The turkey went into the oven and looked like it was wearing its own shroud of Turin.

The table is set. Little snacks are out until dinner is ready. Happy Thanksgiving.

I don’t have too many thoughts for all of you today other than I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I will say that as this year draws to a close, that it has been a long year. A lot of ups, and a lot of downs in our communities.

It has also been a time of too many people telling me what I should write about, what I should cover, how I should think, and how I should feel. I got a little tired of that, and I find it presumptive of people. I don’t expect to be everyone’s cup of tea, and no one says you have to read a single word I write.

I help where I can because I want to. And if I can’t help, it’s not necessarily because I don’t want to, but it is because sometimes you all in your communities have issues that you need to figure out on your own. I can’t always give everything a voice.

For example, there is something brewing in the far reaches of Chester County at Big Elk Creek in Franklin Township, Chester County. And now, for some reason known only to the butt heads in Harrisburg, they want to turn it into an RV park/camping destination. I don’t know much about this area of the county but I did a little research and I found an article from 2022:

Check out one of Pennsylvania’s new state parks: Big Elk Creek in Chester County

So again, this was an issue that somebody contacted me about that I don’t know anything about except my initial gut check says don’t let the state turn this into Disneyland but when I try to explain this to someone contacting me at 10:30 PM at night they were first worried that they had offended me and they hadn’t but I tried to tell them it’s Thanksgiving week I have a life. and I also said to them that they are their own best advocates.

And it’s true you can be your own advocate. You have to get out in front of issues and contact media and get other people interested and go to public meetings, and hold public meetings.

📸 Look at this post on Facebook

But sometimes open space needs to just be open space. It needs to be a habitat. And you can’t be a habitat for wild things when you’ve got an RV campground in the middle of it – that doesn’t work.

Big Elk is home to rare owls, wild orchids, bog turtles, migratory birds of all kinds and more.

So on Thanksgiving, I am asking people to look into helping these people in Franklin Township. People were so excited last year, when the land was becoming a state park. But I feel like they’ve been a victim of bait and switch if this goes through. And my biggest problem is the state and DCNR seems really murky about it.

Happy Thanksgiving!