{"id":1248,"date":"2009-04-27T17:37:51","date_gmt":"2009-04-27T22:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=1248"},"modified":"2021-05-27T17:41:31","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T22:41:31","slug":"geography-as-pitcher-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/geography-as-pitcher-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Geography as Pitcher Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A pitcher plant feeds carnivorously on unsuspecting insects. Bugs crawl, fly or fall into the plant. They cannot escape. Soon victims drown and slowly dissolve into a soup absorbed by the plant for nutrition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pitcher<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Situation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I read a great article in the Washington Post over the weekend that is still available online: “Drunk Drivers Find Pentagon’s Maze of Roads Leads to Court<\/a>.” Like the insect and the pitcher plant, drunk drivers become disoriented within the spaghetti of roadway surrounding the Pentagon. They cannot find an exit as they attempt to extricate themselves from this heavily patrolled security zone. Their frantic, erratic late-night behavior attracts quick police attention. Then they find themselves in handcuffs before a Federal judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike the hapless buggy casualties of the pitcher plant, these are not innocent victims. They could have caused all kinds of mayhem had they not fallen into the unintended Pentagon trap. I am not a neo-prohibitionist and in fact I am an absolute beer snob<\/a> but I do believe in responsible behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article goes on to mention that an astounding 75% to 80% of arrests made by the 1,000 officers of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency are for drunk driving offenses. That\u2019s an amazing statistic considering the stated purpose of a force that has everything to do with securing the headquarters of the Department of Defense and very little to do with thwarting alcohol abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Local Geography<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So why am I bothering to cover all this when you can read the article for yourself? It\u2019s because the article covered more of the WHAT than the WHY. True, it does cite the confusing road system surrounding the Pentagon. However, it stops short of addressing the underlying geography and terrain that lays the trap. That’s not meant as a criticism. I really did like the article. Maybe the oversight was due to editing or available column inches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Ridge And a Plain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Arlington<\/a>
The layout via Google Earth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon was constructed along the flats of the Potomac River barely above sea level. This is a very narrow shelf of land hemmed-in between the river and a steep hillside called the Arlington Ridge. It is located at a point where the coastal plain begins to give way to a Piedmont region that serves as a doorstep to the Appalachian Mountains further west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a situation found in several other cities along the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. Logically, this was the furthest point inland that ships could navigate without difficulty. The ridge appears in the Google Earth screen print I\u2019ve provided above, with elevation greatly exaggerated. Hopefully you can actually make it out in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n