Sprague River letter to
KBC regarding ONRC proposal

(this is a combination of 3 letters to KBC from Schifinis)

10/9/03 "Dear Klamath Basin Crisis:

We do not farm or ranch.   We just live day to day.   We worked for 31
years in the San Francisco Bay Area so we could retire early here.   We
bought our land 10 years ago while we were working.  We planned everything
in our lives to get to live here.   We are working on restarting a
volunteer ambulance service in Sprague River, OR with the help from
Chiloquin Volunteer Ambulance Service and other ambulance services in
Klamath County.

We tread very lightly on our land.  We have 120 acres which are mostly
untouched.  We bought our property when the Rails went to Trails back in
1993. 

Many Sprague River towns people attended the Dept. of Interior presentation
at the end of Sept. here in our community center...... 

The issues are much greater than just the water rights.  

....We are angered by the proposal of the Oregon Natural Resources Council to
take private lands and return them to the Klamath Tribes.....This will not work.
Citizens and land owners are rallying to fight to the end."

"It is unworkable.   The old reservation covers 33 percent of Klamath
County.   It leaves the Winema and Fremont Forest held publicly.

Nothing we have seen to date will work to help the Indians as a people for
years to come.

Everything is a quick fix.   

These issues need a great deal more study and more participation from the
people whose land is at stake."

Warren and Joanne Schifini
Sprague River, Oregon

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