Effort to alleviate flooding continues

By Paul Fallon
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT June 12, 2008 12:44 am

— The Rachel Watershed Association moved one step closer to alleviating flooding along Buffalo Creek during Wednesday’s Marion County Commission meeting.
Tom Feorene, president of the association, was on hand at the meeting to receive the official award of state funding for a project along the stream. The project, which is similar to the stream restoration enterprise in Farmington, is designed to eliminate flooding in the small community.
Delegates Tim Manchin and Linda Longstreth, both D-Marion, attended the meeting to present Feorene with two separate awards from the state’s community participation grant funding.
Manchin said the county’s entire delegation, including House Majority Whip Mike Caputo, worked to secure the total of $9,900 for the watershed association.
“This money is to remove sediment from the creek and to construct a small levee,” Manchin said.
“This has been a joint effort between the community, the county and the state,” Longstreth added.
Feorene said that along with the sediment removal and levee construction, portions of the bank along one side of the creek will be removed to create a hole for water in case of a flood. Feorene added that flooding along that portion of the stream affects 25 families.
The Marion County Commission already provided the association with $5,000 to help fund the project. Feorene said he was not sure when the project should get under way, but added that he hoped it would be as soon as possible.
“I really hope we can start work in a month or two,” he said.
The commissioners also followed up on a funding request made during last week’s meeting. The commissioners agreed to provide the West Virginia Disc Golfers Association with funding to allow the organization to complete the new 18-hole disc golf course at Morris Park.
Commissioner Wayne Stutler made the motion to provide the funding by paying construction invoices up to $2,000. Commission President Alan Parks and Randy Elliott agreed, and the motion to provide the funding passed unanimously.
The new course, dubbed Orange Crush, would supplement the Seth Burton Memorial course, which is also located at the park. Orange Crush is a more difficult course, said J. Phillip Burton, a member of the state’s disc golf association.
“I think the new course will really benefit the complex,” Elliott said.
The commissioners also submitted grant applications to the state on behalf of three different agencies in the county. One of the applications was for $1,500 in Community Participation Grant funding for the Grangeville Community Action Corporation.
Another application was for $15,000 in state money for the YWCA of Marion County, and the third application was for $10,500 in state grant funding for the Pricketts Fort Memorial Foundation.
E-mail Paul Fallon at pfallon@timeswv.com.