<< Except, of course, that lots of astronomers still like to go to Fremont
Peak, and get along fine with Ranger Bowers. Funny how everyone who
talks to him in a non-combative way finds him quite friendly, whereas
the people who complain about things not under his control, make
demands, and write letters of complaint don't find him so friendly --
puzzling, isn't it? (Scratches head.) >>
Hi Akkana!
Glad to hear from you. Most of this stuff is related to Cameron coming to
the SW lot a while ago. No one was being confrontational at the time, and he
had just come by to chat. I think he was asked a few things about the Peak
and any policies that might be in the works. Lots of stuff had been talked
about by the previous ranger, and people were curious about the status of
those ideas. He came across as rather unfriendly and apparently made a
statement to the effect of "where else are you gonna go?" I admit to
arriving just after this chat, but I was surprised at the confusion and the
anger of the astronomers that were within earshot of Cameron's comments.
Many of those people have not been back to the Peak since. If you had been
there, you might understand peoples concern.
I was at the Peak last Saturday, and again arrived after Cameron had stopped
by. This time, the people there were very happy with what Cameron had to
say. He apparently mentioned that there hadn't been many astronomers there
lately (he missed us!) talked about locking the SW lot gate at sundown and
leaving us the combo so we wouldn't be bothered by late night drivers. He
also mentioned that he was cracking down on underage drinkers, which was a
concern of many of us. If you remember there were some wild incidents last
year with out of control teenagers.
I don't think anyone had a problem getting along with Ranger Bowers, they had
problems with his attitude on a particular day. Perhaps he'd had a hard work
day.
Richard