It’s late, so I’ll top this post off with more detail later. For now, I can hit the river without a little nagging voice in my head yelling at me to do something about this stupidity.
That’s because the news is good. Not perfect, but good.
No, the supervisors didn’t vote to do away with the whole Natural Resource Advisory Committee idea.
In fact, they didn’t vote on it at all.
The good news? The language forcing the committee to use the much-reviled draft Natural Resource Policy (the document that contains the illegal non-navigability clauses) was stricken from the ordinance.
The bad news is the board hasn’t committed to any kind of process for developing a set of sane, rational Natural Resource Policies.
You could say I’m uneasy. But relieved.
It’s not all out victory. But it’s a win. And clearly, all the noise caught their attention (by meeting time, you folks had sent 113 emails downrange).
Not one of the supervisors defended or even mentioned the draft Natural Resource Policy in their comments — even as one person after another stood up and characterized those policices as divisive or narrow or illegal or any of a handful of other unhappy words.
We’ve still got to keep an eye on this issue, but it won’t rear up on its hind legs again until January.
In the meantime, I’m going fishing. You magnificent, email-writing bastards should too. Enjoy the stuff we’ve been fighting for.
See you on the river (finally), Tom Chandler.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Alastair Ingram 11.14.07 at 12:46 am
Hey Tom, this is good news. I’m glad I emailed them all, twice as a matter of fact. Thanks for making all of us aware of this idiotic plan. Now go bust out the BWO’s!
Happy Dunsmuir Resident 11.14.07 at 1:36 am
Good work on keeping us on our toes, Tom.
BTW - I missed John’s recent Vegas show. Pity, but I stayed here in SisKiyou county.
fishskicanoe 11.14.07 at 3:00 am
Congratulations! I’ve served on a county natural resource committee representing a user group (xc skiers) and it was the longest 6 months of my life, especially when you consider that the six month commitment we were asked to make to the process stretched out to 2 and a half years. Local politics is a hard and, many times, very vicious endeavor. Again, congrats on your win.
fsc
Salty 11.14.07 at 4:46 am
Good news indeed Tom; it’s one big battle in a long war, Non Cedo Ferio.
Go fishin, you deserve it
razmaspaz 11.14.07 at 6:57 am
Thats wonderful news. Glad the river lives to be fished another day. Now if I can just get out there to fish it.
Alistair 11.14.07 at 7:05 am
Sounds positive Tom - now did I not hear you say something about blue winged olives ?
flytimes 11.14.07 at 8:50 am
That’s victory in anyone’s book. Strong work, Tom.
Michelle 11.14.07 at 9:11 am
Tom, you are amazing and your efforts have been truely heartening! Enjoy your day on the river.
Murdock 11.14.07 at 10:59 am
Tom,
Great work - thanks for keeping us all on top of this issue.
Hope you catch a big one!
Lee
Curly Friede 11.14.07 at 11:01 am
Participatory Democracy works. We could fix the whole shootin match if enough citizens participate. Your fishin hole today - tomorrow the country.
Chuck Katz 11.15.07 at 9:03 am
Tom:
Huge kudos to you for taking the lead on this and showing that democracy can still work! And while I hate to suggest more effort, I wonder if some formal committee should now be established to plan for January (and beyond) and so that you don’t have to do all the work in the future. County residents would be the most effective, but the group could go beyond that for statewide and national support both in terms of money and expertise. Just a thought……
Cheers,
Chuck
samistopdog 11.15.07 at 10:16 am
Tom…great job, without your bantering and splashing loud streamside many of us would not have spoke up…but we did as a group and it appears it has helped positively.Thanks again for your hard work…now go fishing, you have earned it.
samistopdog