Whistle Stop

“The Russians have never invaded Boerne.”

Gary Miller, Police Chief of Boerne, Texas

You know the old saying: “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” It’s true. In my case, that means silence. Sweet, blessed silence. I work at home and I’m used to being surrounded by the sounds of silence while I putter in my office. But my husband was laid off work recently and my son graduated from high school last month, and the house is no longer silent. It’s filled with the sounds of lawn mowing and television and music and chit-chat.

Residents in Boerne, Texas (population 10,639) say it’s too quiet in their neck of the woods. Everyday since 1948 they’ve heard the town siren sound off at noon. The siren was installed back in the days of Civil Air Defense to warn against invasion. It hasn’t seen a lot of action but it’s done its job, says the Boerne police chief: Boerne’s never been invaded by Russians. The siren did see a little action during the flood of 1997, sounding one long, continuous wail to warn residents. Problem is—most folks didn’t know what it meant. They were only familiar with the noontime toot.

But the town siren went silent a few months ago. The police department, which was responsible for pushing the siren button everyday at noon (or thereabouts, if they were busy), got new digs and no one was left to sound the alarm. The police chief welcomed the quiet, but residents and shopkeepers missed the old bell. So it’s been taken down, cleaned up, and fixed with a new, automatic timer that will sound the alarm everyday at noon on the dot. The town soon will have its noisy neighbor back.

Back here at home, things are about to get a lot quieter. My husband got called back to work starting next week, my son got a job working full-time as a lifeguard, and I’m getting my peace and quiet back. Maybe I’ll find, like the residents of Boerne, that silence is not golden . . . but I don’t think so.

Read the Article ® Downtown will soon hear noon siren's wail again