THE PUBLIC MIND: HERE'S HOPING IT WILL QUIT RAINING AND OUR LEVEES WILL HOLD

To the Editor:

We are reading so much about the rampaging Mississippi and the towns being flooded along it. However, nothing has been said about the town of McClure and also East Cape Girardeau. We read the predicted crest at 47 feet on the Cape gauge and that is for next Friday. This is two feet higher than it has ever been.

I suppose I might be considered a veteran of the floods that have occurred over the past 50~ years~; in fact the flood of 1~943 is very vivid in my mind. In May of that year, the levee first broke near Grand Tower on the Big Muddy and let the water run down on us on the inside of the levee. Then, a few days later, it broke here in McClure. I was in business at that time and it is well remembered that we got more water in our property than we were told to expect. That flood left McClure in a terrific mess, but the people here ~laughed about it and set about getting back "home." There is rarely anything more disastrous than a flood or storm.

Several families have begun moving and even though I live upstairs, I might even think the same. Being a veteran of Mississippi River floods, the very thoughts of a levee break make me nervous. After all, age has something to do with it. And it just ain't no fun to move out, then clean up before you can move back in.

What we need here right away is some kind of police protection. I well remember in 1943 the strange boats cru~ising around for some reason, but a .12-gauge shotgun made them keep their dis~tance. ~We need protection now before any disaster happens.

I have seen every flood since 1943 except the levee break in 1944, when I was in the military. One must experience such a disaster like this to know what it is. And frankly I am scared this year. I am so scared of water anyhow, so much I don't even like to~ wash my neck. I think it is nice for the TV to keep us posted; there wasn't any~ in ~the old days. The Cape flood is more a high water flood; it gives you time to get out. A levee b~reak can come at any hour with very little notice. Here's hoping it will quit raining up north and our levees will hold the 47 crest.

Frank J. Marchildon

McClure, Ill.