Divisive water fight getting old
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Editor,
This letter is to Louie C. Paul and others, after reading his letter directed to another letter-writer, one Michael Gale of (Ronan), who has written several letters in the recent past having to do with the water compact and its various spinoffs, as he sees them, and as to whether or not it should be ratified.
I take issue with your premise that Mr. Gale has been disrespectful to either you or others of tribal membership, or the tribe itself. I’ve read all of the letters you call hate-filled and disrespectful, and I haven’t recognized anything by him that was any of which you say. Mr. Gale, like very many of us who are also residents here, quickly recognize the water compact and its innards as the total scam-in-the-making that it is. And for the sake of all but you, probably it seems, and a few others like you, plus the high archery of the tribe maybe, Mr. Gale and very many others of us aren’t about to let this boondoggle slide by – we are, to say the least, and vehemently, I might add, against it. Mr. Paul, you are confusing a difference of opinion (Mr. Gale’s and yours) with your charge of disrespect by him. He has only brought to the surface what’s needing to be said.
One other thing – you somehow see that Mr. Gale’s comments indicate that he is asking, or suggesting, that tribal members vacate the area (“We’re not going anywhere”). Again, even that suggestion was never in any of Mr. Gale’s letter-speak.
And on that subject, Mr. Paul, we the non-tribal people aren’t going to be intimidated into leaving this area either. We’ve bought and paid for the rights to walk these lands, breathe the air and enjoy its views. So let’s all just try a little harder at getting along and not jumping to conclusions of things that don’t exist.
My suggestion to all of the tribe and its members would be to ask your longwinded lawyers to immediately cease and desist of any more forward moves of this flawed endeavor called the water compact. It’s dividing once-congenial neighbors, and must end before it gets more divisive. A better way of water management must be found (if it’s even truly necessary or a burning issue in the first place and not just another means of extracting even more money from Washington — that’s us by the way, the other element of the equation that pays taxes).
Will Elliott
Polson
