Dredging of the Tallahatchie River!

[DoublePslayer]

Settle down Alice. Don't get your panties in a wad.

They're not in a wad yet. It just so happens that my name is Mabus, and I don't like to see it run through the mud by somebody that doesn't know what he is talking about. Get your facts straight before you start dragging somebody's name around.

[memphisbluesagain]

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.h ... A967958260

[Bully]

Settle down Alice. Don't get your panties in a wad.

They're not in a wad yet. It just so happens that my name is Mabus, and I don't like to see it run through the mud by somebody that doesn't know what he is talking about. Get your facts straight before you start dragging somebody's name around.

I figured that was the case. I apologize if I offended you, but I did not post anything new. I did not drag anyones name through the mud. I simply stated a slogan. Don't be so defensive. Since you are up on the history, fill us in.

[Wingman]

I will bet everyone in Marks in the early 90's wished the Tallahatchie River would move a little faster.

Most of Marks is in a hole. About the only high ground is right on the riverbank. Look at all of those houses along Hwy 6, between Marks and Bobo Bayou...big hole.

You gotta use some common sense when you build in the Delta. If you don't, don't expect someone to come rushing in with a pump and some floor dry when you get wet.

Interestingly enough, I see a lot of HUD housing built in gumbo holes.

The Delta was built by floods. Flooding is a natural process here. We can't expect the government to protect us every time the water rises. We ought to use a little common sense and protect ourselves when we can. That MS River levee is probably gonna breach again one day, and it's gonna wash us all out.

[Bully]

I agree with you for the most part Wingman. Using that logic, do you think the levees should have ever been built in the first place? The levees serve the same purpose as dredging, flood control.

[mudsucker]

Settle down Alice. Don't get your panties in a wad.

They're not in a wad yet. It just so happens that my name is Mabus, and I don't like to see it run through the mud by somebody that doesn't know what he is talking about. Get your facts straight before you start dragging somebody's name around.

RAY? Is that you?

[Wingman]

I agree with you for the most part Wingman. Using that logic, do you think the levees should have ever been built in the first place? The levees serve the same purpose as dredging, flood control.

If the levees weren't built, this place would still be a malaria infested swamp. The civilized part of me is glad we "tamed" it a little, but the naturalist part of me thinks we've destroyed an entire ecosystem in the name of agriculture.

What have we gained by flood control?

Wide-scale Agriculture
Reduced Disease
Community

What have we lost by flood control?

Panthers
IBW's
Red Wolves
Alligator Gar
Black Bears
Thousands of acres of prime nesting habitat in old growth timber for birds, bats, bears, etc.
Ancient stands of virgin timber like the Sky Lake cypresses

[REBEL DUCK]

Enid lake has turned into a ATV paradise and a boaters worst night mare. The flood of 94 in marks did ruin some low lying houses but if you build in mud hole you going to get wet ask NO. I don't personally remember Mabus having anything to do with the flood but i am sure he and the other dem's did all possible to help the democratic populationg of Marks. But at least at Enid Snagging is legal this year and for what ever dumb reason the COE has the gates open so stop yobitching and start yo fishing.

[MSDawg870]

I had a professor make the statement one time that cotton is the one thing that ruined the Delta.

The more and more I thought about it I agreed with him with regards to wildlife and habitat.

[Bully]

I agree with you for the most part Wingman. Using that logic, do you think the levees should have ever been built in the first place? The levees serve the same purpose as dredging, flood control.

If the levees weren't built, this place would still be a malaria infested swamp. The civilized part of me is glad we "tamed" it a little, but the naturalist part of me thinks we've destroyed an entire ecosystem in the name of agriculture.

What have we gained by flood control?

Wide-scale Agriculture
Reduced Disease
Community

What have we lost by flood control?

Panthers
IBW's
Red Wolves
Alligator Gar
Black Bears
Thousands of acres of prime nesting habitat in old growth timber for birds, bats, bears, etc.
Ancient stands of virgin timber like the Sky Lake cypresses

I think we can all agree that it is a balancing act. One person may think that flood control is more important, while another thinks the habitat is more important. There has to be some middle ground, but where is it. When someone says the COE has screwed everything up, that is in your opinion. Their goals might need questioning, but they do accomplish their goals.

[HDC]

Wingman,

When did you start working for the COE and when is the last time you drove thru the North Ms. Delta?

In your list of things we have "gained" by flood control, you included "community". For starters, where is that community of which you speak? Is it at the gambling boats in Tunica? It sure ain't in Web, Drew, Clarksdale, Tutwiler, Dublin, MInter City, Money, etc. In fact, there is very little "community" left in the Ms. Delta, and dredging the damn Tallahatchie River sure aint gonna reverse that trend.

I suggest you cut you list of gains from 3 to 2. We have gained wide spread ag., and maybe we have reduced disease (the last time I looked there was plenty disease going around in the Delta, and it had nothing to do with flood control). On second thought, you list of gains needs to go to just 1 - wide spread ag.

More importantly, what will anyone gain from the current dredging of the Tallie? One thing......MONEY. Those who work for the COE will keep a job, those who own land along the river will get paid, and those doing the dirt work and dredging will make money. It will not result in any more farming nor will it protect anyone, other than idiots who built homes in a flood plain from loss of personal property.

It is down right criminal!

[WhiteRiverWill]

I mentioned in one of my posts a man named Rex Hancock who formed an organization to stop the dredging of the Cache River in Arkansas. When the COE found out an evironmental group was forming and starting court proceedings they started dredging round the clock. The govenor threatened to call out the national guard to no avail. Finally a revised environmental impact statement caused a federal judge to call a halt. I don't know how the COE works but it seems they have an agenda and I'm not so sure it is in the best interest of sportsmen. We need to form a watch group in this state to keep a check on these guys in the future.

[Wingman]

Wingman,

When did you start working for the COE and when is the last time you drove thru the North Ms. Delta?

I don't work for the Corp, but I've lived in the Delta for nearly 35 years. What I meant by "community" is we have towns and such. People are here that wouldn't be here if the Delta was like it was 150 years ago. It's not the same Delta that it was 50 years, or even 25 years ago. Some folks are moving out as quickly as they can and others are moving in at the same rate. I won't get into that. I realize that there are probably less "working class people" in the Delta now than probably ever in recent history. I was talking to the man who used to own some land up at Sky Lake. He told me there used to be something like 50 families living out there. Now there are 4. The rows of tenant houses along the ridges in the fields are gone now. The hundreds of small farms that used to employe hundreds and hundreds of people have been replaced by a dozen mega-farms that employ a hundred employees between them.

If you ask me, cotton farming didn't destroy our wetland habitat, but soybean farming did.

I see you live in Jackson. When is the last time you lived in the Delta?

[Bully]

I mentioned in one of my posts a man named Rex Hancock who formed an organization to stop the dredging of the Cache River in Arkansas. When the COE found out an evironmental group was forming and starting court proceedings they started dredging round the clock. The govenor threatened to call out the national guard to no avail. Finally a revised environmental impact statement caused a federal judge to call a halt. I don't know how the COE works but it seems they have an agenda and I'm not so sure it is in the best interest of sportsmen. We need to form a watch group in this state to keep a check on these guys in the future.

No one ever said that the COE are supposed to have the sportsmen's interest in mind. The COE is a hired hand. If a legislator says "we need to keep this river from flooding", the COE does what it takes. Now, whether the we really needed to keep the river from flooding is a different story. The COE gets money for certain projects. That money is given out by Congress. The COE does not go out looking for work, it comes to them.

[hottytoddy]

The ONLY THING the corp has done for me is to have made me pour out some adult beverages at Sardis Lake. Just letting my dog run and swim on a nice warm spring afternoon. Bottom Line.......The COE is responsible for GLOBAL WARMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!