Flooding: It is one of the most common complaints the commissionersy hear, and Thursday they heard it again.

Residents on McKinney Creek Road in Chesapeake asked the Lawrence County Commission to help them with a list of problems that center on the drainage ditch that runs alongside their road. Residents said the ditch is clogged to the point it almost does not exist in front of

houses, and cannot handle the water when there is a heavy rain.

"It's all clogged up," Don Christian said. "The water runs off the hill and across the road and in our yards. It gets underneath houses and is damaging some of the foundations. You can't mow grass because of the standing water."

Roads and ditches are the province of the Lawrence County Engineer's Office, and the commission has no control over what does and does not get attention. Still, the commission agreed to send a letter to the engineer's office requesting help for the residents. Christian said he has called the Lawrence County Engineer's Office several times and has received no response to his inquiries about when the ditch might be repaired.

Lawrence County Road Superintendent Don Lambert said he sympathizes with the plight of everyone with road and ditch problems, but right now the engineer's office is overwhelmed with requests for help and workers try to eliminate the worst problems as quickly as they can.

Lambert said the county does all ditching with a back hoe, which is time consuming and not nearly as effective as the ditching equipment the state has.

"We just have a lot to keep up," Lambert said. "We need a ditching program and we need better machinery to do it with. As it is, we try to get it done as quick as we can. I'll take up for these men (on the road crew). They work hard and they try to get things done."

Lambert said one of the causes of drainage problems throughout the county is that when pipes are installed, they often are not large enough to carry the water load they are supposed to carry. Lambert said he wished the county commission would require people building

homes and installing driveways to get permits and have their work inspected to make sure the pipes are the right size and installed correctly.

Making matters worse, Lambert said extremely wet weather the last couple of years slowed progress on road repairs and ditch work.

Others residents complained that McKinney Creek itself is clogged with debris and trees and this is also creating flooding in that area. Linda Riedel said in one place the water is eroding the roadway.

J.B. Riedel said he had asked the Lawrence County Flood Plain Management office for permission to remove some of the trees but was the request was denied. Flood Plain Management Director Joe Black gave verbal permission to Riedel to remove trees along the creek.