With pen in hand I write these words to anyone who is in the military, has ever been in the military, lost a loved one in war or anyone who is a proud supporter of our young men and women who give of themselves and/or just a proud American.

This is about a man I call Daddy. A person who has spent his life giving, teaching his children honesty, integrity, pride and compassion. He also taught us to always help our neighbors in need.

He was in combat in Korea. Her served his country for over two years and was right in the middle of war. He lost some of his best friends and took lives to protect those at home, family and strangers alike. I have letters he wrote daily to his mon and dad, Floyd H. and Lola Crain of Lometa. These letters are written from foxholes and cold nights when he didn’t really think he would ever make it home. In fact, the lines I can quote from these letters are not the most heartwrenching lines but you will understand. In one letter he says “when I shut my eyes I can count the hairs on ole silver.” He dreams of helping his dad plow the field in front of their house. He would love to taste his mom’s homemade fried pies just one more time. This young man in his early 20s should have been home chasing girls.

On April 5, the PUC selected a route coming through Lampasas County. This selection was done after reviewing many different routes, however in the beginning when notices were received, this line was to come through or close to Lometa. Of course, those notified went to a meeting, completing forms to ask that they not come through their properties. The next notice my dad received was that PUC had signed, and they were coming down CR 2200. No hearing notices, no warnings, just here we are. My Daddy is one of many who put his life on the line so the PUC and Oncor could have the freedom to send such a notice.

My Daddy, Billie M. Crain, who has been in Lampasas County all but six years of life, two of which he was in the service and four trying to move home, does not want to delay or detain progress, but at 91 years of age would like some respect as to placement on his property. He has lived in the same house, the same bedroom looking out his window over the same field that he saw with tears in his eyes while surrounded by soldiers who were not coming home.

Now the PUC and Oncor would like not only to come across his property that has been family-owned since 1929, but they want to run along CR 2200 for convenience. They will be cutting down hundreds of 200-year-old trees, including burr oak and producing pecan trees. In 2010, pecans brought $1 a pound. The slab across Simm Creek at CR 2200 was poured by the county with help from my teenage dad and his dad. This has so much history, but the PUC is quick to move in and destroy hundreds of years of God’s creation and a young man’s dream.

My parents and I have agreed wholeheartedly to work with Oncor in coming across the land. There is a more sensible route costing less money, a route that will take out cedars and mesquite. We ask Oncor to use their resources to research the route rather than just follow CR 2200. Moving just a few hundred yards will make a big difference, not only to my parents, brother and myself but at least four other immediate neighbors.

We just shut our eyes and hope that all the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into this land and our homes are not destroyed by an outsider’s lack of understanding and research. We have indeed met with the PUC/Oncor representative that is sent to your home to smooth over the fact that the eminent domain factor is about doing as they wish. In the first meeting some time back, they told everyone they would be at least 500 feet away from homes, but now that the line is chosen they can come right up to your front door.

If Oncor is allowed to go the route they have so quickly acquired, then my Daddy -- a veteran of the 1st Cavalry -- will have the pleasure of looking out that bedroom window at hundreds of trees that he has watched grow be cleared and towers put in their place. There is a risk of that field he plowed with horses, now a major source of income, being destroyed as well. This is the respect we stand by and allow these fellow Americans to take away. Do we not have any pride any longer, or is it really every man for himself?

I am very glad my Daddy did not feel this way toward others during the time he was watching his friends fall and his life being altered by the devastation that Korea brought to his world. In fact, he still would not do that to a neighbor.

This letter is a special request directed to PUC and Barry Smitherman of Austin, asking that the line in which his committee has decided would destroy hundreds of trees, a branch of water, a deer and turkey refuge, and the light in my Daddy’s eyes at least be moved only a few hundred yards to destroy cedars and mesquite. This line, if left in the chosen path, will also be within 500 feet of my grandparents’ and brother’s grave. There may not be an easy answer to bring peace to the living, but the deceased should be protected.

Anyone interested in helping rectify this situation, please feel free to call Lisa Van Natta, (432) 528-9914, (512) 752-9006, (432) 528-5035 or make a direct call to Mr. Smitherman at (512) 936-7000. Cards and letters would be very much appreciated: Save the Animal Refuge/Pride, 1823 CR 2732, Lometa, TX 76853.

My family and many other families need each and every one of you to help not stop this progress but at least make sure that PUC/Oncor makes sound decisions that do not affect the emotional, physical or financial well being of American citizens.

Lisa Van Natta

Lometa