I thought about your request for improvements to the Gazette [“On celebrating 4 years of publication,” October 2007] and could think of nothing. It seemed as if nothing should be changed…and then suddenly today I thought of something that would improve it one thousand percent: get rid of that horrible Smokey Briggs.

Jim Sage
Alpine

The double negative in the paragraph where John [Waters] quoted me [“Christmas Mountains auction stalled – again,” October 2007] can’t possibly be what I said. It should have been: “...it would surprise me if the grasses are not in excellent shape.” Also, there have been no known instances of poaching in the Christmas Mountains in the last four years – on that maybe I was not clear enough, but I would like to see it corrected. We do have poaching incidents.

Alida Lorio
Operations Manager, Terlingua Ranch

Some people, like the letter-writing lawyer from Dallas [letter from Pat McMurray, “Letters to the Editor,” September 2007] may enjoy having government goons run roughshod over their privacy rights on the side of the road. I don’t.

I’ve been to Big Bend National Park six or seven times over the past 25 years but the visit in 2006 may be my last one ever. The Border Patrol and their police state pushing cronies have voided the U.S. Constitution in far West Texas. The sacrifice of freedom is a high price to pay just to catch a few marijuana merchants.

You west Texans need to stand up for your rights and throw these bums out.

William Black
St. Cloud, Florida

I have read with great interest the articles on the possible auction of the Christmas Mountains.

I have probably hunted those mountains as much as anyone. I grew up in Texas, and my father raised me to be a hunter and outdoorsman. We first hunted mule deer in the Christmas Mountains in 1967, when I was 14, just below Hen Egg Mountain. The Christmas were located in the middle of what was then the Chiricahua Ranch, a ranch so large it was measured in sections, not acres. My dad brought back a big 8-point mule deer on that trip. It hands on my living room wall today.

Later, in the 70’s and 80’s, we backpacked up into the bowl that sits in the middle of the Christmas Mountain high country. It was an all-day pack up up the drainage and over the north pass into the high valley. We set our tent below the pass, and hunted the ridge tops for mule deer and, to our surprise, whitetails.

The Christmas are a revelation. In the morning, the sun rises in the east over the Sierra del Carmens of Mexico, and lights the top of the Chisos. To the north, on a clear day, you can see past Jack Eden Mesa to the mountains south of Alpine. And to the east, the Solitario Uplift, now Big Bend Ranch State Park. The south ridges are covered with lechuguilla flats, the north with pines. We found springs in the deep ravines. Hawks flew overhead. Javelina wandered the valley. We found natural beauty and wilderness. We never saw another [human] soul.

We stopped hunting the Christmas in the late 80’s, when drought reduced the deer numbers. My father passed on. Now I am a bow hunter in central and south Texas. I returned to the Christmas once, hiking up to the high country one spring to look around. Life moves on, but the mountains remain. The wildness is unchanged.

These mountains belong to our children, and our gradnshildern. Mr. Patterson  is just wrong. The Christmas Mountains should be preserved for all, not put on the auction block. I would love to see them become part of the Black Gap Wildlife Management Area, so that Texas hunters could continue to access the mountains. But preservation of this great natural area takes precedence, and if Big Bend National Park is the best fit, so be it.

Theodore Roosevelt was an avid hunter, but he knew that some places had to be preserved for future generations. He created several of the great parks we enjoy today. Let’s learn from his foresight. Jerry Patterson does not represent this Texas hunter – lets preserve the Christmas Mountains for future generations.

Mark Wilson
Austin

I hope many of us who live in Big Bend can come together for the dedication of Arlington Southwest on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, at 2 p.m.  

It is important to me to remember the costs of war.  

We do not see many photos of flag-draped coffins arriving home or significant coverage of Iraqi casualties; therefore, memorials such as Arlington Southwest have become one of the few ways for communities to visualize each death and to consider the resulting loss for the many circles of family, friends and fellow citizens with whom each victim – man, woman and child - shared their life.  

Eve Trook
Alpine

An Open Letter to the Citizens of South Brewster County from the Board of Directors, Terlingua Fire & EMS:

We would like to thank those of you who took the time to complete the recent survey related to the fire department, to address some of the points brought forward from that survey and to provide the community with an update on our organization. This is the first of what we intend to be regular reports to the community on your emergency services.

The Board recognizes the need for a trained volunteer fire department in the community and is committed to building that department. Part of the intent of the survey was to understand what type of fire department the community wants and how willing the community is to join with us in building and supporting the fire department.

One theme that echoed in the survey was confusion about how the fire department is organized, managed and funded. In 2005, the Terlingua Medics and Terlingua VFD were merged into Terlingua Fire & EMS, Inc., a Texas Non-Profit organization. This produced a more efficient organization in terms of management of limited funding from donations and increased potential to receive grant money for area emergency services. Many communities have combined EMS and Fire services for this reason.

Terlingua Fire & EMS receives oversight and guidance from a volunteer Board of Directors consisting of up to nine individuals with one each appointed by the Brewster County Commissioners from Precinct 2 and 3, Brewster County Tourism Council, Terlingua Ranch, the medics, and the fire department. Three at-large members are appointed by the other six board members. The board employs an Administrative Director to handle business affairs, licensing, billing and records for the organization.

In addition to donations from events like the CASI Chili Cook-off and funds received from grants, the major source of operating funds for Terlingua Fire & EMS comes from the Brewster County Emergency Services District Number One, an organization mandated to use tax revenue to provide for emergency medical and fire services to South Brewster County. Rather than a property tax assessment, funding comes from a one percent sales tax. This helps to remove the burden from residents and distributes an equitable portion of the costs to the visitors to the area who receive a substantial service from Terlingua Fire and EMS.

Other concerns voiced were lack of volunteers, no compensation for fire staff, inadequate training, and poor equipment. During the survey process, seventeen individuals indicated a willingness to volunteer in some capacity. Others have come forward since the survey was completed. Board members have contacted those who indicated a willingness to assist in some capacity to find a job or task for them. A recruitment drive is planned this fall. While we have an urgent need for firefighters, we also have a number of other tasks that do not involve the demands of firefighting. Some of these include maintaining the station and equipment, assistance with preparing grant proposals, working on fire pre-plans to identify water sources, etc. and a number of other tasks.

We are working with local businesses to secure agreement for employees who serve as TFEMS volunteers to receive compensation for the time they are away from their jobs responding to an emergency call. We receive training funds through the ESD and grants to cover the costs of travel expenses to attend training classes. As the organization grows a cadre of trained volunteers, the potential to pay a stipend or hire part time firefighters will follow as it has with the EMS staff. Everyone on the TFEMS roles as staff or a volunteer is covered by a Workman’s Compensation policy in case of an injury while serving for the organization.

The majority of the equipment in use by TFEMS is new. The fire truck/brush truck was acquired through a grant in 2004. Fire bunker coats, pants and boots were received new through Brewster County Emergency Management within the past three years and has again this year agreed to fund additional emergency equipment for TFEMS. New Wildland firefighting equipment is received annually through federally funded programs with the National Park. New vehicle extrication equipment was received within the past two years. Old and obsolete equipment has been removed from the station.

On the EMS side, TFEMS took possession of a brand new, state-of-the-art ambulance in May, 2007 that is well stocked with supplies and staffed by EMT or Paramedic level responders.

The short-term goals for the fire department include the following:

Recruitment of a core group of firefighters (6-10) to receive basic fire response training in the next year.

Responding the brush truck to all motor vehicle accidents and/or EMS calls to assist with scene control, extrication, rescue, fuel spills and incident management.

Regular, scheduled, monthly fire training sessions to develop skills.

Beginning to address pre-plans for fire responses within the community.

Fund raising and grants to pursue purchase of a rapid response fire engine suited for structural fire response.

The Board believes these goals are attainable. The community of South Brewster County clearly wants the best emergency services it can support. We believe that support exists within the community. We invite comments and constructive criticism.

We encourage your support and volunteerism, for without the participation of community members we will not be able to continue. Anyone interested in volunteering for TFEMS is asked to contact us at (432) 371-2536 or stop by the station.

Board of Directors, Terlingua Fire & EMS, Inc.
P.O. Box 290, Terlingua, TX 79852

Basin Radio is still up and running!

[In “Neil Chauvigny and non-commercial, educational radio,” August 2007] I found the reference to “with his friend Danny Self, who had a pirate station for a while....” somewhat disconcerting. [Marathon’s Basin Radio] has been in continuous operation since the fall of 2001 when we first started broadcasting.

Due to the remoteness of Marathon, compounded by its geographical location, we couldn’t get radio in town. Long story short, Basin Radio was begun as a “community” radio station running 24/7 for the purpose of broadcasting community announcements, notices, music, or anything of interest for the benefit of the community of Marathon.

Thanks to the efforts and contributions of quite a number of people, Basin Radio has continued to grow through the years.

In 2005 Mountain Zone TV provided us with the equipment and installation in the “radio room” to broadcast 2 channels on their cable TV system: channel 98, which features informational videos on the Big Bend and surrounding area, and channel 6 which scrolls a Power Point presentation for advertising and community announcements and notices with Basin the background music.

In addition, Basin Radio is streaming on the internet world wide at www.basinradio.net.

So as I hope you can see, it is a far cry from the allusion made in your article of “no longer broadcasting.”

It was Ray Santos, not Neil [Chauvigny], who was very involved with the station at that time, who found in his research, not only was the FCC not issuing licenses at that time, but was too expensive, and thereby not commercially viable to apply for the license. It is for that reason, considering the remoteness, we do not interfere with commercial stations, nor do we offer advertising, and are strictly for the benefit of this community, that the FCC does not involve themselves with this station.

Daniel Self
Marathon

In our April 2005 issue, we published a feature story I wrote about Marathon’s Basin Radio [“Basin Radio Stretches Out”] which involved a lot of quotes gleaned through my extensive conversation with Danny Self about the community radio station and its branching out into TV and internet.

When I edited Dallas Baxter’s aforementioned article this summer, I neglected to check on the current status of Basin Radio. My sincere apologies to Danny Self and others who have contributed to the ongoing success of the station and its continual broadcasting. Basin Radio broadcasts with a 10-watt signal strength, which reaches a radius of approximately 8 miles. When you’re in Marathon, give it a listen(1o0.1 FM)  – or do so via Internet streaming (www.marathontexas.com/radio.htm). Viva Basin Radio!

And here’s hoping Neil’s efforts to bring another non-commercial radio station to Marathon (and Fort Davis) are as fruitful.

–Ed.

Note: the following letter was sent to the president of Trail Riders of Houston, and a copy sent to Brewster County Sheriff Ronny Dodson. It is reprinted here with permission of the authors.

For several years, the property owners of Terlingua Ranch have suffered the annual invasion of your corporate sponsored rally on our private property owner roads. This is a commercial operation conducted by your group that nets your group at least $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 per year. You conduct this rally with complete disregard for the recommended policy of POATRI [Property Owners Association of Terlingua Ranch] such as having permission of each landowner impacted by the rally and providing a map of the route at least two weeks before the event.

It seems as though your group is completely incapable of controlling your customers, as groups of riders run wild without a monitor from your group. There have been many reports of off-roading, disregarding signs, invasion of private property, wild and extreme riding behavior, and deliberate vandalization of our dirt roads that we depend on for access to our homes and property without any effort to repair those roads or compensate the owner for the damage.

Loose riders have been rude and abusive to property owners and even threatening toward owners at times.  Severe dust clouds are raised along with ear-damaging noise, and these dust clouds threaten the well-being of those senior owners with respiratory problems.

Your group has not even tried to control the mixing of racing bikes with normal property owner traffic. Surveys of the bikes by owners have shown that a large percentage are not street legal and most likely do not even have proper insurance to operate on the state highways and country roads as they do. Your group has made no effort to provide sanitary facilities for your customers, and questionable fueling stations have been set up along the route.

We are copying the Sheriff Dept. and others with this letter and we have been in contact with our attorney for advice. Please do not disregard this letter as the number of owners objecting to your actions is growing very fast.

Terry L. & Suzy Ervin
Terlingua Ranch

Alpine’s city council sometimes seems to have trouble making up its mind, and appears to reverse its decisions too easily. It is important to understand the true context of these reversals.

For decades Alpine’s dominant political culture was based on the politics of fear, repression and secrecy. This allowed an elite few to maintain a tight control over city policies, empowering themselves through selective enforcement of rules and control of public patronage. This system feared competent administrators, because a professional commitment to impartial decision making and adherence to regulations and laws left no room for favors. With the Border Patrol water line, “affordable” housing, the city’s refuse/recycling contract, harassing indictments of city council members, gagging the citizens at council and more, taxpayers were expected to go along but not ask questions.

Alpine’s citizens have decided that this system does not represent their interests, and have worked (and voted) to replace it with a more evenhanded and professional city administration. While not easy, this turn toward the politics of openness, inclusion and hope is the result of tireless efforts by citizens, city staff and council members alike. As in any move toward change though, some folks choose to undermine its progress, seeking a return to the “good old days” of their power, influence or connections.

The tension between these competing visions of moving Alpine toward a more equitable future versus keeping old injustices alive leads to the city council’s seeming indecision, as each step forward is challenged by the special interests feeding off of the old system.

We have a courageous city council, but now more than ever it is essential to stay informed about the issues facing our council members, and to talk to them about how their votes will affect our community.

Peter A. Smyke
Alpine