Remembering a Barr reunion

In the summer of 2004 Chris planned one of our family reunions to take place in Gulf Shores AL. The Pattons had been there many times before and knew first hand it was a beautiful vacation site, so I was confident that this beach would be a fine vacation site for a family reunion.

Gulf Shores was all of this and more. I remember that week so well. The weather was perfect, the condo was lovely and the family was together for about a week. I loved waking up in the morning, looking out the balcony and seeing the beach. Then after a little breakfast, I would walk out to the shore, park myself under the umbrella and relax for hours. Then it would get too hot and I would have to go back in the condo. Later in the evening, we would all meet out on the beach again and spend hours catching up on the day. I was in heaven.

A couple of times Tim and I drove around during the day to sight see and maybe grab a sandwich or a snack. The entire area was clean and well kept. The locals were friendly and the proprietors of the stores were so welcoming to us vacationers.

A couple of months later that same year, Hurricane Ivan struck the area and much of Gulf Shores was devastated by this storm. But a year or so later, maybe it took longer, they rebuilt and recovered.

Last night on the news, the feature story was the effects of the oil spill on Gulf Shores. For what should be their busiest time, the beaches were all but empty. Shop keepers and hotel owners interviewed seemed somewhat calm in front of the camera, but how they must be screaming inside their heads. It seems like an act of nature, such as a hurricane, must be a little easier to cope with than the man made disaster that has caused this oil spill.

From what I have seen on the news and read on-line, BP cut corners on the rig, ignored safety warnings and pushed their workers to get the oil flowing as soon as possible. Time = money. In my eyes, it was that simple for BP. Except now this equation has changed so drastically that many folks might never recover, not to mention the families of the ones who were killed.

We have been BP customers, exclusively, for many years. We are no longer. At lunch one day I told my coworkers how we were boycotting BP. I know of course that losing our business is not going to effect anything very much. It's the principle of the thing. My lunch buddies told me that I was only hurting the poor franchise owners of the gas station. Maybe so, but we just don't want to do business with this company any more.