Fort Knox is Burning

Over the weekend, a massive fire-fighting effort has been underway to douse the flames that have been sweeping hundreds of acres at Fort Knox. No one's certain how it started, but some are saying that the fires probably started after tracer rounds were fired during military exercises. This is ammo enhanced with pyrotechnic materials that allow the paths of the projectiles to be clearly seen as they sail through the air.

According to the Courier-Journal, at least 87 drops of water have been performed by Blackhawk helicopters. There's conflicting reports online at the moment, some saying that the fires have all been contained, while others indicate that some are still burning. Fire departments that have provided assistance include Bullitt County, Flaherty, Lebanon Junction, Nichols, PRP, Rineyville, and Zoneton.

Another fire, at the Fort Duffield Civil War Park in West Point, KY, is believed to have been also sparked by the Fort Knox conflagration. According to WHAS:

The WHAS11 crew walked up a hill inside the park to get a closer look at the now-controlled flames and saw firsthand the damage the fire caused. The blaze was so hot, it did something no one working the fire said they had ever seen before; melted a portion of one man’s helmet.

The considerable smoke lingering over the southern part of Jefferson County has been very bad to breathe, with air quality ratings in Valley Station reaching undesirable levels.

The Kentucky Forestry Division reports that 42 fires in 31 counties occurred last week. 15 of those were in Rockcastle County, where
Judge-Executive Buzz Carloftis issued a total ban on all open fires, including trash fires, camp bonfires, and controlled burnoffs on public and private land.

In addition to being a major training base for the U.S. Army, Fort Knox also supposedly houses the nation's gold bullion supply. I say "supposedly" because there's been a growing concern in some circles that the gold is actually missing. There have been reports of "gold" ingots discovered to be composed primarily of tungsten, a metal whose weight is close enough to gold for the brick to pass the flotation test.

There have been repeated calls for an independent audit of Fort Knox's gold since the Reagan administration, but the Federal Reserve has stonewalled these efforts each time. And as market analyst Gary North wisely notes, the Fed may have good reason to be in damage-control mode, as a chain reaction of worldwide financial upheaval could ensue:

"If all the gold is not there, there will be enormous pressure from voters on governments around the world to audit the gold reserves of their central banks. If the gold held in trust by the New York Fed is not there, foreign voters will conclude that their governments' gold may not be there either."

Things may be getting even hotter for Fort Knox if the gold-audit proponents get their way, and that's a fire that shows no signs of being put out.

Valley of the Drums

Way back in the day, most Bullitt Countians probably never gave much thought to the vast 23-acre expanse just outside of Louisville that was filled with chemical drums as far as the eye could see. After all, there was nothing illegal about such dumpsites back in our parents' generation. There were no laws regarding proper storage or containment of toxic waste.

That is, until it caught fire in 1966. It raged for over a week before firefighters could put out the chemical fire that filled Louisville's skies with some truly toxic smoke. This incident raised public awareness to the ecological disaster happening in Louisville's backyard, and eventually led to the Superfund act of 1980.

The Valley of the Drums, as it came to be known, was finally placed on the nation's list of most toxic sites in 1983, and it took them until 1990 to get it cleaned up to the EPA's satisfaction.


In 2003, the nearby creek sediment was discovered to be saturated with deadly PCBs. And in 2008, alarm was raised again when more rusting chemical drums that the cleanup crew missed were found on the periphery of the property. Further analysis showed the area is still contaminated by PCBs.

Grandma and Grandson Graverobbers

And still another cemetery desecration... according to the May 26 edition of the Courier-Journal:

A Mount Washington grandmother and grandson are accused of trying to sell bronze vases from a cemetery for scrap.

Geraline Hilbert, 63, and Joshua Taggart, 21, were arrested Saturday, May 23, and each face 22 counts of violating graves and one count of theft by unlawful taking over $300, Mount Washington Police Detective Buddy Stump said.

They were taken to the Bullitt County Detention Center, where Hilbert posted a $4,000 bond. Taggart was still being held on a $4,000 bond on Tuesday.

Stump said police received a call from a staff member at Highland Memorial Gardens, 279 Landis Lane, about 8 a.m. Saturday saying someone was stealing vases that had been set next to headstones.

Family members pay $598 for each vase and often fill them with flowers on Memorial Day weekend, Stump said.

After getting a description of the suspects and the van they were using, police called Amen Auto Parts in Shepherdsville, which is the closest business that buys scrap metal.

Hilbert and Taggart were arrested there. The vases have been returned to the graves, Stump said.

I do hope the authorities investigate whether other cemeteries have been targeted by these two. Bronze vases have similarly been stolen from other places, like Louisville Cemetery on Poplar Level in Schnitzelburg, and Eastern Cemetery on Bardstown Road (where the above image was taken).

Weird Cemetery

Inadvertently came across this yesterday while surfing the net.

Apparently "Weird" in this instance is a family surname, with a Weird Cemetery located on Weird Road. Bullitt County is not far away from me at all, so looks like a road trip will be in order soon....