We are parked along Tennessee creek, about 5 miles from Leadville, Co.
This beautiful creek is a creation of the beavers.
Here I am inspecting their dam. Note the jacket and eat your heart out if you are suffering from the heat. The elevation here is 10,000 ft.
We are parked beside this bicycle raceway. Tomorrow there will be 2000 bikers zipping past us on a hundred mile race. (one of the primo races in the US) Will get a pict for you tomorrow.
BUT I PROMISED TO TELL YOU ABOUT A HERO!
HERE'S THE STORY.: One day as we were walking along the creek, we noticed:
this: a pipe under the railroad. I supposed that it drained the rainwater and snowmelt from the other side. BUT NOT MY COMPANION. He was determined to know the truth. The next day he went over there and traced its path for more than a mile. Guess what! it goes to a sordid trailer park sewer system.
HE WAS OUTRAGED! He went to town and contacted the sewer officials of Leadville. The lady in charge then made a very dramatic demonstration. She took my friend to the pipe that pours Leadville's sewer treated water into Tennessee creek--TOOK A CUPFUL OF THE WATER AND DRANK IT......Proof that Leadville is in full compliance with treatment protocol. Our pipe is a county pipe--so she arranged for my friend to contact the proper county official.
MY FRIEND MOVED ONWARD---meeting with the county officials and convincing them to take action. AND THEY DID---IMMEDIATELY. today the pipe is not flowing and an electronic device is in place. monitoring the situation.
HERE'S THE LARGER STORY HE UNCOVERED: A nationwide corporation is buying up trailer parks like this sordid one--doing the minimum maintenance--catering to illegals and making fortunes from a population in no position to complain. These are the workers that sustain this ritzy town. Now this sleazy corporation will have to install a modern treatment plant, County officials thanked my friend for his persistence. A
rare citizen indeed!.
This 24 hr electronic device now monitors the offensive pipe.
I thank him, the fish thank him, the beaver thank him, the cities downstream thank him---and Shakespeare nods from his grave:
"WHETHER TI'S NOBLER IN THE MIND TO BEAR THE SLINGS AND ARROWS OF OUTRAGES OR TO TAKE UP ARMS AGAINST A SEA OF TROUBLES AND BY OPPOSING--
END THEM.
I SAY THE MAN IS A HERO--HE'S MODEST AND WILL NOT LET ME IDENTIFY HIM.
Thanks, Randy...and please thank your friend for me.
ReplyDeleteThank You Hero...and Randy!
ReplyDeleteThis is the sort of reporting that gives the rest of us courage to keep fighting the corporate beast, in our own way, every day.
May this story find its way to national media, and more, a nation-wide follow up of where there is similar goings-on. Regardless, thank you Randy and thank the character of this rare hero.
ReplyDeleteYes, there is a new "investor" strategy to buy up mobile home parks and jack up the rents. The only poor that can then afford to live there are the ones on some kind of housing assistance. There is a YouTube of a busload of "investors" visiting mobile home parks while some salesman touts the advantages of having a captive clientele who just have to pay the rent increases or become homeless. America is just becoming a dog-eat-dog place to live.
ReplyDeleteGreat story and accomplishment.��
ReplyDeleteIf it is so easy to extract higher rents from RVers, why aren't a lot more RV parks opening up? After all, they are such cash cows.
ReplyDeleteWho is responsible for the government regulations and zoning ordinances that keep RV parks from coming into being?
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ReplyDeleteQuestions