The first erroneous rumor to make its way around Cherokee County in the wake of last week’s deadly statewide storm was that utilities were conspiring to cut off everyone's water supply.

The closest that came to being true was that there was the possibility water service could have been interrupted if the county went for several days without the electricity needed to run pumps that keep the water towers full. However, thanks to some smart pre-planning by our local emergency management officials that rumor – like so many others that have circulated over the past several days – never had a chance of coming true.

Still, sometime Friday morning the panic began in full. Subsequently, Jerry Baker and the folks at WEIS Radio spent half the day answering calls from people convinced that the government – or somebody – was out to get them by depriving them of water. Jerry and Joey and Mark and Kim and Sheila and Bill were forced to burn valuable air time assuring listeners that the local EMA office had already coordinated with the state to make sure generators for the water pumps would be here days before they might be needed.

And so they were. Maybe someone figured out the implications of a lack of electricity at the pumping stations and thought he (or she) was doing all 25,000 of the people who live in this county a favor by getting the word out. Actually, the exact opposite happened. He (or she) made a dumb mistake, worried a lot of folks, and caused a lot of extra work for a lot of others. Thanks for nothing, whoever you were.

The following evening, thanks to a lot of hard work by the employees of Cherokee Electric and other public utilities who drove in from other states to help out, most folks in Cherokee County had their electric service restored. Naturally, it took less than 24 hours for the next wild rumor to begin making the rounds: The Cooperative was planning to cut everyone’s power at 10 p.m. Sunday.

Asked about the rumor around 9 p.m. last night, Cherokee Electric Manager Randal Wilkie was flabbergasted. “I haven’t heard that one yet,” he chuckled.

By midday Monday, some of our Facebook friends were asking about other rumors, including one claiming that the power will be turned off sometime later this week. Another friend wondered if there was any truth to the story she'd heard about businesses in Centre using too much electricity and having their service cut off. No, and no.

Come on folks, let’s use a little common sense here. Of course there is still a lot of uncertainty ahead. Will the power go out again at some point before TVA has all their main supply lines repaired sometime this summer? Perhaps, but Cooperative officials and employees surely hope not and, if their efforts over the last few days are any indication, they will do whatever they can to prevent such a thing from happening. Will we lose water supplies as a result of a prolonged power outage? We don’t think so, but no one can say for certain when dealing with so many uncertainties.

Here’s what we do know: Right now, today, on Monday, May 2, everyone has water and everyone has electricity. (If you don’t have power at your home call the Cooperative at 256-927-5524, because you should.) Just about everyone in Cherokee County who has a pick-up truck or a chain saw or a spare gallon of water is out there donating time or money or whatever he or she can spare to help his neighbors. That's what we do here.

Our county leaders and volunteers have done a hell of a job of taking care of everyone, too. Next time you see someone who works for the rescue squad, volunteers for his local fire department, runs a county office or some kind or wears a badge of any kind, tell him thanks because he and all his coworkers have been busting their butts for us since last Wednesday night. They're the reason you have services such as water and power and protection and emergency assistance, just to name a few.

Speaking of emergency assistance, all you folks who have spent the past few weeks complaining about the county government's efforts to begin enforcement of the FEMA flood ordinance are hereby notified to put a sock in it. One of the first things Cherokee County stands to lose for failure to enforce that ordinance is the right to apply for FEMA emergency disaster assistance, which the county qualified for around 9 o'clock Sunday night. (To see if you qualify, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-3362 or visit http://www.fema.gov/.)

More importantly than all of the other good things that have happened in the days since that terrible thing happened on April 27, 2011, though, is that everyone in Cherokee County is still alive. That's why the front page headline of our May 2 edition reads "Could have been worse." Sadly, there are plenty of counties in Alabama where that statement is simply not true.

So the next time you hear a piece of information that sounds a little wild — or maybe even too fantastical to believe — first please consider the possibility that it may be another one of those crazy rumors. Before you become party to the proliferation of some little nugget of alleged “news” please call, email or post on Facebook your query to us and we’ll get to the bottom of it.

In the meantime, expend your excess energy in a more positive way. Grab a couple gallons of water, hop into your car, and go check on that little old lady a few houses down who lives all by herself. That's what I'm going to do when I get home tonight.