DUTCHTOWN VOLUNTEERS IN A RACE WITH RIVER

DUTCHTOWN -- As the Mississippi River steadily encroaches upon the wall of sandbags growing longer every day along Highway 74 in Dutchtown, volunteers diligently work filling and stacking sandbags, fixing sandwiches and bringing water to exhausted workers.

"The wall is almost a half-mile long now," said Bill Geiser, coordinator of the sandbagging effort in Dutchtown. "You wouldn't believe the people who have come out here to help working hard in the intense heat."

Geiser, whose face, neck, arms and legs are red from four long days' exposure in the sun, said he has worked from sunup to past sundown to keep the sandbagging effort moving along.

"I consider this my civic duty," Geiser said. "We're in a race with the river now."

By 5 p.m. Sunday, workers in Dutchtown had extended the sandbag flood wall to within 200 yards of its destination the transfer station on the north end of town.

An owner of a Jackson nursery had brought a Caterpillar front loader and a fertilizer spreader to Dutchtown to step up sandbagging efforts. Workers dumped sand into the spreader, which emptied two steady streams of sand into bags as assembly lines of people filed by.

"We've got a pretty good system going here," Geiser said. "We just need more people.

"The volunteers have been unable to take as many breaks as they should because there's not the manpower for a substitute shift," he continued. "We had to stop completely for about two hours today to let everyone cool down."

The overwhelming heat has posed a problem during the relief effort. Geiser said that three people succumbed to heat exhaustion on Saturday. One was transported to St. Francis Hospital by ambulance after collapsing during sandbagging.

Sunburns are also becoming a serious problem. Mary Burton, executive director of the Cape Girardeau County Regional Red Cross, said a flood victim who had spent the day moving her personal belongs came to the Red Cross emergency headquarters suffering from third-degree burns on her neck and back.

The alternative is preferable, but Geiser said, "The horseflies seem to really like the taste of sun screen," Geiser said.

"The Salvation Army is bringing us plenty to eat and drink," he added. "But you get so wrapped up in the work that you don't think about how overheated you're getting until you get sick and just can't go anymore."

At 5:30 p.m. Sunday, two couples from Fredericktown were taking a break filling bags with shovels at the opposite end of town from Geiser's operation.

"Someone we know from church lives here and we came down to help him and the rest of the people from Dutchtown out," said Audrey Unruh.

Her husband Darrol was helping a local man weld his trailer hitch back together so he could continue to move his belongings to higher ground.

"We were talking about going to Jefferson County to help out before we heard about the effort here," said Carnell Bethke. Her husband Roger skipped his 30th class reunion to help out for the past two days in Dutchtown.

"People have come here from everywhere Doniphan, Sikeston, Cape Girardeau, Poplar Bluff, Jackson. We even met a man from Florida who said that he wanted to come up here to help us out because we helped them so much in their time of need," Carnell Bethke said.

"It's really neat to watch people come together like this to help each other out."

Tom Dohogne of Cape Girardeau came out late Sunday afternoon to pitch in.

"I just wanted to help," he said, taking a breather from laying sandbags along the expanding wall. "I wanted to come yesterday, but I just couldn't get away."

Geiser said a man and his son came to Dutchtown all the way from Fulton, Ky., to help.

"They brought their sleeping bags and said that they would just sleep in someone's yard through the night," Geiser said. "I'm going to make sure they have somewhere to stay and can get showers.

"The mosquitoes here are the size of horseflies. They'll be eaten alive."

Capt. Elmer Trapp of the Salvation Army said the Dutchtown and Cape Girardeau relief efforts are progressing smoothly so far.

"We've had a good number of volunteers who have worked very hard," he said. As the volunteers work, the Salvation Army is working to bring food and drink to them.

"We need food bread, lunch meat, cheese, cookies, snack cakes," Trapp said. "We're serving about 200 meals and used about 150 pounds of ice per day."

Bob King, coordinator of the Salvation Army's disaster services committee, said the workers are developing a camaraderie which could last long after the flood waters recede.

"The longer the people work and talk among themselves, the more friends they make," King said. "I'm sure some of these people will stay in touch long after this is over."

Persons wanting to volunteer with the Salvation Army should call 335-7000. From Cape Girardeau, the only way still open to Dutchtown is Route K to Gordonville, then Route 25 to Dutchtown.

"We've had a pretty good turnout so far," Geiser said. "I'm afraid, though, that everyone is going to go to work (on Monday) and it's just going to be us locals out here dealing with the river."