TERLINGUA MOON

VOL. 30 NO. 20                MAY 14, 2019                 BY MAEWESTERN

Travel makes one modest.You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world. - Gustave Flaubert

The Town Electrician

The Town Electrician, Electrician TECL# 31504  ME# 326558  Local, Licensed, Insured thetownelectrician@bigbend.net  432-424-3464 (Home)  432-538-2533 (Cell)

New Healthcare for Vets

VA MISSION Act: How the Law Will Improve VA’s Ability The VA MISSION Act is a comprehensive law that improves the way Veterans receive their VA health care.

The law establishes flexibility within the system to help Veterans get the right care, at the right time and at the right place.

The VA MISSION Act will improve community care.

Establish access to urgent care in the community.

Authorize “Anywhere to Anywhere” telehealth provision across State lines.

Expand eligibility for caregiver services to all eras of Veterans.

Strengthen VA’s ability to recruit and retain clinicians.

Create the ability for VA to match infrastructure to Veteran needs.

Through the MISSION Act we are improving our health care system.

The VA MISSION Act strengthens VA‘s nationwide system of care, enhancing both its direct and community aspects of service delivery.

Accessing community care is a key component of meeting Veterans‘ health care needs.

For this reason, it is important for all employees to be familiar with the main points of VA community care so that they can answer questions and explain it to our Veterans.

Of note, on June 6, 2019, this change to the new community care program will be in effect. That‘s why you‘re seeing so much information about it today - so we can help you prepare.

VA will confirm a Veteran‘s eligibility for community care under the six new criteria, which include:

Veteran needs a service not available at a VA medical facility, Veteran who lives in a state or territory without a full service VA medical center, Veteran is “grandfathered” from distance under the Choice Program, VA cannot furnish care within designated access standards.

June 6th is an important date, as we are in the final phase of implementation of the new Community Care program. It is important for you to be aware of MISSION Act, how it relates to your job, and how it further enables your care of our nation’s Veterans. As our front line ambassadors, we are supporting you by focusing the month of May on this effort “MISSION May”.  

You can be a part of this by attending MISSION trainings online, reading about the VA MISSION Act to prepare, and understanding important changes that are coming.   

We thank you for the great work you do every day in caring for our nation’s Veterans.

Dennis Yancy

SFC, US Army (ret)

Veterans Service Officer

Brewster County, Texas

Email: vetaff@co.brewster.tx.co

Office: 432-837-6219

Recycle News & Updates

     As I’ve mentioned before recycling has become more difficult. So we are having to make a lot of changes. We will take the trailer to PJ on May 2 to unload it. Then we are moving the trailer to our new home. This will be behind the ballparks at the school. It’s gated and unfortunately we will keep it locked unless a volunteer is there to make sure what goes in is recyclable. This is because we are getting way too much trash, especially plastic. If we don’t get much better the park will shut us down from bringing anything.

     So now we only be able to accept clean cardboard, #1 and #2 plastic that is clean and rinsed. No caps or tops please. Aluminum cans are OK along with clean and rinsed tin cans. No other metal. And we can no longer accept paper, including paper board any longer as we have no outlet to take it. So only clean cardboard on the paper products.

     So again, after the next run we will be closed most of May while we get setup at the new location. We are trying to find more volunteers to be at the trailer on certain days and hours so we can make sure we only take what we can recycle. It is unfortunate but we have no alternative.

     Alpine has the Hal Flanders recycle facility on Cemetery Rd. that will take most products including glass at certain times. Also, at the landfill on the road to Marathon about a mile past the 67/90 intersection they will take cardboard. So if you have a lot of cardboard this is very easy.

     Any questions please email krullro1966@gmail.com.

Canyon Brew at Far Flung Outdoor Center

It’s heating up around here!  Try our cold brew or just your favorite drink iced.  Also try kolaches, toasted bagels, espresso, candy bar lattes, cappuccino, macchiato, and chai.  Don’t forget – bring your own mug and save a buck!  Opens at 7 a.m. daily with quick service!

Far Flung’s 79852 shirts at Far Flung Outdoor Center  

Our 79852 shirts are almost gone! Plus we just added several new shirts to our t-shirt sale, drop by and see what’s new.

This Week at The Starlight

Join us any night of the week for dinner and cocktails – music most nights. Here’s this week’s lineup!

Monday 5/13: Utter Haislip

Tuesday 5/14: The Goats of Clay Henry

Wednesday 5/15: Trio

Thursday 5/16: The Whitmores

Friday 5/17: Sarah Burton

Saturday 5/18: Garner Sloan & Amanda Kitchens

Monday 5/20: Sarah Burton

Tuesday 5/21: The Goats of Clay Henry

We take reservations for parties of 10 or more; email terlinguastarlight@gmail.com

Have a great week!

Terlingua Bottoms Group

The Terlingua Bottoms Group of AA meets every Thursday at 7:30 at the Big Bend Church in Study Butte. The meetings are open to anyone who has or thinks they may have a drinking problem.

Sullivan Construction and Excavation

Your local, experienced construction and excavation company.  Doing business in Terlingua since 2009. We have all the heavy equipment needed to get your job done right. Residential and Commercial Licensed Septic Installations - TCEQ #29993. jackinterlingua@yahoo.com  or 214.709.2771

Terlingua Poo

Residential septic installation - free estimates. TCEQ Lic. #32801 jeff@basecampterlingua.com or 512-417-6115

Flack Electrical Services

Joshua Flack, Owner/Master Electrician TECL #31064 ME #337791 Licensed, bonded and insured  940.255.2723

Dig Terlingua

Backhoe Ditching, Digging, Dozer & Dump Truck with Operator for Hire. Hauling road base, gravel, sand, etc.

Septic System Site Evaluations – TCEQ #34046

713.907.5259 This week we’ll be doing site work at Road Runner Crossing near Study Butte.

Saturday Event at Davis Mountains Preserve

Flowers are blooming in the meadows, and birds are singing in the canyons. Make the short drive to your local sky island treasure that is the Davis Mountains Preserve. HIke, bike, frolick! This is a FREE event. Recent rains could have creeks running but roads could be sloppy. Bring a high clearance vehicle to access the interior of the preserve. Dress for all weather! Saturday May 18, 8 to 4 pm.

Taqueria El Milagro

The very best and freshest tacos in the Ghost Town plus amazing sides, and a fun atmosphere! Eat in or take out!   We often add specials!Thursday and Sunday, 5 p.m.-9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 5 p.m. until 10 p.m.

Espresso ... y poco mas! 

Start your day at the best little coffee shop in town.   Our breakfast and lunch menu offers all cooked to order items and the freshest food in the Ghost Town.

We always have fresh croissants and other pastries, Big Bend Roasters coffee anyway you like it and usually there’s a special of the day.  Try our version of eggs Benedict and you’ll be back for more.  Everything is super fresh. We pack picnics to go, too!

Enjoy comfortable outdoor seating, free wifi and a place to call home while in Terlingua. It’s a good place to meet new people, and get tips for your visit to the Big Bend.

7:30 a.m. until 2 p.m. daily.  Start your day with us!

In Big Bend, Texas, There’s Bipartisan Consensus: No Border Wall

May 3, 20175:17 PM ET

Heard on All Things Considered by John Burnett at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C., September 27, 2018. 

Of all the wild places along the U.S.-Mexico border, Big Bend National Park, named for the great curve of the Rio Grande, is the gem.

In Santa Elena Canyon in west Texas, the international river flows between 1,500-foot-tall sheer walls of limestone — a study in light, shadow, water and time.

The Big Bend region — where the ghostly Chisos Mountains rise out of the prickly Chihuahuan Desert — is sacred ground. As writer Marion Winik described, it’s “what I imagine the mind of God looks like.”

President Trump’s executive order calls for an impregnable wall along the border, which includes 118 miles of river shared by the national park and Mexico. But in a rare show of unity, Democrats and Republicans and city and rural officeholders in Texas don’t want the wall built through here.

Critics say it would be unsightly and prohibitively expensive, it would harm wildlife and that it’s superfluous considering how the unforgiving terrain is a natural barrier.

Trump has vowed to forge ahead with his border wall despite opposition. His administration plans to select a prototype this summer and hopes to convince Congress to fund it next fiscal year. The administration also acknowledges the wall won’t cross all 2,000 miles, though specific plans haven’t been released yet.

“I would like to invite President Trump or any of his cabinet to come down here. I’ll give ‘em a free trip on the river, and they can see how unnecessary a wall would be here and the construction and everything involved to create it would just be the worst thing you could ever do,” says Charlie Angell, a local outfitter who runs river trips up the canyon. “You might as well take away the park if that happens.”

Whiskered and sun-bronzed, he stands under a rock ledge, his red canoe beached a short distance away.

“I’ve got the boats, I’ve got the paddles and life jackets. We’ll give [the president] a free lunch. Get out here and see. That way you can cross this area of the border off the list,” he says.

Even Border Patrol agents are against a wall out here.

“For us, we’re not pressing the actual brick-and-mortar-style wall here. That’s not our objective,” says Lee Smith, a career agent and local union president. “We’ve told everyone from the [Trump] transition team to the current administration, for us here locally in Big Bend, what we need is [more] manpower.”

While Smith is interviewed in the breakfast room of a motel on Highway 90, a retired electrician from Cleveland eavesdrops from another table. Dave Wickam is just passing through on his Harley — but everybody has an opinion on Trump’s border barrier.

Wickam believes an ugly wall, installed as a quick political fix, would scar the land in perpetuity.

“People will build stuff but ... they never tear it down and restore it,” he says. “It’ll be like Hadrian’s Wall in England going across there, but it won’t be pretty.”

Customs and Border Protection has identified sectors in San Diego, Calif., Tucson, Ariz., El Paso, Texas, and the Rio Grande Valley as places where a new wall is needed, but not this lonesome corner of Texas. Along the entire border, the Big Bend sector has had the fewest apprehensions of illegal crossers every year for the past 44 years.

Albert and Bill Miller run black angus cattle on ranchesthat cover an area more than twice the size of Manhattan.

Albert Miller knows how hard it is for an immigrant to even reach his land. “They’re already crossing 10 miles of inhospitable country and climbing a hundred-foot cliff,” he says, his pickup parked in a pasture of bluestem grass about 10 miles from the Rio Grande. He thinks Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” is pointless out here.

“I can’t see that it’s going to add anything to the barrier already in place with just the land and the mountains,” Miller says. “These guys that are comin’, they’re crossin’ something ... even greater than the wall.”

The National Park Service declined to comment on the wall.

Raymond Skiles, longtime wildlife biologist at Big Bend National Park, says that animals require free access to the Rio Grande as their primary water source.

Big Bend’s wildlife biologist, Raymond Skiles, only agrees to talk about some of the park’s full-time residents: mountain lion, black bear, bighorn sheep and a rare, raccoon-like creature called the white-nosed coati. These mammals range back and forth across the Rio Grande to forage and keep their gene pools healthy. Moreover, Skiles says, in this arid environment they need to be able to get to the river.

“The Rio Grande is also the park’s most important water source for animals,” he says. “It’s as simple as that.”

In February, the Commissioners Court of Brewster County, which encompasses the national park, passed a resolution deeming the wall is unnecessary. This county that voted for Trump concluded it wouldn’t make them any safer.

“I’m a Brewster County native,” says commissioner Betse Esparza. “To imagine a wall in the midst of that landscape, which is beautiful. This is God’s country. It’s really unimaginable. I don’t want to think about it.”

These naysayers may get a reprieve. Last week, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told Bloomberg TV, “There are places we probably won’t build a wall,” and one of them is Big Bend.

Don’t You Need a Sister?

SISTER is a fun, happy, easy going girl with excellent manners. She gets along wonderfully with cats and other dogs. Sister loves to play, hike and snuggle on the couch. She is house trained and would do best in a home with another dog friend. Sister is about 18 months old and 60 lbs. She is spayed and fully vaccinated. To meet this goofy gal or for more information, please email Jethro Homeward Bound Pets at mmwesttx@yahoo.com

Send your MOON news and submissions by Monday NOON for that week’s MOON. Email to terlinguamoon@gmail.com. Please no PDFs or fancy fonts! (We like it easy.) On the web at:
theterlinguamoon.blogspot.com