A South DaCola Foot Soldier contacted me last night asking me to try to remember if a promise was made to us about the ice storm. He wondered if the city promised to replant some trees that were taken down due to the ice storm. I couldn’t remember. I also couldn’t remember how much FEMA money we received, but after checking some news stories, it looks like $4.9 million.
A city councilor contacted the city’s forestry director, Duane Stahl, and he said besides the HelpLine and the Argus Leader teaming up to voluntarily replant trees, the city had no plan. So I guess the $4.9 million in FEMA money went to out of state contractors to cut down our trees but to not replace.