This is a repost of my essay on the Schuylkill River and its inevitability to flood.
The Schuylkill Will Flood
No one should be opposed to better walk ways and bike ways connecting the river and the community college with downtown Pottstown and across the river connecting Norco by means of an enhanced Hanover Street bridge walkway . Reconnections has been a major goal of the Schuylkill River Greenway Association for many years and accomplished quite successfully at other locations up and down river .
But, the Schuylkill River poses some greater challenges . Thankfully high water flooding has not happened in the near past but it will in the future , bet on it! Pottstown : south of High St. and up along the Manatawny Creek ; North Coventry: north of the 422 bypass , properties in both of these areas will experience the damage caused by flood waters sometime in the future . We can, as we have done in the past, ignore this reality by doing nothing or we can accept flooding as a fact and plan to do something about it .
The most obvious reaction is dredge the river . Easily said but almost impossible to get permitted . Twice in the past ten years the Corp of Engineers , a US Gov. Agency , has come to Pottstown through the invitation of Congressman Gerlach to meet with local officials and our state representatives . Their response to dredging- best forget it - in today's world of regulations eternity may be a short time.
Even so, I believe something can and should be done. Water backs up when it's flow is impeded by an obstruction . Islands in the river are obstructions ,but, the trees and other vegetative growths are more of an obstruction to waters as they rise up during flood time . I suggest we get permission from the River Keeper to grub off all tree and heavy vegetation from the islands east of the Hanover Street Bridge down to the 422 Bypass Bridge . Allow the islands to become islands of grass only which would lie down and not impede the rising waters during flood periods .
I suggest further , certainly removing islands and dredging the river would be preferable . The costs to remove islands and dredge are enormous compared to the costs of cutting down trees and heavy vegetations . It is the cost / benefit ratio that stands out . Reducing the high water mark by one foot is substantial , to reduce it by double or more would really make a radical difference in flood prone areas . A two or three foot drop would not be out of the question .
I challenge our leaders to look at the Schuylkill not only for it's recreational benefit but also it's financial drain on our local economy due to flooding . Please, don't be like the old guy who didn't see a need to fix his leaky roof because it wasn't raining then. Doing something simple sometimes has huge paybacks .
Ronald C . Downie
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
The Past Is Knowledge; The Future, Wisdom
The Past Is Knowledge ; The Future, Wisdom
Water, like thought, calms when slowed
Into deep pools at cool quiet depths
Where mud and murk bottom settles
To clear the liquid for it's final trip .
Thought, if not allowed to calm
And settle out busy nonessential
Clutter that keeps the mental stream
Clean, finds no clear ideas will surface .
As water makes it's long journey
To the sea, it encounters swiftly
Moving rapids and falls that roar
Before it again pools and calms .
So too, the mind's mental travel path
Must shoot the turbulences of doubt,
Navigate trouble, and evil, and fear,
Each cascading down until calm calms.
Ever since the early dawning of time
When water appeared on the earth,
It adapted to Earth's Natural Laws :
Repeat, repeat, over and over, repeat.
In his time, upright man found a force
Far beyond his physical prowess, when
The vast utter strength of his mental
Ability raised him above common beasts.
The sun, the moon, stars, earth, water,
The air, the eagle, fire, wind, and rain -
Man would experience and then worship.
But, as with water, strong storms disturb,
Alters flows, and interrupts water's calm;
Quite common with Nature's Earthly way.
But thinking man dreams about the future
Thus he soon becomes uncertainty's victim.
The past is knowledge, the future, wisdom.
And through time knowledge accumulates,
But wisdom is fickle, and the needed spark
Not timely, so wisdom has to be nurtured.
Water flows everywhere to the very
Same Laws Of Gravity, while thought,
Not contained within our physical world,
Flows in a stream we all seek to posses.
Ronald C . Downie
Water, like thought, calms when slowed
Into deep pools at cool quiet depths
Where mud and murk bottom settles
To clear the liquid for it's final trip .
Thought, if not allowed to calm
And settle out busy nonessential
Clutter that keeps the mental stream
Clean, finds no clear ideas will surface .
As water makes it's long journey
To the sea, it encounters swiftly
Moving rapids and falls that roar
Before it again pools and calms .
So too, the mind's mental travel path
Must shoot the turbulences of doubt,
Navigate trouble, and evil, and fear,
Each cascading down until calm calms.
Ever since the early dawning of time
When water appeared on the earth,
It adapted to Earth's Natural Laws :
Repeat, repeat, over and over, repeat.
In his time, upright man found a force
Far beyond his physical prowess, when
The vast utter strength of his mental
Ability raised him above common beasts.
The sun, the moon, stars, earth, water,
The air, the eagle, fire, wind, and rain -
Man would experience and then worship.
But, as with water, strong storms disturb,
Alters flows, and interrupts water's calm;
Quite common with Nature's Earthly way.
But thinking man dreams about the future
Thus he soon becomes uncertainty's victim.
The past is knowledge, the future, wisdom.
And through time knowledge accumulates,
But wisdom is fickle, and the needed spark
Not timely, so wisdom has to be nurtured.
Water flows everywhere to the very
Same Laws Of Gravity, while thought,
Not contained within our physical world,
Flows in a stream we all seek to posses.
Ronald C . Downie
Monday, September 5, 2011
Haiku 44
Haiku 44
Unlock life's horrors :
Run out of health, money, time -
Left with pain and death.
Labor is a job's
Own reward bettering self -
Idleness stagnates.
"A job worth doing,
Is a job worth doing well."
Gran'Pa Downie said.
We rise together,
Or, bickering apart, fall -
Up, the way ahead.
The best fruit's up top,
Tall ladders need wide, strong feet -
Climb high, choose sweetest.
When life's a bummer,
Smile watching birds, flowers, bees -
Same place all headed.
Ronald C. Downie
Unlock life's horrors :
Run out of health, money, time -
Left with pain and death.
Labor is a job's
Own reward bettering self -
Idleness stagnates.
"A job worth doing,
Is a job worth doing well."
Gran'Pa Downie said.
We rise together,
Or, bickering apart, fall -
Up, the way ahead.
The best fruit's up top,
Tall ladders need wide, strong feet -
Climb high, choose sweetest.
When life's a bummer,
Smile watching birds, flowers, bees -
Same place all headed.
Ronald C. Downie
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Haiku 43
Haiku 43
Republican Plan :
Stop Obama's second term -
Country goes to Hell.
Wild winds wreck havoc,
Torrid rains ply floods higher -
Nature's way unique.
Labor Day a farce,
We all should speak in Chinese -
Good jobs would flock here.
Strangle youth learning,
Cut investments, give tax breaks -
Rush to the bottom.
Keep stiff upper lip,
British Empire fell due to :
Ego's arrogance.
Think ! Too big to fail
Is a prescription for that
Sneaking up on us.
Ronald C. Downie
Republican Plan :
Stop Obama's second term -
Country goes to Hell.
Wild winds wreck havoc,
Torrid rains ply floods higher -
Nature's way unique.
Labor Day a farce,
We all should speak in Chinese -
Good jobs would flock here.
Strangle youth learning,
Cut investments, give tax breaks -
Rush to the bottom.
Keep stiff upper lip,
British Empire fell due to :
Ego's arrogance.
Think ! Too big to fail
Is a prescription for that
Sneaking up on us.
Ronald C. Downie
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Oh! That Circus Air
Oh! That Circus Air
The air, heavy of circus, hangs this morning in the clouds of an overcast day. Far too many years have gone by since this atmosphere last caught my attention. It has been some two and a half generations, fifty years, since I took the family to this annual event. The kids became older and on their own or Connie took them because I was always working to make a living for me and my crew.
We went yearly, sometimes twice a year, when the circus was really an event not to miss. The special pageantry of anticipation, the trumpets announcing death defying high ring performers, the clowns, the elephants and horses, three rings of excitement, the smells and sounds unique to a circus all remain with me today as it were only yesterday.
We went yearly even though each year I promised myself not to go if I was bamboozled by ticket hawkers who could cheat anyone out of their change when purchasing tickets. Yes, each year I got taken like the last, but no matter how careful I was, I, like most, was taken. The hawkers would take your twenty and holler out "next" and, "keep the line moving" grabbing at more money rather than handing you your change while all the while your kids tugged at your pants or pulled at your hand to get to their seats inside the Big Tent. By the time you realized you didn't get you change, the hawker and his stand were no where in sight.
Funny I'm thinking of the circus these days, but I can understand the reasoning behind it, since the National News portrays a circus like atmosphere in Washington, D.C. just about every day. I do watch the news daily and feel how we, the public, are always being bamboozled by our leaders. I thought what a circus while daily watching the farce surrounding raising the national debt ceiling. Elected officials take an oath to uphold our constitution upon taking office which, in my mind, implies they accept the charge of formulating rules, regulations, and laws to move our country forward in good times as well as bad for the better good of all our citizens.
Not unlike the Bible message, that of worshiping graven images as being bad, is the present day worshiping by elected officials of some pledge to not raise taxes postulated by an unelected guy of deep political persuasion. Unfounded in our constitution are these type pledges. Those who swear to abide by these pledges are the same ones who profess to go by, not only the letter but also by the true intent, of our constitution. Hypocrisy seems to describe these officials. They could certainly make good clowns and ticket sellers as they show off their slight of hand antics and after watching them crow to their constituents about how our country is stronger with them in office; they reek of hypocrisy.
Most circuses are a thing of the past, and I suggest these hypocritical members of congress should be retired at the end of their first term and also become a thing of the past.
Ronald C. Downie
The air, heavy of circus, hangs this morning in the clouds of an overcast day. Far too many years have gone by since this atmosphere last caught my attention. It has been some two and a half generations, fifty years, since I took the family to this annual event. The kids became older and on their own or Connie took them because I was always working to make a living for me and my crew.
We went yearly, sometimes twice a year, when the circus was really an event not to miss. The special pageantry of anticipation, the trumpets announcing death defying high ring performers, the clowns, the elephants and horses, three rings of excitement, the smells and sounds unique to a circus all remain with me today as it were only yesterday.
We went yearly even though each year I promised myself not to go if I was bamboozled by ticket hawkers who could cheat anyone out of their change when purchasing tickets. Yes, each year I got taken like the last, but no matter how careful I was, I, like most, was taken. The hawkers would take your twenty and holler out "next" and, "keep the line moving" grabbing at more money rather than handing you your change while all the while your kids tugged at your pants or pulled at your hand to get to their seats inside the Big Tent. By the time you realized you didn't get you change, the hawker and his stand were no where in sight.
Funny I'm thinking of the circus these days, but I can understand the reasoning behind it, since the National News portrays a circus like atmosphere in Washington, D.C. just about every day. I do watch the news daily and feel how we, the public, are always being bamboozled by our leaders. I thought what a circus while daily watching the farce surrounding raising the national debt ceiling. Elected officials take an oath to uphold our constitution upon taking office which, in my mind, implies they accept the charge of formulating rules, regulations, and laws to move our country forward in good times as well as bad for the better good of all our citizens.
Not unlike the Bible message, that of worshiping graven images as being bad, is the present day worshiping by elected officials of some pledge to not raise taxes postulated by an unelected guy of deep political persuasion. Unfounded in our constitution are these type pledges. Those who swear to abide by these pledges are the same ones who profess to go by, not only the letter but also by the true intent, of our constitution. Hypocrisy seems to describe these officials. They could certainly make good clowns and ticket sellers as they show off their slight of hand antics and after watching them crow to their constituents about how our country is stronger with them in office; they reek of hypocrisy.
Most circuses are a thing of the past, and I suggest these hypocritical members of congress should be retired at the end of their first term and also become a thing of the past.
Ronald C. Downie
Friday, September 2, 2011
The Messenger Ancestor
The Messenger Ancestor
Dog-eared thoughts crease corners of my cerebral pages
Ancestrally bound by hardened covers of earlier ages.
Universal questions chapter this book that engages
Me to write at this point in time . Please listen , my reply .
I have lived well beyond my half-life years .
Warm thoughts furrow happy acres, but, tears
Embedded deeply erode forgotten ancient fears
Wondering :" Why am I here?" and "Who am I ?"
Uranium encased rods are organized to squeeze heat
Into electric current, when spent, active life's complete .
But, until sealed to sleep decades of ten thousand years, feat
Required of our heirs , no stirring allowed nor restless cry .
Do atoms compressed into stiff rods differ that greatly
From DNA atoms strung like a pearl neckless neatly
To imprint fibers of the human body still physically
Evolving ? Atoms from the same early primal stew ply
Their way for eons until there present purpose found : one ,
Heat to electric , two , human imprint , a mental sun ,
Brain waves at the center of a thought universe which run
Not only backward but forward toward a cosmic try
To create a Supreme Being in our own image . Earth rendered
Subservient . Desired omnipotent, God was engendered
Male by decree . With impunity, oppressors remembered
As cruel and debasing , unjust and inhumane , which flies
In the face of humanity . I'm here only by chance ,
To do no harm so offspring of my DNA may dance
To the natural rhythms of Mother Earth . They will remember
Me , The Messenger Ancestor , not forced into sleep am I .
Ronald C. Downie
Dog-eared thoughts crease corners of my cerebral pages
Ancestrally bound by hardened covers of earlier ages.
Universal questions chapter this book that engages
Me to write at this point in time . Please listen , my reply .
I have lived well beyond my half-life years .
Warm thoughts furrow happy acres, but, tears
Embedded deeply erode forgotten ancient fears
Wondering :" Why am I here?" and "Who am I ?"
Uranium encased rods are organized to squeeze heat
Into electric current, when spent, active life's complete .
But, until sealed to sleep decades of ten thousand years, feat
Required of our heirs , no stirring allowed nor restless cry .
Do atoms compressed into stiff rods differ that greatly
From DNA atoms strung like a pearl neckless neatly
To imprint fibers of the human body still physically
Evolving ? Atoms from the same early primal stew ply
Their way for eons until there present purpose found : one ,
Heat to electric , two , human imprint , a mental sun ,
Brain waves at the center of a thought universe which run
Not only backward but forward toward a cosmic try
To create a Supreme Being in our own image . Earth rendered
Subservient . Desired omnipotent, God was engendered
Male by decree . With impunity, oppressors remembered
As cruel and debasing , unjust and inhumane , which flies
In the face of humanity . I'm here only by chance ,
To do no harm so offspring of my DNA may dance
To the natural rhythms of Mother Earth . They will remember
Me , The Messenger Ancestor , not forced into sleep am I .
Ronald C. Downie
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Haiku 42
Haiku 42
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,
Politicians don't get it -
Play Washington games.
Lest they do return,
Can a leopard loose its spots -
No ! Congress says, No !
"God's will", Bachman, shouts,
Hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes -
"Help self", Eric, says.
No job creation,
Triggers no job retention -
Vote "Out Of Office".
"Damn the torpedoes,
Full speed ahead !" Someone said -
"The ship's going down !"
History repeats,
Dynasties crumbled before -
Press your congressman.
Ronald C. Downie
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,
Politicians don't get it -
Play Washington games.
Lest they do return,
Can a leopard loose its spots -
No ! Congress says, No !
"God's will", Bachman, shouts,
Hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes -
"Help self", Eric, says.
No job creation,
Triggers no job retention -
Vote "Out Of Office".
"Damn the torpedoes,
Full speed ahead !" Someone said -
"The ship's going down !"
History repeats,
Dynasties crumbled before -
Press your congressman.
Ronald C. Downie
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