Letters to the editor, March 4, 2009Neither an aginner, nor a dealerBack in 1989, I sat on the Sequim Bay Watershed Management Committee. I was an alternate on the Dungeness River Management Committee (precursor to the DRMT), and an alternate on the Dungeness-Quilcene Regional Planning Group (1991-1994). I am currently on the Water Working Group for the WRIA 18 Instream Flow Rule. I am not an "Aginner." If (Gazette editor) Jim Casey wants to learn about the hydrogeology of the Sequim-Dungeness Area, he can reference several USGS studies: Drost, 1983, Jones, 1996, Thomas and others, 1999, and Simonds and Sinclair, 1999-2001 - or the Montgomery Water Group Study of 1999. Mr. Casey will learn that there are uncertainties in scientific studies, as was pointed out at the DOE public work session by Kaj Ahlburg, a citizen; Bruce Emery, a planner with Green Crow; and others, including real estate professionals. I have been a real estate professional on the peninsula since 1980. A "dealer" hands out cards or sells cars. I do thank Evan McLean for a good article on the public work session and I urge all citizens of Sequim to comment on this proposal to: Ann Wessel, Instream Flow Rules Coordinator, DOE, awes461@ecy.wa.gov Marguerite A. Glover Sequim Glover is co-owner of Peter Black Real Estate and co-chair of the Government Affairs Committee for the Sequim Association of Realtors(r). Weathering this recession We live in very disquieting and uncertain times. The big industrial systems that our society has come to accept and depend on, like banking and the industrial food systems, are proving to be less than reliable. Can we depend on them? I believe that the communities that best weather this recession (or whatever it is going to be called in the future) are going to be the ones that support their local economies - local stores, local banks and local food systems. That means the communities with active farms (farms that provide food directly to people, not commodities) will be more stable and less fearful. Clallam County still has an active agricultural economic sector. It's worth protecting. You can sit back and think that the big box stores will never be out of food. But who would have thought that the stock market would drop 50 percent? That we would see so many lose their homes and jobs? I'd rather know we have a stable local food supply in place before we find out where the bottom is. You can't grow food without land. If you think this economic crisis is really serious, support your local farmers and help protect farmland. Right now, Friends of the Fields is working to preserve 50 prime agricultural acres, Finn Hall Farm in Agnew. You can help. Go to www.friendsofthefields.org for more information. Patty McManus Board member, Friends of the Fields Sequim Thanks for clearing the path Following the huge snowstorm, our city crews did an outstanding job of clearing streets with a wide path so that almost anyone could quite easily get around town the very morning of the storm. I would like to publicly say thank you for their fine effort on our behalf. Bob Murphy Sequim Worldwide birth control Unhealthy brown clouds a mile deep in places occur in Southern Asia, the Middle East and the Amazon Basin, reports the Nov. 14, 2008 Peninsula Daily News. Furthermore, the United Nations study says they are caused by cars, coal-fired power plants, burning fields and wood-burning stoves, giving fears of global warming and diseases that annually accelerate the deaths of nearly 350,000 in China and India, writes a University of Stockholm scientist. Such a worldwide catastrophe begs for a worldwide effort to reduce population. Negative Population Growth fearfully predicted last summer a billion Americans by 2100! 480 million by 2050! Eighty percent caused by legal and illegal immigration. A characteristic of our democracy is open borders that pose a danger to our security, sovereignty and prosperity. Financially support United Nations birth control clinics worldwide and give credit to each patient's newly inserted IUD or quinine sterilization. The credit would be for products made in the United States. The cost would be peanuts compared to the billions cost of war, give work to unemployed Americans, reduce deadly brown clouds and prevent a catastrophic billion Americans from happening. Robert Maple Norman Sequim The great water myth I am offended by your editorial regarding the DOE "public hearing" on Feb. 18. These "aginners" you refer to have indeed tried for years to participate in the formulation of regulations regarding instream flow. In point of fact many, many people have attend thousands of hours of meetings, but DOE wants no outside opinions. Public hearings are held only to meet legislated requirements. I've read every one of the propaganda pieces by DOE's paid consultant and even wrote a rebuttal that your predecessor declined to publish. Those pieces are made up of warm fuzzy catch phrases that have no substance or basis in science or reality. The DOE is mandated by the Legislature to "restore the endangered salmon." They have therefore determined the "optimum flow" by species and time of year for each river. Anytime the flow rate drops below that "optimum," restrictions on new wells are enforced. Here's the first big problem. These "scientists" have determined that the optimum flow levels required by the salmon are actually greater than the Dungeness instream flow in the 1950s or 1960s, when, as you know, the rivers were full of fish. Apparently the salmon don't know as much about their needs as the DOE. Here's another big problem. In the 1950s, there were more than 400 commercial dairies in the valley and irrigation actually pulled instream flows to below today's levels. Yet the Dungeness was jammed with salmon and steelhead. The DOE has been monitoring river levels for 68 years. They know that the actual measurement of instream flows doesn't support their thesis, (that thousands of new wells are depleting the river of water and harming the salmon) so they create a computer model that does. Next big problem. No one at the DOE with even a glimmer of intelligence believes that they will ever actually "restore" salmon to the Dungeness. That problem is vastly more complicated that "instream flow" and most of the controlling factors are completely out of the hands of Washington's DOE. So what's this really all about? "Show me the money!" The solution to the problem, according to DOE is mitigation. What is mitigation? That's when newcomers wishing to drill a well must pay for the right to drink water that "pre-existing stakeholders" aren't using. Who are "pre-existing stakeholders"? First, by treaty, are the tribes, second are the old irrigation companies, third would be the municipalities. Another interesting anomaly is that if the newcomer hooks up to an existing public water source, there's no mitigation. I suppose that's because existing water systems get their water from some sort of enchanted aquifer that has nothing to do with the river or fish or anything. I can't claim to understand the motives here, or who's beholden to whom, but one thing I know with great certainty: It has nothing to do with any current or foreseeable future shortage of water. That is the great myth we're being sold. Tom Williamson Sequim Williamson is an agent of the John L. Scott Real Estate agency in Sequim. Stimulus ... cause and consequences Federal government programs and policies created this recession. President Clinton initiated the (failed) Community Reinvestment Act of 1994 mandating that mortgage lenders provide loans to low-income underqualified home buyers, then unscrupulous mortgage lenders accelerated the process and financial institutions dealing in mortgage-backed securities acquired these toxic loans, creating this crisis. President Bush requested Congress to reform Fanny Mac and Freddie Mac; the nonresponsive Congress intentionally avoided oversight and control. It's well established, cooking the books started early in 1998. Congress created the $700 billion (failed) Troubled Asset Relief Program in October 2008, which is ineffective, with billions in wasteful fraud ... banks and AIG Insurance Company now require additional bailouts and nationalizing banks is under consideration. President Obama's American Recovery And Reinvestment Act of 2009 borrows and bails with $787 billion additionally. The strategy suggests if the government spends enough it will eventually create jobs and provide means for individuals ... 250 leading economists disagree as do 61.9 percent of Americans. This pork-based spending binge distribution has a corrupting effect on our society! Irresponsible contributors to this recession are rewarded, responsible citizens become scapegoats for their misguided actions. The aforementioned programs increased the national debt to $3.6 trillion, placing enormous burdens on our nation's economic future. We and our children's future are compromised by this escalating dept. This one-party government is proceeding with a National Debt Recovery Program designed to repay trillions of dollars without increasing our taxes, so states the president. We are witnessing destruction of the capitalism and the downward spiral of socialism. God help the people, as government is clueless! D. Albright Sequim Infighting versus awareness I have been a resident of the Sequim area for 16 years and I have seen many, many changes, and I would say that most have made Sequim a better place to live. The Sequim residents elected four new council members who said they were going to make Sequim a better place. Sixteen years ago the city had three old pickup trucks, a small yard on Sequim Avenue and maybe five people working on city maintenance. The old city council elected to have the city grow by adding many new businesses in the city. We grew and the city of Sequim prospered, adding new employees to the city maintenance crew. Now we have a lot of city vehicles working in the city and 14 employees. Now our new city council tells us we need more money and they want to keep new big businesses out of the city. That doesn't make sense to me. I just received a copy of the new U. S. Stimulus Program. I looked to see what the city of Sequim applied for. Answer: Nothing! Nor did I see any other city or county programs. The town of Winthrop, a town of 373 people, received $1,633,000 in stimulus money. The question is, is the city council aware of what's going on or they just infighting to get their pet project funded? My next question is why didn't our city apply for something? We sure can use some street improvements. Gene Collet Sequim Sequim fault line and Bigfoot activity The now-called Sequim fault line on the south side of Happy Valley is showing fog over the heated fault line whenever there is ground moisture. Look for it in the mornings. This fault line starts on the east side of Sequim Bay, goes through John Wayne Marina, up Johnson Creek to Happy Valley, through the quarry at the south end of River Road, crosses the Dungeness River and continues west for some time. Look for the fog! Those large boot prints around my apple trees and berry vines are mine, as this time of the year they are being worked on. But, we are getting reports of Bigfoot sightings in the Joyce area. Why would anyone want to "see" these creatures up close, as they smell so awfully bad. Since they are nocturnal (out after dark), like so many other local furry animals around here, you have to be prepared with night vision gear. Some say reports of flying saucers and Bigfoot sightings go hand in hand, so be careful out there in the woods. BF is noted for being shy but likes to "sing" or howl with loud, piercing notes. Been known to surround a woods cabin and serenade the occupants for hours. They like apples and will pick those hard-to-reach ones on the top of trees with ease. Take pictures if you can, but no shooting, for many reasons - please. Locally, there are pockets of wilderness in our backyards that harbor all kinds of creatures. Tales of close encounters with wild animals happen all year long - even in the big cities, be careful. Walking dogs along these country lanes stir up all kinds of creatures. Richard Dobbs Sequim Water conservation I applaud the Department of Ecology for their efforts in the conservation of our natural resource. I was not in attendance at the John Wayne Marina meeting, but was wondering if the subject of constructing reservoirs to capture winter runoff was proposed. This seems like the most obvious solution to the true meaning of conservation. The initial cost would be formidable, but this seems like the perfect candidate for a governmental grant as it would actually conserve water as opposed to simply penalizing people for its usage. James Drew Sequim |
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