Tag: Apple Pie Ridge

Community Gathering, Patrols, and fires

Late this afternoon, I left the heat of the mountain for a sweet community gathering sponsored by John Handy of TreeBones. He roasted two pigs, had a band, and everyone brought something. It was so good to see so many of my neighbors. Neighbors here live miles from each other. Gatherings are the only way we get to see each other, sometimes.

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Our host, John Handy …

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The band …

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the roasted pigs.

On the way home, I found one F&G ranger (he said there was another, whom I did not see), and one LPNF ranger patrolling Plaskett. So many hunters were up here, I suspect this was the last weekend of this portion of the season. I am just astounded, frankly, that Plaskett is getting all this attention. AND, I am extremely grateful. I cannot explain my relief at seeing firefighters and rangers making this effort this time of the year. Just a presence helps to discourage so much of the behavior I’ve been watching build over the last few years. Thank you, guys.

When I got home, I found a voice mail from Kelly O’Brien, reporter from KUSP who lives in Jamesburg, of a wildland fire that broke out in Carmel Valley, 6 miles up Robinson Canyon Rd. from CV Rd. She left the message at 5:45 pm, and I did not pick it up until 7:30 pm. The CHP opened Robinson Canyon Rd. back up (it had been closed for 2 hours) at 8:11 pm this evening, so that probably indicates this fire is controlled.

There were a number of small fires that started in various places on the central coast, including one on Apple Pie Ridge in Big Sur. So far, they have all been picked up fast, including the local one.

Given the temps and the low humidity, our firefighters are doing an incredible job. Our thanks can never be enough.

LA Times Apple Pie Article

There is a great 2 page article about the arrest and the defense of Apple Pie Ridge by the Curtis’s with photos of Micah, Tyson, and Ross on this page:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-backfire7-2008jul07,0,3314737.story

More photos can be seen here:

http://www.latimes.com/la-me-0706-bigsurfire-pg,0,7181154.photogallery

Ross is fast becoming a folk hero. If his dad were still alive, he’d write the screen play, and we’d have the movie in no time!!

While as I have posted in public forums, there are two sides to this issue, and thankfully, no one got hurt during the course of saving the Curtis property, I say, to quote Benjamin Franklin, “Those who trade freedom for security, deserve neither freedom or security.”

When I first got a copy of the 409.5 memo on 7/4, I called OES, and they had a Commander Teter of the MCSO call me back. When I got no satisfactory explanation about the issuance of the memo, other than to “educate” the Big Sur community about the power the MCSO had, I was furious. It was a holiday. Everything was closed. What could I do? The only places open were newsrooms. Having lived and worked in Monterey County, some of that in the justice system, I knew I needed to go outside of the county. I called the LA Times newsroom and the SF Chronicle newsroom. I posted something on surfire2008.org. Before it was removed, and probably rightly so, as it was posted as a “notice” and it wasn’t really “official,” as is required, Deborah Schoch, a staff reporter from the LA Times called. After speaking with her for some time, I got her phone numbers, and said I’d pass it on to a member of the Curtis family who was not in Big Sur, and if they wanted, they could pass it on to Micah and Ross.

Some people may think it is sensationalism, but I think it is what we need. We needed the spotlight shown on this unbelievable situation so that others, outside of the rather small Big Sur community were aware of what was happening here.

StationKATE