Klamath Falls Herald and News

Letter to Editor

October 13, 2010

   The Herald and News seems somewhat bent on trying to sell the “benefits” of the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and associated dam removal to us taxpayers.

   However, the deal described in the H&N’s Oct. 5th article says the state would give Klamath County $3.4 million over the next 20 years to offset lost county revenue.

   Just like that, a $3.4 million gift: But where would the money come from?

   Taxpayer pockets, of course. Oregon and California are broke — and maybe going bankrupt.

   So Oregon’s plan is to take more money out of taxpayer pockets to pay for lost Klamath County tax dollars brought about by dam removal approved by the state?

   Where is the money supposed to come from to buy the tree farm for the Tribe? The taxpayers’ pockets, of course.  

   Have taxpayers so soon forgotten that the federal government already paid the Tribe for its old lands with money taken out of its pockets?

   According to the article, Siskiyou County is supposed to receive $20 million, “but that’s not guaranteed.” It’s sort of like reading Nancy Pelosi’s statement that we have to pass her health care bill “in order to see what’s in it.”

   Now we’re finding out “what’s in it:” an added 3.8 percent tax we’ll pay when/if we sell our homes; funding for abortions; unstated increased health insurance premiums; an unstated doctor shortage; the stated $500 million cut in Medicare reimbursements, etc.

   Our electric bills have included an unheralded, state-approved surcharge for dam removal for months. No wonder some are beginning to realize that the government, state and federal, looks at average taxpayers as a bunch of ignorant, uneducated dolts — like sheep standing still for the shearing, or cows for the milking. You decide.

   George Warner

   Klamath Falls