Sarah squeezed my hand. "Your great-grandfather would be proud. Sometimes standing up for what's right means making hard choices."
Tuesday morning, Linda would learn that some battles aren't won by whoever has the most expensive lawyers or the loudest media campaign. Sometimes they're won by whoever best understands the law, the physics of water, and the weight of family legacy.
Tuesday morning dawned clear and cold, the kind of day that makes everything seem sharper, more defined. I arrived at the dam at 8:00 a.m. with Patricia, Frank, and a small army of media representatives who had been following the story.
Linda was already there with her private security team, three sheriff's deputies, and enough lawyers to staff a small firm. She'd positioned herself between me and the dam controls like some kind of environmental Custer making her last stand.
"You will not pass," she announced to the gathering crowd, her voice carrying that particular pitch of desperation disguised as authority. "I am protecting this community from a dangerous individual who threatens our way of life."
Channel 8 News had set up cameras. The county sheriff himself had come to oversee what everyone knew would be the final confrontation. Even some resort investors had driven down from Dallas, probably calculating how much money they stood to lose.
I walked up to the concrete housing that concealed the bypass controls, carrying the folder containing a century of legal documentation and Frank's official letter transferring dam operation authority to me.
"Ladies and gentlemen," I announced to the crowd, my voice carrying across the morning air. "I'm here to perform routine maintenance on secondary water management systems that have been operated by my family since 1923."
Linda stepped directly in front of me, close enough that I could smell her expensive perfume mixed with the acrid scent of panic sweat. "I have a federal restraining order preventing you from approaching this equipment."
Patricia stepped forward smoothly, handing a document to the sheriff. "Sheriff, that restraining order was superseded by federal water rights enforcement yesterday evening. Mr. Morrison has full legal authority to operate these systems."
The sheriff read the document carefully, nodded, and stepped aside. "Ma'am, he has federal jurisdiction here. You need to move back."
That's when Linda truly lost it. "This is insane!" she screamed at the cameras. "You're going to let this lunatic destroy a $4 million investment because of some piece of paper from 1923? People like him don't belong in our community!"
"People like him."