Invitation to Nature

It is the twelfth hour before this event, but it is the first chance I've had to invite folks.  Tomorrow from about 10 to about 2 at Looney Preserve, you are invited to join some of who are getting together to think about some things about nature.  We are tossing out ideas about what would be included if there were in the  Greenway of the Cherokee Ozarks, stretching from I-40 to 412 and surrounds.

Looney Preserve is between Colcord and Jay on SH10, I think.  Well, you'll see some balloons or streamers and maybe a sign referring to The Nature Conservancy.  It cuts back hard to the South, so look carefully if you are coming from the South.  Go down that road and you will find it.

Here is a story about how I found it the first time.  I was coming home from a Court appearance in Jay.  Storm clouds blew up and it began a torrential rain, as I was driving SH10 going South back toward Tahlequah that morning.  Beside the road was a haggard-looking man with a big burlap bag.  I thought he must have been picking up cans.  The weather was severe, and I gave him a ride.  I told him I'd take him home, and he directed me to the Looney's house.  He said he'd been a journalist or publisher and for some reason I think it must have been of a local paper.  He was about my age... or within ten years either way.  It wasn't that far, but by the time we arrived there, the rain had subsided and it was humid and sunny-- one of those sudden Spring freshets that pass thru.  He invited me in to meet his parents.  I was fascinated with the beauty of their modest place, with bird feeders hanging from the trees and went in.  His mother and father were there-- quite old and it seems spry, in a light-filled sunny room, reading or piddling around.

They were the Looneys.  I later learned that they were reputed conservationists, but it was obvious by the way they took care of the birds.  This fellow told his parents that he was out picking mushrooms and had gotten caught in the thunderstorm and I'd brought him home.  He told me about a cool cave there, and asked if I'd care to see it.  That day, the rain had made a place impassable and I was in courtroom attire:  a suit and leather shoes but didn't mind getting my feet wet although we couldn't go in.  On the ground he picked up an arrowhead and gave it to.  He said he had knapped it and had left it there on the trail for finding.  I thought that was kinda cool.

Before long, I had to get back on my way home.  Maybe I spent an hour there altogether.  When I got back to my office, I joked that I had been waylaid by mushrooms which kidnapped me and took me thru a time warp.  But my law partner, Mary Barksdale, and our secretary/paralegal was accustomed to me ambling off the career path on some unplanned adventure such as this from time to time.  I had only wet shoes to corraborate my adventure.  I always had happy thoughts about that special natural place where like-minded people lived, that I had met in an unlikely way.

Here is a note about Mr. Looney's passing  from 2005:

Murray L. Looney

July 20, 1914 - May 29, 2005

Murray L. Looney was born July 20, 1914 and Died May 29, 2005.  That just states 'when' he lived, not how he lived. Murray was a gentle man. He is one of the founding members of the Central Oklahoma Grotto and was an excellent caver. He was the equipment manager for the group and would rework a carbide lamp for you if you managed to mangle yours into inoperability -- with a smile and an eye twinkle.


Not that he couldn't get a bit irritated at times of supreme human dumbness, but then who wouldn't? Murray was husband to Mary Looney, who preceded him in death in 1989, and stepfather to Nick -- also gone now (1999) -- and Joe. I've asked Joe to write up a piece for the newsletter, so I'll not step on personal toes and wait for his erudite words.


Personally, Mary and Murray greeted John and me with open arms in 1973. We were relative neophytes to caving and absolute greenies to Oklahoma caving. Our interest matched their passion and we stuck with the COG family quite happily. Murray managed all the grotto equipment, while Mary managed the people and FOOD! It was Oklahoma Caving at its best.


Always thin, Murray would be one who could slither through the cracks and is, I believe, only one of two people ever to have made it out the Texas Entrance of Nescatunga Cave. This is something no one wishes to do. There is nothing nice about that passage --  it just had to be mapped and Murray was half of the two-person mapping team. And, just so you know, Mary was NOT the other half!


The graveside funeral service was held at Row Cemetery, just north of Colcord in Delaware County, Oklahoma. Joe Looney spoke of Murray's life and accomplishments and the group then regrouped at the Farm for reminiscences and repast. The Farm is the retirement property (paraphrased) that was Mary and Murray's dream retirement home which they shared together for 10 retirement years before Mary's death. The cave resurgence is in the front 'yard' and the water from the cave flows all year round providing  a blissful murmur. The two-bedroom home is well maintained ...and will become a nature cabin for conservation groups, available by reservation -- soon. Submitted by Sue Bozeman

So on Saturday May 22nd come if you can, and perhaps it will also prove to be a magical experience as it was for me in 1985 or 1986.

Nickel Silver and Brass Lightning Bolt Light Fixture

Art Deco Lightning Bolt Fixture

Eureka Springs was one of the earliest cities to get electricity, but by the 1920s electricity was common in many cities, although it had not yet come to rural Cherokee County, Oklahoma.  While in Eureka Springs, AR last weekend, I photographed this wonderful light fixture because I love the design elements.  It was $465 at an antique store by the Spring near 1881 Crescent Guest House, lovingly restored.

Cyrus Conrail, Railroad Tycoon Murder Solved

I was just in Eureka Springs because as railroad company nurse, my duties require that I travel where the railroad needs me.  I'm Nurse Saidie Ratchet.  Pictured here with me is Old Roger, after he came into a rather sizeable settlement for injuries incurred while working on the line to Eureka Springs.  We settled into 1881 Crescent Cottage B&B for a Murder Mystery weekend on Friday evening.  Old Roger cleans up purty nice.  When he arrived at the celebratory dinner gala on Friday, he was attired in his dowdy, stinky usual duds, but I took him shopping.

We hobbled all over Eureka Springs looking for clues to solve the murder of Cyrus Conrail, stopping to quench our dehydration at a little underground pub called Jack's.  I implored Old Roger to sing karaoke, to which he finally resigned himself.  Its kinda funny to see a 1908 railroad laborer performing Carlos Santana's "Smooth" with a cane for playing air guitar.  It reminded me of one of the Soggy Bottom Boys from the movie 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' 

It was our first time to stay at a B&B.  And Old Roger solved the mystery!  He also won "Best Male Characterization" for his character portrayal.  Old Roger was part Slingblade, part Joker from Dark Knight, and 100% outsider smart aleck.  I, nurse Saidie, was worried that I had treated Mr. Conrail too rough with my whips and chains 'alternative' therapy a few days before his untimely denoument, but was glad I happened to have my handcuffs with me because they came in handy.  

We loved Eureka Springs, and it happened to be Diversity Week, so there was a wonderfully eclectic crowd in town-- bikers and gays, not the least of which.  I'd love to live among so many artists in a community with so much community spirit.  No place else has so much public arts and aesthetics infrastructure.  We tried a delicious meal at Garden Bistro, a cafe specializing in local food.

IllinoisRiver Slime

I usually look for aesthetic objects to blog about.  And I'm running the risk of being untimely, since this blog is being written before the ruling in the Big Chicken lawsuit.  But on February 19, I took this pic coming down Highway Ten between Jay and Tahlequah.  Its slime.  It is river slime from a bar ditch that will be running right to the river.  I also photographed a chicken feather just two feet away. 

The Illinois River in Northeastern Oklahoma runs thru the heart of the Cherokee Nation.  I've played on that river since I was a little bitty kid, either fishing, camping, or just going to the water to play music or have a picnic.  It didn't use to ensnarl one's feet in slimy green ooze.  But the economics are such that huge monoposonistic poultry companies in Arkansas consider this watershed "out the back door" and establish contracts with growers urging them to expand this direction, thus keeping the White River Basin pristine for the companies' executives playground.

What to do?  In Tulsa, there may yet be a lawsuit as yet unruled upon, where AG Drew Edmondson has found attorneys taking it on a contingent fee, to enforce the laws which are aimed at preventing this type of collusive and individual corporate irresponsibility.  One law says you can't dump solid waste in this manner.  That would apply to the solid waste these farms spread on the land.  One law says you can't pollute the waters of Oklahoma--- regardless of whether it is ooze, protein, liquid manure, beneficial fertilizer that gets away.  Another law says that when activity within a company's control results in a nuisance to another person's use of the public arena it is actionable.  There are other laws too-- the Clean Water Act and its subsequent Safe Drinking Water Act.  The SDWA says you can't pollute so much that downstream water treatment plants give people cancer because of all the disinfection by products used.  They have a magic number saying what risk is acceptable--- and what risk is more than downstream water users ought not have to put up with.  And when the consequence of pollution is measured in number of deaths, that's a pretty tough hardship.

Why on Earth would a neighbor do this to downstreamers?  Money.  Pure and simple.  See, it costs fuel and time to move poultry litter from over-concentrated areas to needy areas elsewhere in other watersheds where every bit of nutrient is captured by a hungry plant before it can dissolve and slide into the water to feed algae.  IRW plants are overfed, and can't eat another bite of the stuff... or else there is so much water that drains.  Pick a flat, dry watershed, and you'd have the perfect place to apply poultry litter to the surface where it can be used as a fertilizer instead of as a waste disposal sham.

No matter how Judge Frizzell rules, the loser will appeal for about a dozen years and we may not see anything but foot-dragging for as long as Big Chicken can pay lawyers to hold off the changes.  When you think about an infinite number of years that waste would have to be trucked away, you can see the logic of foot-dragging.  These companies are looking at the long-long perspective and spending money up-front to forestall the day they will have to do right by the river, because it will change their economics.

The first day I sat in on the trials in Tulsa, I was stunned at the contrast.  Big Chicken had about 35 lawyers on its side of the case.  Oklahoma had seven lawyers and 3 support personnel on its side.  Big Chicken made very imaginable objection and tried to twist the Judge's logic.  At one point they obtained rulings that vastly changes the possible outcomes, by applying a definition so restrictively.  The Judge was ruling that some routine governmental reports were inadmissible, and that really slowed down the State making it very hard and tedious to prove the case.  Last time I counted in December, the record was about 16,000 pages of testimony and there were thousands of exhibits.  Another trick was to agree to certain documents and then later Big Chicken's attorneys would argue that the documents were not admissible.  That crippled Oklahoma by whittling away the evidence.  It was, in my opinion, underhanded fraud by the Defendants in the case because they used timing to keep Oklahoma from admitting certain evidentiary facts.

But the outcome is unavoidable.  Poultry waste leaves their land in water, which runs into the river and is like vitamin water for algae to grow super-well.  The algae changes the habitat for stream biota until it dies, and then it takes the oxygen out of the water making it lifeless for fish and other life forms.  Some algae is toxic when it dies.  And cities have to bleach the water to make it drinkable... and that bleaching process adds poisons too.  To be safe, cities limit their disinfection to a certain level, but sometimes they can't make safe water because the bacteria, dead algae and bleach are too high--- its so polluted that it can't be brought back to safe drinkability.

That's just a thumbnail overview.  These companies are very powerful and will tell you that they want to sell cheap chicken so poor people won't starve.  To that I say, "Eaters should pay the price, not those who have the misfortune to be a neighbor to these colonizers."  The language of conquest applies even today. 

Is Barack Obama Cherokee

I'm researching Cherokee quilts, 1780-1830.  In doing so, I ran across an article asking whether Barack Obama is Cherokee.  It seems there is a story in his family that he has some Cherokee ancestry.  So, I followed the link (above, if you click the title to today's blog) and found some likely surnames to research.

Payne is one surname, and I remembered the famous Andy Payne, who ran the Bunion Derby across America.  There's a documentary film about Andy Payne with historical footage.

I was most intrigued by Sarah Bunch, who shows up at age 77 in the 1870 Newton County AR census, and who claimed to be from Virginia.  Her age would tend to make her a Cherokee Old Settler from the period 1812-1817 in the original Old Settler domain stretching from Batesville to basically the AR River at Fort Smith (ish).  But I see a householder in the census who might be a son (if he was born when she was in her 30s) born in TN about 1830.  I suppose it is possible that she came West after 1830 (perhaps on the removal) and settled with relatives who were thereafter deceased by 1870, in the former Cherokee domain.  By 1830 most Cherokees had moved on to Indian Territory, or become assimilated into Arkansas which was I think by then a state.  Some Cherokees remained in AR and gave up their Cherokee affiliation by attrition and assimilation, in order to keep their land in Arkansas.  An earlier AR census shows that Sarah was probably married to Nathaniel Bunch.  In 1850 this family shows up with many more householders.  A characteristic Cherokee name is Larkin, and that is a name of one son in 1850 living with the family.

Creekmore is a prevalent Indian name, but I think they are Creeks or Chickasaws and this line of his family lived in the Chickasaw Nation at, if I recall, Ada..  Christopher Reeve, Mariel Hemmingway, and Lyndon Baines Johnson are among some of his far-remote relatives, albeit not necessarily Cherokees.

Merely clues for further speculation and research.  As for Justin Timberlake... read the enclosure link.

Establishing a Cluck-Free Barrier for the Illinois River

Weeks and months of testimony in the Big Chicken Lawsuit in Tulsa have established that there is a huge phosphorous problem in the Illinois River Basin, and because everything from water to litter rolls downhill, it eventually becomes a River problem.

There are a number of unpalatable solutions, the greatest of which would be to ban poultry CAFOs from the Illinois River Basin.  That's probably not going to happen.  In fact, the unintended consequence of giving riparian easements and CREP payments for farmers to conserve land, is that more and more poultry producers find it affordable to practice their agriculture in this watershed.  So, what about halting the practice of giving money to riparians who own chickens?  We could mandate, "You can't put a CAFO within 1.5 miles of the Illinois or a tributary."  It would reduce the prime spots for chicken houses, but Fate and Transport research shows that when you put the houses farther from the water's edge, it takes longer and fewer phosphorous molecules reach the river's flow.

Why phosphorous?  Because it becomes suspended in water (or settles to the bottom bound with iron) and makes something akin to Algae Miracle-Gro.  Algae is bad for many reasons.  It robs the water of oxygen, damning fish populations... especially those lil tiny very cool darter percinas endemic to Ozarks bioregion streams with pebbly bottoms.  The bacteria in chicken poop is a health issue.  Downstream towns treat the water for domestic use.  But when you've got all that e. coli and stuff to neutralize, it takes a lot of disinfection.  The disinfection process then makes risky toxins-- and it only has to be so concentrated because the bacteria levels are so high.

Sign the Petition if you'd be fer the notion of setting the poultry industry back from the streamsides in this Jewel-Of-A-River.  We need a thousand signatures.  We have more than those shown online--- about 500 from river visitors and from that day when Dennis and I had bought ourselves a pair of kayaks and floated the river, getting signatures from other floaters on the water.  *That* was fun!