Steve Tilford

There have been some pretty strong winds the last couple weeks. I look forward to that because if the wind is going to be blowing over 15 mph, then there are burning bans. By that I mean that farmers/ranchers and such can’t lite their grass on fire and let it burn.

I hate this. I understand all the issues involved, but no one seems to be in charge of the whole process. I’ve been riding back and forth to Lawrence on gravel, the last week, and all the burning along this road is people burning ditches and other grass that has nothing to do with cattle.

Burning permits shouldn’t be issued for ditches. That is just laziness, plus most of the time, no one goes through the ditches first, so many plastic bottles burn too, which is really bad air.

Yesterday, in Kansas, a semi truck driver from Oklahoma, a 39 year old man, died of smoke inhalation when he drove into a fire, stopped, got stuck and tried to turn around. This was on pavement. It is so sad. Obviously, there should have been something in place to change this outcome.

Since our new “president” has proposed big budget cuts for the EPA, this is probably only going to get worse. I was thinking about it yesterday, as I was riding.

Nearly every stream and pond I ride by is full of algae. This is from fertilizers and livestock waste. These creeks run into the Kansas River, where all the cities along it gets their water. This includes both Topeka and Lawrence.

I don’t get the whole plan. I assume that both republicans and democrats alike, want clean water and air. For themselves and their children. We obviously need someone to ride shotgun over us to attain this. People, left to their own, will not take personal responsibility for this. So why cut the funds to manage these things. So stupid, as Mr. Trump might tweet.

Anyway, it is going to be 70 again today. And windy. The burning ban, Red Alert Day, is only from 11am to 6 pm. so it is going to be a little smokey. Like I said above, no one seems to be regulating it.