The Southern Independent

15/02/2024

The alleged victim(s) should request an independent investigation by the District Attorney’s Office. The Board and agencies inside Humphreys County with jurisdiction can’t be trusted.

“This matter is still undergoing an investigative process."

22/09/2023

Shelia Faye Bradford has been missing from Benton County, TN since September 21, 1992.

Shelia's disappearance is troubling and to say the least foul play is suspected. Someone out there has the answers her family has spent years searching for.

Shelia was a 33-year-old mother of three at the time of her disappearance.

Shelia had ended her relationship with a man named J.C Bruce. A convicted felon. A man who kidnapped a 15-year-old girl on an impulse r***d her, strangled her and threw her off a bridge.

Before her disappearance, Shelia went to law enforcement and asked for protection in exchange for information regarding the double murder of Danny Vine and his fiancee Della Thornton. J.C. Bruce was suspected of playing a role in these murders.

Shelia and her daughter, who was only 15 years old at the time met with the TBI and the Sheriff in a popular local restaurant.

“She said can you help me can you protect me and they said you don't know enough for us to protect you, and the explosion happened and my mom threw me to the floor. She said he knows we are here we must leave,” said Kristie Bradford.

The explosion was in a building out back. It was engulfed in flames.

Shelia hid that night out of fear.

The next day Shelia returned to her home on Little Jim rd. to pick up some clothes. She stopped answering her phone around 10:30 am.

Shelia vanished, her clothes were still in the dryer, she did not have on shoes and her car was left behind with the keys still in the ignition.

The next day her daughter notified law enforcement but they would not even file a missing person report.

Brothers Gary Bruce Robert Bruce and Jerry Bruce were all convicted of the murders of Danny VIne and Della Thornton.

Sheila's boyfriend J.C Bruce was not charged in the murders. D.A. Matt Stowe has re-opened the case.

“Today in part. Because of the Shelia Bradford case. We do things differently the way we meet with witnesses. Folks didn’t realize how sophisticated crime can be in a rural area,” said D.A Stowe

If you have any information regarding Shelia's case please contact.

The Benton County Sheriff's Department (731) 584-4632
or the TBI at 1-800-TBI-FIND

If you would like to talk to us we can be reached here at Tennessee Missing and Unsolved or by call or text at 615 556 0534

03/08/2023

“Money put before hungry children”

During the past school year, the school was left with $29,000 of outstanding balances from unpaid lunches, according to Rye.

08/03/2023

16/12/2022

BREAKING:
Sheriff: ‘adult human heart’ found at TDOT facility in Humphreys County. Sheriff Chris Davis says a TDOT worker discovered what appeared to be a human heart yesterday in a salt pile at the TDOT facility on HWY 70E in McEwen. Investigators with the Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office sent it to TBI who the sheriff says confirmed it to be an adult male human heart. Investigators with the sheriff’s office are meeting with TDOT officials and TBI this morning to conduct a plan and search. We have a crew on the way and will keep you updated as this story develops. WKRN News 2

21/10/2022

Yes, there were naked pictures of a teacher at WCHS sent to students. Yes, the teacher is still at the school.

08/02/2022

Why are Waverly students displaced by the flood not allowed to check out books from school libraries?

18/10/2021

Even if you don’t contact this attorney you should speak with one regardless if you are a owner or renter.

08/10/2021

Why is the county not housing people who lost their homes in the old nursing home?

08/10/2021

Please read this article! Please share it! It makes it crystal clear to the citizens of Humphreys County just how elected leaders like Jessie Wallace and an incompetent County Attorney like John Lee Williams have failed Humphreys for decades!

THE TENNESSEEAN , October 4, 2021

Officials in Humphreys County have long known how to mitigate the flood risk that has haunted local residents for decades. But they took little to no action over the past 10 years to reduce the chance — and the consequences — of catastrophic floods in the area, according to a Tennessean review of state records and interviews with local, state and federal officials.

Local leaders in 2011 identified a dozen hazard mitigation projects that could have helped lower the town's high possibility of flooding. Those projects include drainage improvements, bridge and culvert enlargements, debris removals and residential buyout programs in flood-prone areas, among others.

None were completed by 2019, records show.

Officials have installed flood doors at local schools, created storm shelters and enlarged several bridges and culverts in recent years. But the bulk of the work remains unfinished.

“There had been no mitigation actions to help prevent flooding beyond” drainage ditches and stream bank stabilization projects, said Humphreys County Executive Jessie Wallace.

City and county leaders cited regulatory restraints and financial hardship as major obstacles.

But over the last decade, local agencies failed to seize multiple opportunities for funding assistance or for federal permission to conduct flood risk-reducing activities, records show.

Buddy Frazier, a longtime Waverly city employee before becoming mayor in 2015, said the Environmental Protection Agency prohibits the city from cleaning out blockage from Trace Creek — a major measure he thinks could have reduced disastrous flooding.

Federal rules do not outright ban such activities, but generally require a permit application from local officials for projects with foreseeable environmental impact. Federal and state regulators said they never received any application for Trace Creek operations over the past decade.

Frazier and Wallace, who has led the county since September 2010, also said it's hard for cash-strapped municipalities to complete ambitious flood mitigation projects without federal or state aid.

But the county, which for more than a decade resisted joining the National Flood Insurance Program, is therefore ineligible to receive any federal mitigation funds, said Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency Director Odell Poyner. The federally-run program allows residents in participating areas to purchase flood insurance and receive compensation for flood damages.

All three cities in Humphreys County joined the program well before 2010. But even when federal hazard mitigation grants became available, Waverly officials rarely applied, records show.

In mid-September, Humphreys County commissioners voted to join the federal program — almost a month after the historic flood struck the area.

Between January 1991 and March 2021, 23 floods had hit the county, including two major floods in 2010 and 2019, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Property damage totaled $2.5 million dollars.

On Aug. 21, roaring floodwaters quickly ripped through the county. The rushing current killed 20 residents, some as young as 7 months old, and left crushed buildings, splintered branches, wrecked cars and thousands of aching families in its path. One in 15 occupied homes across the county was damaged. In Waverly, 238 families were left without a home.

Debra Ashton raises her hands as she references a Bible story, Moses and the Red Sea, while telling her story when the flood destroyed her home in Waverly, Tenn., in front of her demolished home, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.
Ashton lost two neighbors, Mark Kee and Lilly Bryant. The deaths could have been avoided if not for local officials' inaction, she said.

“We'd already had two warnings,” she said, referring to the 2010 and 2019 floods. "When somebody loses a life, and we had to lose 20, and people sit on their rear-ends, and they (say): 'It's not going to happen again.' ...That is what's sad. It takes somebody losing a life, losing a loved one, before somebody else says, 'Oh, we need to do something now.'"

Local officials submitted no permit application for Trace Creek cleanup

Frazier said this year's flooding dwarfed the 2010 floods in the city. The high water mark at one of his houses was 8 inches in 2010. This time, it hit 7 feet, he said.

The main culprit is Trace Creek.

“It can turn into a raging river,” Frazier said. “It’s a beast.”

Flooding became more frequent in the mid-1980s, as construction crews dumped dirt into the creek and clogged the creek bed, Frazier said.

“The beds are rocky and sandy,” he said. “The streambeds are full. So it doesn’t take much flow (for the water) to get on the bank.”

Since 2010, Wallace said, local leaders have explored options to make the creek and surrounding streams “more efficient” in channeling the flow.

“But you run head on to regulations, and therein lies the problem," he said.

Wallace and Frazier said state and federal environmental regulations prohibit local governments from using machines to dredge the creek, which allows crews to clean out debris, gravel and mud from the waterbed. Debris removal from waterways was listed in the county’s 2010 hazard mitigation plan, but as of 2019, the project was not completed due to “lack of funding and environmental restrictions.”

“I used to sit on the creek bank in the summertime and watch a bulldozer come up and down the creek, cleaning out the creek,” Frazier said. “If I did that today, I’d be in handcuffs.”

Except he wouldn’t.

The Clean Water Act, established to regulate water pollution, restricts but does not prevent any dredging of waterways.

Using machines, such as bulldozers or backhoes, to conduct any “earth-moving activities” in waterways is subject to federal regulations, and is generally only allowable when granted a permit. That process is overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as state and federal environmental protection agencies.

No officials from Waverly or Humphreys County submitted any permit applications related to dredging Trace Creek in the past decade, said Eric Ward, spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

“We have communicated to local leaders that we will be providing maximum flexibility as it relates to cleanup activities,” Ward said in a statement. “Removing trash or woody debris by hand, chainsaw, or winch; cleaning out culverts and pipes; and conducting bank stabilization activities may be conducted without a permit when the disturbance to the stream is minimal.”

Tim Wilder, regulatory official with the Army Corps of Engineers in Nashville, said Waverly and Humphreys County officials submitted roughly 20 permit applications over the past 10 years, most of which were to shore up eroding stream banks with rip-rap stones. None involved Trace Creek, he said.

“I am not aware of, nor do our records show any application for a significant project that would involve channelizing Trace Creek,” he said in an email.

Poyner, who oversees Humphreys County’s emergency response, first said he believes creek cleanups would be “illegal.” After being informed of the federal permit requirements, he questioned why local governments cannot have a “wide-open permit” for dredging.

“That’s some big ‘if,’” he said of the permit application process. “When you get into the nuts and bolts of that, it’s not that easy.”

Faced with financial restraints, local officials made scarce use of funding opportunities

Not all projects require permits, but local officials still lacked the resources to pay for them.

Federal funds are supposed to relieve that burden. But, because county officials never joined the National Flood Insurance Program, they could never receive mitigation funding, Poyner said. And, even though the city of Waverly did qualify for mitigation funding, city officials never applied for the aid.

All local governments must update their hazard mitigation plan every five years to qualify for federal grants. Without financial aid, Frazier said the list of flood-reducing projects is nothing but a “wish list.”

“This is beyond our reach, but this is what our county needs,” he said. “We’ve got a problem bigger than we can handle.”

Demolished homes in Waverly, Tenn., Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.
For example, in Waverly, many low- to moderate-income families live in high-risk flood areas and cannot afford to relocate, even if there were funds for residential buyouts, Frazier said. With federal assistance, Frazier said the city would still have to match approximately 12.5% of the funds, which it cannot afford.

"We struggle here financially just to run from day-to-day," he said.

The Hazard Mitigation Program Grant, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is listed as a possible funding source for most projects in the county’s hazard mitigation plan.

The funding is only available after a presidential disaster declaration, according to FEMA’s website. Within 30 days of the disaster, the state — on behalf of city and county applicants — must submit its application to the federal agency detailing the damage assessment and financial aid needed.

Between 2010 and 2019, five floods in Humphreys County have been declared disasters, according to the county's hazard mitigation plan.

But the federal government only received two mitigation grant applications during that period from the area, and neither was from the city.

One, completed in 2015, created a 5,250-square-foot tornado safe room at Waverly Central High School. It was designed to withstand winds up to 250 mph and house 1,000 people, records show. Humphreys County Board of Education received $1.4 million in federal grants and $233,000 from the state for the $1.9 million project.

A look inside of the tornado shelters inside Waverly Central High School, in Waverly, Tenn., Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.
The other application, submitted by county officials in August 2020, aimed to replace Humphreys County 911 Center’s 20-year-old generator. The estimated cost for the project was $27,355, with 75% coming from the federal government.

“We have enough battery backup power to last for an hour. After that we are completely shut down,” the application reads.

The funds were never approved, Frazier said.

911 calls:'We cannot breathe': Panicked 911 calls poured in from trapped residents in Tennessee floods

When asked why the city itself never sought federal funds, Frazier said he did not know what type of funding was available, even though the plan identified Hazard Mitigation Program Grant as a potential source of funding.

The Waverly mayor suggested the funding source was put there just to complete the plan.

“The reason that that was done is that was a requirement,” he said. “It had to be done. That plan had to be submitted."

Poyner said the program remained on paper in hopes the county would qualify for the grant one day.

“Knowing we wouldn’t probably get it, that doesn’t keep you from trying,” he said. “There was always a hope that the county would come back and approve the National Flood Insurance Program.”

‘Government overreach’: a decade of resistance

The county did vote to join the National Flood Insurance Program on Sept. 13, Wallace said, after resisting the idea for more than a decade.

County commissioners held a series of hearings exploring the idea of joining the program immediately after the 2010 floods damaged more than 200 houses and businesses, according to reports by local newspaper The News-Democrat.

Then-county executive John Lee Williams noted the potential loss if the county refused to join the program, but also pointed out the "downside" — additional regulations new constructions must face.

Chairs are lined up in front of a home in Waverly, Tenn., Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.
Under the NFIP, communities must adopt flood plain management ordinances — which applies to new construction and major renovations — to meet federal requirements. Those who wish to build in the flood plain must obtain a permit.

“If the county does not adopt the flood insurance program, then when we have one of these disasters like we’ve just experienced, FEMA will not provide the full range of available disaster relief that is otherwise available,” he said in June 2010.

Some county commissioners became worried the program would be considered “county-wide zoning.” Many residents shared that sentiment.

On Jan. 28, 2011, residents objected to joining the NFIP at a Public Works and Safety Committee meeting. There was standing room only, according to The News-Democrat.

Most residents who spoke considered the program a “back door zoning” attempt and an infringement on property rights. One resident compared the proposal to policies drafted by “WWII Nazis.”

Joining the NFIP, however, was a state requirement. Tennessee lawmakers passed a law in 2010 requiring all communities to join the program by June 2012.

But there was no penalty attachedif they didn't. And as the deadline loomed, commissioners were unsure if they would be punished for refusing to join.

In a June 2016 public works and safety committee meeting, then-chairman John Hunt said: “Until we are forced to do this, I don’t think we need to,” The News-Democrat reported.

While local officials mulled the decision, more floods hit Humphreys County.

Waverly Elementary and Junior High Schools were flooded so many times that, in 2015, former Humphreys County Director of Schools James Long asked the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a flood study on the area, The News-Democrat reported.

A 2,300-foot-long flood wall covering the west, north and east side of the campus, along with companion measures, could effectively shield the schools and reduce damages, the 2018 study said. The project would have cost $8 million, The News-Democrat reported.

But there is no sign of a flood wall around the campus. Richard Rye, the county’s director of schools, did not return an inquiry from The Tennessean to discuss flood mitigation efforts.

Reflecting on the county’s refusal to join the national flood insurance program, Poyner said it was always a small group of residents who had enough influence to halt the efforts.

“They always resisted that until this time,” he said. “Had it not been for the loss of so many lives, they might have not been (in favor) this time.”

That, Ashton said, is maddening.

"It makes me angry, and I know it makes countless other people angry, especially those people that have lost loved ones," she said. "They lost babies. They lost children. They lost husbands. They lost wives. They lost grandmothers. That is just so sad."

08/10/2021

Waverly – VirtualCare

08/10/2021

“Flooding became more frequent in the mid-1980s, as construction crews dumped dirt into the creek and clogged the creek bed, Frazier said”

If you had a home damaged or destroyed or if you lost anything in the flood it would be worth your time to speak with an attorney. The Tennessean article from October 4th alleges so much negligence and incompetence!

07/10/2021

We are posting this in it’s entirety because its important to see just how local government in Humphreys County failed to protect it citizens.

THE TENNESSEEAN , October 4, 2021

Officials in Humphreys County have long known how to mitigate the flood risk that has haunted local residents for decades. But they took little to no action over the past 10 years to reduce the chance — and the consequences — of catastrophic floods in the area, according to a Tennessean review of state records and interviews with local, state and federal officials.

Local leaders in 2011 identified a dozen hazard mitigation projects that could have helped lower the town's high possibility of flooding. Those projects include drainage improvements, bridge and culvert enlargements, debris removals and residential buyout programs in flood-prone areas, among others.

None were completed by 2019, records show.

Officials have installed flood doors at local schools, created storm shelters and enlarged several bridges and culverts in recent years. But the bulk of the work remains unfinished.

“There had been no mitigation actions to help prevent flooding beyond” drainage ditches and stream bank stabilization projects, said Humphreys County Executive Jessie Wallace.

City and county leaders cited regulatory restraints and financial hardship as major obstacles.

But over the last decade, local agencies failed to seize multiple opportunities for funding assistance or for federal permission to conduct flood risk-reducing activities, records show.

Buddy Frazier, a longtime Waverly city employee before becoming mayor in 2015, said the Environmental Protection Agency prohibits the city from cleaning out blockage from Trace Creek — a major measure he thinks could have reduced disastrous flooding.

Federal rules do not outright ban such activities, but generally require a permit application from local officials for projects with foreseeable environmental impact. Federal and state regulators said they never received any application for Trace Creek operations over the past decade.

Frazier and Wallace, who has led the county since September 2010, also said it's hard for cash-strapped municipalities to complete ambitious flood mitigation projects without federal or state aid.

But the county, which for more than a decade resisted joining the National Flood Insurance Program, is therefore ineligible to receive any federal mitigation funds, said Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency Director Odell Poyner. The federally-run program allows residents in participating areas to purchase flood insurance and receive compensation for flood damages.

All three cities in Humphreys County joined the program well before 2010. But even when federal hazard mitigation grants became available, Waverly officials rarely applied, records show.

In mid-September, Humphreys County commissioners voted to join the federal program — almost a month after the historic flood struck the area.

Between January 1991 and March 2021, 23 floods had hit the county, including two major floods in 2010 and 2019, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Property damage totaled $2.5 million dollars.

On Aug. 21, roaring floodwaters quickly ripped through the county. The rushing current killed 20 residents, some as young as 7 months old, and left crushed buildings, splintered branches, wrecked cars and thousands of aching families in its path. One in 15 occupied homes across the county was damaged. In Waverly, 238 families were left without a home.

Debra Ashton raises her hands as she references a Bible story, Moses and the Red Sea, while telling her story when the flood destroyed her home in Waverly, Tenn., in front of her demolished home, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.
Ashton lost two neighbors, Mark Kee and Lilly Bryant. The deaths could have been avoided if not for local officials' inaction, she said.

“We'd already had two warnings,” she said, referring to the 2010 and 2019 floods. "When somebody loses a life, and we had to lose 20, and people sit on their rear-ends, and they (say): 'It's not going to happen again.' ...That is what's sad. It takes somebody losing a life, losing a loved one, before somebody else says, 'Oh, we need to do something now.'"

Local officials submitted no permit application for Trace Creek cleanup

Frazier said this year's flooding dwarfed the 2010 floods in the city. The high water mark at one of his houses was 8 inches in 2010. This time, it hit 7 feet, he said.

The main culprit is Trace Creek.

“It can turn into a raging river,” Frazier said. “It’s a beast.”

Flooding became more frequent in the mid-1980s, as construction crews dumped dirt into the creek and clogged the creek bed, Frazier said.

“The beds are rocky and sandy,” he said. “The streambeds are full. So it doesn’t take much flow (for the water) to get on the bank.”

Since 2010, Wallace said, local leaders have explored options to make the creek and surrounding streams “more efficient” in channeling the flow.

“But you run head on to regulations, and therein lies the problem," he said.

Wallace and Frazier said state and federal environmental regulations prohibit local governments from using machines to dredge the creek, which allows crews to clean out debris, gravel and mud from the waterbed. Debris removal from waterways was listed in the county’s 2010 hazard mitigation plan, but as of 2019, the project was not completed due to “lack of funding and environmental restrictions.”

“I used to sit on the creek bank in the summertime and watch a bulldozer come up and down the creek, cleaning out the creek,” Frazier said. “If I did that today, I’d be in handcuffs.”

Except he wouldn’t.

The Clean Water Act, established to regulate water pollution, restricts but does not prevent any dredging of waterways.

Using machines, such as bulldozers or backhoes, to conduct any “earth-moving activities” in waterways is subject to federal regulations, and is generally only allowable when granted a permit. That process is overseen by the Army Corps of Engineers, as well as state and federal environmental protection agencies.

No officials from Waverly or Humphreys County submitted any permit applications related to dredging Trace Creek in the past decade, said Eric Ward, spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

“We have communicated to local leaders that we will be providing maximum flexibility as it relates to cleanup activities,” Ward said in a statement. “Removing trash or woody debris by hand, chainsaw, or winch; cleaning out culverts and pipes; and conducting bank stabilization activities may be conducted without a permit when the disturbance to the stream is minimal.”

Tim Wilder, regulatory official with the Army Corps of Engineers in Nashville, said Waverly and Humphreys County officials submitted roughly 20 permit applications over the past 10 years, most of which were to shore up eroding stream banks with rip-rap stones. None involved Trace Creek, he said.

“I am not aware of, nor do our records show any application for a significant project that would involve channelizing Trace Creek,” he said in an email.

Poyner, who oversees Humphreys County’s emergency response, first said he believes creek cleanups would be “illegal.” After being informed of the federal permit requirements, he questioned why local governments cannot have a “wide-open permit” for dredging.

“That’s some big ‘if,’” he said of the permit application process. “When you get into the nuts and bolts of that, it’s not that easy.”

Faced with financial restraints, local officials made scarce use of funding opportunities

Not all projects require permits, but local officials still lacked the resources to pay for them.

Federal funds are supposed to relieve that burden. But, because county officials never joined the National Flood Insurance Program, they could never receive mitigation funding, Poyner said. And, even though the city of Waverly did qualify for mitigation funding, city officials never applied for the aid.

All local governments must update their hazard mitigation plan every five years to qualify for federal grants. Without financial aid, Frazier said the list of flood-reducing projects is nothing but a “wish list.”

“This is beyond our reach, but this is what our county needs,” he said. “We’ve got a problem bigger than we can handle.”

Demolished homes in Waverly, Tenn., Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.
For example, in Waverly, many low- to moderate-income families live in high-risk flood areas and cannot afford to relocate, even if there were funds for residential buyouts, Frazier said. With federal assistance, Frazier said the city would still have to match approximately 12.5% of the funds, which it cannot afford.

"We struggle here financially just to run from day-to-day," he said.

The Hazard Mitigation Program Grant, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is listed as a possible funding source for most projects in the county’s hazard mitigation plan.

The funding is only available after a presidential disaster declaration, according to FEMA’s website. Within 30 days of the disaster, the state — on behalf of city and county applicants — must submit its application to the federal agency detailing the damage assessment and financial aid needed.

Between 2010 and 2019, five floods in Humphreys County have been declared disasters, according to the county's hazard mitigation plan.

But the federal government only received two mitigation grant applications during that period from the area, and neither was from the city.

One, completed in 2015, created a 5,250-square-foot tornado safe room at Waverly Central High School. It was designed to withstand winds up to 250 mph and house 1,000 people, records show. Humphreys County Board of Education received $1.4 million in federal grants and $233,000 from the state for the $1.9 million project.

A look inside of the tornado shelters inside Waverly Central High School, in Waverly, Tenn., Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.
The other application, submitted by county officials in August 2020, aimed to replace Humphreys County 911 Center’s 20-year-old generator. The estimated cost for the project was $27,355, with 75% coming from the federal government.

“We have enough battery backup power to last for an hour. After that we are completely shut down,” the application reads.

The funds were never approved, Frazier said.

911 calls:'We cannot breathe': Panicked 911 calls poured in from trapped residents in Tennessee floods

When asked why the city itself never sought federal funds, Frazier said he did not know what type of funding was available, even though the plan identified Hazard Mitigation Program Grant as a potential source of funding.

The Waverly mayor suggested the funding source was put there just to complete the plan.

“The reason that that was done is that was a requirement,” he said. “It had to be done. That plan had to be submitted."

Poyner said the program remained on paper in hopes the county would qualify for the grant one day.

“Knowing we wouldn’t probably get it, that doesn’t keep you from trying,” he said. “There was always a hope that the county would come back and approve the National Flood Insurance Program.”

‘Government overreach’: a decade of resistance

The county did vote to join the National Flood Insurance Program on Sept. 13, Wallace said, after resisting the idea for more than a decade.

County commissioners held a series of hearings exploring the idea of joining the program immediately after the 2010 floods damaged more than 200 houses and businesses, according to reports by local newspaper The News-Democrat.

Then-county executive John Lee Williams noted the potential loss if the county refused to join the program, but also pointed out the "downside" — additional regulations new constructions must face.

Chairs are lined up in front of a home in Waverly, Tenn., Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021.
Under the NFIP, communities must adopt flood plain management ordinances — which applies to new construction and major renovations — to meet federal requirements. Those who wish to build in the flood plain must obtain a permit.

“If the county does not adopt the flood insurance program, then when we have one of these disasters like we’ve just experienced, FEMA will not provide the full range of available disaster relief that is otherwise available,” he said in June 2010.

Some county commissioners became worried the program would be considered “county-wide zoning.” Many residents shared that sentiment.

On Jan. 28, 2011, residents objected to joining the NFIP at a Public Works and Safety Committee meeting. There was standing room only, according to The News-Democrat.

Most residents who spoke considered the program a “back door zoning” attempt and an infringement on property rights. One resident compared the proposal to policies drafted by “WWII Nazis.”

Joining the NFIP, however, was a state requirement. Tennessee lawmakers passed a law in 2010 requiring all communities to join the program by June 2012.

But there was no penalty attachedif they didn't. And as the deadline loomed, commissioners were unsure if they would be punished for refusing to join.

In a June 2016 public works and safety committee meeting, then-chairman John Hunt said: “Until we are forced to do this, I don’t think we need to,” The News-Democrat reported.

While local officials mulled the decision, more floods hit Humphreys County.

Waverly Elementary and Junior High Schools were flooded so many times that, in 2015, former Humphreys County Director of Schools James Long asked the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a flood study on the area, The News-Democrat reported.

A 2,300-foot-long flood wall covering the west, north and east side of the campus, along with companion measures, could effectively shield the schools and reduce damages, the 2018 study said. The project would have cost $8 million, The News-Democrat reported.

But there is no sign of a flood wall around the campus. Richard Rye, the county’s director of schools, did not return an inquiry from The Tennessean to discuss flood mitigation efforts.

Reflecting on the county’s refusal to join the national flood insurance program, Poyner said it was always a small group of residents who had enough influence to halt the efforts.

“They always resisted that until this time,” he said. “Had it not been for the loss of so many lives, they might have not been (in favor) this time.”

That, Ashton said, is maddening.

"It makes me angry, and I know it makes countless other people angry, especially those people that have lost loved ones," she said. "They lost babies. They lost children. They lost husbands. They lost wives. They lost grandmothers. That is just so sad."

Reach Yue Stella Yu at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at .

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