The Green River Chronicles

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Flowing through our little slice of America here in western and southern Yolo County is Putah Creek- part river, part creek, part slough, fully adorable.

It also happens to be the "Green River" of the CCR song fame. John Fogerty spent his summers here with his grandparents, and wrote that song about the times he obviously considered very special:

Well, take me back down where cool water flows, yeah.
Let me remember the things I don't know,
Stopping at the log where catfish bite,
Walking along the river road at night,
Barefoot girls dancing in the moonlight.
I can hear the bullfrog calling me.
Wonder if my rope's still hanging to the tree.
Love to kick my feet 'way down the shallow water.
Shoefly, dragonfly, get back t'your mother.
Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River.
Welllllll!

Up at Cody's camp I spent my days, oh,
With flat car riders and cross-tie walkers
Old Cody, Junior took me over,
Said, "You're gonna find the world is smould'ring.
And if you get lost come on home to Green River."

Welllllll!
Come on home.

For some time now, we have been going through a process to restore Putah Creek- remove non-native vegetation, restore the natural stream bed, and remove the decrepit, useless, unsafe percolation dam that was originally used to hold back water in the summer to re-supply the aquifers.

The perc dam has collapsed, it is useless, and is a safety hazard.

Admittedly, though, "useless" is a relative term. I use it to describe its original intent. Some would describe the current uses of it as useful: swimming, fishing, pot-smoking.

Some people don't swim or fish, but spend a lot of time down there. You can draw your own conclusions.

Recently, bids to remove the dam were opened, and the winning bid will be awarded soon.

Despite that, the sore losers staged a photo/news op on Saturday, and the Sacramento Bee swallowed it- hook, line, and sinker.

On Saturday, during the "staged" event, Putah Creek looked like The American River Parkway on Labor Day.

Today, 2:00 PM, 90 degrees, school out, at the west coast version of a horizontal Washington Monument, the number of people present at Little Rock: zero- not even any pot smokers.

Behind it all? The most devious man I have ever had appear before me while sitting on an elected or appointed Board.

The facts are pretty straight forward:

the vast majority of Winters' citizens want the creek restored, and the dam removed. I say "Winters' citizens" because we don't really give a preacher's goddamn about people who live in Allendale or Vacaville and presume to dictate to us here locally.

They are the same ones who come for July 4th fireworks, and contribute nothing.

However, to The Citizens of Winters:

The process has been fair, democratic, and unbiased.

The fact that you are being told environmental laws are being broken does not make it true.

The fact that you are being told that questions have not been answered does not make it true.

The fact that you are being told that requests for paperwork have gone unanswered does not make it true.

The fact that you are being told that faster moving water will result in more water plant growth is a scienific lie.

The fact that you are being told that the water temperatures without the dam will be unswimmable, does not make it true.

Some people have repeatedly shot their mouths off about going to Court over this- and now realize it's time to put up or shut up.

Since they never intended to spend any of their own money, they now realize they will soon look both a liar and a fool.

Some claim to be an "expert" on the different components of the Putah Creek Restoration Project, but when asked what that expertise is, the answer is that they are "in the field."

I, of course, think it's "left field", but that's just me.

We are way beyond the "petition" stage, but that's just another ploy. You tell people that they can still make a difference, when you know they cannot- but know that it will make the signers mad that they are being "ignored" by their elected officials.

The picture published in the Sacramento Bee this weekend shows an idyllic setting, but does not show the decrepit state of the dam and the safety hazards, including exposed rebar and an undertow caused by the erosion under the dam.

The whole theme of the SacBee story is that this decrepit dam is all that is keeping this beautiful creek swimmable- huh?

There are many, many swimming holes above and below the dam site- all clean, refreshing, with no overgrowth of plants, and with water that is apparently warm enough to swim in...

Hundreds of people swim in the creek, and many never use the dam area- me included.

Many of the mainstream kids, especially the middle-schoolers, do not go to the dam because of the pot-smoking Goth group that almost always seems to be there.

Putah Creek was historically seasonal, and it's only through the same environmental efforts that are now being vilified that we have year-round guaranteed flows at all.

However, I am obliged by my position in the community to serve both sides of any issue.

Therefore, in the next couple of days, I intend to go down to the perc dam and install some eye bolts with epoxy- thereby making it easy for any protesters to secure themselves to the dam in protest.

I will be proud to facillitate their transformation to jail- or to the hereafter...

It's over. They fought the flow, and the flow won...

SRT IV