TALES FROM THE FIELD
Tales from the Field “Busted in West Texas”
Albert L. Lamarre, CPG-06798
In June 1983 I was busted in West Texas! Intrigued by the potential for discover- ing gold in Proterozoic rocks there, another geologist and I went exploring in the Van Horn area southeast of El Paso where we experienced the long arm of the law. As we drove along, we saw an outcrop in a field a little way off the highway, so we decided to stop, climb over the fence, and satisfy our simple and honest desire to learn something about the outcrop. No harm in that, is there? Well, yes there is! Unlike in other states, all land in Texas is privately owned (how come we didn’t know that?!), and the ranch owner didn’t take kindly to our beating on the rocks on his private property.
Upon returning to our vehicle after a short traverse, we were met at the fence by the rancher’s daughter and her trusty shotgun; it was pointed right at me from just a few feet away. Clad in
a dirty, white T-shirt and raggedy jeans, her body language meant business—she was wound tighter than a spring. “What do you think you’re doing? This is private property,” she said with an intense sneer on her face. It was obvious this sturdy, rough-looking blonde was not to be trifled with. Her older brother was called, the constable was called, the sheriff was called, and then her father arrived. He mumbled something about his land, paying taxes, and “Who do you think you are?” and the constable informed us in no uncertain terms that we had trespassed on the rancher’s land and violated his privacy. The sheriff arrived in a cloud of dust and told us, “This old boy doesn’t want anybody on his ground. We’ll let the judge decide. You can either follow me or …” Whereupon we were escorted with lights flashing the entire twenty miles to the Hudspeth County courthouse and jail in Sierra Blanca, Texas. On our escorted drive to town, my fellow geologist and I tried to guess how much it would cost to get out of this mess, and
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we wondered if we would have enough cash in our pockets to pay the fine. This was late on a Friday afternoon and we didn’t think the company office would have time to wire money to us. We certainly were not looking forward to being guests for the weekend at the Hudspeth County jail.
The decider of our fate, the judge, was attired in a rumpled, gray, cotton suit that matched the worn paint on the concrete floor of his office. He was a genteel, scholarly enforcer of the law, and justice was expeditiously dispatched. “Guilty!” After duly admonishing us, he fined us ninety-six dollars each, which we were able to cover. After saying our “sorrys” and “We’ll never do it again,” we hightailed it out of the state and never conducted exploration in Texas again!
Someone once said that bad decisions make for good stories, and that was certainly demonstrated here.
Here’s an opportunity to tell us more about your ex- periences as students: what you are learning and re- searching, field experiences, graduate school pursuits, and transitioning from student to career professional. The Professional Geologist regularly publishes articles on these topics and geology education in the Classroom Earth feature. You are invited to share your perspectives for this fea- ture. Please submit articles to the editor at
aipg@aipg.org.
Jan.Feb.Mar 2021 • TPG 27
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