FJBC wasteful, destructive
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Editor,
Recently I received an unsigned email from the Flathead Joint Board of Control touting their decisions to file suit against the four Water Commissioners of the Jocko and Mission Districts, as well as additional “sand box” commentary. Here is my response:
1. Put the “Indian” back in FIIP (Flathead Indian Irrigation Project). There is no such thing as FIP.
2. Commissioners (Laskody, Blevins, Cole, and Hein) should take responsibility for the derogatory comments they made about our Tribal brothers and sisters recorded at the FJBC office on June 10, 2013. “The perpetrators of these acts need to be held accountable for such despicable behavior.” (FJBC Aug. 7, 2013 letter to irrigators).
3. The real reason the FJBC wants to stay intact is to guarantee its collection of irrigator’s money (currently $2.65 per acre, per year).
Reading their letter I realized how irrelevant the FJBC is when it comes to efficient use of our money and quality management of the FIIP. An appropriate analogy in this case is the dinosaur taking its last breaths, but destroying everything around it by its death thrashings. Jon Metropolis, FJBC counsel, reminded us last year at area Water Compact presentations that “change is going to come.”
More water users of FIIP are convinced that the FJBC is a relic of the past.
The Jocko and Mission Commissioners took a bold and visionary move to separate from the FJBC because that was the only way to force the issue of terminating the unchecked and wasteful use of our dollars, and the FJBC’s opposition to progressive management of the most important natural resource in our area
Since 1988 the FJBC has collected more than $7.5 million dollars from FIIP district irrigators and spent more than $3 million dollars on litigation fees (records from Lake County Clerk and Recorder). Do you want this to continue?
I encourage you to support the Jocko and Mission Districts decision to separate from FJBC and eliminating another layer of unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
Merrill Bradshaw
Arlee
