This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE

This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE.

Well we’re off on an other witch hunt.

Democrats are again off on a witch hunt against the Bush Administration.

The latest is the efforts of three Democratic Congressmen to have a hearing held into the recent fish die off in the Klamath and supposedly the role played by Vice President Dick Cheney.

They maintain that supposedly the vice president put in a call to a member of the interior department urging them to make certain the Klamath Basin ranchers got water, even though the Salmon fishermen downstream were demanding that the water from Upper Klamath Lake be diverted down stream instead of going to our ranchers.

First of all the incident of the fish kill came some four years ago. At the time immediately the issue of the use of the waters of Upper Klamath Lake became the target of the downstream fishermen. They paid no attention, first of all, to the fact that the fish kill came where the Trinity River enters the Klamath and the fact that much of that water is siphoned off for Northern California irrigators.

After some long study it was decided that the salmon fingerlings died of some type of infectious disease. Never mind that they said...it was all the lack of more water from Upper Klamath Lake.

Fortunately for the Klamath Basin and its agricultural industry the water was turned into the irrigation ditches and not cut off as it had been earlier. The earlier cutoff devastated many of the Basin ranchers.
Let’s really face the facts.

First….It was the Federal government that came to the Basin in 1905 to propose a canal system that was inaugurated in 1907….to serve some 200,000 acres and turn it into useable farm land. For some 98 years that water flowed every year out of Upper Klamath Lake.

Then, strangely, when salmon fishing was threatened off the coast….voices were raised that it was more important to provide more water for the fish than for agriculture and one year came the complete cutoff to Klamath Irrigators.

Couple that with the countering claim by the Klamath Indians that the waters of the lake must be kept at a higher level for the benefit of the snub nosed suckers….and now we had a three way demand for those same waters of Upper Klamath Lake.

Now…..even while supposedly reconciliation efforts were going forward on those waters…..comes an effort to again take the water away from our irrigators in favor of the fish.

The effort to blame Cheney for the fish kill is as phony as a three dollar bill. It is merely another effort to belittle a member of the Bush administration and strengthen the salmon fishermen's claim to those waters.

It’s purely an other witch hunt and one that will only open the wounds of the recent water cutoff. There is no valid proof that the status of the water flow had anything to do with the fish kill.
As a matter of fact…..I think it is now time for the County Commissioners to reclaim control over Upper Klamath Lake. Back in 1905 they ceded this control to the federal government in exchange for the irrigation canals. Failure of that government to protect the Basin irrigators one year actually, in my view, abrogated that agreement.

The new ploy to again deny our Basin irrigators water from Upper Klamath Lake is reason to re-examine just which governmental body should control those waters. After all the entire lake is all within the confines of Klamath County.

In the meantime the proposed hearing on the Vice President’s actions I’m sure will be filled with more charges against the Bush Administration.

It’s time for the people of the Basin to rise up and fully support our agriculture b brethren else we will find that which happened to our logging industry may happen to them

This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.

Text Box:
This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE.

Well we’re off on an other witch hunt.
Democrats are again off on a witch hunt against the Bush Administration.
The latest is the efforts of three Democratic Congressmen to have a hearing held into the recent fish die off in the Klamath and supposedly the role played by Vice President Dick Cheney.
They maintain that supposedly the vice president put in a call to a member of the interior department urging them to make certain the Klamath Basin ranchers got water, even though the Salmon fishermen downstream were demanding that the water from Upper Klamath Lake be diverted down stream instead of going to our ranchers.
First of all the incident of the fish kill came some four years ago. At the time immediately the issue of the use of the waters of Upper Klamath Lake became the target of the downstream fishermen.   They paid no attention, first of all, to the fact that the fish kill came where the Trinity River enters the Klamath and the fact that much of that water is siphoned off for Northern California irrigators.
After some long study it was decided that the salmon fingerlings died of some type of infectious disease.   Never mind that they said...it was all the lack of more water from Upper Klamath Lake.
Fortunately for the Klamath Basin and its agricultural industry the water was turned into the irrigation ditches and not cut off as it had been earlier. The earlier cutoff devastated many of the Basin ranchers.
Let’s really face the facts.
First….It was the Federal government that came to the Basin in 1905 to propose a canal system that was inaugurated in 1907….to serve some 200,000 acres and turn it into useable farm land. For some 98 years that water flowed every year out of Upper Klamath Lake.
Then, strangely, when salmon fishing was threatened off the coast….voices were raised that it was more important to provide more water for the fish than for agriculture and one year came the complete cutoff to Klamath Irrigators.
             Couple that with the countering claim by the Klamath Indians that the waters of the lake must be kept at a higher level for the benefit of the snub nosed suckers….and now we had a three way demand for those same waters of Upper Klamath Lake.
             Now…..even while supposedly reconciliation efforts were going forward on those waters…..comes an effort to again take the water away from our irrigators in favor of the fish.
The effort to blame Cheney for the fish kill is as phony as a three dollar bill.   It is merely another effort to belittle a member of the Bush administration and strengthen the salmon fishermen's claim to those waters.
It’s purely an other witch hunt and one that will only open the wounds of the recent water cutoff. There is no valid proof that the status of the water flow had anything to do with the fish kill.
As a matter of fact…..I think it is now time for the County Commissioners to reclaim control over Upper Klamath Lake.   Back in 1905 they ceded this control to the federal government in exchange for the irrigation canals. Failure of that government to protect the Basin irrigators one year actually, in my view, abrogated that agreement.
The new ploy to again deny our Basin irrigators water from Upper Klamath Lake is reason to re-examine just which governmental body should control those waters.   After all the entire lake is all within the confines of Klamath County.
In the meantime the proposed hearing on the Vice President’s actions I’m sure will be filled with more charges against the Bush Administration.
It’s time for the people of the Basin to rise up and fully support our agriculture b brethren else we will find that which happened to our logging industry may happen to them
This is Floyd Wynne and that’s THE VIEW FROM HERE.