By JEFFERSON WEAVER
Staff writer

It grumbles me greatly how whiny some folks can be.

Take, for example, a fellow I know who traps problem critters in a coastal county. I won’t use his name here, since the animal rights people tend to get troublesome when they find trappers’ names on the Internet. The AR people grumble me almost as much as the whiners, but that’s a column for another day.

Anyway, this fellow was asked to trap out some problem beavers at a fancy development occupied mostly by northern retirees. Along the way he discovered nutria rats were also causing damage to a causeway, some riverbanks near a dock, and other places. When he pointed out this damage, he was asked to remove the nutrias, too.

Well, he was happily trapping along when he discovered coyote sign (that’s a polite term for tracks and droppings). Turned out something was eating pets in the area, and someone saw her pet carried off by a brownish-gray “wolf”.

Yet again, he was asked to solve the problem, and he was happy to do so.
Then someone realized that he was actually killing the poor beasties.

There was even an effort to get him arrested (despite the fact that the only people violating state laws were those who interfered with his traps).

He told the folks goodbye, then suggested they lock up their poodles, and invest in alligators.

What is wrong with people that they must bawl about getting what they so desperately wish for?

There’s another person I could throw into this category of professional whininess.
Through the years I covered a lot of forest fires. I’ve attended a number of N.C. Forest Service classes on wildlands firefighting, rural-urban interface fire suppression, and fire prevention.

I’ve ridden through burning and smoldering woods with rangers, and never doubted that these men and women would do their utmost to stop any fire from destroying property.
All firefighters have to have a certain hatred of a fire and a fanatical desire to protect lives and property, and there’s no doubt in my mind that most Forest Service firefighters have double the normal ration of that special something.

But yet, but yet.

On two or three occasions, I’ve seen and heard folks whine about how the Forest Service fireplows and other firefighting equipment are big and noisy and ugly.

I recently noticed one homeowner fussing to the TV cameras about the noise and inconvenience caused by those mean people risking their lives to save her home. The big trucks and tractors and noisy equipment across from her home were an annoyance, and she wanted someone to pay.

Her home didn’t look like it had a smudge on it, and her yard looked pretty green, too, despite the fact that the burn line was just a few yards away. I wonder how she would have reacted had those vehicles and firefighters not turned out of bed in the dark of night to protect her home.

To his credit, District 8 Forest Service boss Shane Hardee handled the TV questions like a gentleman. I’m not sure if I could have done so. His behavior is a credit to the Forest Service.

As bad as that fire was, the 1986 Hampstead fire made that one look like a burning pile of leaves.

I covered the 1986 fire, as I told someone recently, when I was longer of breath and shorter of tooth. I was in college in Wilmington at the time, and freelance stories bought a lot of beer. Plus it was fun. God and a lot of firefighters were watching out for me, because I should have been barbecued several times over.

Somewhere in the middle of that month-long crisis, I went to the beach with my girlfriend of the time. I remember she wore a bathing suit that was mostly white, and she became upset when ashes from the Hampstead fire – more than 20 miles away – began falling from the sky.

“Can’t they do something about this?” she fussed. “Somebody should do something.”
Even then, blinded by a good-looking girl in a bathing suit, I had the presence of mind enough to remind her that yes, indeed, the firefighters also wished they could do something about the fires, just like the people who were waiting to see if their homes burned up while we lazed about on the beach.

She and I broke up shortly after that.

So yeah, forgive me if I have little patience with people who whine for something to be done, then whine about the solution. To them I say, if you can do it better, more power to you – but if you ask me to do a job that you aren’t willing to do, then you’d best not whine about results you don’t like.

Especially not when your Chihuahuas are safe from coyotes, the road through your golf course isn’t underwater, and your house didn’t get burned up because some folks were too busy on a job you wouldn’t or couldn’t do yourself to sit around and complain.

Weaver is a staff writer with The News Reporter. He may be reached via e-mail at jeffweaver@newsreporter.biz, or by telephone at 642-4104, ext. 227.