Malfeasance by ALDOT

Malfeasance by ALDOT

Should never be accepted as the norm

5th division Alabama Dep. of Transportation has to be one of the most inept state departments I have ever encountered. Time after time ALDOT has misquoted the truth or just not told it at all.

This recent string of malfeasance is the limit. 5th Division ALDOT needs to be completely reseated with competent people at the head.

As far back as I can remember there has been a communications problem with L. Dee Rowe, division chief ALDOT 5th division. I sincerely believe she is incapable of performing transparently or truthfully. She obviously doesn't have the skills to keep her employees on task to complete jobs under her command.

After the tornado of April 27th, 2011, ALDOT purchased over 30 homes damaged or destroyed by the storm. Rules were passed at the city and county level demanding that ALL houses and structures left by the tornado MUST be demolished within a specifies time frame. ALDOT made some closed door meetings to allow the houses to remain after the deadline. Why? It is my sincere opinion that this has been done intentionally to reduce the land values here to accommodate purchase of properties for the Eastern Bypass.

The house above was in the process of being torn down by FEMA and the county I was told. The minute ALDOT got the landowner to sign the sale papers the crews were told to stop demolition at once and the house still stands as it was that day. WHY?

There is no other reason I can come up with except that it was intentional.

In June of last year, I asked why the houses were left in this deplorable condition and was met with "misquotes". ALDOT claimed that the houses had already been placed on a list for bids. They also told Isaiah Harper of 33/40 news the same thing.

After this story ran, it was weeks before ALDOT responded to the problem by boarding up some of the houses but leaving more than a dozen crushed septic tanks open to the public to fall in or be made sick from the gasses and mosquitoes created by the open tanks. The houses were boarded up at the request of the Sheriffs office after an attempted abduction there.

Nearly a year later we had to get 33/40 to come back out as well as the T'News to run stories about why ALDOT had still not honored the promise to fix the problems left by their  premature purchases of dilapidated houses for the Eastern Boondoggle.

33/40 ran this piece recently... 

A lot of information was left out of the first stories so I ran a piece in this blog to cover the "rest of the story" as Paul Harvey used to say.

Stephanie Taylor, Tuscaloosa News also ran this story.

ALDOT came and filled in only the holes I sent pictures of but once again claimed the entire area was made safe and secure by David Kemp of ALDOT 5th division. He later recanted saying "I must have quoted it wrong" That was after 33/40 put him on the spot about past "misinformation" he spread about is failure to perform his job.

That wasn't the end of it.
After the story ran on 33/40 and T'News, I got a couple of calls asking if I had seen Cherrywood Circle? Rumors of open septic tanks and foul odors were enough for me to go and look. In about 30 minuted on the ground, I had located at least 9 more open septic tanks right in the middle of survivors who were trying to rebuild their neighborhood. All were open and full of putrid water and most were visible from Google Earth!

No excuses for not knowing the locations of the tanks

Once again, I called in the media since ALDOT 5th division was consistently quoting it wrong as David Kemp claimed. This time I sent the photos to Montgomery ALDOT headquarters. Within less than an hour of a phone call with ALDOT in Montgomery, an army of trucks, heavy equipment, subcontractors, and ALDOT 5th division leaders (or should I say lack of leadership) all showed up as if the Bryant bridge was falling! A huge effort was made to close the tanks before the media showed up but it didn't work.

ALDOT showed up just before 5 P.M. at the wrong location.

I sat in my truck across the field and watched them assemble. All of this happened within minutes of the call to Montgomery but Rowe and Kemp had been "missing" the tanks in their "weekly inspections" where Kemp was quoted as saying “ALDOT has been maintaining property and making weekly inspection throughout the acquisition process,” Kemp wrote in an email to The Tuscaloosa News. “Structures have been secured and maintenance forces have removed non-structural debris from the area."He must have "quoted it wrong" again!

L. Dee Rowe refused to be interviewed but told 33/40 off camera that she had only been told of these last week. Neighbors in the area state that they have been calling about the stench for over a year now. Maybe Dee "quoted it wrong" too!

L. Dee Rowe, ALDOT 5th Division Chief

 It did my heart good to see all of the ALDOT 5th division leaders stomping around the tall grass looking for liabilities they should have closed almost 2 years ago now.

L. Dee Rowe, ALDOT 5th division chief (center) finally does her job.

They worked until about 9:45 that night with beepers, diesel engines, clanging of equipment and even hammers 1/4 mile away were heard banging nails into houses Kemp claimed were "secure"

Isaiah ran this story...

ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports

Now you might think that would be enough to get ALDOT to do a comprehensive search of all of their properties to see f anymore liabilities remained. They looked all around where I was parked on the Right of Way. They carefully avoiding close contact with me or my cameras. In doing so, they left another open septic tank for several days more. Isaiah Harper and I went back to the site on Mon. 3 days later and it was still open. On inspection, I found a dead cat bloated and decomposing in the tank. I bet someone was wondering "now why doesn't that darned cat come home?"

I sent pictures of the tank to Montgomery again but this time something really happened.  A crew of ALDOT workers showed up with tiny orange flags to walk out the entire area over a couple of days.

It looked like about 10 people in all which should have pointed out any remaining problems. After they left, I went back and the open septic tank was still there and open to the public! Once again, I notified Montgomery and copied the news along with 33/40. THE TANK WAS COVERED THAT DAY!

If 5th division was run by competent leaders, none of this would have been necessary! 

 

It's time for Governor Bentley to take action here since it is evident ALDOT leaders are not. We need truthful and transparent leaders at ALDOT, not the current L. Dee Rowe T and company!

Enough is enough!

Friends of Hurricane Creek Cleanup

Friends of Hurricane Creek

2013 cleanup

May 04, 2013

Starting @ 9 A.M.

Friends of Hurricane Creek would like to invite you to the 2013 Hurricane Creek Cleanup

HC Cleanup 2011

 This year we will host the cleanup at Watson's Bend as usual but with a twist.

We have been diligently working to clean up the Apr. 27th, 2011 tornado. Most of the campground has been cleared of the large trees and what's left is limbs that will be chipped into mulch for use in the community and our trails.

This year we will be partnering with Mercedes Benz for the first time. We would like to send a big round of thanks to them for being good neighbors over the years in Hurricane Creek Basin.

There will be a BBQ lunch for volunteers and lots of fun on the creek for all!

For more information contact Your Hurricane Creekkeeper hccreekkekeper@gmail.com or leave a message @ 205/507/0867  

Contact us on Facebook

5th Divison ALDOT Needs to Come Clean

5th Divison ALDOT Needs to Come Clean

OPEN SEPTIC TANKS, UNSECURED TRAPS

Time after time ALDOT 5th Division has made statements that simply do not add up to the truth. Starting years ago when the Eastern Bypass was first introduced to the present, ALDOT has low-balled the price and made claims of total compliance. What I have seen and documented over the same span has been quite a different scenario. There's no room here to go into all of the details but here is a link to my comments to ALDOT at the last "hearing". 

What I want to expose today is the latest string of ALDOT "misquotes". 

Isaiah Harper, 3340 News ran a story nearly a year ago concerning the houses along Crescent Ridge Road and why they were still standing. ALDOT's David Kemp told Harper then that the bids had been let out and all the houses would be torn down soon.

Flash forward to March 15, 2013. ALDOT once again said the bids had been let out and the houses would be torn down by April. When Harper asked David Kemp why it hadn't been done his response was mostly double talk and the line "Du, we must have quoted it wrong." 

How do you quote something wrong when you didn't post the bids at all? Once, I could believe this but the exact same thing was told to the Skelton family years ago when they bought the family home under a "hardship purchase". Months after the purchase the family asked why the house was still standing and the response was "we have let the bid our and we are waiting for the contractors to respond".

It doesn't take years to get a bid.

SUNDAY March 24th, 2013, Stephanie Taylor of the Tuscaloosa News wrote a feature piece on the latest issue where ALDOT's David Kemp must have "must have quoted it wrong".

"ALDOT Fifth Division Chief Engineer David Kemp said that non-structural debris has been removed from the area and that plans have been made to demolish the structures this spring" David Kemp.

Mr. Kemp was further quoted as saying... “ALDOT has been maintaining property and making weekly inspection throughout the acquisition process,” Kemp wrote in an email to The Tuscaloosa News. “Structures have been secured and maintenance forces have removed non-structural debris from the area." Take a look for yourself at photos taken the same day the story ran. You will see doors broken in, windows open, no doors at all, beds made with sheets were people have been sleeping (or other things) in there. 

 Trees still lay on houses that were there April 27th 2011.

 “ALDOT has been maintaining property and making weekly inspection throughout the acquisition process,” David Kemp. He must have quoted it wrong again.

“It looks like a war zone,” said Holt resident John Wathen, a longtime vocal opponent of the bypass and, as Hurricane Creekkeeper, an advocate for the protection, preservation and restoration of the Hurricane Creek watershed. “We deserve better.”

Far more alarming than the open houses was the open septic tanks! I found at least 4 septic tanks broken open for months. If ALDOT has been inspecting for the last year then I have to assume that these were known to ALDOT and they consider this to be "secure" and "maintained".

He must have quoted it wrong again!

Many out here have become accustomed to the war zone like appearance and consider it a warped sort of normal now. That is a sad statement of our times. It is especially hard for some of the elders left here to drive by the houses owned by ALDOT that still bear the body count and search numbers along the streets. It creates a sort of stress related PTSD not known to anyone else in the county because it has been cleaned up everywhere else but the Eastern Boondoggle corridor!

Empty prescription bottles on the ground

These so-called "secured" houses have become havens for drug and other criminal activity. It makes our community unsafe and undesirable to anyone wanting to build anything new here. Empty pill bottles and alcohol containers litter the floors inside houses that are still dry enough to get some sleep or party. Sheets have been placed on one of the beds dragged up close to a broken out window.

Bed semi made with books and bottles all around

 Whether ALDOT ever demolishes the houses or gets to build the Eastern Boondoggle, we the tax paying citizens of Tuscaloosa County (and in fact the nation since this is a federally funded project) deserve truthful and transparent officials at the state departments. If the people at 5th Division ALDOT can't be forthright and honest in their comments then let them be gone.

(All comments, opinions, and photos by John L. Wathen)

ALDOT misquoted?

Did ALDOT (Alabama Dep. of Transportation) misquote the truth or just not tell it the first time?

After the tornado of Apr 27, 2011, Holt was left in shambles. The city of Tuscaloosa and Tuscaloosa County both passed ordinances declaring that all damaged homes not repaired within a specified time must be torn down. ALDOT, however seems to be held to a lower level of accountability.

About 30 of those homes were purchased by ALDOT because they lie in the projected path of the Eastern Bypass. As of this writing, Mar.16, 2013, those houses are still standing. Many still have the same trees laying on them for nearly two years.

Last year, ALDOT told 3340 news that they had let the bids and were awaiting prices to come in (paraphrasing) They also told another landowner who sold to them years ago the same thing over 5 years ago. It doesn't take years to get contractors to make a bid on making money!

Below is a video of the 3340 news report from this year.


This next video is from a year ago. Why is ALDOT held to a lesser level of accountability. As a state department they should be held to a much higher level of accountability since it is our tax dollars that pays their wages.

Truth or not, you decide and then let your elected officials know what you think about this state agency that refuses to be transparent.

Spring is on the way!

Spring is springing on Hurricane Creek

If I don't post something pretty once and a while, 

I forget why I became a photographer in the first place. Hurricane Creek is a wonderful place to see all of the Spring colors of the region. It's location on the "Fall Line" gives it a floral diversity known only along the Tibetan Plateau according to Dr. E.O.Wilson, Harvard U.

Last week I started noticing that the wild flowers are coming up much earlier than usual so I took the Canon EOS 5 D for a walk. Below is some of what I caught. Many of these are very tiny and close to the ground so they are easily missed unless you take time to smell the flowers (so to speak)

Please enjoy the reasons I do this job of protecting what I consider to be Tuscaloosa's Crown Jewel.

I was inspired by my photo mentor, Beth Maynor Young some years back to shoot Hurricane Creek and use the photos to tell the story of this wonderful treasure. Since then I have been taken to some of the worlds largest man-made disasters of this era.

Kingston Coal ash disaster

Kingston coal ash disaster

BP Oil disaster

Gulf of Mexico 05/07/10

I have to keep an eye on the beauty that surrounds me in the crazy world or I can't do the job as Your Hurricane Creekkeeper.

Huckleberries, Blueberries, Wildflowers of all descriptions are popping to open. 

Huckleberries

 

 

Wild Blueberries

Red Maple

Silver Maple

Trillium (top) and Ginger (bottom)

Wild Azaleas

Many other species of wildflowers can be seen that I don't have names for.

Phew! Thanks for indulging me. I have to have a shot of beauty to deal with all the ugly!

Another Pearl in The Necklace

Another Pearl in The Necklace

which is the "M" Bend Park

With the coming of Spring and the floral explosion that is known as Hurricane Creek, people will be wanting to come see it all. But where can you go and not be on private property to experience this Alabama wonder?

When I was a kid, my mother started all of her girl grandchildren off with an "Add-a-Pearl" necklace. First year they got 1 pearl, second year another and so on.

I like to refer to the M Bend of Hurricane Creek as an Add-a-Pearl Park.

The story started long ago when the people were abusing the land by using it for trash dumps and highly destructive 4 wheel drive vehicle recreation.  Some may think it causes no harm but that is a very misguided notion. In 2 years before PARA purchased I documented 7 pickup trucks having to be pulled from the swimming area alone.

Shortly after this video aired the family who owned the land contacted me and asked for help in patrolling the land and keeping an eye out for trouble.  Jim Shaddox and I met with the Stanley Parks family at the creek and discussed options. At the end of the conversation, Mr. Parks came out of the blue with this... If this land comes available for sale, would your group be interested? I have a developer who wants it but I want it preserved if possible. With no hesitation, I committed to over 1/2 million dollars for the land. (no idea where it would come from) We contacted a land trust company who facilitated the sale and it was they who brought PARA on board at our suggestion.

Pearl #1

Enter Tuscaloosa Parks and Recreation Association 

It was a beautiful Spring day when then director Don Kelly, current director Gary Minor and several of the PARA team paddled the creek for their first assessment.

At the end of the day we all agreed that this was a place that needed protection!

The "M" Bend of Hurricane Creek is a PARA park and open to the public.

Pearl # 2,

Boy Scouts of America build low impact trails.

Over the last couple of years the Boy Scouts of America have been busy building hiking trails along the creek bank.
They took great care to disturb as little as possible during the process which left a trail that looks as it is as much a part of the area as the majestic trees it passes under.

The trails take you along the banks of one of the most beautiful creeks in the world. Hurricane Creek is special for many reasons. one of which is the position it takes on the "Fall Line" of the Appalachian Mountains. With the connection to the Upper Coastal Plain and the mountains there is an overlap in flora and fauna equaled only on the Tibetan Plateau according to Dr. E.O. Wilson, Harvard University.

Since the Eagle Scout trails were built, you can now walk along the creek until you get to the new benches, then sit a while enjoying the sounds of the creek and the many birds in the trees.

 Pearl #3

Cub Scout Pack 85 work on clearing the trails

Cub Scouts, Pack 85 have also added their touches to the trails by helping clear them of trash and debris.

These young people have volunteered to help keep the trails up so YOU can bring your children or grandchildren to this natural wonder that is Hurricane Creek. (the parents helped some too)

 

Pearl #4

The West Alabama Mountain Biking Association build new bike trails

Earlier this year, PARA announced the plan for improving the site by adding bicycle trails to the upper regions of the park. The West Alabama Mountain Biking Association (WAMBA) has been hard at work trying to complete the first segment of the trail during the winter months. So far they have "roughed in" about 1/2 mile of riding trail that connects to the parks interior plateaus. It will run along fairly leveled bench trail segments to the old road that leads to the interior of the park.

Gary Falls, WAMBA, and long time Friend of Hurricane Creek had this to say about the trails. "When we are done, these trails will be the best in the area." I agree. WAMBA is responsible for the bike trails in Lake Lurleen Park. If you haven't seen them, take time to go and look at the type of premier trails coming to the "M" Bend. This is Phase I project will be a major undertaking for the club given the limited manpower. Volunteers should contact PARA or WAMBA to get involved.

Here is the roughed in trail. The finished product will be something to behold!

Many thanks from Friends of Hurricane Creek to PARA, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts of America, West Alabama Mountain Biking Association, and the many individual volunteers that have come out and helped expose this crown jewel of Tuscaloosa County to the public as something to be treasured.

I will leave you with these words from Dr. E. O. Wilson, Curator Emeritus of Entomology, Harvard University... 

Raptor Ambulance Service

Raptor Ambulance Service 

on Hurricane Creek

As Hurricane Creekkeeper, I am often faced with injured animals and birds. Thankfully there is a place where you can take such injured creatures for rehabilitation. That is the "Animal Wildlife Center" at Oak Mountain, just outside Hoover Alabama.

Over the years I have taken many injured adult birds and a few babies which were pushed out of the nest like this "Red Shoulder Hawk chick. This one in the nest was stronger and pushed it's sibling out.

Baby Red Shoulder Hawk on the nest

If it had not been for Alabama Wildlife Center he would have died. As it turned out, the one that was pushed out lived and was later returned to the wild on my land here on Hurricane Creek.



 A couple of days ago I got a call that an Owl was at Tuscaloosa Metro Animal  shelter and in need of transport. My buddy Kenneth Robinson and I took the Barred Owl to the Wildlife Center for evaluation. It had a broken wing and a crushed wrist.

Hurricane Creekkeeper Raptor Ambulance Service

 Chances are this Owl will not make it through to recovery but at least it will not suffer needlessly. Some make it, some don't but I feel that we should do all we can to help these majestic creatures to either recover or cross over in peace.

Injured Barred Owl for transport.

It's always a little depressing when we learn that one will probably not make it so I try to take advantage of the park at the Wildlife Center @ Oak Mountain to reflect and remember why I run a Raptor Ambulance Service. I visit the educational bird aviaries and see the beautiful Red Tail there named "Ireland"

"Ireland" photo from Alabama Wildlife Center brochure

 I happened to run into my old friend Lee Hannah McDonald who works as a volunteer at the center. She came to my house for the Red Shoulder release shown in the video above.  I told Lee about the damage to the campground at Watson's Bend by the Apr 27th 2011 tornado and how the woods have changed so. We are now seeing less of some species and more of others.

Lee Hannah McDonald Alabama Wildlife Center

 One of the many new friends to show up in the camp area is the American Kestrel. I told Lee about them and remarked that they have about the prettiest plumage of all the Hawk family. Lee corrected me to say they are, in fact, in the Falcon family. She then surprised me with a rare opportunity to see and photo one of my favorite of the Raptors, The American Kestrel.

Lee and Legacy @ Alabama Wildlife Center

 Last week I saw one in the campground and shot a few photos of it in flight and on the perch in one of our many snags of a tree, left purposely for the Raptors to roost in. My shots were O/K at best being that the bird was just too far away to get any real detail.

So when Lee brought out "Legacy" or "Legs" for short. It was a gift to be able to get this close to a Kestrel.

While enjoying these photos, please consider a tax-deductible donation to the Alabama Wildlife Center so we can keep getting care and needed attention to our winged Friends!



All photos copyright. Do not use without owner permission.