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-- - ----------------------------, Page 3 of43 r ' ~ AGAINST CLINTON AND THE DEMOCRATS IN GENERAL BECAUSE THEY WERE TAKING THE HEAT FOR WACO. PEOPLE WERE SCARED OF THE GOVERNMENT. DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONGRESSMAN WERE VULNERABLE. MURTHA JUST HAD A RECENT RE­ ELECTION SCARE. EARLY IN 1994 SAW A RISE IN TIffi POPULARITY IN THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES AND ALOSS IN POPULARITY OF DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES. THE PRIMARIES WERE HAPPENING AND IT DIDN'T LOOK GOOD FOR DEMOCRATS. SUDDENLY SOIv1EBODY BLEW UP A FEDERAL BUll-DING IN OKLAHOMA CITY AND A COUPLE PA1RIOT MILITIA GUYS WERE ARRESTED WITHIN 90 MINU1ES. NOW THE PATRIOT MILITIA WAS THE BAD GUYS AND THE GOVERNMENT WAS THE GOOD GUYS. LUCKY FOR THE GOVERNMENT, OTHERWISE WHO KNOWS HOW MANY OF THOSE INCUMBANT CONGRESSMAN WOULD LOSE TIlEIR SEATS. NEVERTIIELESS, THE REPUBLICANS WERE SWEPT INTO OFFICE AND THE DEMOCRATS LOST BIG TIME BECAUSE THEY WERE SEEN AS AN OUT OF CONTROL MORALLY PARTY. I WON'T SAY MURTHA DID THE MURRAH TIlING BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT AS AN ISSUE IN YOUR MINDS. THAT DOESN'T CONCERN YOu. NOW I COME TO THE MEAT AND POTATOES OF THE STORY. UP TO NOW IT WAS JUST SOME BACKGROUND INFO YOU WILL NEED TO CONSIDER WHEN I'M THRU TELLING YOU THIS STORY. IN EARLY 1996 I WAS A SELF-EMPLOYED SMALLTIME CONTRACTOR AROUND HERE, IT SEEMS LIKE EVERYTIME A COMPANY SHUTS DOWN OR GUYS GET LAID OFF, THEY GO INTO TIIE CONTRACTING BUSINESS. IN 1996 I CAME HOME FROM WORK ONE DAY AND TURNED ON THE LOCAL NEWS. THE FIRST WORDS OUT OF THE ANCHORS MOUTH WAS"MORE BAD NEWS FOR THE JOHNSTOWN AREA TODAY". IT WAS A STORY ABOUT A MILL LAYING OFF 800 OR SO GUYS AND GOING OUT OF BUSINESS. THIS, AFTER PENELEC[ THE PENNSYLVANIA ELEC1RIC COMPANY] JUST MOVED ITS HEADQUARTERS OUT OF TOWN. IT WOULD MEAN EVEN MORE COMPETITION FOR ME IN AN ALREADY TIGHT, AUSTERE MARKET. I DECIDED TO TAKE MATTERS INTO MY OWN HANDS. I WAS ALREADY FEELING PANGS OF GUll-T BECAUSE I WAS SO DISSATISFIED WITH TIIE GOVERNMENT AND I WAS DOING NOlHING TO MAKE IT BETTER I DECIDED I WOULD DEVELOPE A ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN AND RUN FOR OFFICE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. I REALIZED THAT WE WERE THE MOST UNEMPLOYED AND THE MOST UNDEREMPLOYED PEOPLE IN AMERICA ON A CONSISlENT BASIS, AND IT WAS ONLY GETTING WORSE. IF WE WERE GOING TO FIX IT, WE WOULD HAVE TO USE THR RESOURSES WE ALREADY HAVB. I WENT TO THE FLOOD MUSEUM AND LOOKED AROUND, AS WELL AS OTIIER PLACES, TO SEE WHAT WAS GOOD ABOUT OUR AREA. AT THE FLOOD MUSEUM I NOTICED THAT EACH TIME OUR TOWN FLOODED, A STRUCTURE KNOWN AS "TIIE OLD STONE BRIDGE II CLOGGED UP WITH DEBRIS. WHEN I WENT HOME THAT NIGHT I TOOK THE STRAINER OUT OF THE KITCHEN SINK AND PEELED SOME CARROTS UNDER SOME RUNNING WATER. THE CARROTS CLOGGED UP AT THE COG IN THE SINK AND IMPEDED THE FLOW OF WATER. I SAT DOWN AND THOUGHT. I GOT A MAP AND I SAW THAT TIIERE WAS NO WAY TO GET ANY WAJER OUT OF THE CONEMAUGH VALLEY UNLESS IT RAN THRU THE STONE BRIDGE. THERE ARE TWO RIVERS AROUND HERE: THE LITTLE CONEMAUGH AND THE STONYCI REEK THEY CONVERGE AT A PLACE CALLED THE POINT IN DOWNTOWN JOHNSTOWN. THAT IS WHERE THE OLD ATONE BRIDGE IS. TIlE OLD STONE BRIDGE HAS FOUR AND TWO HALF HUGE STONE PIERS THAT SIT IN THE BIG RIVER THAT IS FORMED OUT OF THE CONVERGENCE OF THE TWO SMALLER RIVERS. THESE STONE PIERS ACT AS A COG IN OUR ONLYDRAIN. THEY CATCH DEBRIS. IN 1889 ADAM BROKE ABOVE JOHNSTOWN AND THE WATER AND THE DEBRIS FLOWED FINE UNTIL IT IDT THE STONE BRIDGE, THEN IT CLOGGED UP AND IMPEDED THE FLOW OF WATER, CAUSING ABACKWASH 5/11/2004