We’ve all had bad days, really, REALLY bad days. They happen. They are just something that sometimes happen to good people. Whether you refer to Job from the Bible story or more modern examples, bad events happen to all of us. Sure, some of these events are brought on by accidents, poor judgement, or even just bad taste. However they occur, these horrific days are life and a person learns, grows, and if they are anything like me, repeats.
But I digress, to “Gender Reveals”. These are problems, pure and simple. Human beings have been able to find out the gender of their little future bundles of joy long before delivery days for decades. It’s as if culture, with all of its shiny new technology and social media needed more content with which to USE said tech and media. Enter the GENDER REVEAL PARTY! Oh, but of course! Because, friends of the newly dating, engaged, married, pregnant, birth, and parenting couple don’t have enough cause for elaborate get-togethers and gift giving occasions already along life’s merry little skip down yellow brick road! What’s next, pre-school picture days for family and friends to flock to with their own latest digital cameras and phones to use on someone else’s snowflake? UGH and double-UGH.
Of course, once Gender Reveal events got rolling then it became a competition of the elaborate, the sophisticated, and games of mousetrap events to reveal the improbable 50/50 chances of BLUE or PINK! They started innocently enough, there would be a tray of cupcakes and no one knew that ANYTHING was “going on” at a random get together. Then, “Wait, what is this? Why does my vanilla iced cupcake have a pink cake mix middle in it….OH MY GOSH YOU’RE HAVING A GIRL? WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?” Again, they were exactly 50%. AS of the day of birth mind you…but that’s another post, at another date, and probably not.
Fast forward to April 24, 2017, dateline Arizona Highway 83 north of Sonoita. A gentleman who happened to be employed by the U.S. Border Patrol decided to have a gender reveal event for his and his wife’s upcoming baby. In short, this off-duty agent accidentally set fire to more than 47,000 acres which then involved the work of nearly 800 firefighters to put out the wildfire over the course of a week and a cost of around $8.2 million. “The wildfire began when Dickey shot a target that contained Tannerite, an explosive substance designed to detonate when shot by a high-velocity firearm, …Tannerite is a legal compound that has been linked to wildfires in several other Western states. …The explosive target was part of a celebration of his wife’s pregnancy and contained colored powder to show the gender of their baby, blue for a boy or pink for a girl, Dickey’s attorney Sean Chapman told the Arizona Daily Star.”
Look, I really feel bad for this guy because when it comes to OOPS and UH-OH’s I’m the leader in the clubhouse by a mile. But this new father felt terrible about this accident and took full responsibility by reporting it immediately as well as owning up to everything. Of course, he was recently convicted of a misdemeanor, with quite possibly the most expensive penalty for a misdemeanor ever. Specifically, “…he will pay $100,000 in restitution when he is sentenced Oct. 9 and another $120,000 in monthly installments of $500 for the next 20 years. Dickey also will be sentenced to 5 years of probation”.
Dennis Dickey said, “It was a complete accident,” Dickey, 37, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie A. Bowman Friday in court. “I feel absolutely horrible about it. It was probably one of the worst days of my life.” -Oh, I understand, however it may not have been far behind the days he fully recognized the probable future unfortunate implications of surnames. Poor guy. 🙁
“Dickey will borrow from his retirement fund to pay the $100,000 due at sentencing. Ordering Dickey to pay $8.2 million to cover the cost of the fire would have been “like getting blood from a stone” because he could never come up with that much money, Chapman said.”
Finally, through this whole unfortunate story covering articles in October 2018 and back in September as well, at NO TIME did any reporter, news organization, law enforcement official, government worker for the Border Patrol or the Forest Service, or Mr. Dickey’s attorney EVER reveal the gender of Baby Dickey!
Isn’t that the reason we’re all here in the first place? That’s the price that 47,000 acres, the sweat of 800 firefighters, and Dennis’ retirement fund paid. At least tell us the gender of Baby Dickey! Please stop the injustice!!!
