Thursday, September 22, 2005
It Doesn’t Take a Hurricane
Virtually every man, woman, and child in the U.S. – not to mention most of the world – knows that New Orleans and areas east and west of them along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico got dumped on by Hurricane Katrina. The city of New Orleans is awash with raw sewage, among other things. However, with Adm. Thad Allen in charge of FEMA’s efforts, clean up is underway, despite the threat posed by Katrina’s angry sister Rita. Sounds good, but…
It doesn’t always take a hurricane to dump raw sewage on people’s property. Sometimes it just takes Eminent Domain.
As I wrote in a blog on Townhall.com in “New Hill becomes Poo Hill” (you may have to scroll down to see it), the tiny community of New Hill, about 25 miles southwest of Raleigh, NC, is under threat of having a lot of raw sewage washing over them. The threat doesn’t come from a hurricane. It comes from the nearby towns of Apex, Cary, Holly Springs, and Morrisville. And the sewage wouldn’t be a one-time, with FEMA coming in to clean up. It would be continuous.
Since I posted that blog, the “fab four” towns named above have not relented in their efforts, despite very vocal and strenuous opposition from the residents of New Hill, joined by many residents of the “fab four.” One Apex Town Board member, Bill Jensen, in a letter to the Editor of the Apex Herald, asked a very important question, especially in the dark shadow of the Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London, CT:
Just because towns have the power to condemn property in another community, should they wield the sword and ruin a community that has few alternatives for fighting back?
Thanks, Bill. We all needed that, i.e., an indication that there is a public servant out there that understands what being a “public servant” is and serving ALL of that public, not just some.
Of course, someone will point out that the sewage will come into New Hill via sewage pipes, and will not be washing into the residents’ houses. Small difference when you consider the large, open air vats into which those pipes will dump the sewage. Try being downwind of that, smelling it, even with the windows shut, in your office, your home, your school, your church. You’d feel like the folks in New Hill do – that they’re getting the “royal flush” from the “fab four.”
The fight’s not over. It’s just getting dirtier. Maybe we need to call in FEMA.
Copyright © 2005 A.C. Cargill
