We would like to take this opportunity to Welcome you to our website. Because you have found our page, we hope your interest in hearing our side of the story is as important to you as getting you the facts as we know them are to us.
Here in Watertown, South Dakota it seems that things are very biased. Media coverage of a very important issue affecting our communtiy has been unjustly squashed and on Tuesday, July 31, 2001, 57% of the total 44% of the eligible voting citizens of the City of Watertown, South Dakota voted to have the city sponsor placement of a large earthen dam structure across the Big Sioux River, outside of the city limits, within the county, AND WITHOUT A SINGLE COUNTY RESIDENT ELIGIBLE TO VOTE.
This dam will have devastating effects on thousands of acres of very fertile farmlands ~ a commodity that is vanishing at an astonishing rate per minute in the United States. The effects this dam can, and probably will, cause on the Big Sioux River system may not be fully known for years to come. What is known at this point are the immediate effects this dam is, and has caused, even before it has been built.
You see, this is the fourth time this issue has been brought to the citizens of this community for a vote. Once county wide, initiative denied; twice city only, intiative denied both times; third city only vote, initiative passed. We wanted to cry. And many of us did as the hundreds of emotions overwhelmed us to know our homes, our livelihoods and our heritages are scheduled to disappear in the blink of a vote we didn't even get to make.
Sitting at a dining table a person comes to us and during the course of conversation says "Yeah, I was really upset about the vote the other day and I was telling a friend about how I felt and she said she had voted for it. Shocked, knowing in previous votes she had been bitterly against this issue, I asked her why she voted yes this time. Her reply was, "Because they are never gonna give up on it and I voted yes to just get the @$%& issue over with." and I was just at a loss for words."
At that point, we knew the time for crying was over and that it is now a time to fight for all that is important to us. This is not just an issue of should a dam be built or not, but an issue that encompasses much more with far reaching ramifications.
The City of Watertown believes that the Mahoney Creek Dam is the only solution to the flood problems in Watertown. They have been presented with an alternative, and in fact and practice have applied small dam concepts within the city limits in recent years, but they have refused to participate in alternative solutions outside the city limits other than the Mahoney Creek Dam stating that the US Army Corp of Engineers say alternative solutions are not viable, knowing full well that the US Army Corp of Engineers do not study or build small scale dams.
Truth be known, the Mahoney Creek itself does not flood Watertown, the Big Sioux River does. The dam is slated to be built across the Big Sioux River, not the Mahoney Creek. So why did they not call it the Big Sioux River Dam? We believe it has more to do with not drawing attention to placing a large dam structure over the Big Sioux River than it does in its placement regarding the flow of the Mahoney Creek itself.
But attention to placing a large dam structure across the Big Sioux River itself is one of the main purposes of establishing this website. To STOP the placement of this dam structure across the Big Sioux River through educating the public is the SOLE purpose of this website.
To begin your education and to help us stop the construction of this structure before it even begins, click on the links found on the left of this page. Please don't forget to sign our Guest Book and let us know you were here before you leave our site.
Thank you for caring enough to visit us. |
