West Texas Attitude
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2007 8:52 am
A travel editor for the Houston Chronicle was reporting on a kayaking expedition on the Nueces River in this article:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/travel/4928293.html
Before putting the boats in the water, she was chatting with an outfitter in Camp Wood. She was obviously soaking up the different culture. The gun related material is mid way through the article:
"In his workaday life, Tom Stoner takes care of the ranches that line this stretch of the river, and on the weekends he helps Marilyn with her outfitter business.
"Oh, so you're a cowboy!" I said, half-joking, to which he nodded.
"Modern cowboys are pickups and feed sacks," he said. Even the landscape is changing as increasing numbers of ranchers trade in their cows for deer.
"It's not hard to see why. A well-managed deer place can bring in $15 an acre," Stoner said, referring to leases.
Other changes have been more insidious. Border Patrol agents patrol the river in search of undocumented immigrants, who have always found their way to these parts, but these days some of them are travelers of a different sort. Heavily armed and often smuggling drugs and other substances, they've brought a dark new presence to the tranquil river valley. Marilyn recalled one who broke into the home of a neighbor.
"What happened?" Karla asked, expecting the worst.
Marilyn responded matter-of-factly, in her quiet but firm drawl: "Oh, she shot him."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/travel/4928293.html
Before putting the boats in the water, she was chatting with an outfitter in Camp Wood. She was obviously soaking up the different culture. The gun related material is mid way through the article:
"In his workaday life, Tom Stoner takes care of the ranches that line this stretch of the river, and on the weekends he helps Marilyn with her outfitter business.
"Oh, so you're a cowboy!" I said, half-joking, to which he nodded.
"Modern cowboys are pickups and feed sacks," he said. Even the landscape is changing as increasing numbers of ranchers trade in their cows for deer.
"It's not hard to see why. A well-managed deer place can bring in $15 an acre," Stoner said, referring to leases.
Other changes have been more insidious. Border Patrol agents patrol the river in search of undocumented immigrants, who have always found their way to these parts, but these days some of them are travelers of a different sort. Heavily armed and often smuggling drugs and other substances, they've brought a dark new presence to the tranquil river valley. Marilyn recalled one who broke into the home of a neighbor.
"What happened?" Karla asked, expecting the worst.
Marilyn responded matter-of-factly, in her quiet but firm drawl: "Oh, she shot him."