Brown, Elliott & Switzer, your attention is requested

February 13, 2008 

Commissioners Brown, Elliott & Switzer:

You have all been on my email lists for some time now. You are each aware of the importance I attach to words, phrases and definitions. You know my efforts are dedicated and devoted to property rights. With that in mind, I ask you to consider that the residents of the Klamath Basin are not "stakeholders," in the sense of this definition:

Stakeholder – Any person or organization who has an interest in the actions discussed or is affected by the resulting outcomes of a project or action. (DOI/USFWS) Revised April 2005 http://www.fws.gov/endangered/glossary.pdf 

Herald and News employee Ty Beaver reports in "Water questions raised: More than 80 people speak at hearing about settlement," from the February 13, 2008 , issue of the Herald and News: "Stakeholders released the 256-page agreement document Jan. 15 after two-and-a-half years of negotiation. If approved, it would allocate water in the Klamath River Basin watershed between irrigators, tribes, fishermen and conservationists."

As you and I know, "stakeholders" did not release the draft "agreement." Those involved in the behind-closed-door approach "represented" a tiny fraction -- perhaps not even one percent -- of those living in the area that would be economically devastated.

Beaver's reporting is fatally flawed, but H & N readers will read and maybe believe, because Beaver was, after all, in attendance. I've seen this kind of "reporting" before, right here in my neighborhood when we were fighting for our property rights against outside forces in the form of U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and its 73 "partners." It took us almost four years to run them off, but run them off we did. How did we do it? We never allowed anyone to try to "achieve consensus" on us. We did not cooperate. We would not collaborate. We did not capitulate. All the "mays," "mights," "coulds," "assurances," "agreements," "cooperations," etc., fell upon our deaf ears, because we knew that what was at stake was our property rights (which include water, the means to protect our homes, businesses, custom, culture, economic health, etc.). We never lost sight of what we were fighting for and we never let anyone sway us from our focus. We said "NO" over and over. We wrote it, we said it, we had thousands of signs saying it, and no false information published by newspapers was allowed to go unchallenged.

Please take my concerns seriously, Bill, John and Al. Although miles may separate us, I am your neighbor. I care about you, your families, my friends and family in the Basin, the Klamath pearl, mint, horseradish, wheat, barley, onions, alfalfa, cattle, sheep, horses, cow dogs and pets, and what the Klamath Basin will look like in a hundred years hence. A dear, dear friend says, "And we grow wonderful kids in our country atmosphere. Don't forget the kids."

What comes of the "agreement" -- other than the nearest shredder, where I believe it belongs, after having read it several times -- boils down to the lowest common denominator: the future of property rights in the Basin, and who controls those rights. The very celebration of property rights, i.e., freedom, should dictate actions taken regarding the "agreement" and all other such schemes. As Klamath County Commissioners, you can help folks or hurt them. The line you walk is a tightrope, but teetering in the direction of the "agreement" will hurt property rights in your own backyards and in mine, as your neighbor. I and many others in America keep my eye on your part of the world, because what happens in the Klamath can happen in the Darby, and vice-versa. What we won here, you can win there. What we say and do here is history in the making.

Please, therefore, accept and carefully ponder my concerns. They are being communicated to you in the most sincere manner, from the heart and soul of me!

I am eager to receive replies from each of you!

Julie Kay Smithson, property rights researcher

propertyrights@earthlink.net

(Permission to post from the author.)