Highway Commissioner, THOMAS W. GOOCH        

 

Well, one thing you can say–The Drought is over!!  We sure have had some water and it has

revealed a lot of flooding issues–I think some of my neighbors are building an Ark! Seriously, we will never be able to engineer to handle the type of heavy rains in short time periods that August brought us.  We did however again this year, and will next year, continue to address drainage issues and while it may not seem like it we are making progress.  This season we have installed, so far, more than Seven Thousand feet of twelve inch storm sewers with many catch basins and other structures to solve drainage issues and we’re not done with this year.  Next season we plan on installing even more in the Township and the Villages we serve.

 

As I write this, the road paving program is underway and the new asphalt should be down by the time you read this.  Paving is a real problem this year with the tremendous increase in asphalt prices, and it’s only going to get worse, or so I’m told.  We will, as always, do our best to stretch your tax dollars, but as long as petroleum prices stay up, so will asphalt. “And that’s all I’ve got to say about that!” (F. Gump)

 

Someone asked me why I gave up most of my law practice to fix roads for a lot less pay.  The only way I can answer is to share just a few of my experiences from this summer:

 

We were patching in Barrington Harbor when a lady brought us fresh-made lemonade and fresh baked cookies because we looked tired.

 

In Shady Hill, when we were putting in storm drains, we had a 10-year-old with us every day with his own safety vest on supervising... he told me one day he was going to have my job… hopefully he will let me get a few more terms in first.  His dad said he spent all his spare time reading up on the equipment we used and what we did.

 

I come to work here, generally, just as dawn is breaking.  I’ve seen a momma fox playing with her kits, horned owls, even turkey buzzards with their young.   It’s a beautiful time of day here at the Township property and early mornings make you realize how wonderful nature and the earth are.

 

My wife, Debbie and I found four orphan kittens here, about five days old, took them home and bottle fed them for weeks.  Sitting in a chair in the middle of the night bottle feeding a tiny

kitten made me remember back to the happiness I felt when I gave my children a bottle in the middle of the night of 30 years ago.

 

And during the heavy rains and flooding everywhere I went, I saw neighbors helping neighbors and had reaffirmed again that we live in a tight knit, united community and I’m a pretty lucky guy to work with all of you.

 

Maybe that explains why I think this is about the best job I’ve ever had.

 

Our fall festival is described elsewhere in this newsletter.  I sure hope a lot of you will come and enjoy the day, rain or shine!  Debbie and I will be there and we’d really like to meet you.