Transcript of dialogue at Sprague River Meeting of October
21, 2003, before half the audience walked out.
This meeting included representatives from the Klamath Tribes, Klamath Water Users, and Becky Hyde, with invited public from the Upper Basin. The negotiations are supporting reduction of irrigation in the upper basin with Rangeland Trust buying water easements, and the National Forest surrounding the Upper Basin residents being given to the tribes again. The Upper Basin irrigators were promised a public meeting, not little groups, so here is the dialogue that transpired before people left, about an hour into the event:

posted to KBC October 10, 2003. Selected people were in the center of the room holding papers with numbers on them and were told to spread out against the walls. People were going to be divided up in small groups to have their questions written down. There was disapproval in the crowd as many thought they were coming to a public meeting to have questions answered in a open forum.]

Terri Mander raises her hand and stands: "Excuse me. I’ve heard enough tonight about respect for one-another. And right now you’re treating all of us as though we’re a bunch of first graders who cannot stand in the same room with one another and talk to each other. If I have question I want to raise my hand and ask these gentleman a question, I do not need a facilitator to ask my question for me. These are upstanding people just like I am. I am not going to go beat them over the head. If I felt that way I would not have been here tonight. Now why don’t you just allow us to raise our hands and ask a civil question, we are not a bunch of frickin barbarians here."

(applause)

Becky Hyde: "Alright John can you, can you uh, mirror what she just said, can you repeat back what she just said?"

(laughter)

John Elliot (county commissioner): "Could I…. Could I yeah. And I’ll start from the outset and say I think I agree with her. I think that this technique of dividing us into small groups so we don’t really get to..."

Becky Hyde interrupts: "John. Can you say what she said?"

John Elliot: "She would like to talk to everybody…"

Becky Hyde replies "Okay."

John Elliot continues: "…she would like to have the same question the same answer given to everybody. (we hear the group replying with their approval with right and yes’s) Someone over here is going to think of a question that was never brought up. Okay. That’s what I heard. I’m sorry I don’t agree with that technique."

Becky Hyde: "That’s ok that’s ok, um, Torina can you say what you thought you heard her say."

Torina Case (tribal secretary): "Um I well I think I heard her say, I think I heard her say let’s tear up these little signs and…. (inaudible) (applause) um, I agree I don’t know that we need to separate up and have numbers and be separated out. I think we should just say now let’s open the…(inaudible)".

Becky Hyde: "No…ok Mark, Mark Valence is going to make one comment on this."

Mark Valence: "I just wanted, I hear you and I understand the impulse and a lot of people want to go that way, and what Becky had in mind was something else. Which may not be the right way but I’ve been in enough large meetings and you get a few people with loud voices or very impassioned things. And there is a lot people who end up not speaking at all um there is a lot of people who don’t get a chance to be heard. And when you’re in a group of 10 people for I don’t know how long you are going to do it, everybody has a chance to say some thing and there’s notes, notes are going to be taken and so that what ever the major questions are, are going to be put forth. All I am saying is…I appreciate what you are trying to do because often in meetings a lot of people go away and they never got a chance to be heard."

Becky Hyde: "Thank you."

Vince Belleci: "I would like to ask a question first. I’d like to see a show of hands who wants to do it one way or the other."

Becky Hyde: "Ok I’m gonna, I’m gonna stop this right now because what I have to say here is um…"

Vince Belleci: "See it’s already been changed."

Becky Hyde: "Thank you, Thank you, um…I’ve been praying about this meeting for three weeks straight. I’ve been up late. I’ve been leaving my husband with our kids and driving around at night, last night in the purple mini-van up Sycan road feeling sick about this meeting and nervous. And I need to run this meeting the way I need to run it, and if that’s not ok then people can do what they need to do. But I need to do it this way for tonight and if we need to have another meeting down the road that one of you calls we’ll do it that way and we’ll do it your way. But right now I want to do it this way and were gonna move forward, so would everybody who is an irrigator on the uh, on the river up here please come to the center of the room."

[People start to walk out]

Several Voices: "The meeting’s over", "this meeting’s over"

[More people walk out]