I’m absolutely shocked at the way agencies are turning their backs on people like Glen and Audrey Libby. They bought a home by the river in Robe Valley. It’s all gone now. The house, pump house, the well and all of the property are in the river.

These poor people cried out for help before all this happened. They went to places like flood emergency management, area habitat biologists, the Army Corp of Engineers, environmental people, permit people and river management people. They were told that anything they did to the property to save it would “disturb the fish” and would not be allowed. Don’t you think the fish were a bit disturbed when the family’s house came floating down their environmentally controlled river?

The river has been taking people’s land and now it’s taking their homes. Now that the Libbys’ home and property are gone, the river has nothing to stop it from taking the rest of the neighborhood.

The river is flowing in a different path now. That’s probably upsetting the fish too! What do the homeowners do with a piece of property that simply isn’t there anymore? They can’t even rebuild. How do they recover from that?

I’m all for saving and protecting the wildlife but not at the expense of humans losing their land and homes. America is the land of the free and people have the right to make decisions. The Libbys decided that they wanted to live in the woods by a river. It cost them everything. Now, as the word of their tragedy gets out, people will start pulling away from living in God’s beautiful river settings. They’ll know if disaster strikes, they’re all alone.

Granite Falls