Fences

 

Fences

The has been said that good fences make good neighbors. I have found this to be true. Having an adequate fence turns a potentially uncomfortable situation into one that can be clearly demonstrated and agreed upon by survey. It is very difficult, however, to explain to some people that the fence they just climbed over and crushed down has now created a serious problem for not only the property owner but the person climbing it as well.

The not so obvious reason for this is because fences have more than one purpose. The first purpose is to keep the livestock in that particular field and off whatever road might be adjacent. If it is a busy highway such as Highway 154, 246 or 101, it is extremely important to keep one’s animals off the road to avoid collisions between animals and vehicles, which can be disastrous for both.

There is another equally important reason for fences and that is to keep the general public out. Aside from the issue of trespassing on private property, there are the safety concerns of spreading disease onto agricultural land, which we all need to be vigilant to prevent. Plus there are numerous hazards on land you are not familiar with, not the least of which are the livestock. A common misconception is that the bull field is the most dangerous to enter, which is close to the truth, but I would really watch my back upon entering a field of cows and calves as well because those momma cows don’t take kindly to someone or something getting between them and their calf. They may not have horns but their heads are extremely hard and can do considerable damage to you should you be in the wrong place. I have been amused to hear someone refer to a cow with horns as a bull just because they have horns. Apparently they didn’t notice the milk bag hanging down at the other end of the animal! These days horned cattle are not seen very often, at least here in the Valley, unless they are Longhorns for a couple of reasons. First, they are more likely to hurt each other during transport and so are not in favor for sales people. Second, they can also hurt each other more easily out in the pastures, or so some feel. Personally, I think some of the disfavor horned cattle find themselves in is more of a fad or trend for people owning cattle, who do not have a long history of doing so, and therefore, feel that the horned cattle are more dangerous than polled (non-horned) cattle. In actual fact, both are quite capable of defending themselves and their young when needed, horned or polled.

Global Dimming

Well, we have all heard a lot about global warming, which I have already expressed my opinion about but have you heard about the subject of global dimming? I hadn’t either, had no idea what it was until I received a link educating me about it, which I will include. Apparently, there are some scientists who feel that while global warming is a phenomenon that has been occurring periodically throughout the Earth’s history, so too have cooling trends in between.

There have been a variety of reasons theorized for the different temperatures but, mostly, these changes are poorly understood and even more poorly explained to the public. Unfortunately, now, politics has been inserted into the discussion, which, in my mind, just confuses the issue and the public.

Global dimming is something that scientists have been studying for some time and generally refers to particles in the atmosphere, some manmade and some generated by volcanoes and some created by storms on the sun. Air pollution of various sorts including those produced by industry and vehicles are sources of particles that first form a nucleus, around which, water condenses and then form clouds that block light from the sun. The concern here is that as we “clean up” the pollution, are we then losing a balance between the cooling and warming? If we are successful in getting rid of the majority of the manmade pollution, how much of a difference will it make? Or are we just making the warming trend worse? Because there is no way to control the naturally occurring spewing of particles from volcanoes, for example, what can we do about that? Not having enough sunlight is just as bad as too much as crops will fail, livestock will perish and, in general, our food, clothing and medicine sources, which are produced on the land will cease to exist. Interesting subject to ponder? The Web site to find more information is http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sun/dimming/html. Keep in mind that Santa Barbara County has participated in the not-too-distant past in cloud seeding

Cowboys

Until fairly recently, most everybody accepted the concept that a number of very brave souls traveled West to settle this great nation and there were personas larger-than-life, who made that possible. Legends abound of mostly men but a smattering of women, who braved the elements to carve out a community in what was perceived to be the wilderness. People like Kit Carson, James Pierson Beckwourth, Daniel Boone, Natawista Culbertson and Stagecoach Mary (Mary Fields 1832-1914) all contributed to the migration westward. Many people followed of all colors and creeds and the inevitable conflicts ensued.

The endearing hero who was immortalized years later in Hollywood’s movies was the cowboy, who roamed the range with his cattle, fought off the bad guys and got the girl in the end. While there was a fictionalized version presented to the public, in actual fact, the daily work of the cowboy was dirty, dangerous and usually didn’t pay much. Sleeping in common quarters with other cowboys was the norm, a happening that continued even into recent times. On the larger ranches, crews of cowboys were responsible for keeping the herd of cattle healthy and well-fed at all times. Periodically, the herd would need to be gathered up for branding, doctoring or for sale. It was a time of hard, dirty, dangerous work, which sometimes ended in a celebration of sorts with extra food and bragging contests on who had the best cowhorse. This was usually when the year’s crop of calves was brought in and neighbors who had gathered to help compared this set of calves with theirs and other’s in the area. It was a tremendous sense of pride to be told that one’s calves were the best they had seen this year.

Somehow, in the last few years, due to some new way of thinking I think developed in urban areas, the rancher, the farmer and the cowboy have increasingly become the object of derision. I keep hearing a new verb being tossed about as in “to cowboy” and “cowboy mentality.” Most recently, Hillary Clinton stated that “the era of cowboy diplomacy is over.” It’s not clear to me what she means by that since clearly she wouldn’t have a clue what a cowboy was about but it seems fairly evident that some people in more liberal circles feel this is an appropriate insult.

I am severely offended by this misuse of the characterization of cowboys and only an urban person would find this sort of typecasting accurate. And that is precisely the problem. Hollywoodites, people whose experience in life is determined by what has been portrayed by Hollywood, have a real problem with reality. True, it is their job to fictionalize life but they have not taken the time to explain to the general public that this is what they have done. Too many people are now thinking that video games and what they see on TV and in the theater is real. I don’t know how we are going to get people out of their houses to discover the real world, but we need to start somewhere. It is too easy to fool people into thinking things that aren’t true because most people spend most of their time just taking care of their basic needs like food, housing, clothes and their children. Perhaps that’s how the powers- that- be like it.

Powers

I have recently been pondering the state of affairs in Santa Barbara County and have come to the conclusion that some very odd things have been happening. There have been a series of events that have had or will have serious consequences for our Valley and, indeed, the rest of the county. Some of these events or issues have taken a long time to develop and many are still in play. What is odd to me is the number of them all happening concurrently. What I am beginning to wonder is whether there is a common thread and is there an overall plan to this? Take, for example, the concern that many residents of the Valley have expressed about the impacts of the casino on the county, the request for a study made back in February to determine those impacts so that, should there be an expansion, we would have some idea of how the county would need to provide additional infrastructure to deal with the impacts. So too was the community concern about the purchase of local businesses to be used in conjunction with the casino, which seems to be a violation of the compact signed with the state of California, which has now told the community it will do nothing about these violations. So too was the too little, too late response by the county regarding the annexation applications for 6.9 and 5.7 acres of the Santa Ynez business district.

Now we have a massive development proposed on agricultural land called the North Hills Project, a Santa Ynez Valley Baseline Study, which belatedly purports to be the casino study requested in February, and a Santa Ynez Airport expansion, which is being looked at in phases (not allowed by CEQA (California Environmental Equality Act), which includes lengthening the runway, a restaurant, six additional helicopter spaces and an underground Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the old landfill just to name a few.

Is there a common thread here? Is there a plan afoot to turn the Valley into simply a tourist destination, with helicopters flying over our heads all the daylight hours like in Hawaii? Why is the county CEO trying to equate the raising of thoroughbred horses here in the Valley with the casino? Why are certain members of our community being singled out for “special treatment” by county officials? Being one of them, I know how awful it feels and how expensive it is to receive the same results as other residents. I leave you with one further question and that is why do we still have a county CEO who has (1) personally cost us already, the taxpayers $925,000 paid to a county employee for sexual harassment, (2) who has been sued by the Public Defender on May 18, 2007 for 13 counts of complaints including being spit upon, and (3) a person whose style of employee management is a book entitled “Rule Through Terror?” Given that our Board of Supervisors and county legal counsel are aware of these things and numerous other employee complaints and clearly the wrong direction for the future of Santa Barbara County, why, I ask you, is this person still employed by us?