Linda
08-27-2002, 11:29 PM
That's an intentionally mixed metaphor, since Barry Carter doesn't golf. He's mainly a tree man and as far as he's concerned, nobody's cutting down the trees in Occaneechee State Park, Clarksville, VA, to put in a golf course.
His family's always lived in the area, they're Indian to a large degree, so by the logic of "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" he feels a familial obligation to look after the legacy of the Occaneechi tribe who lived and were massacred there. As far as he's concerned, those are his trees -- his and everybody else's in the country, since those trees stand on federal land.
The deal was about to go down without much opposition, but Barry jumped in, has spent the week on the phone calling every chief and tribal council in two states, several congressmen and assorted officials. Now the formerly done deal is coming undone.
He was bred to this manner of behavior. In the sixties, he was the first nine year old "colored" child to attend the formerly "white" primary school in Mecklenburg county. He is never happier than when he is shotgunning his way past whatever bogeymen, a/k/a authority figures, the rest of us are reclutant to cross.
If the Golf course scheme continues, he will too. His reaction will be the same as when his third grade teacher told him not to sit next to a particular boy since it made the boy nauseous to have to eat his lunch sitting next to Barry. Barry's response was to make a point of sitting next to that boy each and every day from that day forward.
Whatever happened to that boy with the weak stomach? He got over it. His appetite returned and life went on. The same will happen for those few individuals who had been hoping to make big money off of free (federal) land. They'll get over it, since it wasn't a reasonable request to begin with.
My understanding is that 43 archeological sites lie in that vicinity. The Native descendants who visit there consider it sacred ground.
I heard a story this weekend, perhaps it's a legend, but supposedly there was a story in the Richmond paper about an area that was being bulldozed recently for a highway. It was known to be an archeologically significant site, but no one fussed about it and it was bulldozed.
During construction, some of the workers were terrorized by the apparition of an Indian on horseback with a torch, charging down on them. Of course, the construction went on, and now there are those who are expecting a lot of accidents in that spot.
In the case of the golf course, there will be more than an apparition standing in front of any bulldozers. In this case, the opposing Indians will be in the flesh.
[This message has been edited by Linda (edited 08-27-2002).]
His family's always lived in the area, they're Indian to a large degree, so by the logic of "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" he feels a familial obligation to look after the legacy of the Occaneechi tribe who lived and were massacred there. As far as he's concerned, those are his trees -- his and everybody else's in the country, since those trees stand on federal land.
The deal was about to go down without much opposition, but Barry jumped in, has spent the week on the phone calling every chief and tribal council in two states, several congressmen and assorted officials. Now the formerly done deal is coming undone.
He was bred to this manner of behavior. In the sixties, he was the first nine year old "colored" child to attend the formerly "white" primary school in Mecklenburg county. He is never happier than when he is shotgunning his way past whatever bogeymen, a/k/a authority figures, the rest of us are reclutant to cross.
If the Golf course scheme continues, he will too. His reaction will be the same as when his third grade teacher told him not to sit next to a particular boy since it made the boy nauseous to have to eat his lunch sitting next to Barry. Barry's response was to make a point of sitting next to that boy each and every day from that day forward.
Whatever happened to that boy with the weak stomach? He got over it. His appetite returned and life went on. The same will happen for those few individuals who had been hoping to make big money off of free (federal) land. They'll get over it, since it wasn't a reasonable request to begin with.
My understanding is that 43 archeological sites lie in that vicinity. The Native descendants who visit there consider it sacred ground.
I heard a story this weekend, perhaps it's a legend, but supposedly there was a story in the Richmond paper about an area that was being bulldozed recently for a highway. It was known to be an archeologically significant site, but no one fussed about it and it was bulldozed.
During construction, some of the workers were terrorized by the apparition of an Indian on horseback with a torch, charging down on them. Of course, the construction went on, and now there are those who are expecting a lot of accidents in that spot.
In the case of the golf course, there will be more than an apparition standing in front of any bulldozers. In this case, the opposing Indians will be in the flesh.
[This message has been edited by Linda (edited 08-27-2002).]