Archive for March, 2015

323. Battling Alone

Alice Rebecca was a petite and refined woman. Born to Scottish immigrants in New York City, she’d graduated from a finishing school in Washington, D.C. But there she was, standing outside a sod house a little ways northeast of Boone, watching a cloud of smoke billow across the sky.

Her husband was away. And the children were too small to help. So she did the only thing she could do — she harnessed up the horses and started plowing a firebreak.

The wildfires a few weeks ago came within a mile of where that little homestead once stood. And the only reason the fire didn’t get that far was because of the efforts of farmers with discs and firefighters from surrounding towns. But Alice had no one to help her back in the 1870s.

Prairie fires were common back then. One of the earliest accounts from this area is by a traveler who was passing through on horseback. He found himself in a race against a wildfire, desperately trying to reach the banks of the Beaver where he hoped to find safety. On his way he came upon an Indian running as fast as he could. Knowing the Indian stood no chance of outrunning the flames, the white man reached down and without stopping hoisted the Indian onto the horse.

He was afraid, though, that this added weight would doom them both. They made it to safety, but the backside of the Indian and the rump of the horse were singed from the flames.

Some early settlers started fires to clear land, and these often got out of control. Maybe that’s what started the fire that threatened the little homestead on the banks of the Voorhees Creek all those years ago – no one ever knew. But fires were so common, including controlled burns that got out of hand that one of the first community activities the pioneers undertook was to form fire brigades. And farmers who started fires were soundly rebuked for this practice in the newspapers of the day.

As the recent wildfires have reminded us, fire is as much a part of nature on the prairie as drought and storms and blizzards. Already the blackened grasslands are greening up, and will in many ways benefit from what happened.

But ecological considerations would have been the farthest things from Alice’s mind. How many furrows would it take to make the farmstead safe? And could she plow that many before the flames overtook them?

Using every ounce of strength she had, Alice plowed until she and the horses had to retreat from the flames. She huddled with the children in the little sod house, praying that the thick dirt walls would protect them, wondering what her husband William would do if he came home to find them burned to death. But her plowing, shallow and wavering as it had been, had been enough. No lives or property were lost, though Alice, exhausted both physically and emotionally, didn’t get out of bed for the next five days.

Alice Rebecca Hosford was my great-great grandmother, and she and her family faced so many perils settling here that their stories are etched into our DNA. But none of those perils had the force and immediacy of that long-ago fire, and I’d like to thank everyone who fights these fires today, whether fireman or farmer, for making sure that no one will ever again have to face such a thing alone.

322. Clarification

In my last column regarding efforts to prevent a ban of armor-piercing M855 ammunition I stated

“Others speaking out against the ban include Sidney-based firearm and ammunition retailer Cabela’s and Grand Island ammunition maker Hornady Manufacturing Co., whose profits would apparently drop if these cop killer bullets were banned.”

I based what I wrote on an article that appeared in the Omaha World-Herald on March 2 entitled “Nebraska firms want rifle bullet ban shot down.” This article said that both Cabela’s and Hornady were opposing the ammunition ban.

The article stated that Cabela’s website said they are concerned that this ban will have “far reaching implications for shooting, hunting and outdoor enthusiasts” and had tweeted a notice to their customers to “take action against this ban.” The article said that “Hornady called the ammunition recently targeted by the ATF ‘commonplace’ and said, using language from the NRA, ‘The decision continues Obama’s use of his executive authority to impose gun control restrictions and by pass Congress.’” The article went on to say that Hornady’s website urged people to “ ‘Email or write ATF today and tell them you oppose this unnecessary, misguided and damaging ban on commonly used ammunition for America’s most popular sporting rifles.’”

I assumed that if Cabela’s was opposed to this ban they must sell this ammunition and that if Hornady was opposed they must manufacture it.  I have since confirmed that Cabela’s does in fact sell M855 armor-piercing ammunition. But I have been informed that Hornady Manufacturing Co. does not manufacture it (though according to their website they manufacture a variety of barrier-piercing handgun rounds, including one designed to pierce heavy clothing).

The World-Herald article did not explicitly state that Hornady manufactures this controversial ammunition or that Cabela’s sells it. I just assumed that if these two companies were so publicly opposed to the ban they must have a direct interest in the issue.  But since this was an assumption, I qualified my remarks with the word “apparently” rather than state as a fact that Cabela’s and Hornady’s profits would drop if this ammunition were banned. Nevertheless, I apologize to my readers for making an incorrect inference and wish to clarify that although Cabela’s sells it, Hornady Manufacturing Co. does not manufacture M855 armor-piercing ammunition.

I do, however, maintain my contention that opposing the ban on this particular type of ammunition on the broad grounds that it is an attempt to impose gun restrictions improperly diverts attention away from the very specific danger this type of ammunition poses to law enforcement officers.

I have long enjoyed target shooting and as a ten-year-old boy was so fascinated with ammunition that I badgered my mother into taking me to visit Hornady’s office in Grand Island (I still have a huge elephant-gun bullet they gave me as a souvenir). But I feel strongly that individuals, manufacturers and society have a responsibility to balance the right to hunt and target shoot with the safety of law enforcement personnel – I believe the police can be protected without imposing undue restrictions on gun users if we can stop reflexively opposing all attempts to enact reasonable legislation and instead allow common sense to prevail.

The fact that Hornady publicly opposes a ban on ammunition they don’t manufacture illustrates how proactive the firearms industry is in opposing efforts to reduce gun violence. And while I’m glad Hornady is responsible enough not to make this particular type of armor-piercing ammunition themselves, I wish the statement on their website reflected this rather than repeating rhetoric from the NRA.