Stance on federal flood insurance program may become issue in Alexander Co. commission race

~ Some candidates in the March 21 primary election attend forum.

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- The rules for building homes and businesses in the flood-prone regions of Alexander County are developing into a major issue in the race for county commissioner.

Two Democratic candidates, Darrell Shemwell of Cairo and Duane "Street Preacher" Lyon took opposite sides on the issue Monday during a candidate forum at the Horseshoe Lake Community Center. Shemwell supports the building restrictions designed to bring Alexander County into compliance with the federal flood insurance program. Lyon is opposed, a popular position among the group of about 60 people who attended the forum.

Along with Shemwell and Lyon, some candidates in other contested races in the March 21 primary elections took part. Those attending included Mike Caldwell, unopposed for the Republican nomination for county commissioner; M. Ryan O'Shea, a Democratic candidate for county clerk; Jeffrey S. Petzoldt, a Democratic candidate for sheriff; Richard Grapentin, a Republican seeking the sheriff's job; Janet Ulrich, a Republican running for regional superintendent of schools and Greg Goins, who is also seeking the GOP nomination for regional superintendent.

Development in areas deemed to be in the floodplain is stymied by the county's attempt to comply with federal rules, Shemwell said. He believes the attempt should be abolished or at least put to a countywide vote.

"We've got all of the restrictions of the floodplain and none of the benefits," Lyon said. "We need to get the hammers swinging and the saw sawing."

The county left the federal flood insurance program in the 1980s. Following the 1993 flood, attempts began to put the county back into the program which culminated in an ordinance being passed by the county commission.

Maps showing elevations and areas prone to flooding have been delayed, blocking development efforts. Now is not the time to abandon the effort, Shemwell said.

"It is not anybody in the county's fault the maps are this late," he said. "Instead of getting a handout, we would get a hand up" by being part of the flood program.

For Caldwell, the issue is economic development. Alexander County is a poor county that has lost large segments of population over the past half-century. "We've got to get people moving back into Alexander County," he said.

The issue isn't just development. There's a strong sense that the rules are an attack on private property rights, said Louis Maze, a former commissioner who voted to take Alexander County out of the program.

"If you're paying $5,000, $6,000 or $7,000 a year in property taxes, you don't want anybody telling you what to do with your land," he said.

In the sheriff's race, Grapentin, who faces no opposition in the GOP primary, and Petzoldt, who faces two other candidates, both said the county needs more road patrols and longer hours for a dispatcher. Grapentin is retired from police work in Los Angeles, Calif.; Petzoldt is a deputy currently working as a resource officer at a high school.

O'Shea, who currently works as a substitute teacher, said he would modernize the computers in the county clerk's office in an attempt to weed the voter rolls of people who have died or moved away.

And in the regional superintendent's race, Ulrich and Goins are making a contest out of their experience as educators. Ulrich, the incumbent, lays claim to understanding how the regional office works and understanding the needs of teachers. She formerly worked as a teacher.

Goins is touting his ability to juggle several duties, working as the superintendent of both a high school district and an elementary school district and serving as a board of education member in a third school district.