By Harold Brummett

Star Denmark Route

 

I had never known a time in Oxford without the Beacon. 

I remember Winter’s hamburgers on the square, Smittys, Metts Hardware, News Drugstore, Blaylocks, Leslies, The Golden Rule and, of course, Neilson’s has stood the test of time. 

Before Sonic, there was The Cream Cup, where we got frozen dairy treats. Then, for a while, there was Grady’s hamburger stand where you could get two hamburgers for a quarter.  

I remember the trees that crowded in on the town and one did not have to go far to be where the wild things were. 

I dreamt the other night of a ceremony on the square where all the elected dignitaries celebrated the cutting of the last tree in the county. With a nod, the president of the board of supervisors had the last large oak at the courthouse taken down. Everyone clapped and cheered as one man said, “now we can be like everyplace else.”

If ever we go to distant planets, pristine and without blemish, humans upon their arrival will start terraforming. God gave us dominion after all. Humans have lots of practice at dominion. 

Hills around town are flattened after the vegetation is removed and readied for more houses, apartments, condominiums or whatever. Many houses stand empty except on game weekends. 

Local leaders try to resolve the housing shortage for blue-collar workers without letting them too close to the city center. No middle-class person can afford Oxford. As long as we have cheap gas, workers can drive in from a neighboring county. No need to have them too close.   

Green space should be left around projects, not created as an afterthought. Our neighbors are not only people but the wild things that need habitat, too. A child should not have to drive out to the National Forest to see a rabbit, bird or turtle. Wild things don’t vote and don’t have money so the Lawyer Elite and Moneymen don’t care. Looking out a window and seeing concrete, asphalt or a perfect lawn is not pretty. 

The thing that makes Oxford special now is strip malls and bars. I am suspicious of our Tree City designation. Planting back trees should not count the same as leaving trees alone. Plan around what is already there. Neighborhoods with winding roads and hills are much more interesting than a cleared and vacant lot. 

So the Beacon is closed. It had a good run with good people running it. Like the trees, The Beacon will probably make way for something shiny and new.  Nothing can last forever, but that does not mean it will be missed any less.