Connecticut’s Ridgefield High School baseball team had a rain delay this weekend due to a wet infield. Someone came up with the bright idea drying the base paths with the help of about 25 gallons of gasoline.
Now the field is closed and the school district is looking at upwards of $50,000 to repair the damage done. More Here
A liberal Connecticut solution, easy fix without considering the downstream effect or cost.
People are dumber than anybody.
When Redneck Engineering goes wrong…
When I played Pony League (about 40 years ago) people would occasionally do this when it rained, but I don’t think they would have EVER used that much gas!
There was an accident on the corner and a couple gallons of gas was spilled. I cleaned it up with cat litter and took it to the county recycle center. They said they weren’t allowed to take it! So what are you supposed to do? This whole thing about minor spills has gotten out of control. When I was a firefighter we just hosed down accident sites and there was absolutely NO long term damage, The plants came back the next season.
I’m as surprised as anybody to discover fire and baseball don’t mix.
50-60 years ago, yeah right. I recall being at least 10 years old. I watched my dad and others pour gasoline in the crack between the sidewalk and the curb, then light it. Weeds gone, all summer long!
What a Maroon…I’d have used #2 Diesel myself in honor of EARTH DAY . 🙂
Years ago I put 900′ of oily, recycled, roadway asphalt on my driveway (600′ in common with neighbors). It’s basically oily crushed rock. Several neighbors (yes, Democrats) were concerned about possible environmental damage. I told them, “Don’t worry, this stuff is like fertilizer!” – but they didn’t believe me. Three months later, the grass was shooting up through it like it was saying, “Thank you!”
Now we find out there are common bacteria in soil that love eating oil. Gasoline, however, not so much.
I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.
If you build it, they will come.
If you burn it, not so much.
Gotta be an Obama voter!
This was common practice when I played college ball in the early 80’s. The baseball team was the ground crew. Pour a few bags of “diamond dust” (a sandy type of clay that helped soak up water) and spread it over the wettest spots. Then pour out some gasoline on it, set it on fire and use bow rakes to turn the diamond dust over with the wet mud of the base paths until there was no more flame because all the gas had burned off (along with some of the water). If it was still too wet, pour on a little more gas and repeat.
The gasoline burned off as completely as it possibly could have – you couldn’t even smell gas at all when it was done. And we still had to weed the infield and base paths constantly so it didn’t keep weeds and grass from growing.
I think this is more stupidity (and tyrannical control) from environmental busybodies acting like the soil is now horribly hazardous material and has to be treated as if it were nuclear waste. I probably wouldn’t plant a garden in it for a few years, but it won’t hurt anyone playing baseball on it.