This is Floyd Wynne with THE VIEW FROM HERE    2/24/05

            Remember the old phrase….it never rains but what it pours?

            Well, that seems to be the plight of our farming community.

            Governor Ted Kulongoski visited us for several days last week, and urged one and all to think of the long term when viewing economic development.

            Well, many in the farm community are considering the long term and wondering where it will lead.

            First they were informed by PacificCorps regional manager in Yreka that they should expect sizeable increases in their power bills come next year.

            A fifty year contract with the power company that kept power rates below a penny a kilowatt hour is set to expire next year.  The speaker indicated that power rates could rise from six mills …. A mill is a thousandth of a dollar…..to as much as five and one half cents per kilowatt hour.    That would be a tremendous increase and would certainly jeapordize some farmers future.

            I can remember one incident when I was a County Commissioner that one group wanted to form its own public utility district which would mean an end to the special electric contract…..and the board denied the effort to protect the agricultural economy.

            The Power Company speaker indicated that they are charging less than it costs to produce the power, and that local farmers should be paying the same rate as others elsewhere.

            Klamath Basin Water Users are not taking the proposed change lightly.  They have made one trip to collar our reps in Congress about it.  Steve Kandra, president of the group, says “I think it premature to start talking about what’s going to happen.” 

            While this was going on there were indications that the local extension service might be suffering some cuts in personnel since budgeted funds might be less than current.

            Three of the six extension agents are set to retire next year, and that also leaves the question of successors to a program that provides much desired information to our agriculture friends.

            And if that isn’t enough to worry about….there is also the question of the water levels in Upper Klamath Lake and what effect it will have when the water is expected to flow in the canals in April.  

            Apparently talks are still going on involving the downstream fishermen, the Klamath Tribe and the water users on the future of the water in Upper Klamath Lake.

            All in all……as I said….it never rains but what it pours.

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