Report from Lesterville

Pam and I made a quick trip back to Lesterville so I could attend the Audit Committee meeting of the Reynolds County Educational Enrichment Fund. The only damage we saw was the stairs down to the river at Black River Lodge were damaged. Probably the last 20 feet were gone. Peola Road is drivable, but had a lot of damage down near Riversedge Campground. Not sure what the river will look like at Wilderness once the water goes down. This was not a really big flood like 93 but still the biggest in a number of years. I talked to one neighbor that said a lot more sand had been deposited than in earlier floods.

On a personal note we learned while we were on our way to Lesterville that Pam and I will be proud grandparents of our first grandson this August.

Ah, Missouri

Forget the car Pa, but save the new mower I got down at the Wal Mart.

Got To Love Ebay

The link is dead now but someone sold a small piece of the liner from the Taum Sauk Reservoir on ebay. And they got two bidders. If Ameren had cut the liner up and sold a million pieces for $10 each that would have helped with their state settlement. I've still got a gallon of silt from the river, wonder what that would be worth.

Flood News

This is a photo from KY3 of the damage to highway 106 between Shannon and Reynolds County. As of yesterday morning the mail was still not being delivered past Black River Lodge on Peola Road, however the county repaired the road near Riversedge Campground and the road is open again. I've had a report that Riversedge only received 8" of water so it was not nearly as bad as 93. That is good news because Lesterville does not need another disaster.

Here is a link to information about the Shut-Ins and the summer. I've expressed my frustration with State Parks in the past for lack of information and if you click around on the Shut-Ins site you won't find any photos from the last six months.

High Water

Since I'm not in Lesterville to know exactly what is going on this prediction is a little iffy. That said, if you look at the river gauge on the East Fork I think this could be as big a flood as the November, 1993 flood. I'll bet that Twin Rivers and Riversedge are already under water and Parks Bluff and Bearcats have there eye on things. This looks like a big one. In November of 93 was the only time that Peola got out of its banks and was a threat to our buildings. We have had over 4 inches here in Springfield and most of the river south of us are at flood stage.

Wednesday morning, just had an email from Bearcats Campground. They said it was bad, water to the ceiling of their office and their cook shack and pavilion are gone. I'm sure that no one can get to most of the other campgrounds to check on the damage. For two years everyone has said that the river needed a good flushing out to move the Taum Sauk silt down river. We'll we got our flushing. Hope everyone is OK. I plan on being back in Lesterville next Wednesday. Hope I can get back to my home. The 93 flood did a lot of damage near our low water bridge and it was days before we could drive in or out. This event makes our move to Springfield look like a wise one. I'm too old for this type of event.

First Meeting

Friday night the two boards that are to oversee the funds from the Ameren settlement were sworn in. After a talk about our legal duties as board members and another talk about the state "Sunshine Law" we were sworn in by Jay Nixon and we started our organizational meetings. I was surprised that at least two of my fellow board members thought that we should only have two meetings. An organizational meeting and then at the second meeting we should divide the $3 million between the four school districts and disband the board. I'm one of three board members that think we should try and make the money last at least 20 years. The other board members have not gone public with their thoughts. So I'll be back in Lesterville on March 26 for a committee meeting and on April 3 for the second board meeting. I don't know what went on at the Tourism board meeting. If anyone does please add a comment.

Show Time

For those old friends of the pottery here is a video that was shot about eight years ago in Lesterville. Enjoy!

Settlement News

I've been appointed to the Reynolds County Educational Enrichment Fund Board of Directors by DNR and the Attorney General. This fund is part of the settlement between the state and Ameren. Ameren provided $3 million for this fund. The first meeting of the nine board members will be March 14 at 5pm at the Lesterville School. At the same time will be the first meeting of the Taum Sauk Fund board. This group will be concerned with tourism and economic development. They have $7 million of Ameren's settlement to fund their projects. I'll keep you up to date on the Educational Enrichment activities as we go along.