say that I am not. Gary and Tracy Edwards live in our neighborhood (Jasmine Hill Estates) and recently their property had undergone a phenomenon that no one could have seen. One night as every slept peacefully and soundly, the hill beside their house turned loose. It was true to life mudslide that was moving right towards their house. Only, it wasn’t something that was just running wild. It moved ever so slowly, creeping towards the house breaking the driveway along the way. The sad part is that this quite possibly could have been stopped before it ever happened. Before I go on though, let me give the disclaimer that I am not an engineer, but living in the hills of Wetumpka or even Tennessee, you do have to educate yourself about water and its movements. In MOST cases, it’s not hard to learn that you must give water a place to go.
Rewind to about two years prior to this hillside giving up and caving in. There was a problem with the roadway directly across from this hill and where it started moving. The roadway was sinking and water was bubbling up and seeping from cracks in and around the sinking spot. There was some work done where they dug down, compacted some stuff, filled it in and patched the road. Done? I think not.
A few months later, the water showed up again seeping out from the edges of the patch. In addition the road has continued to sink ever since as water began to migrate towards the hillside. It’s my theory (or self educated guess) that this is due to two reasons. One, the water was diverted in that direction by the roadwork. (I will say though that it was certainly not intentional). The second factor to all of this as I see is that the roadway and hill have reached critical mass in terms of how much water they can hold. Take a dry sponge, lay it in the sink. Slowly pour water over it and you will see that it will absorb a lot. However, at some point it will begin to seep. Amazingly, just like this hillside has done.
I’m concerned for the safety of my family and just as importantly the safety of Gary’s family as well as all of the families that live here in regards to that roadway being compromised. As the Assistant Fire Chief of Wetumpka, we have a responsibility to provide a service to the people that live here. Should this road give way to the pressures of the water stored in it, providing fire protection will become an impossible task. Yet when we met with all of those concerned last week, we were told that the road would not be affected because it still had 10-12 feet of hillside. Well, that was a week ago, and now the cave in has moved to within inches of the road instead of yards. The rain keeps coming, it keeps finding its way under the road and into the hillside, and dirt keeps being removed as it moves along. Oh, and as I understand it, there is more rain on the way for Tuesday.
NOW is the time for the County Commissioner, the County Engineer, the County Lawyer, and the County Road Crews to move on this. The road is/will be affected more and real soon. The argument in the beginning is that this problem didn’t start on the right-of-way and I beg to differ because I think it started under the road two years ago. I’m certain the County is trying to stay away from pointing out that this may have started on their side because they don’t want to spend the money to fix the Edwards property. What happed was the problem showed itself off the right-of-way, yet started someplace else. All of that can be argued later; in the meantime the hill needs to be shored up NOW before the safety of lives and property are put into peril. Is the County working on the problem? Sure, but it’s not enough. They are in a race with Mother Nature, and they are still in the starting gates. There are a lot of temporary ideas that can be done starting tomorrow. It’s time that this issue become as important to the Commission as it has to us.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Ok, now you’re treading on me!
There I was at home and my wife walks in and hands me a piece of school work that the 6 year old brought home. A coloring job, such as it was, of President Obama. It was such a nice coloring……………..wait, who?! Really?
Yes, really. Well, that didn’t sit well with me at all. His teacher, the Administration and more will be hearing from me today on this. Until then, read on.
Obviously the class is studying the Office of the President, and I applaud that. There have been many people hold that prestigious office and have had to deal with hours upon hours of making decisions to make this a better Country. As you have most likely figured out at this point, President Obama does not enter my mind as part of that list with such an infancy of a term thus far. However, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and of course Ronald Reagan all come to mind as people who did something during their tenure to shape and mold this country in positive or productive ways. Or they faced great adversity in their administration that led to pushing their term to the forefront.
Obama, not so much and to me shouldn’t have been included with Washington and Lincoln in their course study. In fact, at this point given the list of accomplishments, other than mentioning that Obama is the current President is about as far as I would go in the long list of accomplishments that the others have.
True enough, they did talk about Washington and Lincoln. But that’s it; it was a discussion, with 6 year olds. No picture, no coloring, no placing their image in front of them. I have a big problem with the constant desire to keep this President in front of everyone’s eyes, more so the young and impressionable ones. Before someone cries foul, I don’t think other Presidents, past or future, should be constantly shoved down our throats either until the true measure of their accomplishments have been realized and there is something there to study and learn about. I’m that there are past Presidents that many of us would agree either had a blasé term or had no adversity really worth mentioning. This President, and the next, could very well fit that same bill.
To top it off, as I sat there staring at the page, I looked at the little stuff at the bottom. The freaking picture was drawn by and printed at a company in CANADA! The teacher/school didn’t even pick a drawing that was done in the USA! What kind of crap is that?
To My Sons Teacher – Yes please do teach him about the Office of the President. Also feel free to pour forth information on those Presidents who actually had tenures long enough to either make a difference or totally screw things up. (I’m an equal opportunity kind of guy). However, please refrain from showcasing the current President, of one year, who has yet to accomplish anything nearly has great as 50% of the past Presidents. One last thing, can you work a little harder to find some material made in the USA, by US Citizens, using US manufacturing equipment to teach my child in his USA school? Thanks.
Yes, really. Well, that didn’t sit well with me at all. His teacher, the Administration and more will be hearing from me today on this. Until then, read on.
Obviously the class is studying the Office of the President, and I applaud that. There have been many people hold that prestigious office and have had to deal with hours upon hours of making decisions to make this a better Country. As you have most likely figured out at this point, President Obama does not enter my mind as part of that list with such an infancy of a term thus far. However, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, and of course Ronald Reagan all come to mind as people who did something during their tenure to shape and mold this country in positive or productive ways. Or they faced great adversity in their administration that led to pushing their term to the forefront.
Obama, not so much and to me shouldn’t have been included with Washington and Lincoln in their course study. In fact, at this point given the list of accomplishments, other than mentioning that Obama is the current President is about as far as I would go in the long list of accomplishments that the others have.
True enough, they did talk about Washington and Lincoln. But that’s it; it was a discussion, with 6 year olds. No picture, no coloring, no placing their image in front of them. I have a big problem with the constant desire to keep this President in front of everyone’s eyes, more so the young and impressionable ones. Before someone cries foul, I don’t think other Presidents, past or future, should be constantly shoved down our throats either until the true measure of their accomplishments have been realized and there is something there to study and learn about. I’m that there are past Presidents that many of us would agree either had a blasé term or had no adversity really worth mentioning. This President, and the next, could very well fit that same bill.
To top it off, as I sat there staring at the page, I looked at the little stuff at the bottom. The freaking picture was drawn by and printed at a company in CANADA! The teacher/school didn’t even pick a drawing that was done in the USA! What kind of crap is that?
To My Sons Teacher – Yes please do teach him about the Office of the President. Also feel free to pour forth information on those Presidents who actually had tenures long enough to either make a difference or totally screw things up. (I’m an equal opportunity kind of guy). However, please refrain from showcasing the current President, of one year, who has yet to accomplish anything nearly has great as 50% of the past Presidents. One last thing, can you work a little harder to find some material made in the USA, by US Citizens, using US manufacturing equipment to teach my child in his USA school? Thanks.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
A Simple Look at Health Care
I think a lot of people are over thinking this whole Health Care Reform thing. First of all, what they are proposing doesn’t ‘reform’ health care; it’s more like Washington telling us that we will have it. Let’s think about the whole health care debacle.
First let’s look at these 3o million people without health care. I feel that they can all be lumped into three groups of people. Group 1 – “I don’t want health care, because I want to save that money and use it on something else”. Group 2 – “I can’t afford health care, because of one or more various reasons that I have caused such as mismanagement of my money or low income”. Group 3 – “I use to have health care, but I lost my job and the COBRA is too high to carry over”.
Solutions – Group 1, great, glad you’re making it, just make sure you are not on other government programs as well. Have a great life; enjoy your ‘stuff’. You appear to be producers and keep up the good work. However, when you arrive at the ER, understand that you are obligated to pay that bill.
Group 3 – Well, here is an area that the Government can really be of use. Let’s get the economy back up and running. Stop taxing “big business” thinking that you are punishing them for being big business and not sharing. When you tax big business, THAT is what they share by increasing the price of what we all pay for. There is not a business on the face of the Earth that absorbs the cost of taxes out of the goodness of their heart. They all pass it on. Lowering these taxes and other cost of doing business would get this Group 3 back to work. In the meantime Group 3, you will have to tighten your belt. It may be time to look at reducing your cost profile until something comes through for you. Good luck, we are all pulling for you.
Group 2 – this is the complicated group. It’s made up of a vast array of people. You have the elderly, who really do need our help and we should give it to them. You also have low income people who are happy with making just enough to get by (not including health care cost) and do not strive to do any better for themselves. These people are moochers and live partially or totally off the system. They need to get off their duff and make a better life for themselves. This group also contains the people who are in this country illegally. They don’t have insurance partly because they don’t want to be on the radar; however they want to get the best care on the face of the Earth. They just don’t want to pay for it. Instead they would rather choose to send their money back to their home country where it is worth a ton to their family. Piss off! You’re a moocher too and should go home. Yes, they do jobs that others might not. But our economy shouldn’t be in the position that we rely so heavily on this demographic. This group also contains the homeless, who may have moved here from Group 3 at some point. Tragic, and should be dealt with. However I have met a lot of homeless people who are perfectly happy standing on the corner with their cardboard signs begging for money to buy their alcohol and drugs and maybe a meal. By the way, eat lunch in one of these areas one day in your vehicle and watch them. When there is no traffic around to beg from, they take out their cell phones and talk on them. Real classy these types are. You’re a moocher too in the whole sense of the word; get a job with the Group 3 people.
All of this drain on the system, people not paying for services received at a Doctor or hospital is what has lead to the high cost, that is now being passed on to us and making our health care system look like it’s out of control. However, it’s no different than those taxes I was talking about. Why should a free market system be expected to absorb the cost of the loafers in this world and not pass them on to us, the producers of this world? They shouldn’t, and if you were in business you wouldn’t absorb it either.
The Obama/Democrat plan is going to do more of the same that we already have. Provide care for people that have abilities, yet make a conscious decision to not provide for themselves. For all other cases, those like the elderly, we should look out for them.
PS – I am sure that this will not be a popular post with me liberal friends since they are so willing to give away everyones money. So for you I ask this, are you ready to show me just how much extra you kicked in on your taxes last year, or the last 5 years, to pay for the discouraged and downtrodden? Until then, don’t complain.
First let’s look at these 3o million people without health care. I feel that they can all be lumped into three groups of people. Group 1 – “I don’t want health care, because I want to save that money and use it on something else”. Group 2 – “I can’t afford health care, because of one or more various reasons that I have caused such as mismanagement of my money or low income”. Group 3 – “I use to have health care, but I lost my job and the COBRA is too high to carry over”.
Solutions – Group 1, great, glad you’re making it, just make sure you are not on other government programs as well. Have a great life; enjoy your ‘stuff’. You appear to be producers and keep up the good work. However, when you arrive at the ER, understand that you are obligated to pay that bill.
Group 3 – Well, here is an area that the Government can really be of use. Let’s get the economy back up and running. Stop taxing “big business” thinking that you are punishing them for being big business and not sharing. When you tax big business, THAT is what they share by increasing the price of what we all pay for. There is not a business on the face of the Earth that absorbs the cost of taxes out of the goodness of their heart. They all pass it on. Lowering these taxes and other cost of doing business would get this Group 3 back to work. In the meantime Group 3, you will have to tighten your belt. It may be time to look at reducing your cost profile until something comes through for you. Good luck, we are all pulling for you.
Group 2 – this is the complicated group. It’s made up of a vast array of people. You have the elderly, who really do need our help and we should give it to them. You also have low income people who are happy with making just enough to get by (not including health care cost) and do not strive to do any better for themselves. These people are moochers and live partially or totally off the system. They need to get off their duff and make a better life for themselves. This group also contains the people who are in this country illegally. They don’t have insurance partly because they don’t want to be on the radar; however they want to get the best care on the face of the Earth. They just don’t want to pay for it. Instead they would rather choose to send their money back to their home country where it is worth a ton to their family. Piss off! You’re a moocher too and should go home. Yes, they do jobs that others might not. But our economy shouldn’t be in the position that we rely so heavily on this demographic. This group also contains the homeless, who may have moved here from Group 3 at some point. Tragic, and should be dealt with. However I have met a lot of homeless people who are perfectly happy standing on the corner with their cardboard signs begging for money to buy their alcohol and drugs and maybe a meal. By the way, eat lunch in one of these areas one day in your vehicle and watch them. When there is no traffic around to beg from, they take out their cell phones and talk on them. Real classy these types are. You’re a moocher too in the whole sense of the word; get a job with the Group 3 people.
All of this drain on the system, people not paying for services received at a Doctor or hospital is what has lead to the high cost, that is now being passed on to us and making our health care system look like it’s out of control. However, it’s no different than those taxes I was talking about. Why should a free market system be expected to absorb the cost of the loafers in this world and not pass them on to us, the producers of this world? They shouldn’t, and if you were in business you wouldn’t absorb it either.
The Obama/Democrat plan is going to do more of the same that we already have. Provide care for people that have abilities, yet make a conscious decision to not provide for themselves. For all other cases, those like the elderly, we should look out for them.
PS – I am sure that this will not be a popular post with me liberal friends since they are so willing to give away everyones money. So for you I ask this, are you ready to show me just how much extra you kicked in on your taxes last year, or the last 5 years, to pay for the discouraged and downtrodden? Until then, don’t complain.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)