Damned if they do, damned if they don’t
Even with danger signs posted at the Marianna dam area, kids and adults ignore the signs and still fish in front of the dam, beside the dam, as well as on top of the roundhouse structure whose bricks seem to be disappearing one at a time each season during heavy storms.
And there are adults who consume alcohol by the dam while they fish. All of these activities increase safety concerns. There may be no one around to assist someone when and if there is trouble. Marianna’s borough council was told a year ago that the dam needed to be repaired or removed. Council members did their job and got all the facts in that time and had numerous meetings with expert engineers. They also had discussions at public meetings before making the decision to remove the dam.
It is not OK for the borough council to do nothing and wait and see if an accident happens at the dam. An accident could expose the borough and council members unnecessarily to increased financial and personal risks and liability over something that could have been prevented.
Also, there have been no studies on whether the businesses in the Marianna area will gain or lose money from keeping the Marianna dam. Opening the channel for boaters certainly invites more recreationists into the area. And opening it allows anyone upstream who might want to open a seasonal kayak business a better opportunity to do so because they would not have to end their route at the dam. Opening the channel is also good for any organization who wants to start a future state water trail on Ten Mile Creek, because when the route is extended they have more of a chance of being approved for state funding.
Supposedly, some entities either want to use the reservoir, or are opposed to Ten Mile Creek restoration, without owning the dam or assuming the burden of repairing, maintaining, and insuring it, or correcting any water quality, flood, or road issues. It’s that simple – if you own it, you accept that burden. Presently, the borough owns it and cannot afford that burden. If anyone else wanted to accept that burden, they should have offered the borough fair market value for the dam and fixed it.
As a photographer, I know the creek does not need a dam in order to be worthy of a photograph, or valued for its natural character which is historic in itself.
The way I see it is, the council that voted to remove the dam for good reasons, are damned if they do and dammed if they don’t, depending on who is doing the talking.
Lisa Scherer
Marianna