Let me start this out by saying that I very much like Fossil Rim. I don't mind too much when people park on the road, or think that 2008 is a one lane road and drive down the middle or the worries I sometimes have that people exiting the park won't obey the stop sign and will hit my car. It's really good that a lot of people come out to visit. That said, I don't pay too much attention about what event may or may not be going on at Fossil Rim, I usually only notice the traffic or more cars in the lot. The only reason recently I noticed that it must be spring break and people were visiting Fossil Rim is that, when I was driving by one day, I saw people working to help park the cars, and there were a LOT of cars on the road. I did write about it at the time because I thought it was cute.
Today was a high wind day and one hopes to goodness that there are not people who are burning brush piles. I saw a Burn Ban sign on the edge of Somervell and Erath county when I was driving to Stephenville the other day so I know it's against the law to be doing it. I would also hope that if anyone was burning anything today that they are picked up by the sheriff's office for breaking the Somervell County Burn Ban. And if anyone is THINKING about burning, one would hope that person would call the sheriff's office to find out if it's all right to do it. Like, you can't EVER burn stuff in a burn barrel, but controlled burns when there is not a burn ban on are okay. Or if you have to weld a fence, you should always have a spotter. Sometimes fires start from other reasons, though. I saw a huge bonfire one night nearby that scared the fool out of me. And one of the neighbors who had made a pond around the first of the year and had some cleared trees, had his pile set on fire by what we presume were some NY Eve revelers; the dang thing was still smoking a month later despite rain and frost in the meantime.
There was one day back in March where we smelled smoke and heard sirens and we KNEW there was a fire near us. I don't remember if the burn ban was on or not, but the fire was taken care of by the Somervell County VFD. The wind was actually going towards us, so we would have been in danger ourselves of having a fire here. Apparently that was the fire that is referenced in the letter I'm fixing to post. I saw in the Fire Logs from the VFD that there was a fire on March 18 2009 on CR 2009-looks to me like the place the fire was on the road that goes past the Fossil Rim Overlook.
All of the previous is to say that it is a heck of a nerve for a private company to try to tell the landowners around his business he manages what they can or can't do on their own private property. It *is* the business of the law and local government to do so, and that includes the county judge and commissioners, who set the burn ban and then expect the sheriff's department to enforce it and set penalties.
Here's the letter that was sent.
Is the sound of sirens for someone who is being helped by ambulance disturbing to the visitors? Is it not possible if there are visitors who hear the sirens and smell the smoke to be calmed by one of the Fossil Rim workers? I noticed today in the fire emergency that Parker County had that some surrounding areas from Weatherford evacuated and I'm sure that if a fire reached that level of emergency, this county would do likewise.
Don't get me wrong. IF the person whose fire was being tended to on 2009 was violating the burn ban, he or she should be penalized. IF that's what happened, it was the wrong thing to do. But it's not up to Fossil Rim to try to dictate how people should live as long as they are not the government in charge of making rules for our private lives.
Update: Another person who lives near here told me 2 cents more.
I want to get a huge smoke machine with a fan on it that would carry it all to Fossil Rim and run it every weekend.
It makes me want to buy the land right across the road from the entrance just to burn brush on.
Who thinks they can tell someone what to do on their own property.
Apparently Fossil Rim
