One of those is 78-year-old Anna Mae Evans, according to the Rev. Roy
Daugherty of Briceville Community Church. He told Anderson County commissioners
Monday that Evans stays up all night when it rains so she can leave if she has
to to avoid getting trapped by floodwaters. Several times in the past
Briceville's volunteer firefighters have had to carry her out of her home, he
said.
"We kind of love her and we don't want anything to happen to her,"
Daugherty said.
Daugherty and others from the communities carried petitions and obtained
signatures of 194 residents who want the Anderson County Board of Commissioners
to clean up Coal Creek, which runs through Briceville, Fraterville
and Lake City.
The problem is endangering people's lives and property, the pastor said. Many
of the houses along the banks of Coal Creek are now inhabited by
the second and third generations of some families, he explained.
"We are in an emergency situation up there," the pastor said.
"I don't want to make any false promises," Anderson County
Executive Rex Lynch told the residents who presented the petitions to the County
Commission during its meeting Monday at the Anderson County Courthouse.
Lynch said he and Alan Beauchamp, director of buildings and grants, have been
researching the different avenues of funding the project since Lynch's election
in 1998.
"It's a very expensive project," he said, estimating that it would
cost at least $1 million. The Office of Surface Mining may be one area where a
grant can be secured for the project, he said, but first, the county has to
complete the OSM and county-funded project to bring water to the citizens of
Vowell Mountain. The Tennessee Valley Authority is another possible source of
revenue, he said, but no matter where the bulk of the money is found, the county
will have to provide some local revenue to match grants.
"I've waited 25 years for it to be corrected," said longtime County
Commissioner Albert Slusher. He said $30,000 for cleaning up Coal Creek
was allocated by commission in the years he served as county judge, the
predecessor to the county executive's position. He recalled that the county
entered into an agreement with TVA in the 1960s to keep brush, silt and debris
cleaned out of the creek but the county didn't hold up its end of the
bargain.
Commissioners said the creek hadn't been cleaned out for approximately
20 years. Commissioner Mike Cox said the last cleanup was at the 'Y' area where
travelers decide whether to travel to Beech Grove and Vowell Mountain or
Fraterville and Briceville.
Cox said it affects not only Briceville and Fraterville but Lake City, as
well. He said there is a flooding problem behind the Lake City Middle School,
where he works as a teacher, and it was the main factor behind the flooding of
David's Apartments located across from the school on Lake City Highway.
Lynch said correcting the problem won't be as simple as in the past. He said
the Environmental Protection Agency will likely have to give approval for
cleanup efforts because of laws now in effect.
Commissioners said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could possibly help, as
it had in the past, and as had former county-employed engineer Bob Campbell. He
surveyed the creek and got easements from residents to take action,
although no money became available to take action, according to commissioners.
"I don't think we have a good handle on the entire program," County
Engineer Todd Johnson said. An initial survey of the creek would cost
approximately $35,000, he said.
If only half of the creek's banks were to be repaired with rocks, the
project would cost $400,000, he estimated.
The commission approved a motion from Slusher that Johnson get busy in coming
up with a report on the project and on what is needed.
Daugherty commented on an initiative by the Coal Creek Clean
Stream Coalition to improve water quality. He said the community is not opposed
to the actions of the group but he doesn't want that group to get monies that
are needed for the creek cleanup.
After the discussion, he said he and the group of residents who attended the
commission meeting with him now felt hopeful that the commission knows of their
concerns and would work toward cleaning up the creek in the future.
Denise Palmer, Lynch's administrative assistant, said an engineer interested
in the issue would take Lynch's staff and any interested commissioners on a tour
of the creek to look at the problems Thursday.