Some of their tenants have abandoned their mobile homes and left. The family income from renting the lots has gone from $2,000 a month to less than $400, Crosby said. Because of recent back surgery, Crosby hasn't worked. It is painful for him to pull on a pair of blue jeans, and he doubts he could shelter-in-place or get in the car in time to save his family.
His in-laws, James and Dorothy Newton, live close-by in a modest, neatly kept trailer. Ten years ago, they pulled together $4,000 to buy the trailer and moved here to be closer to the Crosbys. They are both on disability as Mrs. Newton has asthma and her husband suffers from a back injury.
"That $70 million should be used to help get people out of here," Mrs. Newton said.
Should it receive any money from the federal government, the Calhoun County Commission has said, it will use the money to improve the county's infrastructure.
"The government should put it in a fund and buy us out. Roads are no good if you can't get on them and leave," echoed James Newton.
County and state officials think a solution may lie in treating the residents as if they live in a flood plain and making federal dollars made available for relocation.
"We have procedures established to do that," said Lee Helms of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. "But we'd certainly have to get busy real quick."
The relocation plan has received a lukewarm response so far from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Helms said.
"They didn't give us much hope at all," he added. FEMA officials could not be reached late Friday afternoon.
Although he did not know of any formal discussions surrounding relocation, Lt. Col. Bruce Williams, head of the Army's stockpile program with the responsibility for notifying the community in the event of an accident, said that some of the neighborhood's concerns might be alleviated if the notification time were reduced from eight minutes to five minutes. It is a problem the Army and state officials are currently tackling, he said.
"The analysis indicates that early notification would provide adequate protection," he said. As far as buyouts, Williams said he had heard only informal talk and speculation.
Buyouts can present a problem, said Calhoun County Commissioner Eli Henderson. He thinks relocation will be necessary for some, but officials would need to make difficult decisions about which areas would relocate and which neighborhoods would stay.
Like Waites and Crosby, he doubts whether some residents would receive a warning in time to avoid being exposed to nerve agent. Henderson said the county needs more studies on that issue.
Even if they did receive a warning, the Newtons wonder if they could shelter themselves in their trailer.
"There's no way. There's too many cracks," James Newton said.
Across the road, Raymond Whiten has the same worry about his 1976 vintage trailer.
"There's no way you could get this thing airtight," he said.
Although Whitten considered moving his trailer, he soon discovered that wasn't a possibility as it might fall apart under the stress. He will remain on his two acre lot and wait for a buyout.
Up the hill, the Waites family isn't optimistic.
"Sometimes I think the government has its priorities messed up. Look at all that money they're spending on Vulcan over in Birmingham," Mrs. Waites said of the $1.5 million in federal funds allocated for the statue's restoration. "And I think, 'What else could they do with all that money?'"
