Yesterday I noticed from a friend on FaceBook that there were alligators in Ratcliff Lake. She wrote that there was one 12 foot gator, two 8 footers and a nest of eggs. Ratcliff Lake has always been a jewel of a recreation area just a few miles from our house. We have camped there and have really enjoyed the swimming area. But the notion of gators being in the lake is a little troubling. Now I have lived around alligators all of my growing up life until I was 19 when I joined the Navy. Village Slough was one boundary on our 67 acres in Hardin County. Village Slough ran into the Pine Island Bayou which ran into the Neches River. The Neches River flowed into the Sabine Lake. I was much like a 1960 version of Huck Finn. Now my father was a Baptist Deacon and certainly not a drunkard. I didn’t have to steal watermelons since we grew all we needed. My dad only ate the hearts out of the melons and the remainder went to the horses. I did not smoke a pipe and I never “borrowed” boats. Now in regard to boats – I always had a couple and my boats were made of wood. In the late 60’ I worked at Calder Big Star Store in Beaumont and saved up one hundred dollars to purchase a 12 foot aluminum Jon Boat. So yes, I spent a lot of time in the water and yes, there were gators in that water. I had friends who lost dogs and chickens to alligators who walked a long way from their watery home to get the meal. So let me get back to Ratcliff Lake. The town of Ratcliff is an unincorporated community in Houston County in East Texas. It was founded in the early 1900s, Ratliff initially had a population of more than five thousand, with most working at a sawmill operated by the Louisiana and Texas Lumber Company. This Four C Mill used the 45-acre lake that was used as its millpond. The recreation area is located within the Davy Crockett National Forest. I had told Margaret about the alligators. So today when Hollis and Meredith wanted to go swimming at Ratcliff Lake, Margaret came to me. I decided to a little research. The web site mentions swimming, fishing, hunting, hiking and picnicking as the areas main activities. The designated swimming area and playground provides much fun for the kids (no lifeguard on duty). Nothing about alligators is mentioned. So Margaret drove to Ratcliff Lake and sure enough there are signs warning about alligators. It said not to swim with your pet, don’t throw food in the lake and don’t wade in vegetated areas of the lake. I looked on the Internet and found people killed by alligators while swimming, while walking trails and while walking in shallow water. One was killed about 30 feet from the water’s edge. One man was fleeing police by jumping into a retention pond adjacent to the Miccosukee Resort and Convention Center and was killed by a 9-foot 3-inch alligator according to the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office. One lady was attacked while snorkeling. She died from drowning and multiple blunt-force injuries including lacerations on her head, neck and upper torso, and multiple rib fractures. Another lady was attacked by a 12 3 alligator while working on landscaping along Poinciana Circle in Sanibel, Florida. She later died in surgery from an infection acquired from being in the water with open wounds. I really don’t know if the information about the three gators and eggs is real or not. I also realize that a gator could show up at Ratcliff Lake at any time. But if the gators are there and the managers know it, I don’t know why they aren’t gone today. Either catch them and release them in an appropriate area or kill them and make some good boots. Over the last several years I have seen policies that keep more and more people out of the National Forest. It seems the United States Department of Agriculture is placing plants and animals over people. The Davy Crockett National Forest covers 160,000 acres of East Texas woodlands and streams. In the past the Forest Service would allow loggers to cut and sell the “buggy” trees – trees killed by the pine beetle. Some of the money from that would go to Kennard School. I believe that no money goes to the school now. We get less and less benefits from the Forest being in Houston County. While it seems the staff in their office gets bigger and bigger. Well the government always knows best doesn’t it?
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 23:55:13 +0000
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