Brady Standard-Herald and Heart O' Texas News (Brady, Tex.), Ed. 1 Friday, August 5, 2005 Page: 4 of 12
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Page 4 - Friday, August 5, 2005 Brady Standard-Herald
pinions
As I looked across the table at Buck am sure 1 would have had the joy of his rationale, but he said that is what
and Jay, I chuckled seeing the two of laughing at the befuddled looks. 1 got a time Buck wanted to get up.
them bumping elbows with Jay hav- free piece of pie, a big piece at that. The phone rang and as Jim was
ing the table literally pressing against With absolutely no way of being rousing from his bed, I simply asked
his belly. Jim and I weren’t faring able to finish both, I promptly got a him why we were getting up at 4:
much better on the other side of the to go box for the remainder of my pie 30 when the delivery truck wasn’t
table. Being a southpaw, I took dibs and gladly took it with me. From that even going to be at the distribution
on the outside seat, so Jim looked like point on for the next 12 hours, pie be- point until 6 a.m.
someone had just Stuffed him into a came the buzz word. Pie this, pie that “So I guess we can get some cof-
matchbox car. Add a basket of bread, or “Don’t forget your pie.” fee or break fast,” he replied.
four glasses of tea and four dinner We made it an early evening and “The breakfast room doesn’t
Just James
By James Stewart
Editor-B.SH
A__I ____plates and it was quite comical. Who the other three chatted on the balcony open until 6 a.m. and there is cof-
A O I S a n O n O II S would have thunk it that you could outside the wonderfully smokie rooms fee in the room,” I muttered.
• % 1 I M 1 III VI I . V get al lofthat food and suchcrammed and I just relaxed in front of the tube. “You know James, 1 really don’t
on to one tiny little table. Jim and I were bunking together and know the answer to that question,”
Tt has been awhile since 1 have said “okay.” Sure there were a lot of Being the puppy of the bunch, had a good time chatting and visit- he answered.
Ibcen involved with something things I thought I would have rather I was also the moving target for ing until I started battling heavy We roused and readied and at 5
that I honestly feel can make a dif- been doing on a Friday evening and good-natured jibs and jabs which eyelids. a.m. Jim poundedon Buck and Jay’s
ference in people’s lives. Not down- Saturday morning, but for some rea- commenced virtually the instant we For some reason, which I have yet door to ensure we weren’t the only
playing the role of this newspaper or son, I was standing in the Days Inn took our seat. What started with a to figure out, Jim called for a wake-up ones up and at ’em.
selling my staff and me short, but parking lot, holding a bag awaiting simple quip by our waitress ended call at 4:30 a.m. I should have asked We ended up visiting for awhile
in all honesty, making a difference the arrival of three other men so we up in an all-out “gang up on James” right then and there forhim tocxplain beforeheadingtothebreakfastroom
in someone’s life is what life is all could head off to Marble Falls. fest by the end of the meal. Buck
about Without any knowledge of what started the ball rolling, Jim pushed ————————--—-—————————--^—^————————————-
where we dined on a continental break-
fast and I polished off the rest of my
German chocolate pie. Great sugar
rush that early in the morning.
As we pulled into the parking lot
of the church to retrieve our trailer, I
had a sinking feeling when I couldn’t
see any noticeable movement or ac-
tivity anywhere around. “Great, the
truck isn’t even here yet,” I thought
to myself.
We pulled around the back of the
church and my spirits were lifted when
I saw a sign directing people to An-
gel Food Ministries. We parked and
went in a side door to this rather large
complex and down a short hallway and
there we were in the middle of what ap-
peared to be a distribution warehouse.
This church had transformed its gym-
See Just James on Page 7
For some, it is one thing, for others we were in for, I joined Buck Yousey, it faster and before I knew what was AI I 1 I - ■ ■ ■ .
it is entirely something else. That is Jim Quinn and Jay Hardcastle in the happening, I was being threatened for Alackacoverbearina resigenis
what makes us al I unique and what pickup and headed down the road. simply asking for some more limes for I % ■ C • AC • S w C1 • to € 1 11 19 1 % • I Ce — 1 1 u
helps the world go’round. “What are we going to do,” I recall my tea! The coup de gras was when r
I n church several weeks ago, th is asking at one point ortheother. I knew all of the bantering backfired in the No doubt you have heard what
wild-eyed man came up to me and we were pick ing up food for the Angel other three’s face when I asked the happened to Alex Benson, of Pano,
said, “James, we are going to Marble Food Ministry, but other than those waitress’ opinion of which pie was Texas. A ex was iking wit fellow
Falls in a couple of weeks to pick up details, that is all I knew. better, chocolate of German choco- Boy Scouts in Alaska when he was
a load of food.” We had orders to pick up food that late. You’d of thought I just asked her attacked by a bear which shredded
There was no apparent choice in would fill 156 boxes and bring it back to donate a kidney or something by his arm and bit his leg badly enough
the matter it was more a statement to Brady to be distributed. the way the guys acted. to expose his femur That's the bone
of fact and this is what was going to All right-how is this going to be “That’s it, you did it,” one of them in your thigh, so Alex is not likely
happen I simply said okay and went done. Would it be organized chaos? said. Another referenced making a to be running any marathons for a
on my way. Will anyone be directing the show or run for it before she returned with few weeks .
Leading up to Friday afternoon’s will it be absolute pandemonium. the dessert. Theinteresting (scary) thing is that
departure in a truck hauling a big Our little quartet checked into a When she returned, she handed the Alex was attacked at C ooper Landing,
gooseneck trailer, I knew little of what motel and ran an errand or two before others their pieces of pie and I was on the Kenai Peninsula, which is at ing, but she figured it was The Call,
to expect. As a matter of fact, the heading to the Bluebonnet Cafe for still waiting for mine. She returned one end of Resurrection Trail The and [ would be coming home in a
only thing I knew is that I needed an supper. According to Jay, this was a minute or so later with two pieces group I went to Alaska with, a couple Folgers can.
overnight bag and that up until three the place for good grub and judging of pie. of weeks before Alex s incident, had One night, when she couldn’t
hours before we left, I didn’t even by the number of cars and lack of “I didn’t want to make the decision planned to hike that trail, but backed sleep, Jocelynn picked up a Reader's
really know who was going. parking spaces, he was right. for you so here is one of each and one out on the grounds that it might be a Digest, and happened to open it to a
There are some things in life that Wewaitedourturninlineandonce of them is on the house,” she said, lot of trouble. Besides, our friend, Al story about a couple who had pur-
you do simply because people ask you it was our turn, our little foursome I should have looked at the faces Smay, told us there were numerous posely camped among bears, filming
to. I was asked for help and I simply crammed into a tiny corner booth, of each of the other three, because I bears in the area Of course, in Alaska, and studying them for years, and then
that s like saying there isalotofwater were finally attacked and killed. Ob-
in a certain part of the ocean. viously to any sane person, spending
We did, however, do some fish- a lot of time with wild bears is like
ing on the Russian River at Cooper jogging in a minefield, but it didn’t
Landing, so we spent one day very make my wife feel any better,
near where Alex was attacked. Not Another couple was killed by a
that we were necessarily in any more grizzly while we were up there, even
danger there than we were any where though they followed all the Rules,
else in Alaska, but since Alex's ex- They were floating a river in a raft,
perience proves the bears in the area and they stopped and builtafire on the
are partial to Texas meat, it kind of bank and ate supper. Then they floated
makes you think, further down the ri ver and camped for
Although I was apprehensive the night, so they wouldn’t be among
about bears, my wife was probably the food odors
more worried about them than Iwas. Th(;y had a gun in the tent with .
After all, I shared a tent with Mackey them, but a grizzly attacked during
Crawford, and Im sure Mackey the night and killed them both. There
would have protected me from any wasn’t really an explanation for it, it
bears than showed up, if any everhad. just happened. Alaskans who talked
He s just that kind of guy. about it shook their heads and went
Plus, if you're going to worry about on. Up there, evcn if you're careful,
being eaten, it sort of takes the fun being attacked by a bear is like being
out of the trip. It s like skydiving and struck by lightning. That’s the way it
worrying about your parachute not goes sometimes.
opening. That s always a possibility, Al Smay,our friend and benevolent
but if you dwell on it, it spoils the local contact, arranged for our group
view on the way down. , to visit Larry Kaniut (kun-OOT) at
But since Jocelynn wasn t there, bis home one evening. Larry moved
she worried that 1 was in Great Dan- to Alaska in 1966 to teach school,
ger. Oneeveningoneofour boys came and bas written seven books about
running to tell her there was a man Alaskan adventures, leaning heavily
on the phone, and he said it was an toward bear encounters. He told us
emergency. It turned out to be noth- some stories that would have prob-
WOR KI NG TOGETHER FOR OTHERS—Volunteers work side-by-side in the First United Methodist
Church Fellowship Hall preparing food packages for the Angel Food Ministries community project.
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With
KENDAL HEMPHILL
ably been more fun to hear if we had
been heading home the next day.
Unfortunately, we still had a week
of camping on the Kenai Peninsula
ahead of us.
Among the framed photographs
on the wall in Larry’s entry is one of
a woman who is missing both arms.
Her story, which is recounted in one
of Larry’s books, is not pleasant.
She was in her camp alone when a
bear attacked, chewing her right arm
almost completely off. The monster
then started ransacking the camp,
looking for other food.
With her left hand the woman man-
aged to reach a radio and called for
help. She told someone on the other
end) “I'm being eaten by a bear.” As
if he could understand her, the bear
then came back and chewed off her
left arm.
God put a natural fear of humans
in all the animals, but some got a big-
ger dose than others. And familiar-
ity, supposedly, breeds contempt. The
more contact bears have with people,
the less they fear us.
I guess the only way to protect
yourself from bears in Alaska, to
paraphrase Teddy Roosevelt, is
to “walk noisily and carry a big
stick,” preferably at least a .458 Win
Mag...
Kendal Hemphill is an out-
door humor columnist and public
speaker who will definitely get
back on schedule with the Kenai
Peninsula next week Write to him
at PO Box 1600, Mason, Tx 76856
orjeep@verizon.net
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Stewart, James E. Brady Standard-Herald and Heart O' Texas News (Brady, Tex.), Ed. 1 Friday, August 5, 2005, newspaper, August 5, 2005; Brady, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1669108/m1/4/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting FM Buck Richards Library.