Down And Out In Crawford, Texas

I wonder if they heard about the termination letter in the good, old 7-6-6-3-8 zip code? Misty Veerkamp, of Greensburg, Indiana, (zip code 4-7-2-4-0) opened the letter last week from the Delta Faucet Company. It was addressed to her husband, David Veerkamp, informing him that he had been fired for not showing up for work. And after she cried a little, Misty got pissed. You see, David has been in Iraq with his Indiana National Guard unit since June of 2006, and his tour of duty, which was supposed to be over by now, was “surged” as part of the attempt to save Bush’s political ass. In fact, what Delta tried to do was illegal, as the Employer Support Officer for the Guard informed Delta’s corporate office in Indianapolis after Misty phoned him. Whereupon, Delta apologized for their stupid-ass letter; it was all a bureaucratic mistake, they explained. But Misty remains pissed at what the company tried to do. It’s just another example of the pain Georgie-boy has inflicted upon our troops and their families.
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I’m sure Shrub knows what the Iraq adventure has cost him, personally; not much. His public support has dropped to a 26% approval rating in the latest poll, and although Newsweek has traditionally provided his lowest numbers, his ranking in it has been mirrored in all the other polls. Gallup last had Shrub at a 32% positive rating. He was at 29% in the NBC/WSJ poll, at 38% at LATimes/Bloomberg poll, and Fox last showed Bush at 34%. And all of those numbers can be expected to drop another point or two over the next few weeks. And right now the man God wanted to be President is just two points above Nixon, another President twice elected. But why should Bush give a damn?
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Perhaps because one third of those willing to identify themselves as Republicans, also admit they disapprove of Shrub’s work. And the idea that this most unpopular president since Richard Nixon (just before his resignation) can rally his troops to save the Immigration Reform Bill is a pipe dream. At this point Shrub couldn’t rally a bunch of teenage boys for a pimple popping marathon. All this would clearly irritate your average politician who has spent a lifetime struggling for public approval. But are things getting too hot for Shrub?
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Well, along Rainey Creek, inside the 4,000 square foot single level main house, the temperature remains a constant 67 degrees, thanks to the geothermal pumps that reach 300 feet below ground for winter warmth and summer cooling. The solar panels on the roof and the windmills out back provide all the remaining electricity the first family might need. The 25,000 gallon cistern below ground holds rain water and purified waste water to keep the landscaping hydrated. There is an 11 acre 17 foot deep artificial pond stocked with 600 largemouth bass, plus sunfish and bluegill, if you should get hungry. And there is a swimming pool for the twins. It almost sounds as if the owners were anticipating having to sit out the holocaust, or the rapture, or some such catastrophe, doesn’t it?
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Crawford itself has been bypassed at least twice before in its history, first when the railroad chose another route and later when Texas State Highway 6 did the same 10 miles to the North, leaving the 790 residents in a sort of economic suspended animation. Hopes brightened considerably when then Governor Bush purchased the 1,500 acre Prairie Chapel Ranch, in 1999 for about $1,500 an acre. The name, by the way, has nothing to do with the current occupant. It was bestowed when the original owner, German immigrant and turkey rancher Heinrich Englebrecht, donated land to establish the Canaan Baptist Church, just outside of Crawford. The current pastor is Dub Oliver.
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You can find a local listing for a 4 bed room, 2 bath, 2,500 square foot home on a five acre lot with an asking price of $149,000, or a 3 bed room, 2 bath, 1,800 square foot home with a 900 square foot heated out building, and a barn, also on five acres for $199, 900, asking price. In the first seven months of 2005, 21 existing homes sold in the Crawford area, while in the same period of 2006, just nine homes did. Only one home sold in July of last year, according to the Waco Realtors Association.
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There have been inflated sales around Crawford for up to $3,500 an acre, for future Mc-Mansions and Mc-Ranches. But for the average citizen of Crawford, any hopes for a permanent improvement in the local economy have so far proven elusive. Crawford still has no hotel, no bar and only one traffic light. Six years into the Bush Presidency, the nearest fast food restaurant to the Texas White House is a Subway, 8 miles up the road just outside of Waco. It remains a town of fewer than 800 people, living in 277 houses with a median value of only $51,300. The town is 83% Caucasian and 11% Hispanic, with a median household income of $38,000 a year. And so far the most profitable land sale this year occurred when war protester Cindy Sheehan sold her five acre camp site to L.A. talk radio host Bree Walker for $87,000, or about $1,700 an acre.
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And maybe the rapture is approaching. On Friday the city of Waco down the road buried animal control officer, Bobby Dean Evans. He had been found on Monday in the Bellmead Animal Shelter, his back peppered with bullets. There are no clues and no suspects. Said one fellow animal control officer, “Your given a citation book, a lease and a truck…It just can’t work that way anymore…I doubt there’s any of us that haven’t been assaulted.”
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And Cindy Sheehan plans to return to Crawford in July, but just long enough to sell her generator, refrigerator, freezer, stove and camping equipment. Then she’s leaving Crawford, and not looking back.
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And this time, she is not alone.
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