*** ORBUSMAX GUEST OP/ED ***

GIMME THAT OL' TIME PLAYIN' - By Rocky Brown

April 26, 2004

My son recently came home from school with an assignment to interview his grandfather. His history class is studying mid-twentieth century American culture. This week's focus is on play. My boy recalls holiday tales by his grandfather of time spent playing in woods, creeks and streams. His teacher remarked that such activity certainly is unusual and encouraged my son to explore this history further.

In today's Northwest such an interchange might not seem unusual. Like the World War Two Generation that is rapidly slipping away, so too are those who spent their childhood playing along a creek bed. Today in the Northwest many streams and creeks are now labeled wetlands or watersheds, and posted 'No Trespassing.' Private land owners have taken to posting such to assure themselves some respite from prying regulators and ill-mannered citizens. Yet, now state and local governments are fencing and posting the increasing portions of creeks that they control.

Man and water shall not mix seems to be the new motto. The slogans that sell us this closeted thinking are, of course, smoother and sweeter. "Open space" we are told, but it is actually closed land. "Natural habitat" they cry, but what is natural about mankind's banishment? "County flood pond" it states, yet it typically collects more trash than water. And when they coo "greenbelt," what is it they really mean? -- Only asphalt for you.

Increasingly, our school fields are gated and locked with imposing signs, 'Facilities use needs official authorization.'

And the sandlot? It's now only a movie - today the seasonally used, municipal or fairground lots carry official 'No Trespassing' signs referencing police action. Land that used to be parkland has been re-coded as watershed land and the reasonable and the lawful among us are barred in favor of the meth cooker, the teenage drunkard, the vagrant, and the dumper. How is the health of the community improved when citizens are banned from such places? Creativity is destroyed, replaced by formality. Escape succumbs to control. The boy and his dog giving way to the coyote and the rat have only wrought diseased wildlife and obese boys. The child who was once guided by her father's hand to the water's edge departing now in favor of the deified salmon wounds both salmon and child. People will not protect what they do not love. They will not love what they have not experienced. When we keep the child from nature we raise a generation of children that will keep nature from their hearts. No amount of county-authorized, school-sponsored, formal, stream-team visits will change that fact.

Governments are now going to great lengths to return you to your regularly scheduled programming and away from wooded and watered carefree settings. The fences that encircle our ponds are painted green. Berms and landscaping are used to hide lakes and creeks. Buffers are extracted from property owners and some marshlands now sport quarter million-dollar watering systems to ensure that these 'wetlands' stay wet.

So yes, capturing the history of outdoor play by interviewing grandparents might be a good idea lest we lose this part of America. Alternately, we as citizens and as jury members could nullify the codes that restrict us from this land. Declare them unconstitutional by ignoring these unlawful statutes: have a pick-up game on the nearby sandlot this summer, walk along the public streambed, explore the woods about your homes, and teach your children to catch frogs in your neighborhood flood retention pond. Then follow through with a 'Not Guilty' verdict if you sit in judgment of a peer who is charged with violating these lands.

-----------------------------------------------------------


Rocky Brown is a 10 year resident of Puyallup, WA.