How it started

It started innocently enough. Each of us received notices that Devon Energy wanted to run seismic on each of our 5 acre lots. Some neighbors complied, some did not. Then we heard that there was to be an opening to the north end of the ranch and that all the equipment, trucks, workers would run through our neighborhood. The rancher had just signed a major deal with Encana Oil and Gas to turn his beautiful ranch into a gas field.

This is a neighborhood where children actually played in the street. In the evenings, it was not deserted like most city neighborhoods. Immediately the mom instinct kicked in and I wondered about all the reasons we had moved here, and how all that was going to be wiped out, just by that one single decision by one single person, the rancher, Ed Farmer Beggs. Did he know the effect his decision would have on the 30 families that lived in the neighborhood, the conflicts that would arise between the individuals, drilling company, the pipeline company, regulatory agencies(TCEQ, EPA), county and state government, law enforcement, fire department, truck drivers, ICE? Did he even care? What makes this so difficult for our neighborhood is that there are other means to access the 3000 acre ranch from the state roads to the east, I-20 to the south.

The neighborhoods on the north and west bordering the ranch is where Rancher Beggs wanted to focus all the downsides of drilling, not near his own house. He could make his millions and not be bothered with the drilling at all. Never mind what hardships he inflicted on the families in the neighborhoods: increasing property values for houses that could never be sold, increase in the crime rate(2 burglaries in the last 2 months), dust, noise, 60-100 trucks per day, proximity to a site that can blow up.

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Very soon, our neighborhood would become an Industrial Zone with the Ed Farmer Beggs Memorial Rig Road running right through the middle of it!

Whatever happened to the golden rule? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I have no problem with someone making a profit, but he is making that profit at my neighborhood's expense. Rancher Beggs is committed to turning his beautiful ranch into an industrial zone. Why doesn't he move, then move the road out of our neighborhood and accept the responsibility for the drilling downsides, rather than inflict it all on his neighbors?

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Most might consider that the RIGHT thing to do.

Most might consider SCREWING your neighbors and profiting from it, the WRONG thing to do. Decent folk don't behave that way.

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"We have no government armed in power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other."

- John Adams(1735-1826) Founding Father, 2nd US PresidentSource: Oct. 11, 1798

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For additional information:

http://www.texaskaos.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5030

A Little Background

We moved to our 5 acres of heaven in Parker County, Texas in the Spring of 1995. Our hilltop has a perfect view of downtown Fort Worth, starry nights and most of all a quiet refuge from traffic, noise, dirt and crime. Those of us that built first in the neighborhood remember no fences and dogs playing together as all the families got to know each other and it was common practice that everyone waved to each other as we moved about the neighborhood. We chalked it up to everyone had enough privacy due to the large lots and it was easier to be friendly to your neighbors, unlike in the city where no one has enough privacy. The ranch behind our neighborhood is an old homestead ranch that has been around since the late 1800's. On occasion, we would see the rancher driving along the fence line, checking his fence. I have no doubt that he saw our neighborhood as an intrusion; his entire life, he had looked over his fence at another ranch and we changed that forever.

We had our children, put up fences, saw a few neighbors come and go, but basically built a sanctuary from the hectic everyday life. And it was always so, so quiet. At night it was so dark.
So we were able to have chickens, guinea hens, rabbits, dogs, horses and give our children a life that most kids could only dream of. They have been able to gather eggs, see a newborn foal, raise puppies into dogs, chicks into hens and roosters, catch grasshoppers for the chickens to eat, chase lizards, experience snakes and tarantulas, hummingbirds, mice and wild bunnies. Every evening we listen to our 4 dogs sing back to the howling coyotes, a beautiful, soulful song. Every so often we see a few deer and dove; hear the ducks fly overhead. Once the dogs flushed a bush and it exploded with butterflies. The kids have been able to work a vegetable garden, shell peas, put up peach jelly and peach butter, plant flowers and drive a lawn mower. We even fly kites when the wind is not blowing too hard. On 4th of July, we sit on the front porch and watch fireworks in every direction, with no crowds! It is a rich, full life not trapped behind a computer game or a TV set. Who needs to leave home, when we have it all right here?