That Sinking Feeling (Chapter XXI through XXXIII): "They Suck Horses, Don't They?"

The week in sinkholes - a double-doozy-woozy:

In Pennsylvania ("CONNEAUT - - A persistent smell of natural gas in a section of Conneaut's downtown district the past several days tipped city officials to a massive sinkhole growing beneath one of the city's busiest intersections, Fire Chief Bim Orrenmaa said Monday....A broken storm sewer drain apparently leaked water that washed away soil, creating a cavity that could have collapsed under the weight of vehicles at any time, Orrenmaa said.'"We averted a tragedy,' he said").

In New Jersey ("PERTH AMBOY: A ramp off Pfeiffer Boulevard that leads to Amboy Avenue is expected to be closed for most of today after a sinkhole was discovered this morning").

In Massachusetts ("BOXFORD -
A West Boxford culvert is in dire need of repair, local officials say, after a portion of the underground structure collapsed earlier this month. But the town may not have to pay for its repair as the state is readying a state-wide bill that could funnel money to that project as well as two others.... If the state is unable to give the town money for the Parker River culvert project, Dold said, he would have to turn to local taxpayers").

In Idaho ("Tresia Stones woke up one morning last month to discover her house was settling into a sinkhole, cracks creeping across the ceiling and gaps appearing between the floor and the walls.... she called her insurance company - only to find the damage isn't covered under her policy... The sinkhole likely occurred because of an undetected leaky water pipe in the home's slab foundation").

In Newburgh, Indiana ("The basketball-sized hole in Old State Road 662 wasn’t just a pothole. Actually, it was a sinkhole caused by the collapse of a manhole.... for two days, the sinkhole caused a traffic nightmare as approximately 16,000 vehicles per day had to be diverted").

In Alabama ("RICEVILLE — An equipment operator with the Alabama Department of Transportation ruptured a gas line Tuesday, closing Alabama 67 for more than two hours... the worker was using excavating equipment in an effort to determine the cause of a sinkhole in the southbound lane... when he snagged the gas line").

In Texas ("PALMVIEW - A huge sinkhole on the frontage road has forced TXDOT to close the road for repairs. The hole measures at least ten feet wide and dozens of feet deep. It's believed to have been caused by a water leak underground").

...and Corpus Christi ("Crews were still hard at work Tuesday evening, trying to repair that water main. It's inside of a five foot deep sinkhole, which is about 35 feet wide, taking up a good chunk of the city block").

Near Philly ("The hole also caused a water main break").

Mighty Maryland ("A fist-sized puncture in the shoulder of Maugans Avenue on Sunday night grew overnight into a gaping hole").

Belmont, North Carolina ("on on South Main Street, right in front of popular downtown restaurants and shops.... The barricade on Main Street may stay up until late June or early July. Repairing these things takes time, I learned from officials. Not to mention money: about $400,000, when all is said and done.... Isenhour said rock had been found in the sewer system 'and we couldn't figure out where it was coming from.' Actually, it was coming from the road bed.")

And, finally, in Arizona ("'A horse was waist deep in a sinkhole, and I had to do something,' Davis said").

I wasn't sure to include this last one. The whole point of this interminable series is to shout from the rooftops the elementary fact that our underwater freshwater and wastewater pipes are approaching Third World status, and that when that happens, the supposedly solid ground beneath our feat becomes as a gaping maw. That, dammit, when Howard Dean ran for president, he warned how George Bush's federal tax cuts were a mirage—that every dollar states and municipalities could not get from the federal government for essential services they would have to raise on their own (read about Boxford, above, for example). It would actually turn out to be a tax hike—if, that is, states and municipalities were able to summon the political will to raise taxes at all. And that some have had a hard time doing that. Lo and behold: some have not.

So I wasn't sure to include the sinkhole in Arizona that swallowed the horsey. It was on a ranch, and I'm not sure a public infrsutracture pipe was to blame.

But there was a nice picture of a horsey. An Arizonan of the sort good samaritan saved the horsey from certain death with his backhoe. We here at The Big Con appreciate inspiring stories. So it made the cut.

Most of these links have great pictures. Click on them, and see for themselves - because you, dear reader, might be the next creature that resquire by one of those backhoes.

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