EDITOR,
There's an old saying, "Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over." In July 2010, Lompico Water District board members announced to residents that they had voted unanimously to pursue a merger with San Lorenzo Valley Water District and presented a proposal that called for adding, with interest and fees, over $6 million to our tax bills.
My first reaction was, Why is nobody fighting for our water rights? Have they not read what has been going on regarding water in the county, the state, the country and the world? You just don't give up your water rights without a fight.
My comment to the assembly was that they underestimated the ability of Lompico to rise to the occasion in a crisis. I know this because, as homeowner in Lompico for 38 years, I've seen it. During the mudslides of 1982 and 1983, the 1989 earthquake that took out 50 percent of the water district storage tanks, or when the park property was sold for taxes, I watched Lompicans step up and get it done.
There was one person who stepped up in that meeting and said, We can fix our district ourselves if we pull together. That person was Sherwin Gott, who, along with Shannar Abraham, was voted to the board in fall 2010. However, over the past two years, the incumbent candidates have used their three-vote majority to stifle any attempt at a non-merger solution and to strip Gott and Abraham of their committee positions. It's time Lompico has the option to explore keeping the precious right to its water. That will only happen by replacing the "merge at all cost" incumbents. That's why I encourage all of my fellow Lompicans to vote for Duane Davis, Gail Jones and Cherl Trapp for the water board.
John Cunliffe, civil engineer, Lompico
By losing "Local Control" Lompicans will not have a Board of community members. That is basically the only benefit you have from this "right", and this is something you want to fight for, run the District with not enough money, take out high interest rate loans and pay high rates which are double that the money saved would be equivalent to the 6 million debt?
What exactly do you think Directors Gott and Abraham have been stifled on? The District is making repairs, paying its bills and providing you water. The plan for not merging is simple, look at the current budget figure in some loans for the high priority repairs. Then compare it to the costs of merger. The existence of LCWD and its "rights" no longer will seem that precious, once people realize they will continue to receive the same water at less cost and greater security.