Anti-Clampet

In real life when you go out in the backyard and find that something comes a-bubblin' up from the ground, it's not quite the ticket to paradise it is on TV.

While many of the neighbors in Bayou Corne have moved away in the nine months since the Assumption Parish sinkhole formed across La. 70 South from their house, the Pipsairs have remained, in spite of a parish evacuation order issued Aug. 3.

Rhett Pipsair, 50, the father of two adult sons, said he has not evacuated because he has not been afraid of the sinkhole since it formed.

About a month ago, however, gas started bubbling up underneath a deck in one corner of his oblong pond, Pipsair said.

“This is making me think twice now that it’s in my own backyard,” Pipsair said. “I mean I’ve been building this place for 23 years. I can’t just up and leave, you know what I mean.”