Sugarland Neglected

A tornado hit our area a year ago this month. The power was restored quite fast, the downed trees have long been cut up and mostly removed. BUT street signs are not back up. We live on a corner and the we carefully moved the cross street sign behind our shed. We called (again and again)to have it put back in place. Still a year later it remains there. Sure, we have some areas in Sugarland that are not kept up as well as others. However many of us take pride in our homes and should not be written off by our County Commisioner. If you are a proud homeowner here, please add your voice.

You don't know the half of it. The lake is being polluted with chemicals, the dam is in danger of collapse, and the lake is filling up with sludge at such a high rate soon there won't be a lake, yet no one will step up to fix the problem.

what kind of chemicals are being put in the lake, there is sludge in the lake where did it come from? sounds like the lake is really getting bad, yelk'

The chem's are coming from farmers in the area. The toxin's are running off the soil into creeks that dump into the lake.

Then the toxin's go from sugarland to highland then to inland which is then used by the Birmingham water works. Drink up everyone!!

Oh, by the way Sugarland Lake is listed in the National Dam Registry as a critical dam. If the dam breaks there is a high chance of loss of life and significant property damage.

the birmingham water works people , they keep a good check for any toxins in inland lake ,

Birmingham water didn't even know that the toxins were being dumped into the water system, but Blount County knows and will not do anything about it. They also know about the condition of the dam and are not concerned.

When the BWW was contacted about the toxins they were very concerned. When they attempted to go to Sugarland to test the water they were told to leave. A news crew from Birmingham attempted to come to an association meeting to ask questions about the problems at the lake and were told to leave because it was a closed meeting on private property.

I don't understand why Blount County refuses to help the Sugarland Lake Community. The Sheriff's office will not respond to calls at the lake, the county will not help repair the dam or help clean up the lake from the sludge, and the roads are terrible.

I understand that there is a scientist doing studies on highland lake, maybe he can take a look at our lake as well.

If what everyone is saying about Sugarland Lakes is true, what are the residents doing about it? Seems to me everyone has something to say but talk is cheap. Who's stepping up to do something to fix the problems? Are you waiting on other people to do it for you????????

As far as the people that live in the community, most are at poverty level and do not have the financial means to fix the problems at the lake or they are renters to absentee landlords. The Federal, State, and County governments have been notified of the problem but they will not provide any help.

I agree that SOME of the residents are at the poverty level but that is not an excuse for not keeping the community clean. There are junk cars everywhere, yards with all kinds of garbage in them, ditches with so much trash in them it is unbelievable, yards that are overgrown, etc. How do you expect to get anyone to pay any attention to our community if the residents don't care. Whatever happen to neighbors helping each other????? If your not willing to try and better your community, don't expect others to care.

Raven, I agree. When I was looking to buy a home a few yrs back, my realtor took me up there to show me a very nice house, but the way some of the places looked, I told him I would never want to live in that area. Frankly, it looked BELOW poverty level, I am talking white trash meth trailers and such! I would fear for the safety of myself and my home in that area, it had a criminal element to it.

I want to add to my above comment that it is a shame that it has been allowed to become what it is...I know at one time it was a beautiful place and in some parts it still is.

I realized that I may have sounded a little mean and that was not my purpose.

There are some trailers that are in bad shape and even some houses. I have talked to some of these people and they are elderly and in some cases unable to get out and do work. One individual that lives in the area is in bad shape. The roof of his house has collapsed and water is coming into the home. He is elderly and on SSI so he does not have the financial means to fix the roof. But some people expect individuals like this to find $300,000.00 to fix a dam. And lets not forget if the dam breaks everything below the dam floods and other people will die! So this isn't about the trashy neighborhood it is about a community and the people that live in the area. When it does break I can hear the people on TV, "Why didn't somebody do something to prevent this!"

The Senate Appropriations Committee refused to fund the repairs for the dam. However they did send $500,000.00 to Hoover to plant some grass and shrubs. This is insane!! Anyone that lives in this area should be furious! Send a letter to your representative and tell them that this needs to be fixed before someone dies!!