[meteorite-list] Name of Texas Fall: Ash Creek

[Jerry A. Wallace]

Hi Dr. Jeff and List,

I, for one, am tickled that the "WEST", Texas fall has been officially 
named anything but "WEST".

Years ago I became aware of the methods and criteria used by the 
Nomenclature Committee for
naming any new fall or find. So it was obvious that the name WEST was 
premature.

The first email I received about someone actually finding a piece of the 
fall (may have been Sonny- I
don't remember) stated that it was found near WEST TEXAS. Well now, by 
gum, that name takes
in a huge geographical area. Having lived in Odessa for many years, I 
have always heard our area
termed WEST TEXAS. And it is...WEST TEXAS. I have always, arbitrarily, 
thought of the western
part of Texas as starting around Abilene or thereabouts. A lot of folks 
for many years have declared
that Ft. Worth is "Where the west begins". Who am I to argue. West Texas 
officially ends just west
of El Paso. It has to in that New Mexico starts there. So using Ft. 
Worth as a starting point (going
west) and ending the trip in El Paso, we have now covered about 603 
miles and are still a skosh
away from the New Mexico border. If we start the trip from Abilene we'll 
be covering over 455
miles. I believe Darren might declare that distance to be at least an 
OODLE of miles, may even stretch
into the next unit of measurement. I won't even go into what constitutes 
the southern and northern
boundaries of what is considered "WEST TEXAS", but there are some 
impressive distances there too.

Most everyone who lives in the great state of Texas think of the western 
part of Texas when they hear
the term WEST TEXAS. And that's a big place.

So now you can possibly understand that every time I heard the name WEST 
TEXAS (and frequently
written without the distinction and clarification of even a comma 
between the words) applied to the fall
I was immediately disconcerted, discombobulated, confused, and 
bewildered. Contrary to popular
opinion that is really not my normal state of mind.

HAIL to the new meteorite ASH CREEK. Welcome aboard into the 
multitudinous family of existing Texas
meteorites, the ones that had the good sense to aim for our great state. 
They knew they would be properly
appreciated and cared for here. Watch for my new book "The Care and 
Feeding of Texas Meteorites",
scheduled to be on the bookstore bookshelves any time now.

It would be greatly appreciated if any of you foreigners (anyone who 
doesn't live in Texas) who are in
possession of any of our fine Texas meteorites please send them home. 
Just write for the correct address
to mail them to. Or sending them home to Dr. Art Ehlmann at the Monnig 
Museum would be a good starting
point. We can work out the distribution details later.

Best regards from west Texas, not West, Texas,

Jerry



Jeff Grossman wrote:
> I just wanted everybody on the list to know that the Nomenclature 
> Committee has approved the name of the recent fall near West, Texas.  
> It will have the official name "Ash Creek".  See this and 38 other 
> recent approvals at:
> http://tin.er.usgs.gov/meteor/ (use the What's New pulldown menu).
>
> jeff
>
>
> Dr. Jeffrey N. Grossman       phone: (703) 648-6184
> US Geological Survey          fax:   (703) 648-6383
> 954 National Center
> Reston, VA 20192, USA
>