Even my once dark rural neighborhood,
where everyone knew to keep lights
off for the observatory was under
attack. All those friendly neighbors
had been replaced by flat landers.

They came up from the city, bulldozed
the entire land, pin to pin. Killing
all the Manzanita, Red Shank, Sage
& Mountain Mahogany. Then they drug
up a pre-fab and bought the biggest
brightest security lights they
could find.

These people were ruthless! They
had no respect for anything but
their own narrow vision of mountain
living. Even my clubs dark site
(Orange County Astronomers) not
far from me was affected. i remember
when you could see only ONE light
from the OCA site.

http://www.ocastronomers.org/

There had always been by-laws and
covenants in regard to outdoor
lighting there. i mean Palomar
was nearby too. But this newest
migration of flat landers without
a clue were blatantly breaking
the laws and respect of the
locals. i tried to reason, i
tried to shield the lights,
i even tried to buy them off.
Nothing worked.

Well, it came to the old adage:
"Love it or leave it." i left it!
and i'm glad i did when i did.
Because if i had waited any
longer, there wouldn't have been
any buyers in today's market.
Not to mention that i would
have been stuck under a sky
that never gets as dark as it
use too.

So my 28" StarMaster, 17 1/2"
dob, and C-14 are in a very dark
storage container. But don't cry!

i'm now ready to find a new home
for all my scopes, library etc...

See my old Anza Observatory & the scopes
that will be a part of this new project
here:

http://www.anzaobservatory.com

If there is anyone who has any comments,
suggestions or ideas as to a good location
please eMail me at:
 
humphreys@greencafe.com
 
Sincerely, Lance Humphreys

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