A letter from a local politico...
Dear Editor:
School is back in session, and the County Fair is just a few days away. Sadly, the teens and children in the Community learned some sad lessons this summer: They learned that not all grown-ups tell the truth.
Because of the review processes associated with this Restoration Project, the City Council has now been officially informed of the safety issues and dangers revolving around the Perc Dam in its collapsed state. Having someone repeatedly say that "there is no evidence of that" does not change the facts- we are now officially aware of a safety hazard for which we are responsible.
If somehow the Creek Restoration project is thwarted, I will have no choice but to place upon a City Council Agenda the fencing off of Little Rock and the establishment of a fine for trespassers who violate the signs. The City of Winters cannot risk injury or death to its citizens, especially its children, from a known safety hazard under any circumstances, but particularly in the current litigious atmosphere in which we live.
Hopefully, the project will continue, and the Creek will become cleaner, healthier, more fish-friendly, and with much better access along its entire length as it passes through the City of Winters. The majority of our citizens want that to happen, as does your City Council & City Staff- it would be a shame to have the wishes of the majority thwarted by the selfishness and myopia of the few.
Tom McMasters-Stone
Winters City Council
School is back in session, and the County Fair is just a few days away. Sadly, the teens and children in the Community learned some sad lessons this summer: They learned that not all grown-ups tell the truth.
They learned that just because somebody tells you the post-perc dam water will be too cold to swim in doesn't mean it's the truth.
They learned that just because somebody tells you the creek will become overgrown with faster-moving water doesn't mean it's the truth.
They learned that just because somebody tells them the Perc Dam is perfectly safe doesn't mean it's the truth.
Unless somebody intervenes, they learned that it is ok to vilify a man whose soul/sole job is to make and keep Putah Creek healthy- and to call him "an outsider".I am not a politician, I am a City Councilman. Somebody who lies, distorts, manipulates children, and does so to thwart the will of the majority of the people who live in this City just to maintain an amenity in one's own "backyard" is pretty low on my list of human beings. Hopefully, I will not encounter anyone lower in the remainder of my time on the City Council, however long or short that might be. It would be very depressing, indeed.
They learned that telling people that environmental laws are being broken doesn't mean it's the truth.
They learned that the best way to claim expertise that you do not have is to simply say you "are in the field". In the field, huh? With apologies to The Boys of Summer, rather than "in the field", I would have guessed a spot in the lineup as a "Designated Hitter".
Outrageously, they also learned that it is ok to direct Fox 40 News to the City Manager's house, unannounced, on a late Sunday afternoon.
Because of the review processes associated with this Restoration Project, the City Council has now been officially informed of the safety issues and dangers revolving around the Perc Dam in its collapsed state. Having someone repeatedly say that "there is no evidence of that" does not change the facts- we are now officially aware of a safety hazard for which we are responsible.
If somehow the Creek Restoration project is thwarted, I will have no choice but to place upon a City Council Agenda the fencing off of Little Rock and the establishment of a fine for trespassers who violate the signs. The City of Winters cannot risk injury or death to its citizens, especially its children, from a known safety hazard under any circumstances, but particularly in the current litigious atmosphere in which we live.
Hopefully, the project will continue, and the Creek will become cleaner, healthier, more fish-friendly, and with much better access along its entire length as it passes through the City of Winters. The majority of our citizens want that to happen, as does your City Council & City Staff- it would be a shame to have the wishes of the majority thwarted by the selfishness and myopia of the few.
Tom McMasters-Stone
Winters City Council
SRT IV
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