Texas Finest at Their Best

Yesterday morning I made the comment to my better half that I was restless -- I needed something to do today.  It turned out that my need for something was fulfilled in a very different way than anticipated.

We went out yesterday morning to check cattle at our place.  As we were driving around the pasture I noticed a State Trooper vehicle passing down the county road which was very unusual.  We occasionally see a County Sheriff's car, but never a Texas DPS patrol vehicle.  We completed our check of the cattle and then hopped into the Polaris Ranger to take a look at the hay meadow to see if it was about ready to cut.  It's getting close, but the ground is much too wet to get in hay equipment.

As we came back up out of the hay meadow we could see several emergency vehicles parked just inside our gate.  We drove up in the Ranger to investigate and learned that they were searching for a small plane that had crashed.  The State Trooper had pulled into our place and parked before hiking across to the neighbor's where they found the plane.  We ended up helping to provide a "shuttle service" in the Ranger for emergency personnel to get to and from the crash site which was a lengthy hike from where they were parked.

The pilot of the plane was uninjured and there were no other passengers.  The site is isolated and he was very fortunate not to have landed in the trees.  There was a small stretch of open ground in which he was able to set the plane down.

My object here isn't to write about the crash, but about the emergency response personnel.  There were people from two different fire units at the site -- fortunately unneeded -- along with Sheriff's office personnel and a number of State Troopers.

We hear a lot of negative about law enforcement personnel in the media.  I'm sure there are a few "bad actors" sprinkled in the many personnel who have been called into that profession, but I am here to say the ones we interacted with yesterday were extremely polite, professional, friendly and focused first on the safety and well-being of the crash victim.  They were thorough while being aware of the concerns of the land owners and others affected.  They all just seemed like good people trying to do the best job possible.  I was especially impressed by the State Troopers and their conduct.  As Texans we should be proud we have them and I would suggest taking the time to thank them occasionally for the job they do.