The Shot

So, was it a random shot or an intentional 'warning'?

Several weeks ago my father began noticing strange little markings;


a weird scratch in the truck...







a very strange mark in the drywall of the garage...

Today he found the bullet hole...

Yup, a clear shot right through the garage door that hit the truck, then went on to tear through the drywall in the garage and jam into, most likely, a stud.

My father, who has been around guns his whole life, is sure that this is no random shot. It is clearly a direct shot from, likely, a handgun. No stray ricocheted bullet; no hunter mistaking our garage door for a deer.

Someone who wanted to send out a clear message:

Stop talking.

Based upon what we can figure, the shot was likely fired on October 14. The same day, coincidentally, that all three of us were participating in a preliminary trial for our contested case hearing against Tenasty. No one was home, a rare occasion around here. We don't leave the house vacant for this very reason...we are afraid some nutcase will do something drastic.

Whether it is a pro-Tenasty being or not, we may never know. My hunch says it is. They want us to shut up, and left a clear message attesting to just that. We are likely on their 'most wanted' list; I am always plastered all over every newspaper and news station around, alerting the public to their (Tenasty's) true pollution potentials; my testimony on that October day allowed for the Environmental Defense Fund to defend our cause, my mother's allowed for the Sierra Club; that same morning a front-page article in the local paper was riddled with quotes from my father.

We speak out a lot, and 'they' know it.

Speaking out for what one believes can be a dangerous business, especially when so much money is at stake. The coal industry is powerful and ruthless, as are many of the supporters in the Sweetwater area. That we 'dare' to disagree is extremely brave on our parts.

What makes me laugh is the fact that Texans are supposed to be so free, so individualistic, such warriors in a government-run country. They are the people who speak up for their rights, their beliefs...

right?

Well, until those rights and beliefs disagree with some 'powerful' being's. Very few people in the town are willing to speak out. They are terrified.

So what happened to that 'Wild West' spirit of Texas and it's want for secession and freedom?

It's a joke.

I'm not even from the state and, based upon all of this garbage, would love to leave and never return. This considered, I am the one fighting to protect the land, the air, the water and the rights of the people. Me, an 'elitist' New Englander. I honestly could not care less about this backwards state and its wacked out people. But I still fight for it. They work to destroy it, and they are from here.

Go figure.

Thursday the 3rd of December is our next public hearing, this time in Abilene. I wasn't going to go. I'm worn out and over this entire issue. But the 'discovery' today has made me want to go again....has made me want to continue fighting.

Your 'warning' back-fired, buddy. Now you've got me even more riled up.