‘Good fences make good neighbors’
Mike Corn, Hays Daily News
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Russell Springs
The accommodations might be spartan, to say the least, but for Don Redeker it’s an outdoor adventure of unparalleled proportion — right down to the outdoor shower at a nearby windmill.
And he’s being paid for the adventure.
Redeker’s time south of Russell Springs is a simple life: Sleeping under the stars when the weather’s fine, only moving inside — under the protection offered by an overhanging porch — when the rain is falling. He’s without a phone, but pens letters by the hundreds to his son, wife and his siblings, all of whom are in the eastern part of Kansas. Redeker grew up in Olpe. And they are just as eager to write back.
At 61 years old, Redeker is undertaking something of a monumental task for Audubon of Kansas, which hired him to install 10 miles of chicken wire fence on the Haverfield-Barnhardt-Blank ranch complex where the highly endangered black-footed ferrets have been reintroduced and are reproducing.
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Posted by jmb232 (anonymous) on September 28, 2009 at 5:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Before he builds this he needs to learn about the "Rabbit Proof Fence" in Australia. It just did not work.
Posted by create (anonymous) on September 28, 2009 at 7:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
jmb232,
Now I'm curious. Why didn't the rabbit proof fence work?
Posted by jmb232 (anonymous) on September 29, 2009 at 4:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Due to damage to the fence, gaps, gates left open, etc.
the rabbit population still was able to migrate beyond the fence. Once only two of them escaped then they spread like wildfire. It is quite a story and it was interesting to see that they spent all that time building several fences that ran for hundreds of miles and it didn't do much good.
However three aboriginal girls were able to follow the fence and return to their home many miles away. Search
the net for "Rabbit Proof Fence". There is a movie also. jb
Posted by create (anonymous) on September 29, 2009 at 6:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank you, I appreciate the very interesting information. I'll take a look.
Posted by create (anonymous) on September 29, 2009 at 7:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I took a look, jmb. That movie looks like a good one. Gonna rent it.This plot reminds me of the orphans who were shipped from the New York area and sent to Kansas and other points west for adoption. Orphan trains. Many ended up being enslaved and abused. To be fair, many also ended up having very good lives. I believe there was a documentary on that. I am also reminded of the Native American children who were removed from their villages and reservations and sent to private schools to be "trained." Sure. Ethnic cleansing in disguise.
I am also reminded about my own childhood in Hawaii where "speak English" campaigns went on in the 1940's and 1950's. Parents had a choice of sending their children to "English Standard" schools or regular schools. Mine sent me to English Standard where teachers broke you of speaking Pidgin or a sort of broken English. Unfortunately, they used corporal punishment to do it and it wasn't very comfortable for many.
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