Our hotel burned Sunday. It was an old building, it had not been used as a hotel in years. When I was a kid, an antique store was there briefly. The building was old and in disrepair. That being said, it was our building, a part of our town's history. Once upon a time, people spent the night there. Perhaps they enjoyed a meal in the cafe, bought groceries from the store there or even got a haircut and a shave.
This article appeared in the Amarillo paper today. Boys ranging in age from 9-12 are facing arson charges. I am saddened by that. I am also outraged by the fact that kids thought it was okay to do this and by the comments at the end of the article. Some people believe that the boys shouldn't be punished because they are young and because the building was an "eyesore." I wonder if they'd think that if it had happened in their town, or to their house, or to their property. I wonder if they'd think that if 3 fire departments had to come to their town and spend 7 hours and use no telling how much water to put it out.
The owner of the building is probably not going to take responsibility for the cleanup. More than likely it will fall to our city to foot the bill. We are not a rich community, the cost will certainly hurt our town.
I like to think that we may live in one of the few places that still has a sense of right and wrong. How safe will our town be if kids are allowed to set fire to random buildings? Are we in danger of losing our small-town greatness??
I'm not saying that the people responsible should be sent up the river, I'm just trying to say that it is time we started making people accountable for their actions.
I'll step down from my soap box now...
My sister has great thoughts here. A friend of mine from Happy had this to say. I'm so proud of both Kelly and my sister for capturing what makes our community great.
My sister has great thoughts here. A friend of mine from Happy had this to say. I'm so proud of both Kelly and my sister for capturing what makes our community great.
You can see pictures of the fire here. (Aren't cell phones amazing? I'm told that pics were on Facebook as the fire was in progress...modern technology at its finest.)
(Sorry for the lack of spaces between paragraphs...Blogger is not cooperating!)
4 comments:
Your article is quite eloquent--The comments at the end of that article made me so angry. I went so far as to register with amarillo.com so I could leave a comment in response, but then decided that you can't reason with people like that anyway. Miss you guys!
Thanks, Jen. I wanted to comment, too, but couldn't think of a creative name so no one would figure out it was me. You are right, you can't reason with people like that anyway.
I think the comment that implied we were all really poor may have made my blood boil.
Maybe they are all just jealous of our small-town life.
Miss you!
You said it. That is exactly how I feel. You have such a way to write it. I was clapping by the end. Thanks for the links to Kelly and Jen too. I loved it. AMEN!!
Thanks, Christy!
Enjoy the "snow day"
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