Back in the 1970s I loved to vacation in Corpus Christi, Texas. I loved the city so much that I wanted to move there. Coincidently, the Corpus Christi Caller (city’s newspaper) used the same computers (Photon Pacesetters and AKI Keyboards) that I operated here in Fort Worth. When I went for a job interview, I not only was offered a great salary, but the newspaper was willing to buy my house in Fort Worth and aid me in purchasing one in Corpus Christi. Obviously, individuals with my computer skills were hard to find in the "Sparkling City by the Sea." Moving to South Texas not only excited my wife, but my children as well.

I usually took my vacations right before my kids started their school year in August. Unbeknown to me, the hurricane season was right around the corner in the following month of September. Coming back to Fort Worth I made plans to tell my employer that I would soon be leaving to go work in Corpus Christi. Also, I had the difficult task of telling my parents, in-laws, close family members, and friends that we planned to move to Corpus. However, in a flash everything came to a halt. Yes my friends, a severe hurricane slammed the city of Corpus Christi, which got the undivided attention of my wife and me. Driving back to Corpus to meet with my soon to be employer, I got a full view of the devastation caused by a hurricane. It was incredible how this beautiful city was left in shambles in a few hours. Even the beautiful motel we stayed in previously was blown away. Living in North Texas, I have seen the damage tornadoes have done, but they pail in comparison to the destructive power of a hurricane. As I drove around the city observing the destruction, I decided then that that was not what I wanted for my family and me. I called my soon to be boss and told him the deal was off, I was staying in Fort Worth.

Every year during the hurricane season I hear predictions of how many hurricanes will develop in the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Most often such predictions are wrong. However, for as long as I can remember, hurricanes have pounded the Eastern Seaboard and the states along the Gulf of Mexico. It’s during this time that I ask myself, "Why do people want to live at in a city or town where a hurricane one day could destroy all they have worked for all of their lives? Who in their right mind wants to endanger the lives of their love ones by placing them in a hurricane risk area?" Thus, when a hurricane blows away a coastal city in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas, I, somewhat ashamed, don’t feel sorry for them. These people know full well the dangerous area they live in. I feel that coastal dwellers play Russian roulette with their lives every hurricane season.

Today, coastal dwellers due to our weather satellites are made aware of an approaching hurricane and consequently many lives are spared. Some however don’t heed the warnings and stay to ride out the often-dangerous storms. Anybody out there remember Katrina?

This year California has experienced vast uncontrollable wild forest fires. Many have lost their lives and homes due to these wild forest fires. Again, and sad to say, I have zero pity for Californians who have lost every thing in a forest fire. Individuals who buy or have their homes built in and around a forest are toying with danger. California’s forests consist mostly of Sequoia and pine trees. These trees are highly flammable. A cigarette tossed out of a car by a careless driver or a lightning strike can quickly ignite a tree. In a relative short while, a wild fire erupts, destroying in its path vast acres of forest and any dwelling within. Unlike victims of a hurricane or a tornado, who can find shelter or flee the danger, forest fire victims are most often helpless. And to add to their woes, environmentalists with the support of federal judges forbid homeowners in those areas to cut down trees to put a barrier between their dwelling and an approaching forest fire. In other words, federal judges, along with environmentalists prefer to see a forest and homes go up in smoke rather than cutting down the trees to protect existing homes, build more homes, make paper products, wood cabinets, etc.

I recently found the following three paragraphs off of a California environmental website:

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer ruled in San Francisco in late August that the "Forest Service's interest in harvesting timber has trampled" environmental laws protecting timberland in and around California's Giant Sequoia National Monument. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1997.

In a much broader ruling, another federal judge in California used scolding language two weeks ago in tossing out a Bush administration plan that allowed governors to decide what national forest land is suited for logging, mining or energy development.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth D. Laporte largely reinstated a Clinton-era "roadless rule," which had put nearly a third of the national forests off-limits to development.

Finally, I sign off with this: California, a very Democratic state, and their elected representatives it seems, tend to protect trees more than they do human life and property. California voters in my opinion, fall into this old saying, "You Made Up Your Bed, Now Lie In It!"