In the first 24 hours after I put up the post “Tell the Corps: Do The Right Thing!” 265 people read the blog post. Many have emailed me, saying they were planning to or already had written Mr. Pogue at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to encourage quick action on rebuilding the levee at Birds Point in Mississippi County, Missouri. People have posted links on their facebook and other social networking pages to encourage their friends and some have said “I will send this on to everyone I know.”
Tell the Corps: Do The Right Thing!
This post will be longer than usual. I hope you will bear with me – there are some good people who could use your help. But first, some background.
Mississippi County, Missouri, is a place where many people’s roots go very deep. Unlike some agricultural communities where family farms have succumbed to wealthy corporations, many of the farmers here are working land that has been in their family for three or four generations. My friends Sam and Silvey Barker grew up in this county on land that was first cleared by their respective grandparents, long before the current system of levees and spillways existed.