Nov. 13, 2018
Liz Writes Life
Yep, I missed at least one veteran, last week, when I wrote
about the 18th Annual Veterans’ Parade in Etna. It was Navy veteran
Norm Malmberg, who shows up every year in his sharp-looking uniform! He was at
the back of the parade riding in a fire engine! Thank you to all veterans for
your service!
And to fire fighters, emergency responders and police, a big “thank
you” goes to you too. Many of our local responders have been called down to
fight the horrible fires that burned most of Paradise, near Chico, and down in
Malibu and Ventura. This is just worse than I have words to express with more
than 6,700 of mostly-homes burned in the Camp Fire at Paradise. It is so awful.
How do you even stage enough safe shelter places for that huge amount of
victims?
At church on Sunday, we were told the American Red Cross is
the lead non-profit providing relief and if anyone wants to donate, do it to
RedCross.org. It is November and we should be getting rain and snow not fires.
Let’s pray a little harder!
Speaking of the fire, Congressman Doug LaMalfa reported he is
in close contact with the White House, which actually contacted him by
lunchtime on Nov. 8, 2018. The Camp Fire started early that morning and began
burning through Paradise. This is the fifth major disaster during the past
several years in Congressman LaMalfa’s district. In a press release, LaMalfa
said FEMA is responding quickly and is so grateful for the open communication
with President Trump’s staff.
Ray Haupt, who is chairman of the Siskiyou Co. Supervisors’
Board, is also finding President Trump’s administration and staff at the White
House really do have an open-door policy. It was at the beginning of the
Klamathon Fire, in Hornbrook last July, when he received a phone call from a
woman asking if there was anything she could do from the White House to make
sure federal agencies were fully cooperating with the local county and state
agencies in carrying out their responsibilities. Pretty impressive!
That kind of concern has continued and he felt it during his
(and Siskiyou Co. Dist. 4 Supervisor Lisa Nixon’s) visit to WA. D.C., last
month. Ray said he has never had a president’s administration or White House
personnel seem genuinely interested.
Because of the contacts he made in D.C., the Klamath dam is
being noticed more. One of the county’s residents, Loy Beardsmore, who is the
local community liaison for Copco, asked Ray if there was anyone she could talk
with at the White House? She became an intervener in the Klamath River Renewal Corporation’s
definite Plan to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for taking the four
hydro-electric dams out. Loy wanted to plead her case to save the dams. Ray was
able to connect her with a deputy director of intergovernmental affairs, who
agreed to meet with Loy – in person.
So, last week, Loy flew to D.C. and had a face-face meeting
with the deputy director. In doing that, she was able to hand-deliver Siskiyou
County’s extensive response to the KRRC’s dam removal Plan. She also delivered
a draft response from the Siskiyou Water Users Assoc., who also filed as an
intervener. Ray told me he followed-up with a phone call to the deputy director
and reiterated Siskiyou County’s responses as well as the personal negative impact
dam removal will have on citizens at Copco.
I asked Ray about the county’s response to KRRC’s definite Plan.
He emailed it to me. It is very long! Ray said the county’s hired environmental
group, SWCA, has thoroughly investigated the holes in KRRC’s science and the
county is “going after the illogical conclusions that are not supported by
facts.” There are many!
The county also honed-in on the important aspects of
liability. There are significant things the county would be responsible for
that have not been addressed and these issues would cause financial harm to the
county. Ray said there is a lack of sufficient scrutiny on raising the flood
plain and the impact it will have on private lands.
Sediment is also a problem issue in the Plan. ‘”There are a
lot of environmental assumptions made -- regarding Klamath River flows -- that
makes the flushing of the sediments speculative,” Ray said. “The Plan assumes
the best possible outcomes on every part of the Plan and that isn’t realistic
and statistically not possible.”
Republican luncheon
Today, Ray and Lisa Nixon will discuss their WA. D.C. trip at
the Siskiyou Co. Republican Women’s Federated meeting, which is at the Miner’s
Inn Convention Center with the speakers at the pulpit around 12:30 p.m. Everyone
is welcome.
Salmon
We are near the end of the season for the returning Chinook
salmon run. The CA. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife released its summary from its
fish counting facilities in Siskiyou County. The Shasta River video camera was
installed and operational on Sept. 4, 2018 and has counted 13,233 adult Chinook
salmon. The Bogus Creek station was installed on Sept. 7, 2018 and has observed
579 Chinook. The Scott River station was installed on Sept. 20, 2018 and
counted 41 Chinook. The numbers are preliminary.
Patriots
The new Yreka Chief of Police, David Gamache, will speak at
the Yreka Tea Party Patriot’s meeting tonight. Erin Ryan, from Congressman Doug
LaMalfa’s office will speak as well. Thank goodness, Doug won our Dist. 1
Congressional seat. Yay!
Films
The Scott Valley Film Coalition presents “The Wandering Reel
Traveling Film Festival” this Friday, Nov. 16, 2018 at The REC in Fort Jones.
Time is 7 p.m. A variety of award-winning short films will be shown with time
for discussion and coffee. Admission is $7.
POW
Scott Valley Protect Our Water will hold its last meeting of
the year on Thurs., Nov. 29, 2018 at the Fort Jones Community Center. Time is 7
p.m.
Liz Bowen began writing ranch and
farm news, published in newspapers, in 1976. She is a native of Siskiyou County
and lives near Callahan. Call her at 530-467-3515. Check out her blog at:
LizWritesLife.blogspot.com.
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