Aww, shucks.

Thanks to Ann Legg for her glowing Letter to the Editor in this week's The Brackett News. And we're all so sorry about the loss of your property, but very grateful that no one was hurt.

This week's paper also has this in its community news:

Kinney County Commissioner's Court voted in a special called meeting on Monday, to extend a burn ban on Kinney County for a 90 day period which excludes exemptions in the previous ban.

What this burn ban basically means is that no one can burn, period, even if they've followed prescribed burn ban procedure. For various reasons, some I understand and some I'm sure I'm entirely unaware of, Kinney County law enforcement has been unable to enforce the burn ban in Kinney County, it's a shame but those guys have a lot on their shoulders. Here's hoping that this burn ban extension will make it easier to enforce the ban and, with any luck, make people realize that now is NOT the time to burn.

It's no wonder why people are so desperate to burn that they will defy burn bans. A burn kills off, or at least damages, a lot of inedible trees and brush. Even without rain a burned field pops back with lush, green grasses in just a week or two. It's so odd to see a lush green field surrounded by fields of dry, dead grasses. Lush green grasses are free food for cattle, goats, sheep, deer, and various other livestock and wildlife. It's expensive to have to buy feed during a drought for all your animals. And we've been in this drought for a long while. But the danger posed by burning during a drought is great. With the gusty winds we have and the super dry conditions, a wildfire can get out of control in a flash. When this happens, homes, livestock, equipment, structures, vehicles, fences, and people maybe in danger. It's a very big risk and not worth what could be lost.