Posted Tuesday, July 1 -- 6:15pm

In the Sauk County community of Rock Springs, the village is hoping FEMA, when it looks at damage to public buildings, will help. Almost every building downtown flooded with a number of buildings likely to be condemned.

"I've known all of these people in this town for 74 years," village president Harlan Behnke says.

Behnke married his wife in Rock Springs more than 50 years ago.
"In the 50's this was a bustling little town," he says.

The wedding dance was held in the then-brand new community center... a local landmark quieted by the flood.

"That was our village office... our library... our senior center... where seniors played cards one time, two times a week," he says.

The library on the lower level had been remodeled just before the flood. Two years worth of fundraising for new paint, carpet and shelving valued at about $40,000 all now gone.

Librarian Norma Jean LeMoine and others managed to save about 95% of the collection.

"You fight for something... everybody here to save it," she says.
Behnke is now determined to save Rock Springs itself.

He says, of the village's 160 homes and businesses, closely to 20 will -- most likely -- be condemned.

"Telling people they have to leave or move is not a pleasant task," Behnke says.

And, it's almost a nightmare scenario for a small community's tax base.
"Everyone I've talked to wants to stay, but I don't know if we can find places for them to build."

Some already have started to rebuild. Neil Caflisch is hoping to re-open his Coach House Bar and Restaurant -- known for its Friday Fish Fry -- in a month.

"It was doing well. Just hope we can get it back, get it going," Caflisch says.

The Coach House is one of two businesses on this side of the street Behnke expects to return. The other -- the local bank -- where the water line up eight feet high is still visible, serving as a reminder of a community shaken but resilient.

"It's no doubt that there will probably be a brighter, shining village in no time," Behnke says.

Behnke thinks it will be another month before the post office opens. The community center needs to re-open by September because a number of events are scheduled.