Herald and News letter to the editor 3/23/05

(A note from KBC...one of the cameras was ours and the other was local. They were not the PUC's. We turned them off when people requested it. We do apologize to you and the PUC for the misunderstanding)

I just came from the Public Utilities Commission "hearing" at the fairgrounds. What a farce.

Hundreds of farmers and ranchers were there, but there will be no record of that. There was no place to sign in, no way to record one's response to the proposed 2,500 percent increase in power rates for local agriculture.

Those stalwart souls who could stand for hours (there were no chairs) on a cement floor after a full day of work might have had a chance to talk to a court reporter (this was a trial?) with a TV camera. Intimidation by camera, burly policemen prominently in view - real socialist tactics at work. Obviously the public utilities commissioners don't care about really investigating the situation. They just have to make it look like they're following the legal protocol.

The people who built this country were hardworking farmers and ranchers along with loggers and miners. The government agencies whose salaries we pay are no friends to us.

In 2001 they took away our water for no good reason. Now they plan to make our water so expensive to use that we'll likely lose the land. Perhaps blowing sand and weeds are really preferable to productive agricultural land? There are still a few deer and elk that the cougars haven't taken. If they no longer have the irrigated fields for habitat, the wolves won't have much to eat when they get here.

But it's OK. We will turn local farmers and ranchers out of their homes and lands to enrich a Scottish company. More than half of our food is already imported. Might as well import it all.

There are many forces attempting to destroy America. This action is certainly one of them.

Christine Y. Hankins

Bonanza