"Expletives Fly at Meeting" =article=

At:
http://www.sc-democrat.com/news/10October/08/manor.htm
.........

Expletives Fly
At Flood Meeting

By Ted Waddell
LIVINGSTON MANOR - "It's all bull----," screamed Patricia Born, one of the
enraged survivors of the third major flood to hit her community since 1996,
as the hard-pressed Town of Rockland Supervisor Pat Pomeroy opened up the
floor to public comments during last Thursday's (September 30) town hall
meeting at the Livingston Manor Firehouse.

The gathering was convened to discuss what happened to local folks during
September's flood and what officials planned to do about it so people's
homes wouldn't yet again be washed away or severely damaged by a raging
Willowemoc and Little Beaverkill.
Pointing her finger at a panel of local, state and federal officials, Born
made her feelings a lot clearer than the muddy waters that forced Born and
her son to flee for their lives.

"I've got an autistic son to worry about," she yelled. "You've been conning
everybody, and that stinks . . . and you won't do a damn thing, but I am
going to get you for making me lose my home.

"You don't give a s--- because you're all nice and cozy," she added
forcefully as some folks shushed for quiet, while others voiced their
approval at her strongly expressed sentiments.
Nancy Vitale said she's known the river since she was a year old and over
the years has watched it change.

"I lost a lot of land," said Vitale. "Now I've got 2,000 logs and a
tremendous amount of erosion."

Comments rose like angry hornets toward the officials, as folks in the
audience weren't having any of it when Andrew Feeney, deputy director of the
State Emergency Management Office (SEMO), said of disaster aid response, "It
was a lengthy process, a lot of regulations."

Bill Rudge of the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) drew a
round of boos when he said his agency has issued 20-some work permits to
dredge the Willowemoc and Little Beaverkill to ease future flooding - only
to have Town of Rockland Highway Superintendent Bowman Owen add that, yes,
he's got a stack of permits, but they're only good for dredging where roads,
not people's homes, were lost, so fire apparatus and school buses can get
through.

"I get it both ways," said Wendy Zayas, a resident of a local trailer park
ravaged by the most recent flood.

"I had to drag my daughter through waist-high water . . . and now she cries
every time it rains," railed Zayas. "Forget the trout, think of the people."

Many folks in the standing-room-only meeting carried handmade "No Trout"
signs reading "Fix the River. Save Our Town."

A 20-year resident of Pearl Street said she's one of the first to get wet
when the river floods, so she pays attention to it.
"I watch it like a hawk," the intentionally anonymous woman said.
"Livingston Manor does flood, but not to the extent we've seen recently -
rivers are a moving, living force, but nothing is being done to protect us."

She suggested the town implement an early flood warning system "other than
me."

Directing his ire towards a rep. from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the
agency that can build dams and move rivers), Gus Eklund said, "You ought to
take a walk down that river and see what needs to be done - you ain't done
nothing in three years."
The USACE rep. said studies were underway to help affected area communities,
and his agency was working with Congressman Hinchey's office to help resolve
the problems.
Joann Carlino moved to Manor from Queens five years ago and brought with her
a biting wit.

"Let the friggin' fish die - who cares?" she said. "Nobody told me this was
a flood zone when I bought my house."

John Parker said he needs to "move some huge rocks so the river can't go
through my house . . . but nobody explains how to get help.

"If we don't fix the problem, we won't have a Livingston Manor," he said
with an eye on the next flood. "What I want to see is not just promises but
somebody on the river doing something."
George Fulton, a local surveyor, offered an idea that, if workable, might
ease the impact of flooding by diverting high water to a dry lake bed at an
old airport to the east of town.

Richard "Dick" Martinkovic serves Sullivan County as Director of Emergency
Management/Homeland Security and Fire Coordinator.
He said that of initial flood damage estimates in the county of
approximately $19-20 million, the Town of Rockland sustained about $3
million.

"We know we had serious damage here to more than 30 pieces of property, and
another 60 or more sustained damage," said Martinkovic.

He said that if the president declares the region a disaster area, that
decision will open up the resources of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) in two areas: (1) Public Assistance (PA) to build roads,
bridges, etc. and (2) Individual Assistance (IA) to help folks
rebuild/replace damaged or lost homes.

Martinkovic didn't hold out a lot of hope for quick action locally, as he
said FEMA is currently trying to cope with the ravages of four major
hurricanes to strike Florida and other Southern states.
"They are stressed and stretched," he said. "They will come, but people just
have to be patient."