Sunday 06/22/2008 Burning

At 5:00 PM the same guy who had a fire on 6/20/2008 at 5:30 PM decided to burn some wood. Huge plumes of smoke came from his fire. I was in the middle of a shower. The stench of wood smoke poured into the bathroom. I had to jump out of the shower dripping wet and run around closing windows.

If the city council doesn't address this issue I am going to work real hard at getting them thrown out of office.

Nobody should have to live like this! Nobody has the right to pollute the air I have to breathe!

I just bathed and my skin smells like smoke!

7:00 PM: The person burning at 5:00 PM stopped after about an hour. As of this writing someone else is burning. Smells like a combination of wood and grass. It is a breezy evening. The smoke is probably carrying a considerable distance.

8:00 PM: The air hangs heavy with wood smoke. It is actually difficult to breathe if you stay outside for more than a minute or so. The smoke also irritates my nose causing discomfort. I think I would rather have a group of people smoking cigarettes in my home than smell that horrible wood smoke. I really wouldn't like either.

It is a true shame to have such a beautiful summer evening ruined by the overpowering stench of smoke.

I took a drive around a part of the city around 9:30 PM this evening. People were burning in the vicinity of:

• 18th Ave. & Charles (there is somebody over there who constantly burns wood, even on weekend mornings)
• 19th Ave. & 2nd St. (someone was burning grass)
• North of Beam on Helen (not sure if it was a North St. Paul or Maplewood resident)
• Helen & Navajo
• South end of Hilltop Court (I saw the flames)

Sunday night is far from the peak time for burning. In that 1/2 sq. mile of area there were five people burning. You can see how much people burn in this city. I didn't notice any burning south of 17th Ave. But that doesn't mean someone wasn't burning. I can't uncover every one and I didn't drive down every street.

The burning where I am stopped around 9:30 PM. I get to sleep with the windows open tonight! I hope I don't end up waking up in the middle of the night because some jerk decides to burn late. That happens sometimes.

DAMMIT! At 12:30 AM Monday morning someone started burning again. I think I'm beginning to hate living in this city.