"Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires"

WYLL.com, NewsMax.com, IllinoisLeader.com ^ | 6.17.2002 | Kevin McCullough

[KMC1]

Once the blaze that is now consuming the Colorado landscape got rolling a little question popped into my mind. It almost always does when I hear of these horrible disasters. "How did it start?" I'm always interested in the origins of things. How did Hitler come to power? How did Clinton get elected twice? How does my wallet seem to empty faster than it seems to fill? You get the idea...

I've often heard of those mysterious fires that just seem to begin out of nothing. I guess what happens is the conditions get so dry that one day given the right prism of light a ray of sunshine will turn the dry underbrush in to kindling and before you know it 6000 acres burn uncontrollably. I had wondered what the story was on this fire. Some days the news would report that the fire was only ten miles from Denver and moving at a pace of three miles per hour. "Poor Denver," I would think to myself. But somehow the city has avoided the scalding that a fire of this size would sure to visit upon it.

A week ago many in the U.S. Forest service were praising an 18 year veteran by the name of Terry Barton. She supposedly was the first on the scene and had heroically tried to douse the fire with dirt but it sprang out of control way too quickly and now 5400 people have been evacuated, 30 homes have been lost, and the fire has spread to a width of more than 100,000 acres in scope.

A week later many in the area are now looking at Ms. Barton with a great deal of anger and hatred.

Much of it is justified. Foolish decisions get people in trouble everyday. They aren't bad people to the core, they just made a strangely and profoundly bad decision. Such is the case with Ms. Barton. To burn the letter that she went up there to destroy and not be prepared to extinguish her flame, was a bad decision. To lie about it to federal investigators afterwards was yet another foolish choice. But I am convinced that there is much more to this story than meets the eye. And sure enough news reports out early this week are backing my hunch.

In Monday's Associated Press report that discusses this latest news John Barton, Terry's """Husband""" is quoted. The AP reporter makes him sound darn near saintly: "John said (just imagine the Walter Cronkite like delivery) that while he was not living at home with Terry and their two teenage daughters, he had visited last week to be with the girls while Terry worked the fire."

Well yippee for him, let's buy him a drink and name him Dad of the year. COME ON!

Where was this guy? The fact that he had to "visit" not only indicates that he does not live in the same house as his wife and his daughters, but that he has to travel some distance to even get there. In other words, he doesn't live in their city. In other words he is not involved in their lives. Oh sure he may "visit" on occasion. Maybe he even pays to have his offspring come and "visit" him. But what is the real story here?

Terry went to the woods that day heart-broken and deeply depressed. She carried with her a letter that we now know came from the sperm donor of her children. We now know that whatever the contents of that letter had in it, that it was deeply distressing - so much so that Terry wanted it gone. Now who among us has never once in our lives hurt so much that we lose temporary focus of where we are and tragically sometimes what we are doing. I certainly have. I have hurt so bad I felt like the world around me was literally falling in on top of me and could not have answered a rational question at that moment. What causes this?

Yeah John, what was in your letter? Was it a confession so you could feel better about a mistress? Was it the proclamation that you had just finally given up hope and were filing for divorce? Why was it John that you were the one - NOT LIVING with the wife and kids? Had you not disciplined yourself to stay near to your commitments that you made before God and man? Had you decided that after you left her with the responsibility of raising the two children you had helped her bring into the world that you needed to improve your golf score, or your business' bottom line, or you just had to see your flusy one last time? What was in your letter John? Were you confessing that you decided that you were 'too confused' about your future together or some other lame non-reason? Had married life gotten you down but you weren't the type that was gonna let it get you down - so your answer is the corvette, the unbuttoned silk shirt and the medallion around the neck, while reliving Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd's "two wild and crazy guys?" What was in your letter John, did you have an addiction that crowded out the love your wife, and your two daughters? Does the drink go down easy? Does the needle hurt so good? Or do you sniff your way from one day to the next?

Whatever it was, it not only was so painful that your wife felt that she must burn it. But the message of that letter, whatever it contained, lit the fire of hell to half a state.

Now I'm sure you'll get custody of your daughters, not that you truly cared about them before all of this. Maybe you'll even get to write a book or sell movie rights to tell the story of being the guy who was married to the firestarter. But when you lay awake in your bed each night, when the next time you smell the scent of burning embers, when your daughters ask you, "Daddy what was in that letter you sent to Mom?" What will your answer be?

Will you at that moment wish you had been the "kind of man that every man should be?"

Will we?

[nravoter]

Thanks for the article. I agree with your assessment: it appears this woman hasn't said anything true yet.

On a side note, I've been thinking that, if this gets made into a TV movie, the scene of her burning the love letter (shot as a fantasy sequence, since it seems that story was also a lie) should be set to the tune of The Break-Up Song (They Don't Write 'Em Like That Anymore) by the Greg Kinh Band.

[Nick Danger]

This is an excellent example of how deeply ingrained in our culture is the idea that women can do no wrong. If caught doing something wrong, there is a man somewhere in the vicinity whose fault it is.

The author simply cannot deal with the idea that this woman did a dumb thing and accidentally burned down a forest. It just has to be a man's fault. It has to be, or his whole reality will explode.

This phenomenon would be more amusing if it did not have serious consequences. Over in another thread, people are discussing the court case surrounding two people who owned some very large and dangerous dogs that one day got away from the woman, attacked someone, and killed her. In this case, the jury had found the woman guilty of second-degree murder, and her husband -- who was out of town at the time -- guilty of manslaughter (he had participated in raising the dogs). The judge set aside the murder verdict against the woman, saying that, in his view the husband was more culpable than the wife. Remember now, this guy was out of town when this happened. This woman took these two big dogs that she could not control out for a walk, and a horrible thing happened. But the way this judge sees it, that's the husband's fault.

That judge has plenty of company here on Free Republic, and indeed throughout our entire culture. I couldn't believe all the contortions people went through to blame Andrea Yates' husband for the fact that she murdered their children while he was at work. It's like people hit a brick wall in their minds when they encounter female evil-doing. It cannot be, and so it is not. A man did it. A man had to have done it. And we'll just bend reality until it is so.

It's an interesting cultural phenomenon, but it leads to some really strange results when it gets mixed up with the criminal justice system.

[moondoggie]

LOL....truth is always stranger than fiction.

Glad you enjoyed the article. It's the first unsympathetic article to date. She's being held in jail without the chance to make bail "for her own safety".

......a very wise move on the part of the judge, IMO.

I'm about as sympathetic to this arsonist as I am when I read comments from friends and family about the guy who has just killed his entire family...."he was one of the nicest guys I ever met in my life"...Duh.

[Freedom4US]

Red flags immediately went up when I heard about the "Burning letters from Estranged Husband and the Fire Got Away"; I suspect she was setting the fire on purpose. First of all, a few letters in a fire ring isn't going to torch the forest, and one presumes a Forest Service employee knows how to run a campfire (Well, maybe not anymore, but my point should still stand)

But, to lay blame on an abusive, misogynistic patriarchal oppressive White Male (tm) well, might as well further the "progressive" agenda while we are at it. Sounds like some story her lawyer might concoct.

10 bucks says she gets off on some sort of probation, after her horrible husband is pilloried in the press. The whole thing has an odor.

[StoneColdGOP]

I don't feel sorry for this dumb broad.

No matter what her state of "emotional distress" (oh boo hoo!) her professionalism (i.e. NOT starting fires!) should have over-ruled.

Instead of using a logical resolution like throwing the letter in a trashcan, she chose an emotional, firey little ceremony, (oh the drama of it all!!) to burn the letter.

And now half of Colorado gets to pay for her being an idiot!

Just like a woman...

[wingnuts'nbolts]

On another thread dealing with this fire starting subject a link was provided to a John Denver sympathizer website, where this woman (or someone with the same name) was quoted as saying that all small aircraft should be banned. Sounds like an "Earth in the Balance" ecoterrorist response to me.

[scholar]

the three formal federal charges against Barton -- setting the woods on fire, damaging federal property and lying -- all contain the word "willfully."

Yet the article says she is not being charged with "arson." Does anyone know why if the fire was set "willfully" that she is not being charged with "arson?"

[moondoggie]

Littwin in the Rocky Mountain News "kind of" got it right. His last two paragraphs speak for most of us here. I could argue the part about people living in forest areas because Colorado "is" a forested state and people working in Denver have to live "somewhere", but that's a subject for a different thread.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_1215095,00.html

I know that isn't going to be a hyperlink. Sorry....I'm trying!

[moondoggie]

You asked...

Yet the article says she is not being charged with "arson." Does anyone know why if the fire was set "willfully" that she is not being charged with "arson?"

I've talked to a former firefighter who tells me the charge of arson is very hard to prove in that "intent" comes into play and it's hard to prove a person's intent.

The grand jury, however, could very well come back with a charge of arson.

She's still looking at 10-20 years in the slammer and as mad as people are, it's hard to believe she wouldn't get the maximum if found guilty of the present charges.

[mel]

I have heard of people throwing letters in a existing fire, but to start a fire simply to burn a letter is not really plausible especially in a no fire zone. That doesn't make any sense at all. I am always one to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, but it really looks like (IMHO) she started a fire with the intention of being a hero in alerting her supervisors to its presence and perhaps getting a promotion.

[scholar]

She's still looking at 10-20 years in the slammer and as mad as people are, it's hard to believe she wouldn't get the maximum if found guilty of the present charges.

I just hope that the limp-wristed liberals, like the guy who posted this article, don't prevail in her sentencing.

[Hoosier Patriot]

What crawled up this guy's butt?

Perhaps he's projecting his own sorrow from the estrangement with his boyfriend upon poor Terry the Torch Barton.

[TC Rider]

...but it really looks like (IMHO) she started a fire with the intention of being a hero in alerting her supervisors to its presence and perhaps getting a promotion.

I think there is more to it than that. If not discovered, how many enviro-wackos would be crying that we need to keep the people out of the forests, no ATVs, no snowmobiles, no hunting. Remember these are the same people who planted Lynx hair to establish a habitat for an animal that wasn't there.

[scholar]

BTW, thanks for responding to my question.

[moondoggie]

FISCHER LEARNS FATE OF BUFFALO HERD

DECKERS - Neil Fischer is one of many frustrated landowners who watched the news coverage of the Hayman fire during the week, hoping the flames would somehow skip his buffalo ranch near Deckers. They didn't, but Fischer's luck was still better than other's.

9NEWS first met Fischer last week. He was a worried caller, trying to get information, any information on his herd. He showed us pictures of buffalo he'd raised by hand, including a runt named Rudy.

When Sky 9 was finally able to get close enough to the fire to see Fischer's Buffalo Peak Ranch, the heartbreak was almost overwhelming.

The advancing flames had spared his home, but destroyed several other buildings. The biggest source of grief was video of his 27 buffalo, lying on the ground. There was some movement here and there, but it didn't look good.

"They don't lay down like that," Fischer said while viewing the video. "This is not good…It doesn't look very good."

Forest Service officials allowed Fischer access to his ranch Saturday. The flames were still burning on the hillside just a quarter mile away. A helicopter hovered a few hundred yards away, using its bucket in a nearby lake to scoop up water to douse the flames.

The hills were still covered with smoke, but Fischer got perhaps as close to a miracle as you can get. Despite the flames that hop scotched across his ranch, randomly burning buildings, and despite the intense heat and smoke, Fischer found his herd—all 27 members—alive, apparently healthy and waiting for his return.

Even Rudy the runt was there, no worse for the wear.

As Fischer unloaded hay for his gentle beasts, he breathed a sign of relief.

"Oh I'm incredibly grateful," he said, giving thanks to firefighters. (Copyright 2002 by 9NEWS KUSA-TV. All Rights Reserved)

[Nick Danger]

it really looks like (IMHO) she started a fire with the intention of being a hero in alerting her supervisors to its presence and perhaps getting a promotion.

Hmmm. That's a very good fit with her actions immediately after "discovering" the fire.

[moondoggie]

State officials are meeting about filing state charges against her now. Among other things, she could be charged with murder, if the fire kills anybody.