Letter to the Editor

Pioneer Press

Fort Jones , CA

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

page E13, column 1

pioneerp@sisqtel.net 

Good morning Mr. Webster,

The following statement was received with a standing ovation at the last Klamath Falls County Commissioners meeting. Surprisingly, Mr. Ty Beaver, a reporter for a Klamath Falls , OR news paper, misquoted the Shasta Nation, has not fairly reported Shasta Nation views and has insulted our People by calling us an improper name. I believe this was done on purpose to discredit, confuse and minimize the Shasta Nation's importance to the dam removal ordeal. I will send this same letter to Mr. Beaver, but I do not expect a correction.

Thank you Mr. Webster for your extremely honest and courageous reporting on the Klamath River water and Tribal issues.

With great respect,
Gary Lake
Vice Chairman
Shasta Nation

STATEMENT TO KLAMATH COUNTY COMMISSIONERS :

Good evening Klamath County Commissioners and Citizens,

Thank you for letting the Shasta Nation speak our mind regarding the dam removal.

There will never be a situation where you will be left alone as long as frivolous lawsuits continue to be lucrative.

This is not a situation between Tribes and water users, it is a situation between right & wrong, good & bad and complacency vs. responsible action.

Those who are buying into this agreement are doing so out of fear and lack of knowledge.

Pre-dam conditions were not conducive to reliable fish and water user assurances.

There are people who would like to turn water, into gold like 150 years ago, and tear the fabric of the Shasta Nation and Klamath/Siskiyou County people apart.

This proposal NEVER mentions the Shasta Nation People, of which this chaos is happening in our ancestral lands. Historically the Shasta People provided salmon to the Klamath Tribes.

This proposal divvies up the Shasta Nation's customs, culture and socioeconomic well-being and allows interloping Tribes to steal that of which has been Shasta for thousands of years.

This document is designed to create confusion and desperation.

In recent press releases from the Klamath, Hoopa and Karuk Tribes, never is the Shasta Nation mentioned.

Craig Tucker, spokesman for the Karuk, even went as far as to threaten and blackmail Siskiyou and Klamath County residents with 10 more years of lawsuits if they are not successful!

Dam removal will be catastrophic to modern day fish habitat and water user resources.

The Shasta Nation's position regarding dam removal is, "Do NOT negotiate, Just Say NO!"

Thank you.

(Permission to post from the publisher.)