Herald - Lantern - Dispatch 9 October '85 1 5

Fables and Foibles —

• From Page 14) ty, or at least parts of it, looked like a giant rummage sale. But there were no price tags on the stuff, and nobody to haggle with over it, and that puzzled a lot of people But i't didn't stop them from getting in their cars and driving around to see what goodies they could find. And there were some really unbelievable items. I mean, how could anybody pile a stack of cast iron radiators on the curb and pretend they had been ruined by flood water? And what about a set of false teeth, two steel beer kegs, a metal file cabinet, and a gas stove? THE PEOPLE who came out to rummage through the things were interesting, too. A woman I know figured most of them were looking for items to sell at flea markets or yard sales. Another friend of mine didn't mind them poking throught her trash during daylight hours. It was looking out the window in the middle of the night to see people going through it with flashlights that set her

teeth on edge. I Most of what people put out were things they wanted to be rid of. But human nature being what it is, when you see strangers showing an undue interest in your discards, you sometimes have second thoughts. A FRIEND OF MINE, perhaps still a little unsettled from the storm, suddenly was overcome with an urge to reclaim some of her debris when she saw a man examining it. i "I'm just doing you a ■ favor lady," he said when I she approached him. i "Go do somebody else a i favor," she replied. Some of the scavengers i took items only to return ; them later surreptitiously I having found them of no use or value. < One of the most difficult ; social putdowns to accept c is having someone indicate « that your trash just isn't s good enough. ! City Manager Fred Coldren had a set of valuable ( antique tools in his base- i ment when Gloria flooded s it. v Coldren put them out on i his lawn to dry after the 1 storm, and soon found they c became the objects of in- t

tense interest from scavengers. After turning down several inquiries about the price of the tools. Coldren took the slightly damp artifacts back inside. AT LEAST ONE anxious kid took his bike from in front of his house when trash searchers began eyeing it covetously. If you're wondering how I found all this out, I'll tell you. I've had a hankering for a pair of Farwell-Gooch suspenders ever since Uncle Osbert regaled me with tales of their amazing resiliency when I was a pup. I figured somebody might have ditched a pair along with the rest of the flotsam and jetsam. On another aspect of the strange doings in the storm's aftermath. I was dumbfounded not to hear a squeak of protest about storm damage at the Sept. 30 meeting of City Council. I have been at meetings of township supervisors in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. when residents who found an inch of water their cellars from a heavy rain would show up carrying bull whips and hemp nooses.

A View From Florida 'Our Luck Has Run Out '

(ED. NOTE: Lest too many people pooh-pooh hurricanes on the basis of Gloria's glancing blow, we present this Sat. 5 article by George Weymouth, columnist for the Sanibel Island Reporter. Sanibel is a barrier island off Fort Myers. ) Hurricane Elena had us all scared last Labor Day Weekend. I had driven to Sarasota Friday evening to join my friends and we planned Saturday morning on driving up near Tallahassee to camp and check out the county around the state capital Needless to say our plans were dampened! Even in Sarasota at the scheduled low tide the water was over the sea walls. So you can imagine what high tide was like up near the Cedar Key where the storm stalled Sunday. We walked to the bay area and had a hard time standing in 50 m.p.h. winds. The storm's winds reached 125 m.p.h. which would literally be screaming. Tampa and St. Pete had been "knocking on wood" for years But as the man on TV stated. "Our luck has run out!" WE SAW ON TV a chopper view of the beach as they flew along to tape the damage. Beach erosion

and structural damage was awesome and increased as they headed towards Tampa Bay. Many condos had the back side blown out In 1975 I saw Panama City in the Florida panhandle after a hurricane with 110 m.p.h. winds had hit it. Waves had come completely over four-story condos and had stripped some of them clean of the plaster board! Some looked as though they were about half way into construction. About one fourth had par tially crumbled away Litter was everywhere As far as your eye could see back into the mangroves there were books, underwear, beds, drawers, carpet, roofing material, furniture, and so on. The mess was beyond description. IN i960 Hurricane Donna roared up this coast with winds apparently up to 180 m.p.h. At the Everglades Wonder Gardens <a privately owned zoo) where I worked, every standing tree and bush was bare. All leaves had been whipped off. A week after the storm the area looked like "dead winter" for all the vegetation was bare. We had four to six inches of leaf litter to rake up over the entire zoo. The leaves hit the structures so hard they looked

1 as though they'd been bashed into the paint with a hammer. On Bonita Beach they actually had a tidal wave. As Donna swept north along 1 our coast its counterclockwise winds first pushed the water out Those that stayed (and sur vived) along Bonita Beach said you could see the bot torn way out as the calm passed But after the eye had passed, the wind shifted only to pick up that water that had been pushed out and heave it back towards the beach WHEN THIS WALL of water hit it relocated about 50 buildings, trailers, etc.. across the bay east of Bonita Beach They were swept up and onto the mangroves. About a half mile of these "homes" were left sitting about 10 feet up in the trees, side byside Needless to say. these storms can be extremely dangerous. If you've ever tried to pick up an aquarium full of water you can perhaps have some idea what weight a 15-foot wave would have slamming into a seawall or building hour after hour Usually this article is on birds; well when Hurricane Donna had moved on. my family and I came back from the east coast where we had "escaped." We saw absolutely hundreds and hundreds of white storks, ibis, and heron -eg ret type birds through our rain streaked windows. They were dead or dying from overexposure and/or being slapped into trees, etc There was nothing one could do; birds were dying everywhere. We can only be thankful that Hurricane Elena spared us its 125 m.p.h. winds. Hopefully we're all wiser about the unpredictability and fury of such storms

Luck?

(From Page 14) taking them to safety . and that the police had to be called to stop fights which erupted. As Thanksgiving day approaches , is there something for which you should be thankful? It was said of Jesus: "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" (Mark 8:27). No, it wasn't "luck" that gave you life, that sustains you.

and it wasn't luck that made it possible for you to go to Heaven. ..It was Jesus Christ. Thank you, God, for controlling the wind and the sea!! I invite you to give thanks with us Thursday, Nov. 28 from 9-10 a.m. DR. GEORGE W. FINCKE Senior Pastor Covenant Bible Church Fishing Creek

Storm Prep Balks Gloria

AVALON - Storm preparations undertaken by Public Works employees, police and emergency management officials here the day before Hurricane Gloria hit helped lessen the amount of damage to the island, according to Mayor Rachel Sloan. "The build-up of sand mounds in vulnerable areas and at access paths to the beach worked well for the amount of time they held up during the storm and certainly kept the level of damage down from what we had expected." the mayor said. Raymond Seliger, director of public works, and 13 employes arranged mounds of sand seven-foot high in front of beachfront homes from 9th to 17th streets with the help of a local sand transport company contracted by the borough. They also filled beach access paths at the north end of the island to help reduce street flooding. "WE LEARNED A lot from the March 1984 storm and we had more time to prepare for this one." Seliger said. Avalon police and emergency management personnel held two storm preparation meetings to ensure that the evacuation of residents went smoothly. According to Police Chief Joseph Foley. Lt. Louis Taylor, who is also deputycoordinator of emergencymanagement here, and emergency management coordinator Grif Sloan, nearly everyone cooperated in the evacuation and by the time Gloria hit the island was 95 98 percent evacuated. "The Police Department encountered almost com plete cooperation from our residents." Foley said, "and that made it easier for us to clear the island and make sure everything was secure and safe as it could be " "Our only defense against a hurricane like Gloria is early evacuation." Sloan said, "and the cooperation from everyone was outstanding ." THOSE REMAINING on the island during the storm included 12 fire department volunteers, eight police of ficers and three rescue squad personnel Residents were allowed back onto the island Fridayafternoon. "The police, fire and rescue personnel surveyed the borough as soon as Gloria left to see what needed our immediate attention." Taylor said. "We wanted to have any dangerous situations remedied before we let anyone in." Although the amount of damage would have been higher without these preparations, and had the storm reached full strength, preliminary assessments indicate that damage to property and the beach are still costly. •PRELIMINARY estimates for private property reached $87,500 and approximately $800,000 for public property," said Business Administrator Andrew Bednarek. "More than $700,000 of that covers dune restoration." Clean-up crews began work throughout the borough the afternoon of I I

i the storm. Borough Council i also authorized a $20,000 expenditure to permit a I local contractor to place fill material behind the bulkhead from 10th to 17th streets to prevent any additional street flooding in the immediate future. 1 "Public Works crews were on the streets almost 1 immediately after the > storm helping the borough i get back to normal again." I Mayor Sloan said, "and they'll continue cleaning i the streets and hauling i sand until the work is complete. So fir they've done a great job." Both Bednarek and the mayor agree that the i amount of storm damage I could have totalled even less had the state began work on the reconstruction i of the 8th Street jetty after i Labor Day. as state officials had said it would. "WE WERE TOLD the work on the jetty would

begin after Labor Day this year." Sloan said. "If it had begun then, damage may have been less We will continue to keep in close contact with the state Department of Environmental Protection and push officials there to begin the project as soon as possible." she said. Sloan emphasized the importance of this project and the planned 1986 Avalon/Stone Harbor beach fill, and urged residents to write to the DEP asking officials to begin the 8th Street jettyproject as soon as possible "By writing letters to DEP officials and local senators and assemblymen, residents * may be able to help us break through the snag in the bureaucratic process and expedite the start-up of this and other important beach protection projects." she said.

; — loyride III gKL By Libby Demp Forrest IjjJJ J | We all have our worries. While Hurricane Gloria moved up the coast. No. 2 and I fled early Thursday morning with The Hubhy We took . some clothes, a few surfing magazines and the earrings ! The Hubby gave me for a birthday present When we closed the front door, we didn't know if we'd see our house I again. No. 2 fretted as we drove "I should have taken my surfboard." he lamented , "We could only take a few essential things." I said "Well, my surfboard is essential." No 2 said I said nothing. WHEN WE REACHED The Hubby's apartment, we staggered in like refugees who had reached the border No. 2 turned on the TV and we listened to the latest storm bulletin. "I'm scared." I told The Hubbv "Try to stay calm." The Hubby said "I'm worried about my surfboard," No. 2 said. In my mind I mulled over what had been left behind I hoped the house was high erough 1 thought about the living room furniture, the pretty Hitchcock chairs in the din ing room, and how nice the kitchen was starting to look after just getting wallpapered And then 1 thought of something else "DADDY'S PICTURE was on a table in the dining room," I said to The Hubby , His eyes met mine "Whatever will be. will be."- he said philosophically "You're safe and sound We're all together "I told you I should have taken my surfboard. No 2 said. Next to my father's picture in the old-fashioned tortoise shell frame, the surfboard seemed small potatoes "We can always get another surfboard sometime." I said to No. 2. "It wouldn't be exactly like the other one." No 2 said to me "I suppose not." I said. "COME ON, YOU TWO," said The Hubby. "How about some hot tea?" 1 took the cup of hot tea and stared at the TV. "I think you panicked." said No. 2. "I don't think we should have left." I said nothing. When we went to bed that night, I dreamed about my father's picture. The next morning. No. 2 said he had dreamed about his surfboard. "We'll just have to wait and see." said The Hubby. SATURDAY NIGHT we came back to the house The trip back into town was the same feeling as going to the dentist. But when we came into the house, the surfboard was right beside the front door where No. 2 had left it I went into the dining room. Everything was still standing. Northing was floating. Nothing had fallen down "There's no place like home." said No. 2. i Join us in an affair of the heart. Learn CPR. Lram CPR m juH four hour* un (/clutter J6, American CPU Saturday Coll (2151 299-4 It* drtmh ▼ Red Crom