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<br /> <br />would have two weeks 10 consider. If <br />they accepted. Ihey signed a letter of <br />inIenI. and Ihey would hopefully <br />receive their money by February 1995. <br /> <br />Temple also made some <br />sIatements about the property once iI <br />was sold. Nothing could be built on the <br />land. but since the individual lots that <br />most houses stood on averaged only <br />one-half acre, they could be leased to <br />adjoining landowners who had not sold <br />out or who had cropland adjoining; Ihis <br />land Ihen could be used eiIher for <br />planting crops or for a garden.9 <br /> <br />From Ihere. Ihings moved <br />quickly. On December 17. the 34 <br />property owners who were sIill <br />considering the buyout opIion re- <br />ceived the governmenI's offer. Shelley <br />Temple told Ihem they had two weeks <br />10 consider the offer. but afIer Ihe <br />meeting. Bud Crockett told reporters <br />that most people seemed happy with <br />Iheir offers. Twenty-seven had ac- <br />cepIed immediaIely and six wanted to <br />consider the offer before making up <br />their minds. Only one had absoluIely <br />refused Ihe offer.1O <br /> <br /> <br />Page 20 <br /> <br />Homeowner Doug Olson, a <br />cabineI maker. was happy wiIh his <br />offer; he thought iI was fair. In an earlier <br />imerview. after he had applied. buI <br />before he received any money. Olson <br />Iold a Kansas CiIy Srar reporter, '"It's <br />stupid to be down there. [Without the <br />buyout] I'd probably end up selling Ihe <br />land to somebody else and then they.d <br />be in to bail him out in JO to 20 years."' <br /> <br />On February 14. 1995. four <br />property owners got their first checks. <br />and within Ihe nexI two months, 24 <br />oIher people sold their land to the <br />counIy.11 By the end of Ihe year, six <br />more residenIs had sold out, making a <br />toIal 01'36 participants in the Buchanan <br />Coumy buyout program. 12 <br /> <br />Of course noI everyone <br />IhoughI the buyout was a good idea. <br />About a dozen families in Rushville <br />(out of 60 before the flood) decided to <br />stay, no matter what. Roger and <br />Marilyn Chatman used cinder blocks <br />to raise their Irailer home six feet off <br />Ihe ground, and then hired a bulldozer <br />10 push dirt underneath. They will stay <br />no maIter what. \3 <br /> <br /> <br />'5\;11.....(.1.... <br /> <br />Rushville, Missouri is home of <br />Missouri's Lewis and Clark State Park. <br /> <br />The Chatmans were lucky. <br />Rains brought flooding to Rushville <br />and Sugar Lake again in 1995. BuIIhis <br />lime the water did not enIer their home. <br />The cinder block base had not saved it <br />buI the fact that Ihe Corps of Engineers <br />and the local levee board had repaired <br />Ihe Rushville-Sugar Lake Levee did. <br />A sIrenuous effort by Larry Frakes, <br />secretary-treasurer of the Rushville- <br />Sugar Lake Levee Association, and <br />Shelley Temple of MOKAN had <br />raised money through contributions <br />and a community developmenI block <br />grant to meet the 20% in matching <br />funds required by Ihe Corps of <br />Engineers to rebuild the lcvee. By <br />January 12, 1995, the Corps had <br />finished repairs 10 the levee and added <br />a topping of 2.700 tons of stone.14 <br /> <br /> <br />Today. most of the bought out <br />land is covered with grass or is leased <br />by farmers who incorporate it into Iheir <br />Iotal cropland. Al Sugar Lake. the area <br />made up of severalloIs has becn used <br />10 build an access road into Sugar <br />Lake. Residents have talked about <br />building a boat dock on the lake <br />frontage of one of the IOIs.15 <br /> <br />