brownsvilleherald.com
ZAPATA, July 25, 2005 — Aurelio and Carolyn Talamantez, along with their trusty chow, Arcas, hunker down in the shade beneath the awning of a small trailer and watch cars whiz by on a deserted stretch of U.S. Highway 83 for most of the day.
Judging by their log book, they are only occasionally interrupted by the workers of H&P’s Rig 142 going to and from their job drilling for natural gas on the Ridge Crest Dominguez ranch, a roughly 1,500-acre tract of land bordered on the south by Falcon Lake.
The Talamantezes are the gatekeepers, the protectors of private property. Only those cleared by one of the oil and natural gas companies can enter — at least through this gate.
Posted by Suzanne at July 25, 2005