Monday January 27, 2025
Calaveras Enterprise —
With the continued threat of flooding along Cosgrove Creek in Valley Springs, about 35 residents of that area attended a town hall meeting on this issue on Jan. 14. Several of the attendees voiced their frustrations and fears related to living in or near this river’s flood zone. The meeting was presented by Calaveras County’s Office of Emergency Services at the Jenny Lind Veterans Memorial Hall in Valley Springs for the purpose of keeping the community informed of the county’s latest efforts to mitigate potential flooding in this area and seek a solution to this issue. This gathering additionally provided a formal public setting for residents of this area to discuss this topic.
Ron Bassett, who lives about 100 feet above the creek, mentioned that he is far from new to this issue and community meetings that have been held in response to it “I just get frustrated with
hearing (about this issue) over and over and over again and nothing ever happens,” he said. “I’ve been here for almost 35 years, and it has been a problem since day one. And I’ve been to, I don’t know, a dozen of these meetings, and it’s the same thing: ‘We’re going to do this and that,’ but nothing ever happens.
So, hopefully, it will get better.” Bassett noted that he also hopes that it does not take a fatality for this flooding issue to be resolved. “I understand (the procedures) with the government and all the federal and this and that and the creek,” he said. “I understand all that. But to me, it’s something (that) I guess somebody needs to get washed down the creek and die before something actually happens. “Nobody has died from it yet, but as soon as somebody does, they will go hurry up and get something done.