FEMA should keep its big federal nose out of Chauncey's business

I don't know about most people, but I'm sick of hearing the moaning and groaning from FEMA over the village of Chauncey.

Hello -- there has been a flood problem in Chauncey since forever. It floods here every year, sometimes two or three times a year. This is nothing new to Chauncey. We know it, we accept it, and we go on. I personally don't know why some people choose to live where the water comes up so often, but that is their choice and their business.

The trouble is, government agencies like FEMA stick their nose into other people's business where it doesn't belong.
Is it that some village official dropped the ball sometime back? Or could it be maybe the officials of the village thought FEMA wanted to help the community, before it set so many rules and restrictions that the average person in the village could not comply with them?

Now FEMA wants those long-time, battle-hardened flood-plain residents to raise their properties up in the air. Homes that have been there over 100 years.

I guess Chauncey hasn't got enough eyesores; now FEMA wants us to high-rise the village and raise all our homes and businesses into the sky -- and at whose expense? Is FEMA going to pay for it?

Not only are most village residents in the flood areas not able to afford such a project, but the village would be the laughingstock of the state of Ohio with all its homes perched up in the air and on display like a monkey or a parrot in a cage.

If FEMA were serious about wanting to help this village, why don't they buy out these distressed properties, instead of putting more hardship on its residents? Instead, they just want to push their weight around and try to intimidate and harass village officials and residents with their do-this-or-else attitude.

Residents and businesses in Chauncey have been through these floods and come to expect them. We know both ends of town will be closed and we'll take the flood route. That's nothing new.

We have lived here this long and will still be here when FEMA has long disappeared. What the hell do they think we did before FEMA was ever thought of?

As far as I'm concerned, FEMA can take a hike -- and not just because I also live in the flood plain, but because I choose to be an American and live on my own land, live my own life, and take the risks I choose.

I didn't ask FEMA for anything and don't want their flood insurance or anything else. In these United States, we should not have a government agency that forces everyone to comply with their rules or else they will punish the entire village.
If it's all or nothing with FEMA, then as far as I'm concerned it should be nothing. Let FEMA go fix the Katrina problem that they dropped the ball on before they attack the officials and residents in Chauncey.

Tom Baggs
Chauncey