At 16:29 +0000 11/11/2004, nvrockhounds wrote: >Show me pictures of all this "garbage", I guess my idea of trashed >and yours are different, Fred, I don't see things with your eyes, but >then being a retired Combat Engineer I guess I have seen far >more "garbage" than you. Glad you left the Slabs, you were taking >someones space.
John, I spent 24 years in the Army including two tours in Vietnam, a tour in Grenada, and was activated as an Emergency Services ham and served time right at Ground Zero in NYC shortly after 9/11. I've seen my share of trash - Saigon's garbage piles, Quang Ngai's open sewers, and the litter of war up and down Chu Lai's beaches, the piles of Cuban outside of bodies not to mention the horrible death and destruction in lower Manhattan at GZ, so I'm no stranger to trash. So when I say that Slab City is trashed, I mean it is trashed. No, of course I didn't take photos of the Slabs' garbage, trash, burned out vehicles and RVs; why would I want to do that? John, in my original post, I said that I respect those who are fond of Slab City. I don't think it's too much to ask for some respect in return. Further, it very well may be that you haven't visited the Slabs in some time and it's possible you may not be aware of its present situation. I have no means to compare today's Slab City with that of last year or a few years ago since this was my first (and last) visit. There's more: I didn't want to get into it before, but from my contacts with the permanent denizens of the Slabs, it's pretty clear that many of them are low-lifes. Security was my major concern and I just did not feel safe being in proximity to those who were obviously living at the bottom edge of society with no obvious means of support as evidenced by the derelict condition of the vehicles or RVs in which they were living. As mentioned in a previous post, I'm a ham operator with a lot of expensive equipment that I perceived as being at-risk. I made friends with another transient, a retired Air Force type from Texas who had his RV broken into while he was in town during the day; he said his good-byes the next day and departed. The County Sheriff had to come in to the Slabs at least once during my stay to quell a disturbance. I would be very interested in the Imperial County Sheriff's thoughts on Slab City. I am certain that there are many permanent Slabs residents who are fine people - the people who run the library, for example, and The Range and probably The Oasis (closed when I was there), but their presence and good citizenship is negated by too many of the others who are less than model citizens. -- 73 de Fred K2FRD, VO2FS http://homepage.mac.com/k2frd/K2FRD.html Free Subscription To OCARG EAGLE, a newsletter for ham radio Scouters http://homepage.mac.com/k2frd/ocarg.htm for info. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/z1TolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To reply to this message, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Boondocking/post?act=reply&messageNum=7504 Please do not reply to this message via email. More information here: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/messages/messages-23.html <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Boondocking/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
