Superscout, my theory was correct!

[Keith_Hixson]

That explains alot.

Upper Yakima County is beautiful in the Cascades. The Lower portion, its all green now with grape vineyard for making wine or hop fields for making beer. The New Sign coming into Yakima says, "Entering Washington Wine Country". I always thought they misspelled wine, it should have been spelled Whine.

Keith

[Seascamp]

Keith, different kind of storm, but I read where the Mexican Cartels are buying up Washington State vineyards and growing pot, lots of it. Any truth to that or is it another sea story? I saw the story in the SF Cron.

Scamp

[Keith_Hixson]

A Hint of Truth, But Mostly False. The Yakima Valley has a Hispanic population of about 48%. Some older Hispanic families have been buying land in the Yakima Valley for years, but most of the land is still owned by Euro-Americans, the old families in the Valley. One of the biggest pieces of prime agricultural land is the Yakima Indian reservation. Much of the good farming land is owned by Euro-Americans, some with long term leases or bought outright. I don't how it works with whitey ownership on Indian land. Anyway, some Hispanics have been planting pot in isolated areas of the valley. They plant near canals and vineyards so they can have the water for their crop. There maybe some link to Mexican Cartels in the distribution (selling) of the crop but they aren't buying land. Why buy land when you can grow it for free on someone else's land? But, 85% of the crime in the Yakima Valley is directly associated with illegals. They (the illegals) have such a high population of Hispanics in the valley its easy for them to hide.
I live in the Kittitas Valley (Ellensburg). We are in Kittitas County and we don't have a lot manuel labor crops in the valley so our population of Hispanics is about 10%. Kittitas County is kinda of Eastern Washington Oasis in that we don't have a high Hispanic population. Kittitas county is just North of Yakima County. We are only 33 miles from Yakima.

Keith

[reconeil]

Not much I can add, other than what have always stated regarding where one resides
or hangs his hat and/or: "Happiness is never seeing yourself & yours on TV" & "Stay Lucky".

Still, and whether one builds or buys self either a mansion or a shack,... first think of that
age old wisdom countenanced before doing so and/or: "Build High & Dry".

Naturally for California & other brush/tree choked areas, it's a whole different story.
Even if: "High & Dry", wisely have a Quick Escape Route out of such a tinder box,...
and if possible some Safe House at the ready. Having ones own Water Tanker couldn't
hurt either.

Neil

[Gunner Carvo]

Originally Posted by Keith_Hixson

A Hint of Truth, But Mostly False. The Yakima Valley has a Hispanic population of about 48%. Some older Hispanic families have been buying land in the Yakima Valley for years, but most of the land is still owned by Euro-Americans, the old families in the Valley. One of the biggest pieces of prime agricultural land is the Yakima Indian reservation. Much of the good farming land is owned by Euro-Americans, some with long term leases or bought outright. I don't how it works with whitey ownership on Indian land. Anyway, some Hispanics have been planting pot in isolated areas of the valley. They plant near canals and vineyards so they can have the water for their crop. Their maybe some link to Mexican Cartels in the distribution (selling) of the crop but they aren't buying land. Why buy land when you can grow it for free on someone else's land? But, 85% of the crime in the Yakima Valley is directly associated with illegals. They (the illegals) have such a high population of Hispanics in the valley its easy for them to hide.
I live in the Kittitas Valley (Ellensburg). We are in Kittitas County and we don't have a lot manuel labor crops in the valley so our population of Hispanics is about 10%. Kittitas County is kinda of Eastern Washington Oasis in that we don't have a high Hispanic population. Kittitas county is just North of Yakima County. We are only 33 miles from Yakima.

Keith

Yes, I grew up in Yakima from age 3 to 20. I moved out a couple times to Spokane (awesome city), but things didn't work out. One of the perks to joining the Navy was there is no ocean in Yakima. If someone asks where I'm from, I usually tell them I was born in Seattle just so I don't hear, "Where's Yakima?"

A couple years ago, I heard that the Hispanic population in Yakima hit 51%. That doesn't sound like a minority to me. They already have English and Spanish class curriculum in the city. When I was in 3 grade, we got a new kid named Luis. The teacher sat him next to me and said, "You understand some Spanish, right? Can you help me teach him English? Thanks." There was no second stack of handouts for him in Spanish then.

Anyway, as far as the pot-growing goes, it's mostly in the foothills or at the base of the mountains. The stuff can grow just about anywhere that isn't bone-dry. The cops have been known to fly helo's with heat-sensing cameras to locate the clusters of plants since they radiate more heat than trees do. Maybe if pot was legalized and regulated by the government like tobacco is, we wouldn't have so many illegals running amok in Yakima County. Meth is the big concern. It's cheap and easy to make, and it's highly addictive. I watched my oldest brother go to shit on that stuff. He's not been the same person since. If they spent as much money trying to find the "Meth labs" as they do looking for the pot crops (stupid red light cameras that aren't even functional)[Yakima has more of those than any other city in the state], then maybe it wouldn't be such an epidemic. Yakima has had a lot of "casinos" (some are just card rooms) pop up in the last few years because the city said, "Sure, you can build a casino, but we get 10%." That's why YPD has all new cars, stupid red light cameras, and downtown has still gone to shit.

I blame a majority of Yakima's problems on West Valley. All the people with money and power in Yakima live out there 10+ miles from downtown. West Valley's population is growing at a fairly quick rate because nobody wants to live in the crappy part of town. They all want to live up on the hill and look down on (literally and figuratively) the little people in the dump. If you don't make enough money to fit in with them, they try to push your kids to go to another school district. It would not surprise me to hear of a school shooting at West Valley High School. I watched a lot of my friends transfer to the schools in the middle of town as soon as they got their driver's license. After enough confrontations between my mom and the staff there, she finally told me I could transfer if I wanted to. I gladly left.

That's why I think Yakima should be wiped off the planet.

[SuperScout]

Being as hwo I somehow got to be the namesake of this thread, just thought I'd break in and tell you my plans for this upcoming week. Me and my trusty Echo chain saw, plus US army issue air mattress, poncho liner, water jugs and extra gasoline are heading for Harris county. Since I have no hard skills, i.e., elctrician, plumber, etc., I figured some folks down Houston way could use a Senior Emeritus Curmudgeon as Chief Attacker of downed trees.

One of our 'guests' from that part of the State told me that looters have been visiting his neighborhood, so my trusty 9mm + extra ammo will also make the trip. Woe be unto any looters that crossed my sights - my defense will be that "I was just havin' a Vietnam flashback, and the SOB looked like a VC to me, and I had to protect myself!" You heard it here first. I may have to call you guys for characteristics.

[darrels joy]

SS,

Go forth and do good.

I know you won't be one of those people who showed up in the middle of the disaster area and said "where do we go to get food and water?"

Joy

[82Rigger]

Brice,

Good on ya!

Speaking from experience, you will find that Echo to be in high demand.

Don't forget to pack some Barr oil for the saw blade and some oil for the fuel mixture if needed.

Lemme know if ya need an ammo resupply!

God bless Texas!

Steve / 82Rigger

[SuperScout]

Roger your advice on the bar oil. I used some of the bar oil on a grizzly one time, and boy did he object!

My basic load will consist of water and rations (would you believe that I still have some MRE's!!), plenty of insect repellant, and some high-energy drinks.

I'll provide a report when I get back, of the number of tress that fell victim to the Wicked Whacker from the West!

[Gunner Carvo]

Originally Posted by SuperScout

fell victim to the Wicked Whacker from the West!

That could easily be taken wrong out of context.