Saturday, June 8, 2013

I Saw Signs Of Danger In Fort Worth's Gateway Park Today On My Way To Town Talk

 It being Saturday, with this Saturday already the second Saturday of June of 2013, and me, creature of habit that I be, stopped at Gateway Park to rotate my bike tires prior to my weekly Town Talk treasure hunt.

Last Saturday Zombies stopped me from pedaling parts of the mountain bike trail.

Today I was a surprised to find that those sections I did not pedal last Saturday had crime scene type tape with the word DANGER repeated over and over again on the tape.

I thought maybe the DANGER tapes were put there for the safety of the Zombies. Then I remembered I had biked by these locations, this past Wednesday, well after the Zombies had left the park.

The DANGER tapes were blocking little side trails off the main trail. Those little side trails lead to a steep cliff that drops off into the Trinity River. Many a time I have taken a picture of my handlebars from those vantage points, now blocked off by DANGER tape.

As I continued my pedaling I wondered if the City of Fort Worth Parks Department has gone into super cautious mode, indicating DANGER, where previously there was no DANGER indicator, due to a teenage boy, Malik Cisse, drowning recently in the Trinity River, near some of Gateway Park's boarded up Boardwalks.

After the drowning the boarded up entries to the boarded up boardwalks were made slightly more boarded up.

However, no "NO SWIMMING" signs were installed. No "DANGER" signs were installed. The boarded up Boardwalks, remained, attractive nuisance eyesores, from whence a boy jumped to his drowning.

When my pedaling brought me to the site of the drowning and the boarded up Boardwalk, below is what I saw.


The memorial to the drowned teenager is still in place. There is no DANGER tape to be seen anywhere in the vicinity.

Has Malik's family contacted a lawyer yet?

After having myself a fine, perplexing time biking with a lot of other bikers, it was on to Town Talk where I got a lot of Yellow and Orange Peppers, two bags of Mandarin Oranges, a few dozen Chicken Legs, a case of Cascade Fresh Orange Cream Yogurt, Tillamook Extra Sharp White Cheese, Organic Non-Homogenized Whole Milk and other stuff I am not remembering right now.

The temperature was perfect for biking today, minimal clothing was needed, no overheating occurred. Such will likely not be the case in a few days. I heard on the radio today that our first 100 degree days of the year are arriving next week.

My air-conditioner is ready for the HEAT. It got a tune-up and a new filter last week. I, myself, did not get a tune-up and new filter last week, so I don't know if I am personally ready for the HEAT. I suspect I will successfully acclimate.

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