Grace Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina barely survived the Civil War, was seriously damaged by the earthquake of 1886 and withstood the ravages of Hurricane Hugo in 1989. No wonder the 162-year-old Gothic Revival building needs some serious restoration work. Cracks, settling and structural problems have taken their toll, especially in the steeple tower and clerestory walls.
Raising $12 million for repairs has been a challenge — seven years into the “Saving Grace” project, the church’s approximately 1,600 parishioners have raised about $4 million, enough to set up scaffolding and get started. Now a new challenge has appeared in the form of a pair of red-tailed hawks and their chicks nesting in the steeple tower — a challenge that will cost an estimated $60,000 in construction delays.
Reminds me of the one about the Baptist minister, the rabbi and the Catholic priest taking a break from an ecumenical meeting. The subject came up of bats in the belfry. The minister said, “Why I just go up there with a shotgun from time to time and blast away. It makes a big mess and the bats end up returning anyway.” The rabbi said, “I know what you mean. I’ve tried poison bait but they still come back.” The priest says, “I don’t have a bat problem”. When asked how he dealt with it he replied, “Simple, I went up into the belfry where I baptized them and confirmed them and I haven’t seen ’em since.”
Maybe the same approach might work on those red-tailed hawks.
$12 million? At what point is it a better use of resources to rebuild rather than renovate?
The unintended consequence of all this specie protection idiocy is that the wise builder or property owner will destroy any wildlife he finds lest its living existence prove a pretext for some ridiculous lawsuit.
Oh please, please, is there not commonsense limit to the simple-minded “Thou must not touch wildlife regardless of cost.” If they uproot the red-tails, the hawks will fly off and make another nest somewhere. That’s all. The hand-wringing by the Precious is getting so hard to tolerate. Larry
Tis anlogy time, me thinks. Were it left up to the Presiding Bishop and her merry band of hoodwinkers, a distant relative of the red-tail hawk I’m told, the birds (and their babies) would be banished from the steeple and left to their own devices, while the leaders of their flock, as well as their friends and neighbors who paid for the costly habitat, would be immediately sued to recoup cleanup and recovery costs, and their nesting privlidges revoked ad infinitum. The stand firm followers, on the other hand, the ones who think any controversy can be resolved simply by talking it to death, would allow the hawks time to resolve the situation in their own fashion, while at the same time casting aspirsons on the hoodwinkers, hoping their actions will give cause so they can unabashedly change their mind. The orthodox folks operate, you see, by setting an example. They think that the odious act of pushing birds out of their nests will ultimately force the hoodwinkers to change back into acceptors and lovers of all birdkind.