[View of the Sydney Airport from the parking lots at the break of dawn. Our A380 arrived pretty early and we were waiting for other passengers to arrive before the shuttle bus made its first trip of the day into the city.]

Barbed Wire And The American Frontier

Most people have the opinion that barbed wire has never had more significance than its present day existence throughout the West. This mode of thinking neglects the history and the role that that barbed wire played in transforming American culture. Many technological breakthroughs have impacted the cultural history of our nation significantly. Barbed wire fencing was such a technology, and its invention and rise played a major role in the transformation of the frontier and West. Its effects were momentous, and they may still be felt and seen today.

The transition of open prairie to enclosures of barbed wire was actually a social revolution among the early-day settlers and ranchers. To some, it was a threat to job security, to others it was the only solution to continued living on the Great Plains. To most, it meant a complete change of traditions, daily work and the acceptance of a new way of life.

Since the beginning of time, man has constructed his barriers from natural materials adjacent to the barrier site. These materials were mostly wood from trees, stone, thorny brush, and mud. When settlers arrived on the Great Plains of America, they found these materials in short supply, thus creating a demand for a more economical type of fencing.

Dating back to 400 A.D., the process of pulling hot, bloom iron through dies in a drawing plate produced short lengths of various sizes of smooth wire. By 1870, good quality smooth wire was readily available in all sizes and lengths. Stockmen used the smooth wire in fencing but found it was not a dependable deterrent to livestock passage.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><!--[endif]-->

In 1867, two inventors tried adding points to the smooth wire in an effort to make a more effective deterrent. One example was not practical to manufacture, the other experienced financial problems. In 1868,. Michael Kelly invented a practical wire with points which was used in quantity until 1874

Joseph F. Glidden of Dekalb, Illinois attended a county fair where he observed a demonstration of a wooden rail with sharp nails protruding along its sides, hanging inside a smooth wire fence. This inspired him to invent and patent a successful barbed wire in the form we recognize today.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->However, Glidden along with Isaac Ellwood, a hardware merchant, and Jacob Haish, a lumberman, were all inspired at about the same time by a wood and wire device exhibited at the DeKalb County Fair of 1873. A local farmer, Henry M. Rose had created his contraption to control a “breachy” cow. Impractical as the device was, it was the inspiration that lead Glidden, Ellwood, and Haish into their experiments with barbed wire. Each man independently came up with their own fencing variations. Jacob Haish devised a design that turns out to have been similar but inferior to the design that Glidden was developing. Glidden fashioned barbs on an improvised coffee bean grinder, placed them at intervals along a smooth wire, and twisted another wire around the first to hold the barbs in a fixed position. He set about to improve his designs and he also set about obtaining patents on his inventions including a patent on his famous “S” barb that would lead to battles and much contention among the inventors.

Isaac Ellwood gave up on his own tinkering after seeing the superiority of Glidden’s design., the two men soon became partners in what would become the major barbed wire manufacturing concern in DeKalb. Recognizing a business opportunity

Glidden and Ellwood’s Barb Fence Company began manufacturing large quantities of its new wire., Glidden eagerly sold out his share of the business when the Washburn and Moen Company of Massachusetts approached the businessmen. The new I.L. Ellwood and Washburn & Moen Company soon acquired many of the existing barbed wire patents - important patents that gave them nearly undisputed control of the entire barbed wire industry. However,Haish played his part in insuring that this near monopoly didn’t come easily. It was a battle stretching into the 1880s involving the investigation of hundreds of claims, determining who had precedence, buying up patents, and defending against the claims of others. The advent of Glidden’s successful invention set off a creative frenzy that eventually produced over 570 barbed wire patents.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->It also set the stage for a three-year legal battle over the rights to these patents. Early on the founders of the Barb Fence Company recognized the potentially huge market for their barbed wire in Texas. However, as wonderful as its inventors and proponents believed it to be, they hadn’t reckoned on the resistance of the open range cattlemen. Wanting to return to his farming and leave the fencing business behind Jacob

Before the farmers came, much of Texas was dominated by cattlemen. These weren’t land owners with vast ranches of domesticated cattle. The cattle of this era were the wild Texas Longhorns and the cattlemen practiced a policy of open range use - driving the herds from South Texas north into the Panhandle and beyond along trails that knew no fences because much of it was public lands. The cattlemen were opposed to the migration of the “nesters” as they called the farmer-settlers.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->By extension, they were opposed to a product like barbed wire that might make it easier for the nesters to move into “their” land.

Two sales representatives sent to the Lone Star State played different but equally important roles in the introduction and spread of barbed wire throughout the state. Henry Sanborn, a relative of Joseph Glidden,Texas in 1875. Sanborn and his partner J.P. Warner met with a great deal of resistance from the cattlemen and the farmers as well who were all skeptical of this new product. It didn’t look strong enough to hold back one mean cow much less a whole herd. And there was a natural skepticism about anything produced “in the North.” They sold very little wire and returned to DeKalb a year later. Sanborn would return later on and make his mark not as a salesman as much as a forerunner in the “closed land ranching” experiments of the Texas Panhandle. was sent to

Many historians believe one of the defining moments in the history of the West came when a small bunch of wild longhorn steers stopped and backed away from eight slender strands of twisted wire equipped with sharp barbs. This event happened in 1876 when John W. “Bet-a-Million” Gateserected an enclosure on the Plaza in San Antonio, Texas to demonstrate to gathered ranchers, that newly-invented barbed wire could securely contain wild livestock. From that moment on, the West would never be the same again.<!--[endif]-->

This defining event ended the era of open range and the use of free graze which had reigned supreme since the earliest settlers began to populate mid-America. At that same time, new technological inventions and modern manufacturing equipment and processes grew by leaps and bounds providing the start of the Industrial Revolution across America.

Post-war demands for beef here and abroad, new railroads available for livestock transportation and the invention of refrigeration spawned the greatest cattle boom in the history of the new nation. The cattleman was king and his domain seemingly unending. However, the moment those longhorns stopped at the wire in San Antonio, the age of the pioneer, free-range cattleman was doomed.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--> No one foresaw how drastically barbed wire fencing would eventually transform western life at that time and on into the future.

Sales skyrocketed- from 5 tons in 1874, the first year of production, to 300 tons in the following years, surpassing 10,000 tons by 1878 and 100,000 by 1883. Steel barbed wire became more and more common during the late years of the century, when barbed wire was to meet humans rather than cows., fences now became a cheap, labor-efficient resource and so fencing could be extended not only in space but also in its intended uses. Instead of being a prohibitive element of cost

Surely, the changes required a few hectic and sometimes bloody years in transformation, but as inevitable as sunrise the vast ranges from Mexico to Canada were slowly claimed and their boundaries fenced with wire. The greater the adversity met in claiming and fencing the land the greater the pride-of-ownership in the land by the owner.

When livestock encountered barbed wire for the first time, it was usually a painful experience. The injuries provided sufficient reason for the public to protest its use. Religious groups called it “the work of the devil,” or “the devil’s rope” and demanded removal.

The last opposition fell when the large ranches in Texas began fencing their boundaries and cross fencing within. Among the first to fence were The Frying Pan Ranch, The XIT, and the JA Ranch, all located in the Texas Panhandle. Free range grazers became alarmed the economical new barrier would mean the end of their livelihood. Trail Drivers were concerned their herds would be blocked from the Kansas markets by settler fences. Barbed wire fence development stalled.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><!--[endif]-->

With landowners building fences to protect crops and livestock, and those opposed fighting to keep their independence; violence occurred requiring laws to be passed making wire cutting a felony. Cattlemen weren’t concerned so much with the barbed wire as they were with the loss of the public lands where they grazed their livestock.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->A drought in 1883 escalated the tensions because fences blocking the way made it harder to find new sources of grass and water for the herds.

Individuals or small groups felt it was their right, perhaps even their obligation to protect the public lands. The easiest way to do this was to destroy the fences and hopefully drive the squatters from “their” land. It was a relatively easy matter to snip the wires under cover of night. Most fence-cutters went unidentified and unpunished. Their fight might have been successful or totally unnoticed if it weren’t for the fact that the cause was picked up by men with less than honorable intentions. Thieves and cattle rustlers joined in the fence-cutting and what might have remained minor incidents escalated into violence and bloodshed.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->While illegally erected fences were the initial target, soon legal fencing came under attack and peaceful resolution of conflicts became more difficult.

While there was some sympathy for the nobler purpose behind the fence-cutting, at the height of activity in Texas the violence, including murder, became a serious threat to Western settlement and expansion. Farming and cattle-raising alike were disrupted. It finally became necessary for the Texas Legislature to step in.

In February 1884 new laws were rushed through the Legislature to help alleviate the problems. New fence installations required that public roads remain open and gates had to be provided at intervals where fence lines met public roads. Erecting fencing without consent of the landowners became a misdemeanor.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->Fence-cutting was declared a felony crime with one to five years’ imprisonment. The Texas Rangers were even called on to provide protection in certain trouble spots.

In other states where fence-cutting continued it took longer to bring it under control. But quick action by the 18th Legislature effectively ended the fence-cutters’ war in less than a year in Texas.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->The end to fence-cutting also signaled the beginning of the end of free, open ranges for Texas cattle.

A problem arose with the advent of extensive barbed wire fencing. As large ranches started fencing their checkerboard sections, they often fenced off access to the state owned sections located in between the privately owned sections. In certain areas, the fences were deliberately placed across known trails in an effort to keep new settlers out.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->This brought complaints to the state that the public was being denied access to Texas Public Lands.

The state took action in the courts making a single corner post to which all intersecting cross fences were tied, illegal. The public must be allowed to access the public lands. The land owners then countered with a new concept in which they set extra corner posts for each intersecting fence, leaving an eight inch gap in between the corner posts. A person could slip between but livestock were still blocked from passage.. However, juries decided there was an undeniable gap between the corner posts as prescribed by law and the state lost. This was legal but challenged by the state

After losing their cases, the state then passed laws requiring gates to be built at regular intervals giving access along trails and to the state owned sections thus ending the “8 inch gap saga.”

Every successful major change in history that survived to call an “era” was prefaced by need,, turmoil and often tragedy. An excellent example is “The end of the open range era” signaled by the invention and development of barbed wire fences. Not only did these new barbed barriers cause a drastic change in the way business was conducted, it dictated a monumental change in the life-style and culture of those who lived on the vast prairies of the West.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><!--[endif]--> experimentation

The first step in the conversion from open range and its nomadic culture to totally enclosed ranges had nothing to do with bared wire. This subtle change came when open range operators established invisible boundaries around chosen public areas and hired cowboys to patrol the boundaries on a daily basis.

The riders were called “line riders,” their crude abodes called “line shacks” and their duties included riding the invisible boundaries on a regular schedule turning away stray livestock not owned by the home ranch and gathering ranch-owned livestock back onto the premises.

At times and during patrols they pulled cattle from bog-holes, chopped ice in winter, hunted predators and joined ranch roundups and branding when needed. The guarding-the-parameters effort was very expensive, effective only in moderate weather, but offered the only alternative to control cattle at the time. The choosing of invisible boundaries by ranch owners became the first step in the evolution from a nomadic open-range culture to a total enclosed permanent culture.

These structures were considered cost effective as they eliminated much of the line rider’s work thus requiring fewer employees. By 1882, many such short sections of barbed wire fence were used by larger ranches.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]--> Since these fences were not connected together and were limited in length they were little noticed and offered little inconvenience to travelers.

Newcomers arrived on the Plains almost daily adding their herds to those already in place. Winter storms caused uncontrolled livestock to drift into the protected areas of rivers and creeks where they quickly depleted the coveted winter-graze of the ranchers.<!--[if !supportFootnotes]-->Numerous tactics were tried to prevent this loss but none were successful.

Though few ranchers would admit their losses were their own fault, they learned a lesson and changed their ways of operating. Within a few short years, the ranges were properly fenced, winter graze protected and hay stored for emergency use.

Barbed wire was created as a result of a special kind of colonization taking place in the American West. This colonization had two features that set it apart from earlier colonizing episodes. First, it was new in terms of space: an entire landmass was to be exploited. Second, it was new in terms of time: the colonization was to take place very rapidly. Earlier human expansions on similar scales had taken generations, but this one took no more than a few years.

Barbed wire was undeniably integral to the growth and expansion of the United States, including Texas. It changed the face of the plains, farming, and the cattle industry. Barbed wire was a practical solution to a problem, a lucrative business, a political hot potato, a symbol worth fighting over and instrumental in taming the West.

ARANYAPRATHET, Thailand : Senior Thai and Cambodian defence officials emerged from talks Monday with no resolution to a military standoff near an ancient temple which has seen troops mass on the border.

After nearly eight hours of closed-door meetings in an eastern Thai town, the two sides agreed only that force must not be used to resolve the nearly week-long crisis over disputed land near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.

"We both have legal problems, which we have informed our superiors to discuss," said Thai Supreme Commander General Boonsrang Niumpradit.

"We will both bring back the problems to our governments. The meeting today was to find a proper solution to the Preah Vihear temple problems, but we both agreed to tell our soldiers stationed on the border not to use force."

He said the troops would remain on the border but their numbers would not be increased, and added that negotiations would continue at an unspecified time.

More than 500 Thai and 1,000 Cambodian troops are stationed around a small Buddhist pagoda in disputed land on a mountain slope leading to Preah Vihear, which is owned by Cambodia.

Both sides have both shown willingness to peacefully defuse the dispute, which saw weapons briefly drawn last week, but neither has shown any sign of backing down on their claims to the land near the Hindu temple ruins.

Cambodian Defence Minister Tea Banh said the two sides "worked as hard as we can" during the negotiations in Aranyaprathet district, about 180 kilometres (110 miles) south of the disputed territory.

"In the past several days the atmosphere is heating (up) and the talks today create understanding, but we are stuck with legal problems," he told reporters.

"The concrete work has to wait. But we both agree to avoid confrontation and violence."

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belongs to Cambodia, but 4.6 square kilometres (1.8 square miles) of land surrounding the ruins remains in dispute.

In a letter obtained Monday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen told his Thai counterpart Samak Sundaravej that a map used by the ICJ shows the temple "is legally located approximately seven hundred metres inside Cambodian territory".

Cambodia maintains that Thai troops are trespassing on its territory, and has sent a letter to the United Nations to draw attention to what it says is an illegal incursion.

Thailand insists it owns the land around the temple.

Recent tensions between the neighbours began with Cambodia's moves to have Preah Vihear listed as a United Nations World Heritage Site.

The UN cultural body UNESCO earlier this month finally granted heritage status to the temple perched on a jungle mountaintop, sparking an outcry from nationalist groups in Thailand who are battling Samak's government.

The situation boiled over after three Thai protesters were arrested on Tuesday for jumping a fence to reach the temple. Troops headed to the border, and on Thursday witnesses said they had pointed their guns at each other.

Cambodia is preparing for general elections on July 27, and Hun Sen has portrayed the UN recognition of the ruins as a national triumph, organising huge public celebrations.

Thailand remains gripped by anti-government protests, with its cabinet threatened by impeachment proceedings. Thai foreign minister Noppadon Pattama was forced to resign over the furore surrounding the temple.

The territorial dispute has long dogged relations between the two countries.

Ties were last strained in 2003 when rioters burned and looted Thailand's embassy and several Thai-owned businesses in Phnom Penh after a dispute over Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="375" caption="Fino al precipizio si e' in Cambodia, oltre e' Thailand"][/caption] ]]> http://anecdotalhumor.wordpress.com/?p=47 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:29:50 +0000 AnecdotalHumor http://anecdotalhumor.wordpress.com/?p=47 I was in my backyard last night, attempting to fill tiki torches with... tiki(?) fluid. My goal was to accomplish this while it was still light outside and without spilling the fluid all over my arms, making myself a human torch.

Unfortunately, it started to rain so I ran toward the garage at the front of the house when all of a sudden--it was very sudden mind you--something jumped out at me. It was like being behind the wheel of a speeding car that you just can't stop...CRASH!
 

I have never been so surprised by my own stupidity. Or scared, for that matter.

A few weeks ago, I put up a 4-foot galvanized metal dog fence on the side of the house. I just ran into the 4-foot fence and let me tell you, if you have never ran into a metal fence in the dark, you have no idea how freightening it can be. My left arm was covered in blood and a day later, still pains me to think about it. I'll tell you more about why I have a 4-foot dog fence a little bit later. Perhaps when typing doesn't feel so much like ripping a Band-Aid off a hairy arm.

Bordering fence to our park . . .

I wish I would have gotten a picture a month ago . . . the wildflowers growing through the fence were amazingly abundant and gorgeous! One side of the fence is uninhabitable wetlands and the other (the side i'm standing) is baseball fields at an elementary school.

   OK, so I wanted to start getting back into a little better shape.  I just didn't realize it would be so much work! 

   Today was the day the lumber yard delivered a truck load of wood to rebuild the back yard fence.  I know have a much better appreciation for just how far is it all the way around the back yard.  You really do get a good sense of things after hand carrying on your back, like a pack mule, full sections of six foot high by eight feet long sections of wood fence sections.  In the gym they call it "Power Lifting".  At home I like to refer to it as "What have I gotten myself into"!

   I have to admit that after the first couple sections, the misses did have to lend a hand so I could re-stack all the sections in back of the house.  I suppose I could have left everything stacked out front, but I really hate showing off to the neighbors so blatantly.  Part of me thought, "what if someone tries to steal some of my fence sections"?  But, after unloading, back packing, and re-stacking full sections of wood fence, I really don't think I had much to worry about.  Now the 4x4x8 sections of posts and the 2x4x8's would not likely have faired so well.

   Anyway, back to my workout routine.  I think the lifting part is going pretty good.  I've been able to stand and shuffle out to the kitchen tonight for a glass of re-hydrating water twice now, without much pain.  I can hardly wait to start removing what's left of the old fence, so I can start digging in the posts for the new one.  One must really appreciate Midwestern weather for it's ability to motivate a person to tackle those projects that most, only have nightmares about.  It's a good thing it started getting dark outside, or I would not have been able to stop myself from going overboard on the first day.  It also helps if you don't have enough nails and need to make another trip back to the lumber yard.

It would one day stretch 436 miles, and is over halfway completed already.  Supporters of this eight-meter-high barrier state that this is the only way to protect civilians from terroism, that it is a matter of national security and homeland security.  Opponents, however, argue that the wall is really a ploy to annex Palestinian lands in the name of the “war on terror,” that it violates international law, preempts status negotiations, and severely limits the lives of those Palestinians living on the border of the barrier. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_West_Bank_wall#cite_note-humanitarianinfo_Rprt05-37)

While The Jerusalem Post recently stated that the wall might not be finished until 2010, seven years behind schedule, thousands of Jordanians and Israelis are currently living behind the West Bank Barrier.  This wall has already gathered many names around its base, names which are all true and signify its different meanings on both sides.  Israelis alternatively refer to the wall as the “separation wall,” “security fence,” or “anti-terror fence,” intimating their trust and hope that the wall will provide all three of these ends.  Palestinians living just on the other side of this sixty-meter-wide seclusion area have dubbed the barrier the “racial segregation wall” or the “Apartheid Wall.”  A good friend of mine told me stories of those living on both sides of the wall and the daily hardships they faced trying to get to the other side for bread, milk, cheese, education. 

The Israeli government has stated that, "An absolute halt in terrorist activities has been noticed in the West Bank areas where the fence has been constructed,” though many experts claim that the increased number of Israeli intelligence operations against terrorist groups has actually precipitated the decrease in attacks.  The U.N.’s 2005 report states,

… it is difficult to overstate the humanitarian impact of the Barrier. The route inside the West Bank severs communities, people’s access to services, livelihoods and religious and cultural amenities. In addition, plans for the Barrier’s exact route and crossing points through it are often not fully revealed until days before construction commences. This has led to considerable anxiety amongst Palestinians about how their future lives will be impacted...The land between the Barrier and the Green Line constitutes some of the most fertile in the West Bank. It is currently the home for 49,400 West Bank Palestinians living in 38 villages and towns. (http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/OCHABarRprt05_Full.pdf, emphasis added)

Palestinians who have lived on this land for generations now must re-register if they are to remain in their homes and continue with life as they know it.  By May 2004, the fence construction had already destroyed over 100,000 Palestinian olive and citrus trees, 75 acres of greenhouses and more than 20 miles of irrigation. Many physicians and human rights groups such as Médecins du Monde, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, have all highlighted that the wall makes healthcare much harder for individuals living on the wrong side.  Upwards of 130,000 Palestinian children will be prevented from receiving immunizations, and more than 100,000 high-risk pregnancies will be re-routed away from nearby medical facilities in Israel.  Groups such as the Red Cross decry the wall as in violation of the Geneva Conventions, and groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch take offense at the way the land was obtained and the routing of the wall through important population centers.  

In 2004, the World Council of Churches released a statement calling for Israel to halt and reverse construction of the wall and to begin to right their numerable human rights violations against Palestinians.  President Bush in 2003 said, “"I think the wall is a problem…It is very difficult to develop confidence between the Palestinians and Israel with a wall snaking through the West Bank."  Bush reiterated this in 2005, months before the Secure Fence Act of 2006 was passed in his own country.

Residents on the North and South Banks of the Rio Grande are thinking the same thing on this July 21, 2008.  As the wall approaches its supposed ground-breaking this week, the men and women on both sides of the border tremble at its assured repercussions.  They must be looking at their patch of the river with renewed love for its water, its mesquite tree banks, its children diving from the mud-caked walls on either side, its fish, its serenity.  Residents on the North Bank are being offered paltry cheques form the federal government in the realm of $10-20,000, and although this may be the face value of these homes in some of the poorest parts of our nation, none of these people will be able to replace their home and their lives with a check the size of a used F-150.  Mexicans must be looking north where the wall is intended and then looking out to sea, where a hurricane is developing right now in the Gulf of Mexico; they must surely be wondering what a wall and levee in violation of international accords will do to their flood-level during the upcoming hurricane seasons.  The thousands of winter Texans, eco-tourists, struggling grapefruit farmers, AMFEL mechanics, maquilladora factory workers, migrant laborers, Border Patrol agents, coyotes, Americalmosts, English-as-a-Second-Language students, first-generation immigrants, multi-generational land grand families – all of them must be wondering now, as we all should, whether so-called preventitive measures in the name of national security can ever be justified in the light of so many certain drawbacks.  Should the wall go up in Hidalgo County this week, and should it spread its concrete tendrils up and down the Rio Grande, our entire nation will mourn the loss of land, Nature, livelihood and life that this 700-mile border wall already has come to represent in California and Arizona.   May the people of the West Bank pray five times a day for the Mexican-Americans on the North Bank, and may we Americans also work towards a wall without walls in Palestine and Israel as well as in our own land. 

Here are Split Rail Fence's workers installing the new fence... it took them about 4 hours of work. The fencing they are using is called "Majestic Three Rail" which is made by a Colorado manufacturer.

One thing we neglected to do for this fence was to get a building permit... and about a month later one of our neighbors (we assume... the call was anonymous, and no one has talked to us about it other than to say "I like what you did with your fence") called the city to compalin that our new fence was "too close to the property line."

The building inspector came, looked at it, and saw that it comes right to the property line, but not beyond. Furthermore, because it is see-through, it does not block any sight lines. In the end, it turned out that we didn't even need to get a new permit, because this fence was covered by the builder's original permit.

We ended up having the utilities marked a total of 3 times. The first time K called, they marked the neighbors' yard instead of ours, so they had to come back. Then when we had the fencing company come (Split Rail Fence- they were good) we found out that they had to call in themselves, so the utilities were marked a 3rd time.

All those wires from the little flags came in handy, however... cut in half, they're good for staking down drip line.

We were having gravel delivered for various landscaping projects, and I was worried there would not be enough room behind the old fence... so right before the delivery, I rushed out and cut down the old fence with a circular saw.

This truned out to be a good thing, since there really wasn't room for all the gravel... some of it still spilled in the alleyand we had to shovel it up.

Here's what our south side fence looked like originally (the part on the left). Since we will have a vegetable bed just about where that fence is, we decided to push the fence out 3-4' to the property line, and replace it with wrought iron one.

The piles of concrete are intended for a low dry-stacked "rock" wall for the north side of the garden, to help hold heat in the late fall, and in which to grow small plants.

Kits Beach fence, originally uploaded by Michael Sun.

taken while i was on a a photo walk to kits beach in vancouver canada

Works for us!

Camera Info: 5D with 85mm 1.2 and 35mm 1.4

A truck and three workers-this is so cool.

But I have been told by my trustworthy personal assistant that the fence builders are coming today to put the rest of it up! Very exciting. More to come...

visit- www.stopretailcrime.com

Legislation to Combat Organized Retail Crime Introduced
MarketWatch - USA
"This is a serious crime issue with real health and safety implications," said Paul Jones, vice president for asset protection. "Without a secure supply ...
See all stories on this topic

Q&A: Organized Retail Crime -- What Retailers

 Need To Know

July 16, 2008

Click Here To Download:
•Q&A: Organized Retail Crime — What Retailers Need To Know

With Paul Jones, vice president of asset protection for the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) and Retail Solutions Online

According to Mr. Jones organized retail crime (ORC) is a growing epidemic that has cost retailers tens of billions of dollars each year, and that's just part of the problem. More important is the public health risks that ORC poses. Legitimate retailers spend millions of dollars to ensure that products such as over-the-counter medicines, infant formula, perfume, and diabetic test strips are stored and shipped appropriately. I have yet to find an organized crime ring that takes any such precautions. In fact, we have seen these sensitive items being housed and shipped in deplorable conditions. If diabetic test strips, for example, are not stored appropriately, they may provide false readings, putting diabetics, who are reliant on constant blood sugar monitoring, in great peril.

As such, I strongly recommend that consumers only purchase these products from legitimate established retailers who can validate the chain of custody of their products. This is the only way to ensure that the product is not spoiled, tainted, or otherwise at risk.

Click Here To Download:
•Q&A: Organized Retail Crime — What Retailers Need To Know

LEGISLATION TO COMBAT ORGANIZED RETAIL CRIME INTRODUCED
RILA applauds the “Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008”

Arlington, VA (July 15, 2008) — The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) applauds Congressmen Brad Ellsworth (D-IN) and Jim Jordon (R-OH) for their introduction of the “Organized Retail Crime Act 0f 2008.” The proposed legislation addresses the growing problem of organized retail crime (ORC).

ORC involves sophisticated crime rings that typically steal and stockpile huge quantities of merchandise in a targeted area. They then resell the stolen merchandise through flea markets, swap meets, pawn shops and, increasingly, on Internet auction sites. In many cases, these crime rings use the profits to fund other criminal enterprises.

“RILA strongly supports the introduction of the Organized Retail Crime Act of 2008,” said Allen Thompson, vice president of global supply chain. “This bi-partisan bill will provide law enforcement officials the tools they need to curtail ORC and protect consumers from unknowingly purchasing fraudulent or unsafe consumer goods.”

Because of widely varying state laws and the lack of a clear federal criminal statute addressing ORC, gangs who move from store to store stealing thousands of dollars of merchandise are often only subject to minor misdemeanor charges.

HR 6491 would criminalize the theft and subsequent sale of retail goods and services. Organized retail crime costs consumers and businesses tens of billions of dollars every year. This criminal activity impacts consumers, retailers, and state and local governments. The proposed legislation would address this issue by amending the federal criminal code to make activities involved in furthering organized retail crime illegal. In addition, the bill would also criminalize facilitation of this activity and impose specific duties on online marketplaces to limit illegal activity occurring online involving organized retail crime.

Further, consumers who purchase health and beauty items from flea markets and online auction sites are at serious risk of harm. Items such as Baby formula and diabetic test strips, favorite targets of ORC criminals, can be damaged when not handled carefully and could result in harm to unknowing buyers.

“This is a serious crime issue with real health and safety implications,” said Paul Jones, vice president for asset protection. “Without a secure supply chain and the anonymity of sellers, consumers could easily be exposed to harmful products that have been potentially tampered with.”

For their safety, RILA encourages consumers to rely on traditional retail sources when making these purchases.

“RILA applauds Representatives Ellsworth and Jordon for their leadership on this important issue and their commitment to protecting the health and safety of consumers. We encourage Congress to act quickly to give law enforcement the tools it needs to aggressively prosecute these criminals and protect innocent consumers from unsafe or damaged goods,” Thompson concluded.

###

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) promotes consumer choice and economic freedom through public policy and industry operational excellence. Its members include retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers--which together provide millions of jobs and operate more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities and distribution centers domestically and abroad.

  ]]> http://photocentric.wordpress.com/?p=255 Sun, 25 May 2008 03:07:50 +0000 kat http://photocentric.wordpress.com/?p=255