Howard Hanson Dam woes could be finest hour for Army Corps of Engineers

One of my favorite movie scenes is near the end of “Apollo 13.” An official grumbles that this could be the worst disaster in NASA history.

Hearing this, Gene Kranz (played by Ed Harris) tugs at his vest, straightens his tie, sticks out his chin and says, “With all due respect, sir, I believe this is going to be our finest hour.”

The Ron Howard movie, “Apollo 13,” is the story of the plight of the real Apollo 13 astronauts. This is a story of extraordinary resourcefulness and problem-solving by the astronauts and by the people in the Houston Mission Control to avert disaster and to bring the astronauts home alive on this ill-fated mission to the moon.

I live in Kent, where my home is a stone’s throw away from the Green River.

I have been reading news reports with increasing alarm about the threat of flooding this winter and next spring, because the federal Howard Hansom Dam is in disrepair.

While I am happy that King County has taken some “preemptive measures” because “we cannot hope it does not rain,” said King County Executive, Kurt Triplett, I fail to understand why will it take three to five years for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to repair the dam.

Where is the sense of urgency? Where is the same extraordinary, resolve, resourcefulness and problem-solving similar to that used my all of the stakeholders to rescue the astronauts that were in jeopardy back in 1970?

Where is that same missionary zeal? I don’t know anything about dams and engineering, but it seems odd that we can land men on the moon and we can continue to put people in space and yet we seem to be flummoxed when it comes to repairing the dam.

The people here in the Green River Valley and in the Kent Valley have a great deal of trust in you. I sure home that the Army Corps of Engineers will make the repairing of the dam their finest hour.

Stanley McKie

Kent