[Texascavers] Thomas Summers III - from 5/4/07 Houston Chronicle (City State section)
Houston Texas News May 4, 2007, 2:27AM Obituary Summers, ex-engineer, show cave manager By SALATHEIA BRYANT Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Thomas A. Summers III, a mechanical engineer for 20 years who moved to the Boerne area to help manage a show cave owned by his family, died Monday in a caving accident. Summers, 44, was remembered by those who knew him as an outdoorsman with a broad, ready smile, especially when he talked about caves. Family friend Dayna Cartwright said Summers' love for caves came from his father. He left his engineering career to partner with his father to manage Cave Without A Name. As soon as he got us down in the cave, he grinned from ear to ear, Cartwright said. He would point out every single formation. You could tell that it's what he loved doing. He genuinely loved it. Family members declined to comment about his death. The accident occurred in a wild undeveloped place called Dead Man's Cave. Cartwright said Summers and another employee of Cave Without A Name went into Dead Man's Cave to find the source of a water blockage that was affecting the water flow inside Cave Without A Name, located about 30 miles north of San Antonio. The caves are connected through underground tunnels. According to published reports, Summers swam into a section where the ceiling was just inches above the water. After hearing a sputtering sound from Summers, the other employee got no response from his calls and went for help. Rescue crews used pumps to lower the water level so a cave diver could retrieve Summers' body. Before the Summers family took over Cave Without A Name it was described as a mom-and-pop operation by National Caves Association President Brad Wuest, whose family owns and operates Natural Bridge Caverns. Summers is credited with several improvements, including replacing a gravel road with a paved one, expanding the parking lot and remodeling the visitors center. He also had increased marketing efforts. The cave opened as an attraction in 1939, and a contest was held to name it. They wound up heeding the suggestion of a student who said, The cave is too pretty to have a name. Stalactites, stalagmites and soda straws are features of the cave, which is reached by 126 steps plunging down about 90 feet. Cartwright said Summers was active in the Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce, graduating from Leadership Boerne in 2005. Summers is survived by his wife, Joan, and four children, John Joseph, William Matthew, Anne Marie and Renee Kathleen; parents Thomas A. Summers Jr. and Linda Sutherland Summers of Houston; his sister, Laura, and her husband, Todd Knop of Austin; his sister-in-law, Pat Moser of Houston; his brother-in-law, Pete Moser, and his wife, Betty, of Houston. A rosary will be recited at 7 tonight at Vaughan's Funeral Home in Boerne. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Joseph's at Honeycreek. The Associated Press and San Antonio Express-News contributed to this report. salatheia.bry...@chron.com
RE: [Texascavers] Langtry Lead
If ranchers have land open for paid hunting, one might expect that they have already started paying insurance for such liability. (Be careful who you go quailhunting with.. chortle) Ted -Original Message- From: Linda Palit lkpa...@sbcglobal.net Sent: May 3, 2007 4:02 PM To: 'David Locklear' dlocklea...@gmail.com, texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Langtry Lead What always worries me about the issue of charging for access is that it sets the land owner up for liability -- which he is protected against if he does not charge. We might hope this would never be an issue, but a rancher could lose more than he might ever anticipate, and the fall out would be extreme on all landowner with caves, who might not analyze all the details. This sounds like a lot of could's and if's but I don't think it is that farfetched. Landowners need education sometimes, on the negative aspects of taking money for caving. Guess that might close the cave altogether, but as far as I am concerned it is already closed. -Original Message- From: David Locklear [mailto:dlocklea...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 11:28 PM To: texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Langtry Lead I have always assumed that the $ 100 was for a weekend per caver. I don't know if family members who are just camping would have to pay. I am assuming this price includes 3 fun caves and 2 nights of camping and access to several hundred acres of his ranch, and a free dip in his stock tank on the hill. So if you subtract a portion of the fee as a camping fee, and then divide by 3 then, it really only cost about $ 30 per cave. Maybe you could talk him into mending a fence or feeding or watering some animals or overhauling his tractor motor? However, seeing all the passages in all 3 caves on the same weekend would be hectic. David Locklear - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com http://home.infionline.net/~tbsamsel/ - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] Pond Party Sunday Swims
We have set the dates for swimming at Pete and Jocie's. We will kick it off on Memorial Day, (Monday, May 28th), with a swim from 2:00 to 6:00 or so. We will have Sunday Swims June 3rd, 10th, 17th from 2:00 to 6:00 or so. The big party of the year, will be the POND PARTY on Saturday June 23rd, from 2:00 to late night. We will have two more Sunday Swims on July 1st and 15th from 2:00 to 6:00 or so. For information call Pete at 512-258-8384 or (M) 512-897-9235. - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] Colorado cave teaches lesson on climate change
_Click here: BCNG Portals Page_ (http://www.rockymountainoutlook.ca/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=128cat=23id=976680more=) ** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
[Texascavers] RE: Colorado cave teaches lesson on climate change
Click here: BCNG Portals Page Rat's Nest Cave is in Alberta, Canada, not Colorado! Mark Minton
[Texascavers] UT Press sale
Forwarded from Logan McNatt: The annual UT Press Book Sale is an incredible bargain! Friday is the best day to go because you get the best selection. You won't regret it! Logan http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/about/booksale.html
[Texascavers] RE: CaveTex
No, the postings I have put out there have been showing up, at least in my in box. -- Crash From: mark.al...@l-3com.com [mailto:mark.al...@l-3com.com] Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 11:39 AM To: wwildch...@aol.com; Texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: RE: [Texascavers] OT - computer news I noticed this, too. Actually, it's been MIA for a couple of weeks. Is it kaput?
[Texascavers] Buyer beware!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070503/ap_on_fe_st/bat_droppings_home 3,500 lbs. of bat guano found in attic Thu May 3, 9:45 AM ET BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. - An upstate New York couple didn't think a few bats in the attic were much of a problem when they were buying a house last summer. Months later, they found out how wrong they were when they discovered more than a ton and a half of bat droppings up there. Nick LaBoda and Jenna Caputo say a home inspector informed them about the bats. They called an exterminator, who told them to wait a while before removing the bats because the babies were too young to fly. Then they forgot about the bats until they smelled a foul odor in January. When they checked the attic, they found dead bats and piles of guano. An exterminator says hundreds of bats had been living in the attic, leaving behind 3,500 pounds of droppings. It cost $25,000 to clean up the mess, and the couple's insurance company wouldn't cover it. They're fighting it out in court. AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.
Re: [Texascavers] Buyer beware!
I bet all that guano made for great attic insulation! germa...@aol.com wrote: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070503/ap_on_fe_st/bat_droppings_home 3,500 lbs. of bat guano found in attic Thu May 3, 9:45 AM ET BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. - An upstate New York couple didn't think a few bats in the attic were much of a problem when they were buying a house last summer. if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object(); window.yzq_d['CEyXKkSOxIs-']='U=13b1vriq4%2fN%3dCEyXKkSOxIs-%2fC%3d571477.10622365.11265913.1442997%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d4343448'; Months later, they found out how wrong they were when they discovered more than a ton and a half of bat droppings up there. Nick LaBoda and Jenna Caputo say a home inspector informed them about the bats. They called an exterminator, who told them to wait a while before removing the bats because the babies were too young to fly. Then they forgot about the bats until they smelled a foul odor in January. When they checked the attic, they found dead bats and piles of guano. An exterminator says hundreds of bats had been living in the attic, leaving behind 3,500 pounds of droppings. It cost $25,000 to clean up the mess, and the couple's insurance company wouldn't cover it. They're fighting it out in court. - AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com. - Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business.
Re: [Texascavers] Buyer beware!
They should have simply called on Jim Kennedy to have a good ole guano gathering! SHEEZ! Some people go to some trouble to have the stuff. (ok, ok... much I may not understand... is guano not 'the good stuff' if it hasn't been post processed by demisted beetles??) -WaV On 5/4/07, Scott Boyd sdboy...@yahoo.com wrote: I bet all that guano made for great attic insulation! *germa...@aol.com* wrote: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070503/ap_on_fe_st/bat_droppings_home ***3,500 lbs. of bat guano found in attic* Thu May 3, 9:45 AM ET BALLSTON SPA, N.Y. - An upstate New York couple didn't think a few bats in the attic were much of a problem when they were buying a house last summer. Months later, they found out how wrong they were when they discovered more than a ton and a half of bat droppings up there. Nick LaBoda and Jenna Caputo say a home inspector informed them about the bats. They called an exterminator, who told them to wait a while before removing the bats because the babies were too young to fly. Then they forgot about the bats until they smelled a foul odor in January. When they checked the attic, they found dead bats and piles of guano. An exterminator says hundreds of bats had been living in the attic, leaving behind 3,500 pounds of droppings. It cost $25,000 to clean up the mess, and the couple's insurance company wouldn't cover it. They're fighting it out in court. -- AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at *AOL.com* http://www.aol.com?ncid=AOLAOF0002000437. -- Get your own web address.http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=49678/*http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business.
[Texascavers] Hank
Does anyone have Hank Boudinouts' new web address or phone number. His old one is karstpat...@intothevoid.com Mike - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] [OT] [TSA Loses Hard Drive With Personal Info]
Wrong TSA! Whew! Had me going! TSA Loses Hard Drive With Personal Info May 4 11:04 PM US/Eastern By MATT APUZZO Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Transportation Security Administration has lost a computer hard drive containing Social Security numbers, bank data and payroll information for about 100,000 employees. Authorities realized Thursday the hard drive was missing from a controlled area at TSA headquarters. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley sent a letter to employees Friday apologizing for the lost data and promising to pay for one year of credit monitoring services. TSA has no evidence that an unauthorized individual is using your personal information, but we bring this incident to your attention so that you can be alert to signs of any possible misuse of your identity, Hawley wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press. We profoundly apologize for any inconvenience and concern that this incident has caused you. The agency said it did not know whether the device is still within headquarters or was stolen. TSA said it has asked the FBI and Secret Service to investigate and said it would fire anyone discovered to have violated the agency's data-protection policies. In a statement released Friday night, the agency said the external— or portable—hard drive contained information on employees who worked for the Homeland Security agency from January 2002 until August 2005. TSA, a division of the Homeland Security Department, employs about 50,000 people and is responsible for security of the nation's transportation systems, including airports and train stations. It's seems like there's a problem with security inside Homeland Security and that makes no sense, said James Slade, a TSA screener and the executive vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union chapter at John F. Kennedy International Airport. That's scary. That's my identity. And now who has a hold of it? So many things go on in your mind. The agency added a section to its Web site Friday night addressing the data security breach and directing people to information about identity theft. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, whose Homeland Security subcommittee oversees the TSA, promised to hold hearings on the security breach. She said Homeland Security buildings are part of the critical infrastructure the agency is charged with protecting. We should expect it to be secure, she said. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D- Miss., called the security breach a terrible and unfortunate blow for an agency he said already suffered from low morale. It's the latest mishap for the government involving computer data. Last year, a laptop with information for more than 26.5 million military personnel, was stolen from a Veterans Affairs Department employee's home. Law enforcement officials recovered the laptop, and the FBI said Social Security numbers and other personal data had not been copied. ___ Associated Press writer Ted Bridis contributed to this report. Don moom...@fnbnet.net
Re: [Texascavers] [OT] [TSA Loses Hard Drive With Personal Info]
Is there ONE THING those guys can NOT screw up??? -WaV On 5/4/07, Don moom...@fnbnet.net wrote: Wrong TSA! Whew! Had me going! *TSA Loses Hard Drive With Personal Info* *May 4 11:04 PM US/Eastern* *By MATT APUZZO* *Associated Press Writer* WASHINGTON (AP) - The Transportation Security Administration has lost a computer hard drive containing Social Security numbers, bank data and payroll information for about 100,000 employees. Authorities realized Thursday the hard drive was missing from a controlled area at TSA headquarters. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley sent a letter to employees Friday apologizing for the lost data and promising to pay for one year of credit monitoring services. TSA has no evidence that an unauthorized individual is using your personal information, but we bring this incident to your attention so that you can be alert to signs of any possible misuse of your identity, Hawley wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press. We profoundly apologize for any inconvenience and concern that this incident has caused you. The agency said it did not know whether the device is still within headquarters or was stolen. TSA said it has asked the FBI and Secret Service to investigate and said it would fire anyone discovered to have violated the agency's data-protection policies. In a statement released Friday night, the agency said the external—or portable—hard drive contained information on employees who worked for the Homeland Security agency from January 2002 until August 2005. TSA, a division of the Homeland Security Department, employs about 50,000 people and is responsible for security of the nation's transportation systems, including airports and train stations. It's seems like there's a problem with security inside Homeland Security and that makes no sense, said James Slade, a TSA screener and the executive vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union chapter at John F. Kennedy International Airport. That's scary. That's my identity. And now who has a hold of it? So many things go on in your mind. The agency added a section to its Web site Friday night addressing the data security breach and directing people to information about identity theft. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, whose Homeland Security subcommittee oversees the TSA, promised to hold hearings on the security breach. She said Homeland Security buildings are part of the critical infrastructure the agency is charged with protecting. We should expect it to be secure, she said. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D- Miss., called the security breach a terrible and unfortunate blow for an agency he said already suffered from low morale. It's the latest mishap for the government involving computer data. Last year, a laptop with information for more than 26.5 million military personnel, was stolen from a Veterans Affairs Department employee's home. Law enforcement officials recovered the laptop, and the FBI said Social Security numbers and other personal data had not been copied. ___ Associated Press writer Ted Bridis contributed to this report. Don moom...@fnbnet.net
[Texascavers] Karst inventory at Onion Creek
Monthly Volunteer Opportunities Karst inventory at Onion Creek, TWO DATES (choose one or choose both) Saturday May 19, 9am to 12:45 Saturday June 2, 8:30am to 12:30 Location: central Hays County, 6 miles west of Buda With the vegetation knocked down by our recent prescribed burn, now is the perfect time to inventory caves, sinkholes, and other karst features, and you can help. These features are the conduit by which water enters the Edwards aquifer. Knowing their location will inform our land management decisions. Training will be provided. For more info go to http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/water/downloads/karst_ridge_walking_mayjune07.pdf Contact Daniel Dietz for directions and to register (daniel.di...@ci.austin.tx.us 512-263-6443). AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.
Re: [Texascavers] OT - computer news
Wow, and to think that my Commodore Vic 20 with 5k of RAM actually ran an operating system at all. Since your talking bogomips, it would be in the neighborhood of .004 And to make the cave/computer relationship, I havn't been able to open texascaving.com lately. :7 Puppy =:-) It's not power I seek, just the ability to witness the quantum entanglement of electrons in all states at the same time along with witnessing the effects of one number: 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 -Original Message- From: wavyca...@gmail.com To: wo...@justfamily.org Cc: Texascavers@texascavers.com Sent: Thu, 3 May 2007 1:50 AM Subject: Re: [Texascavers] OT - computer news Well, as much as I'd like to say the 'bloatation' of Windows is a microsoft problem - I've noticed enhanced feature performance hindrance every bit as much (or even more) in the X-Windows, shareware realm of Gnome (graphic environment for RH (and other) Linux(es)). The '2000 release' of RH 7 Linux runs (almost) decently fast on a 233Mhz Pentium I MMX. I don't mean way way up there in bogomips, but it doesn't lag. But - running Fedora 6 on a 500Mhz Celeron machine was downright 'painful'. (More than a scant 128M of memory, MIGHT have helped, though) [Painful also in that it showed me I wasn't all that in configuring Samba.] XP, being less promiscuous than Win98 has made communicating with my Linux droids impossible in their role as file servers. Easy still, to FTP or Telnet, but that SMB thing... argh!! I guess somewhere there's a perfectly 'well put adage' about how operating system overhead always increases to the degree that cutting edge hardware will suffer only slightly. As an ancient Chinese philosopher, (or somebody in the Firesign Theater), (or both), once said, ...dig a big enough hole and everybody will want to jump in. Or some other wise guy - Any foot - sufficiently large, will have a shoe made that will fit it. (But only the horse led to water will, if the shoe fits, wear it) -DC AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at AOL.com.
RE: [Texascavers] OT - computer news
I noticed this, too. Actually, it's been MIA for a couple of weeks. Is it kaput? (A Curious) Mark From: wwildch...@aol.com [mailto:wwildch...@aol.com] Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 11:28 AM To: Texascavers@texascavers.com Subject: Re: [Texascavers] OT - computer news Wow, and to think that my Commodore Vic 20 with 5k of RAM actually ran an operating system at all. Since your talking bogomips, it would be in the neighborhood of .004 And to make the cave/computer relationship, I havn't been able to open texascaving.com lately. :7 Puppy =:-)
Re: [Texascavers] OT - computer news
I'm afraid Chris Saizan just let the site die cause he was no longer interested in caving (he sold me his brain bucket last year), it wasnt getting a lot of posts lately and I might be wrong but around this time of last year he was renewing his one year hosting plan with godaddy perhaps the contract expired and he didnt think renewing it was worth it. all this is just what I think it happened, I dont know for sure On 5/4/07, mark.al...@l-3com.com mark.al...@l-3com.com wrote: I noticed this, too. Actually, it's been MIA for a couple of weeks. Is it kaput? (A Curious) Mark -- *From:* wwildch...@aol.com [mailto:wwildch...@aol.com] *Sent:* Friday, May 04, 2007 11:28 AM *To:* Texascavers@texascavers.com *Subject:* Re: [Texascavers] OT - computer news Wow, and to think that my Commodore Vic 20 with 5k of RAM actually ran an operating system at all. Since your talking bogomips, it would be in the neighborhood of .004 And to make the cave/computer relationship, I havn't been able to open texascaving.com lately. :7 Puppy =:-)
