Bucket needs proper place in history, and current spot isn't it

Klamath Falls Herald and News Editorial

April 15, 2007

The focal points of Klamath County government are two buildings across the street from each other in the 300 block of Main Street - the Klamath County Courthouse and the Klamath County Government Center .

Between those two buildings, on the sidewalk in front of the government center, is “the bucket,” a symbol of a time in 2001 when the federal government relied on bad science to shut down most of the Klamath Reclamation Project by refusing to send water to irrigators through the A Canal. That move sent a wave of financial and emotional destruction through the Basin.

That shouldn't be forgotten. But the events of the summer of 2001 deserves better than the bucket, big as it is, gives it. The bucket should be moved to a proper place of history, and a far better job done of explaining what it means.

To anyone who wasn't here during the drought of 2001, the bucket can't mean much. There's nothing in its inscription that gives people a sense of what went on that summer - the events that included occupation of the A Canal headgates area that didn't end until terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 , sent the country's attention elsewhere.

The words on the bucket say this:

“Klamath Bucket Brigade Elko to Klamath  NV UT ID OR.”

That does say a lot to people who lived through that summer, and were here for the remarkable parade of vehicles from many other states whose occupants came to Klamath Falls to show support for irrigators and left the bucket behind as a symbol of that support.

What it says, though, also depends on whether a person is an irrigator, a member of the tribes who were targeted for much of the criticism, or federal employees who found themselves persona non grata.

No scientific basis

The federal government that summer shut off water to most of the reclamation project in order to preserve water for endangered fish species at both ends of the river. More than a year later, a scientific review committee from the National Academy of Sciences said there was no scientific basis for the shutoff.

Water deliveries had been scaled back in dry years prior to 2001, but there had never been a complete shutdown of the A Canal, which is the project's main artery for water from Upper Klamath Lake . Some water was delivered late in the summer via the canal, too late to do many of the irrigators much good.

The bucket on Main Street symbolizes the federal government's mistreatment of local farmers and ranchers. It's also a symbol of division within the community that many in the Basin have tried to move past in dealing with the water problems the Basin still faces. They include some of the same irrigators who were hurt by the cutoff.

People at both ends of the river are talking to each other on possible solutions, and certainly understanding each other a lot better than they did six years ago. There has been progress.

It's time to move the bucket away from the center of local lawgiving, away from the area where its location can taint the perception of even-handed justice and to a place of history, such as the Klamath County Museum . Put it there, along with a proper explanation of what went on that summer when people lined the streets in a historic protest against an outrageous decision by the federal government.

Pat Bushey wrote today's editorial, which represents the view of the Herald and News editorial board.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted
material  herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have
expressed  a  prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit
research and  educational purposes only. For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

Source:  http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2007/04/15/viewpoints/viewpoints/view.txt