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ELKO DAILY FREE PRESS Another Brigade July 26, 2001 By JEFFRY MULLINS Shovel Brigade members and other volunteers are planning to help farmers in the Klamath Basin by holding a traveling auction and constructing a giant steel bucket for the Bucket Brigade. "They flew over and asked us if we'd help coordinate it," Elko attorney Grant Gerber said. "They liked what we did at Jarbidge," he said, and they wanted a similar campaign for their battle against the federal government. Gerber called the government's decision to cut off their irrigation water "the greatest tragedy created so far by the radical environmental bureaucrats." He invited interested volunteers to attend an organizational meeting Friday at 7 p.m. at the Stockmen's Casino and Hotel. Auction items already are starting to roll in, including the gift of two bull calves from Dr. Cal Lewis. Other items being sought include horses, cattle, hay, gasoline, antiques, tractors, cars, pickups, guns, snowmobiles, professional services, boats, art, or anything else of value. Gerber said Assemblyman John Carpenter, R-Elko, and the rest of the group "brainstormed" and came up with the idea to build a giant bucket based on Elko's giant shovel. Elko Blacksmith Shop owner Jess Lopategui will again put his welding skills to work on the project. Gerber said Bucket Brigade organizer Joe Bair visited Elko Tuesday with some members of his group and said Elko was the most successful community they knew to confront the environmentalists. In return, "The Shovel Brigade has volunteered to help with the relief effort for the farm families, farm workers and others dependent on the farms at Klamath," said Shovel Brigade President Bob St. Louis. Interior Secretary Gale Norton's announcement this week that some water would be released to the farmers was "way too little, too late," Gerber said. "You've got to commend her for trying, though." It was the bold actions of the Klamath protesters cutting open the headgates that got Norton's attention, he said. The farmers are not going to be appeased by her gesture to release a small amount of water this late in the growing season. "This approach at appeasement is not going to work," Gerber said. "They're going to get their water." With no cash crops planted in their fields, farmers still face economic hardships this year and the prospect of no water next year. Instead, fish species listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act have been given priority for the water supply in Upper Klamath Lake. |
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Questions? Comments? Corrections? Additions? Convoy Logistics Discussion Board: http://disc.server.com/Indices/164197.html Klamath Basin Water Crisis: http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org
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