I want to thank all you readers from High Plains Journal who sent money to help fire victims.
We received money from Kentucky, Iowa, Idaho, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma. We received $15,660 from readers of the Journal.
In times like this you realize there are a lot of nice and generous people out there. Most of what you hear is people care less and are more self-centered, but this proves that this is not always true.
One man from several hundred miles away loaded up 150 used steel posts plus six railroad ties and two small tanks plus brought a lot of food him and his girlfriend had cooked. Then, he took a lot of water, Gatorade and food to where he could see a lot of smoke and clothes to another area.
Two girls of the first house that had their entire ranch burnt off and they lost one horse and 60 cattle said they thought he acted like an angel. After he left I really felt a little guilty for not doing more when others have problems. He said it made him feel good and he met a lot of nice people that way. He was an ex-firefighter.
One thing that might ought come out of the large fires is the need for prevention work around these towns and cities. There is lots of tall grass and cedar trees close to these towns that the government might ought to offer big incentive payments to let authorities back burn, mow or plow strips to make it easier to stop towns and cities from burning. With these huge winds it would still be difficult but anything would help.
A cowboy appeared before St. Peter at the pearly gates. St. Peter asked, “Have you ever done anything extra good?” The cowboy said, “Yes, not long ago I was in a bar in South Dakota and there were a lot of bikers in there who were being mean to this one woman. They were threatening her, calling her names and just being disrespectful.”
The cowboy continued, “I just picked out the biggest biker in there, one with tattoos all over him and a nose ring. I went up to him, hit him in the face, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring and threw it on the ground. Then I yelled back off or I will kick the dickens out of you.”
St. Peter was impressed. He said, “When did this happen?”
The cowboy said, “About two minutes ago.”
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
