Arden Lutz was one of the honchos behind the development west of town. He and Bo Dunaway and Wink Hufstetler bought the old Decatur farm that runs along Soledad Creek. They chopped it into three-quarter-acre lots and sold “creekside vistas” for home sites. Darcie Lutz named it Purling Rill Prospect — she got that name from a poem by Woolworth.

Nobody had ever seen Soledad run much until that storm blew up from the Gulf five years ago — “Darlene” or “Dorothy” it was called. Seven fine ranch-style homes out there were flooded bad. The Travisburg bank that backed the loan pulled out and left Bo and them holding the bag. But he and Wink and Arden always land on their feet. Five of the families washed out in Purling Rill bought property here in town from — who else? — Dunaway and Hufstetler Realty.

Wink’s wife Harmony said Wink got death threats for a while over the Purling Rill mess, but they wound up being prank calls from his brother.

(Copyright 2018 James Mansfield Nichols. All rights reserved.)