Monday Andes had her Spring

Garnette Arledge
For Andes Gazette

Monday, April 11, Andes had her Spring. Now as I write, two days later, it seems to have gone back into hibernation. By the time you read this, may Spring become a longer resident in the beautiful Andes area.

However, according to the Albany rally I attended on that one glorious day, the renowned beauty of clean water and air, healthy and spectacular mountains refuges and sporadic traffic on back roads are headed back into history.

The last rally I attended was in Washington DC, in days of protests against Vietnam. The last one because I was pregnant with my first child who is now thirty-nine, and the crowd ahead was tear-gassed. But when The Catskill Mountainkeeper posted information about the anti-fracking rally I felt it was safe to show my support on the Capital lawn.

It was a glorious drive up Route 30 along full flowing streams to Route 88. In Schoharie we saw workers planting seeds in the rich farm valley. Albany was sunny, practically shirtsleeve weather as we stood under the fuzzy red clusters of maple trees swanning in the sun. The speakers laid out the dangers of fracking: night and day heavy diesel trucks pushing local traffic off back roads, dirty polluted air and brown carcinogenic water in home taps, dramatically increased medical problems, with high medical bills, loss of business for what the speakers said is ‘no market for natural gas.’ See www.catskillmountainkeeper.com for more information on this issue.

Others can tell you more about the fracking issue: I just have the poet’s view to share.

I was happy to be outside in the sun, once again thankful to be living in a free country where communities and their people care enough out quality of life to gather peacefully from all over to listen to other concerned citizens. And when once again home, I sat on my front porch and rocked in the clean, warm sunshine.