[Scpg] NEW CASITAS ALERT!

[John Roulac]

NEW CASITAS ALERT!

PLEASE ATTEND MEETING ON 4.19.07

Casitas board of directors voted last week to hold a public hearing  
on Thursday evening, April 19th, at 6:30 pm, at the Oak View  
Community Center, to seek public input into whether to terminate  
their lawsuit with the federal government about water needed to  
operate the steelhead fishladder on the upper Ventura River.

In this lawsuit, Casitas has already lost two important rulings from  
the judge in DC.  The remaining case goes to trial on May 7th.  Costs  
to Casitas' ratepayers that have already reached around $500,000 may  
well expand several hundred thousand dollars in the coming weeks.

IT IS TIME TO TURN OUT AND TELL CASITAS' DIRECTORS TO END THIS ILL- 
CONSIDERED LAWSUIT.

Two Casitas directors (Russ Baggerly and Richard Handley) are opposed  
to the lawsuit; the three others appear still to favor it.  Lawsuit  
opponents seek mainly to persuade director Pete Kaiser, who  
originally voted not to begin this lawsuit, but who recently has not  
acted to end it.

Moreover, director Bill Hicks gives misleading information to  
reporters.  He has stated twice that the fishladder will use 5,000  
acre feet of water per year in prolonged droughts.  In fact, in  
droughts like this past winter's, the fishladder would use no water  
at all, and in long term droughts, once Lake Casitas' level got low,  
fishladder flows would cease till the lake recovered again.  On an  
average basis, the fishladder would use around 1,500 acre feet of  
water per year; something like 5% of Casitas' regular demand.

PLEASE SHOW UP AT THE OAK VIEW COMMUNITY CENTER
6:30 - 8:30 PM,  THURSDAY APRIL 19TH

(Turn down the hill at the Shell Station in Oak View, and follow  
signs to the right.)

Fill in a speaker comment card and give brief comments when your name  
is called.

Thanks so much for helping.  We really need a good turnout.

Alasdair Coyne
Keep Sespe Wild