Sunday, September 26, 2010

The Awesome Magickal Victory of the Great Goddess Cloacina

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored!" I'm Anne Johnson at the helm. And doing the dishes. It's just me running this ship. No wonder it's drifting aimlessly!

Actually, though, all is not aimless drift. The magickal intention I began in 2006 has been realized!

Here to celebrate with me on this blessed day is the great bored Goddess to whom I entrusted the magick, and to whom falls the continued task of protecting a pretty little mountain waterway. Please give a great, glad, warm and wonderful "Gods Are Bored" welcome to Cloacina, Goddess of clean water, sacred to Ancient Rome!

Praise and worship to you, Wonderful Awesome Cloacina! Here's the text of an email I received over the weekend from our little group, Citizens for Smart Growth in Allegany County, Maryland:

PNC Bank filed an action on September 16, 2010, in Allegany County Circuit Court to foreclose on three of Carnock's properties - Church Road Development, PDC-Collingbrook, and Terrapin Run.  A group called TR Forty, of which Michael Carnock is Manager, had taken a pre-development loan for $5.5 million from PNC Bank in 2007 as nearly as I can tell and had pledged those properties as security.
As of July 6, 2010, amounts owed were Principal - $4,727,240, Interest - $402,209, and Late Charges - $7,621 for a total of $5,137,070.

Now, to my three regular readers, you know what all this $$$ stuff means. For the rest of you, a little back story. Take it away, Cloacina!


Cloacina:  The man named "Carnock" in the above-mentioned foreclosure statement is Michael Carnock. In 2006 or thereabouts, Michael Carnock bought several large wooded tracts of land in a rural area of Allegany County, Maryland, with the intention of creating a residential/commercial town of 11,000 people -- more than 400 units of housing, a business area, and a water treatment plant that would have placed a dam on one Tier II stream and sent the sewage runoff into Terrapin Run, a little wet-weather brook that trickles alongside the boundaries of a wildlife refuge. Have I got that correct, Anne?

Anne: Absoluetly, Great Goddess. Continue, please.

Cloacina:  In order to block this action, Anne began to do magick at the place where Terrapin Run passes under U.S. Scenic Route 40. If you want to find this place, take the Little Orleans exit off Interstate 68 and follow 40 west to the base of Town Hill. There's a little stone bridge. It's easy to miss. Terrapin Run (my precious baby) is very small.

Anne: Size doesn't matter, does it, Goddess?

Cloacina: Oh, indeed it does not! To continue my tale: After working solitary magick for awhile, Anne summoned Me and petitioned My aid. Anne prayed that I would settle in and protect Terrapin Run from Michael Carnock and his bulldozers. I was eager and willing! Words do not suffice to describe how bored I was until Anne gave Me this assignment. And I cannot say enough about the beauty of Allegany County. Talk about stunning countryside! I've seen all kinds of animals that I never saw in Ancient Rome, from rattlesnakes to raccoons to luna moths. Salamanders! Newts! Crayfish! Oh, I adore my Terrapin Run!

Anne: This is the end of the demon Michael Carnock, but our job is not finished along Terrapin Run, is it, Goddess?

Cloacina: No, dear. Now the property (bought at inflated prices) belongs to PNC bank. Rest assured they will try to find another despoiler. It won't be easy for them to identify another chump as clueless as Michael Carnock, but they will try. Remember, this area lies overtop that Marcellus Shale deposit that's full of natural gas ... PNC will be all over that.

Anne: Then we will continue our Work. Together forever, Anne and Cloacina! Blessed be! May all the deities of all the pantheons bless our Work to save Terrapin Run from any ill-conceived development or mining that would foul its shining waters! Cloacina, please stay for dinner. Homemade chicken cacciatore and a special red velvet cake just for You -- and the altar candles lit with praise prayers for You as well.

Cloacina: Music to my ears. And while I'm here, I'll take a look at that little pond in the next block, across the street from the Monkey Man's childhood home. Looks like it could use some Work.

Anne: Knock yourself out. Dinner's at six.


Readers, when I heard about this huge, ridiculous housing development, I vowed to do everything in my power to keep Michael Carnock and his corps of destroyers from even breaking ground on the Terrapin Run development. In addition to on-site spells, I gave the Citizens for Smart Growth monetary donations, fine jewelry and collectible ceramics that belonged to me, and shout-outs all along the way. If any of you gave money to the Citizens, this victory belongs to you as well as me!

As to my "zero tolerance" vow, I'm not sure they didn't bulldoze a road back into the heart of the property (and they blazed some trees they planned to cut down), but not one foundation was set. The land lies untrampled, and one greedy hellhound of a developer must be doing fry-cook night shift at the Waffle House.

A busy god might not have heard my cries for help on such a seemingly insignificant petition. Cloacina embraced Terrapin Run ... and saved it. May Her name be holy unto all.

7 comments:

Shefyt said...

Praise to Cloacina! :)

yellowdoggranny said...

I remember when you started this..praise you and the Goddess.

Aquila ka Hecate said...

Yippeee.
I'm happy about this.

Love,
Terri in Joburg

Maebius said...

Praise to the goddess, both Grecian and Appalacian!
May [terrapin run] Never Thirst [for clean undeveloped watersheds]!

Teacats said...

Wonderful!!! And many many thanks for your help, dearest Goddess -- and to Anne for watching and warding the Bridge over such Troubled Waters. May Magic continue to Flow in All Ways and Worlds!



Jan at Rosemary Cottage

Rick Loftus, M.D. said...

Way to go! An appropriate use of Auctoritas (Influence)--in this case, Divine, and activist. Thank you, Anne.

Intense Guy said...

May your vigilance be eternal -

Meaning - I'm sure there will be someone next in line to "destroy" err... "develop" that wilderness...