A Defender and Protector has Fallen -- "....I always try to imagine, what those ancient people perceived of Hueco Tanks once they arrived here, from the very first paleoindian hunters, who found a virgin continent, to the arriving Apaches, who are basically the last descendants of those paleoindians, discovering the messages on rocks and in shelters and contributed their own. Up and until that time all cultures had something in common: Respect and love for nature and its creatures, and an unambiguous trust in their Creator of the universe, who's prime precept was the mutual respect and love of all beings on this planet, animate or inanimate, suggesting that everything in the Creation had a soul and a concience, no matter if it's a rock, a human, animal, insect, tree, water, sky, air, sun, moon, etc. Those people knew deep in their heart, that only harmony and balance would be the guarantor for survival happiness. They viewed the Creation of mother earth as a perfect deed of their Creator. What He did, cannot be improved by any member of this Creation. We white people are the only ones trying it anyway, not realizing that we are traveling on a primrose path. Like us, those ancient people knew love, fear, desperation, sorrow, hope, happiness, luck, emotions, and inspirations as well as times of need and suffering. They had to deal with that too." ---- "I am strongly convined, that the meaning of much of the rock art we see today, is their expression of those feelings!" -- Hueco Tanks State Historic Site: An Emerald Among The State Parks, Heinz Duerkop (? -- June 21, 2009) ---- I met Heinz and Margot Duerkop for the first time I think in 1998. My initial suspicions regarding their sincerity were dispelled a year later after they became camp-hosts for Hueco Tanks State Historic Site(HTSHS). Heinz and Margot are foreign nationals of German descent who developed a profound appreciation for Hueco Tanks and its cultural and natural resources. Heinz loved Hueco Tanks so much that he even wrote a table top publication on the historical and cultural resources of HTSHS in 2005. It is entitled "Hueco Tanks State Historic Site: An Emerald Among The State Parks". It is a very good and comprehensive book. Heinz and Margot understood the need to preserve and protect HTSHS. Rest in Peace Heinz. You will be greatly missed. Daw-Khee Maun-Tdaw Kyah-Doh ---- DTSr.