New dike needed now

Wow! Did we dodge a bullet or what?! That firehose hit us, but the worst of the rains landed in the Frazier River watershed. If what the Canadians got lambasted by had fallen just thirty miles further south, the Skagit River could have been in our face, not in the channel of our choosing. The levees held, but now they’re heavily saturated, a bit mushy at their base.

It’s very early in the flood season, so we should not be complacent. If the river got any higher for any longer, we could have been in for a wet surprise: the library project could have become a community swimming pool.

Building the ring dike has to happen sooner rather than later, can’t we collectively see that? I know that I should just accept the results of the election and just sit down and shut up, but I can’t, my decades of experiences and study won’t allow it.

This is my community, I’ve lived in the vicinity for more than 60 years, I can’t quit just because people don’t want to hear what I have to say. I have yet to get that say; I don’t think there’s a single person who understands how comprehensive my new dike design really is; it is complex, but not confusing, if you give it a rational thought.

My rational thought is being ignored like I’m dumber than a stump, when I know different. I’ve studied the situation, listened to people smarter than I and memorized the stick stuck in my eye. Now I’m known as a wise guy, snarky, a guy who tries to wake us from our denial.

So, you don’t think a levee failure in Mount Vernon would affect us, where’s your degree in hydrology or soil science? So, you don’t think tsunami slosh will get here, where’s your study of plate tectonics, subduction zones and fault lines that are everywhere around us?

Don’t vote for me, fine, but don’t deny me the knowledge I’ve gained, expecting me to just “stuff it,” is neither rational nor realistic. I’ve spent too many decades on my education to roll over when someone less knowledgeable on the subject says no.

Sincerely,

Glen S Johnson

Skagit Valley