ATHENS, Ala. — For Athens resident Billy Crutcher, Luke St. is home. "I raise my kids and grandkids too here," Crutcher shares. "It just was always place that liked and you know they've always enjoyed it and I just place that call home."
Home for many can be a place of comfort, but for residents of this Athens community, a change in the weather can cause a lot of discomfort. "Well, when it rains it is the septic tank fills up real fast in some parts of the yard," Crutcher explains. "So, it's just rough. I don't see how they could forget people that's been in the area that long and be so good to some just moving in so good."
Crutcher is just one of many residents of the community off that has been dealing with the aftereffects of heavy rainfall and the city officials haven’t been very receptive. "They come out here and talk, but, you know, they just did nothing," Crutcher shares. "They come out here and they put lights up. They do some stuff. I don't see how it is going to really help the drainage now because there was rain and the water just shoot straight cross."
All they are asking for is equal treatment. "I'd like for it to be nice, like everybody else's neighborhood," Crutcher shares. "I like to take things better. I really would. I'm not somebody who likes to dog people out and stuff, but they seem to have forgotten us."
Previous Coverage:
If you live in the Athens area or you've taking a trip out here recently, you might notice a few new things like the Buc-ee’s that's been built, the new housing communities, the business parks that are being built, but if you're taking a trip down Strain Road, you might see that one area of the town doesn't look like the other. "We can't get our roads paved; we don't have sidewalks," Kurt Parker, Athens resident shares. "We don't have the things that all these new communities have that we should have. And we're one of the oldest communities here in Limestone County. And all of this infrastructure, all this building that is going on, we're just being left out and our community is just not being included in anything."
This story was told to us about a year ago and fast forward to today, the community is still dealing with the lack of upgraded infrastructure. "The main one of the main problems is the sewage that is being ran through our community," Parker shares. "Better? Our roads, our streets, our flooding, things like that. We got people that still are when it rains, their septic tanks fill up. They can't even flush their commodes. And we got people they got mold in their house. They're getting sick from the mold and everything. "
Sharon Wilson, another resident in the Athens community lives not too far from all the new construction as well. Her home is bordered by two ditches and when they fill up, they spill over into her home. She has her shed, her air conditioning unit and has dealt with mold in her home. "We've been having several meetings with the mayor and the mayor," Wilson shares. "He's been promising us that he's going to do this, he was going to do that. We need help. We need help and he is he's ignoring us. He's ignoring us, not coming out one to look at nothing. You know, I don't know what's going on with the mayor."
In a statement given by the city of Athens, “Water services is working on a survey to give to residents to determine the issues and the interest for sewer. if the city installs sewer, there will be a cost on the homeowner to remove the septic tanks, tie into the sewer system, and sewer usage would be added to the monthly utility bills. There is a potential grant to help cover the initial costs, but the city will not be eligible for that grant program (CDBG) until the current vine street drainage project is closed out.”
Still, the residents in this community just wanted to be treated fairly. "Treat us like humans," Parker shares. "We humans like everybody else, you know, don't just come and just ignore us and just pass us by like we don't exist, whereas we have existed here longer than any of these new neighborhoods that are coming."
