Floods, Madison County Archives & history, and Voting!

My driveway the river!

Well what a WEEK or so!  Everything that could go wrong has.  I have gone broke going to the hospital in Syracuse from here in Eaton... to see a friend...  and the parking Garage fees.... YIKES.

The political makeup of this time of year has gone from low key to bizarre and has used up all of the minutes on my phone...so I am minuteless as well!  Is minuteless a word????

The truth of the matter is politics in Madison County is as far from reality and you can go.  Many of the small races in the towns are what we call "un-opposed”.  In other words you have NO CHOICE!  In my town the most important part of the race is un-opposed… Highway Department head.  My issue with him is not having the culverts cleaned on this street that I live on for all these years, and my peeve was watching the town truck slowly go by looking at us fools trying to pump the floodwater out of our lives.  Not once… but twice this year.  I guess the flooding was just an... Oh Well in Eaton!

The ditch is still not dug...so for old Back Street Mary it will be back to the shovel time....

The only candidate I truly know and care about is Denise Roe… who is running for the job she has actually been doing for eight years as the Deputy Madison County Clerk.

Denise and I met when I was the Historian for Madison County and we started the “Archives Project".  The project mushroomed into scanning, saving, cleaning, organizing and going forward into the computer world with Madison County's business and history.

Denise and one of our "history Stars" Pat Utter

This was an awesome challenge that required for the history preservation - volunteers, grants, and ingenuity... The result is amazing and today Denise is on the NYS Advisory Board for Region 6.

As Deputy County Clerk she has had to work to manage, preserve records, and make them available to the public...  records that include land records, court records, DMV and passport service, business records and Governmentally required records.

Add to that the coordination of the personnel in the office, participation with people interested in accessing records for genealogical purposes, and taking care of the vast financial responsibilities of the office, and you have a job description of a very important public servant.

The other odd reason I will vote for Denise is I am tight with my tax buck!!!!  Yes money!!!  I refuse to pay for someone to learn a job that someone is doing well and has been doing well for 8 years...  That is why the Deputy Clerks eventually become Clerks.

So that is it for politics for me... I ran once and the candidate I ran against had never been elected...she was appointed to the position when the town supervisor resigned and never had an opponent!  So I ran...everyone should!

And the supervisors race…that is another story. I suspect a good number of them run to get insurance...10 years on in this part-time job…and free insurance for life!!!!! What a deal!

So get out and vote…it is our job as a citizen…even if at times we have few good choices. "Denise Roe is a Good Choice!"

Thoughts on poverty - after flood conditions - and the future elections.

The flooding is over and with a little help from Mother Nature things will get back to normal.  From experience I have to tell you…they don’t get back to normal for a long time.  The price that you pay is not just in cost of items and repair of houses, it’s also in the stress of family relationships both personal and financial.

In a society that values what money can buy more than the things money can’t buy… we are trapped in a daily cycle of work, bills, and rising costs.  Money cannot buy back the time-spent worrying about things… and the emotional toll that brings nights when you are unable to sleep.  When this all kicks in…it shakes even the best of relationships.

When you add poverty to the mix the situation becomes unbearable.  I have heard about “flood insurance” but the cost of this commodity is far above the ability of many people to pay and so they throw the dice and hope it rolls in their favor!

That is what I have done over the years…I have never won. (I am not good at gambling)  The only thing it has taught me is to just carry on.

The compounding factor is that people in my rural area who have low paying jobs or retirement benefits… are also most likely unable to find full-time work that pays enough to have a car on the road and to travel to it.  Part-time jobs do not make it when you factor in the cost of gas, repairs and insurance.  In Madison County’s case you have to factor in that there is no bus service, hilly terrain, and almost no industry.

The majority of people work in school systems or health care, or local governments.  Good paying agricultural jobs with benefits are few and far between.  Madison County ranks number 3 in the state for lost population… no wonder why.

Continually badgering people who get food assistance is just ridiculous.  Even our friends to the north in the more populated area who work for places like Walmart do not have adequate pay to live.  When they retire...what?

The Amish families have moved into the vacant farms and have returned to basic life.  But are we as “a people”… willing to forgo our current life style of easy communication, entertainments, work saving devices and… most importantly education of our children?

The flooding in my case has been caused in a great part by lack of adequate infrastructure repair.  But I cannot afford more taxes and once again it is industry that pays taxes and provides jobs that allow the citizenry to pay taxes.  It is a “catch 22.”

So when it comes time to vote this fall in local elections…think about it… we need younger more in tune thinking.  We need Change! We need to be proactive rather than reactive… In our comments on line via social media like Facebook that are hateful to hard working retired or poor people…. remember but for the Grace of God you might one day be in their situation… and if costs and our society continue… your children may be in this situation!

So help your friends… be kind to your neighbors and family… and think about the future for everyone…  Where are we going as a society?  How can we improve?  And more importantly… how long can we carry on without sincere change?

***Here is a great video..great historic pictures..worth a watch!

Updates...Help your neighbors...flood waters and other problems...

Well Flood 20..this time firedepartment came full force and Emergency Management added others..this time it effect many people include some who had to be evacuated....Mother Nature is the cause..but a good portion of these problems are infastructure that has been let go for years...and years...I cleaned the sluches and dug the holes again..and later today will do the same where they are getting plugged...cleaning them in the summer and opening them all the way up Morrisville-Eaton Road would prevent much of this..how would you like it if the County or Towm dumped all its waste runnoff into your back yard with no where to go but an old stone drain under a driveway????

Update...flood 19 has happened..no stopping the water..no septic or well at this point..power is off at some houses...two pumps running third died..basement is flooded...and reality is it is still raining...have dug out pipes that have now been bent by traffic unfixed by town...ditches full not dug out by town in 2 plus years... no hlep until hours later ...Fire Department saying they have answered 500 calls as West Eaton WeVac has not answered a call in three years and volunteers are tired......but of course we are just a little group of people in a hamlet...unimportant....I am here 19 floods later..think about it..how would you feel!

Well the floods have hit and I feel sorry for those effected. This blog is an appeal for you to help but it tells my story and why I can definitely feel for these  effected people. 

I truthfully escaped my 18th flood while living in Eaton this week by a matter of one or two inches this week.  The truth is I have lost everything I stored in my basement the first year I moved here and was repairing the house.  Didn’t know it could get flooded…of course it seems it is only a few houses that have this problem on our street.

Second time it flooded I lost the wood stove that heated the house, all of the pumps the hot water tank and air tank…and they were the only things in the basement.

By the third time I had three huge pumps going and started building my banks in the back of the house up to stop the water…. Then it washed out the banks and flooded the basement and pushed all the mud and debris into the whole yard. Can’t dig deeper because it is at water level of the Chenango and would bring more water!

Now I have learned that cat litter in plastic bags, covered with rocks, gravel, and indoor-outdoor carpet covered with tires and dirt can hold a mighty flood until it overtops the bank.  I have also learned to clean every item in the basement and repair all the pumps….

So 15 floods later and this past summer I raised the bridge and bank 9” and have a bigger pump in the basement (among the three) ...and it worked but it will only until the water gets higher I guess… When the rain stopped …it stopped right at the top of the bank.

Cleaning up the terrible mess every year is costly as the waters push, mud, waste, debris, manure from the farm lots on the hill and residue heating oil into the basements…

My problem can be solved, as it is a simple one….

The Eaton Street water flows into the drainage culvert that is almost 3 feet wide then into my backyard….at the side of my yard it goes to a drain going under the driveway of the Old Union School that is only 12 inches or so….bang the wall of water stops!  Does not take a rock scientist to figure it out!  So my back yard, side yard or land around me becomes a lake!

Our neighbors have had to buy bottle water for month’s because of oil in their well.. other neighbors have had to buy new furnaces….I put my furnace (boiler) above ground in my garage.

The slushes around the streets have been allowed to fill over the years and today are covered. What used to drain around the streets and into the Chenango now just rolls over lawns.  Even the ditch in front of my house has not been cleaned in 3 years…I dig it out by hand before or during each flood! 

There is money available to cure chronic problems if you document it and submit it and…if your town is declared a disaster area…(and it was one year) .. I went to the FEMA meeting got the paperwork for it and had the proof waiting…took it to the town …but of course…nothing.  The town says it’s the county’s problem, the county says it’s the states; the state says it’s the town’s…and so really it is your problem.

SOOOO…  If  you can possibly help your neighbors and friends in this terrible situation…please do…

Remember, unless you have expensive flood insurance the cost is the homeowners.  Take the time to donate money, shelter or needed items and then help your neighbors find a solution to the problem so that it does not happen again. 

PS …Help the animal shelters that have displaced pets and then…Thank God it didn’t happen to you!

Here is a link to my last flood one and a half years ago..http://youtu.be/HW5NZXAGuD4..took out my basement walls......