A Happy Creek riprap/Vietnam bombing analogy

Ben Tre is a city in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, made famous by the statement of an unnamed US Army officer to AP correspondent Peter Arnett in the aftermath of the crippling aerial assault it suffered at the hands of the US Air Force during the Vietnam War: It became necessary to destroy the town to save it.

No more idiotic words could be uttered until Vice-Mayor Bill Sealock stated a lapse of upkeep of the Happy Creek bank as one reason for its destruction, noting: “You can’t let this area, if it’s a beautiful piece of our town, you can’t neglect it for 13 years and expect it to remain beautiful. Change has to come about.”

Well, that gem should be carved on the wall of the Town Council headquarters. Basically, if it’s working well with spots of erosion that need patching, we should tear it ALL up. Again, why? He went on to say by destroying this creek, we wouldn’t have to upgrade the Town’s Waste Treatment plant. But didn’t we just spent millions of dollars to upgrade this plant? I know that the plant would have to be upgraded to accommodate the various proposed monster developments, but that’s OK, the new duplicate water pipe will take care of all concerns, like diverting stormwater from the sewers into the creek at a rapid pace will on this end.

Answer the questions: Whose idea was this? What is the budget? Where did the money come from? I will add, “Why wasn’t anyone watching the guy with the chainsaw and backhoe?” At least he did something artistic – he made chainsaw art of mushrooms using the wood he cut down.

OK, limit the number of people who can attend your meetings. Someday, you won’t have this rock to hide under.

Do us a favor Mr. Sealock, please don’t visit the Grand Canyon. It’s been doing just fine without your intervention. I have decided to change the name from Tederick’s Trench to Sealock’s Sewage Run.

Very Respectfully,

F. Schwartz
Warren County, Virginia