It seems now would be the appropriate time to acknowledge our elected state legislators, Sen. Doug Whitsett, Rep. Bill Garrard and Rep. George Gillman with a huge Thumb’s Up for the timely poll released recently.

    Whether an individual is for or against the controversial issues addressed in the poll, it is good to have a reference as to the feelings of all of Klamath  County’s registered voters.

    Some have already criticized the wording of the questions. The question topics were assigned to the pollster, and they did the wording. Had there been “editing” of the questions, those same critics would still be complaining. The fact is some just do not like the results. And they say we throw rocks.

    The first and main question, “Do you favor or oppose removing the four Pacific Corp-owned hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River?” seems to be expressed in as plain and simple straight forward language as one could ask for.

    The simple fact is very obvious. The local community is against what is going on. The headlines announcing the results of this poll should have read, “Only 11 percent of Klamath County registered voters favor dam removal.” These three elected officials seem to be representing their constituents as they were elected to do so.

    I commend them for their ability to expose the true feelings within our community.

    The question now is, how will our other elected officials including our county commissioners, our governor and our elected representatives in the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives, respond?” 

    The assurances have been expressed by most of them that they would not offer support for this process without a very broad community support in the Klamath Basin. That broad support is obviously not there. So we wait patiently for their response.

Tom Mallams, Klamath County