have gone over to see how helen is don't worry if i'm not home by six m tell you that intelligent decisions are not reached easily or quickly homer has just come to the point of making an important decision he must decide what he is for and what he is again so that tomorrow he can cast his book how did it all start it all started on a saturday afternoon in the spring it started on the banks of the sandy river which flows to the county where homer lives homer teaches fishing the important thing now is a fish on the other end of the line the sandy river flows through fertile field of grain that supplies life giving water to homer's town and it is an avenue of commerce and his thing but these but wait it's starting to just couldn't stop it you can't stop a river was sandbags we just had to stand there and watch it we just couldn't stop it i had the radio on all night as a friend you couldn't get out in time for we're all ri could bring a stop to this thing nabs sure they've been talking dams for years now that we need they're still talking tornadoes and then disaster you saw what happened last night what if anybody would be in favor of dams you would a fifteen feet of water in your house i just want something that would keep the water out of my house how do you know them would do that how do you know this is your problem homer but how can you find the answer how can you decide when all you know is what you saw in the river the aftermath the homes range from their foundation case was a row his duty as a citizen was clear the problem was clear so homer began by talking about it with his neighbors when we saw jim talbert house slide off its foundation and flowed under the bridge i don't know what it just did something to us i don't know what i can do about it i don't know what you can do about it but we've got to do something we just can't let this happen again we sides to the issue and eight side seemed logical to those presenting it so homer saw it firsthand information he attended the meetings that were being held up and down the valley now you folks know just as well as i do that for years people through the whole length and breadth of this valley have talked about building dams some people are far and some against it those who are against the thought the time would never come when dams might save their farms their towns and their families i don't have to tell you that that time and what did we have to stop the waters different back to our farmers and our families and our towns i'll tell you what we had a few in effect the play i have been full of sandbags and a lot of tired scared people gentleman we must build these dams now what has happened to us once that happened to us again issue i don't hold with these people who are proposing these tremendous flood control project and i don't believe a lot of you do either in my opinion nothing could have prevented this freak of nature which descended upon us we can't afford to experiment with expensive gadgets we can't afford to sacrifice thousands upon thousands of fertile anchors to the lake beds which these dams will form that's the richest land in the world because everybody forgotten that no sir dams are not the answer we need a complete system of sort of conservation to protect our soil and an adequate system of levees to protect ourselves and we need to deepen the river channel in some places that's what we need to protect ourselves from floods not dams said listen to the experts and from what he had heard he tried to sort facts personal feeling he listened to sportsman who thought lakes formed by dams would be a fine idea because they would make recreations but he listened to farmers who resented the fact that their farms would be lost to them lying at the bottom of the a listen to a businessman who made it plain that they did not want their se enterprises to remain at the mercy of the sandy river yes homer saw the problem he had dug out some of the the determination to get all the facts gold him off searching for a solution that would satisfy him his search led him into what were for him strange activity his public library opened up new avenues  government weather station to determine if the conditions which cause those weeks of rain were likely to be repeated there was still another area he had not explored to find out about it he had a talk with his of conservation not to be an important consideration in any flood control program and i'd like to tell you mr king we're glad when city people as well as farm people are interested in what we're trying to do what is his opinion i guess a damn it be your choice i guess so but you didn't answer my question are you going to vote for a damn or not neither one son i can't vote directly for or against a damn you can't know but i can vote for a man who stands for what i believe in and if enough other people feel the way i do he will be elected thr our decision will have some bearing on the way the thing is finally settled but the main thing is people have to make up their mind and once they have then they can vote yes people have to make up their minds and making up your mind intelligently can be hard work homer knows in the first place you have to face the fact that there is a problem and that it's up to you to help solve  ever they are from books public statements reports and the opinions of your fellow citizens once you get the facts you have to think about them think about them until they fall into logical order that's what making an intelligent decision means we are almost to the end of the story of home today he and his family and joy are now doing on the banks of the same treacherous river that led the way making an informed citizen a former president all rivers surely it's mighty peaceful now alex a lot different than it did that night we're out here working on a you know one good thing came out of that flood people got themselves riled up enough to try to protect themselves against all sandy by  there'll be more people at the polls tomorrow then there's been for twenty years there's a lot of interest in this election why how you can blame them there are some big stakes why they're betting their homes and businesses against some kind of real flood protection idea well i did what i could where you could make up your mind and learn to tell you the truth i am kind of proud of myself i guess first time i ever went to work on anything like this you know some part you know what i'm proud of