Commentary By Samuel Strait – Reporter at Large – May 3, 2022 Unless you just happen to be living under a rock, most in this County will have heard in one form or another that the spill of asphalt binder mix on Highway 199 occurred on this past Thursday between Hiouchi and Gasquet, some of it finding its way into the Smith River. Highway 199 was closed to through traffic for five hours. There are on going efforts to clean up the tarry substance from the river and else where. Almost before the incident occurred, the mouth piece for Friends of Del Norte was running said mouth piece bemoaning the epic nature of the incident, calling for the "protection" of drinking water from any and all transport of harmful chemicals down the Smith River Canyon. Classic case of inserting foot in mouth before engaging brain. Clearly the mouth piece, "Don Gillespie", is clueless as to how nearly everything gets transported into Del Norte County to allow said mouth piece his cushy life style. Granted not all items trucked into Del Norte County are considered "toxic", yet a great many relatively harmless items upon finding themselves pitched into the Smith River would likely be considered by, oh wise one, Don Gillespie inappropriate to be mixing with drinking water in the Smith River. Fortunately, for the rest of us that do not immediately lapse into hysteria, not many of the drivers that ply the Smith River Canyon in trucks are inebriated. Likely there are far more of that kind of individual that drive a regular passenger vehicle making that journey, and were their vehicle to find its way into the river, of which there have been a few, are also unlikely to be viewed by Mr. Gillespie as beneficial. Needless to say, Highway 199 is a vital transportation route into Del Norte County, no matter what is being transported. It would behoove Mr. Gillespie to examine his past actions which have prevented a fair number of safety improvements to Highway 199 which even if longer trucks were allowed to utilize that route would become a much safer roadway. Clearly Mr. Gillespie's zeal for the environment of the Smith River Canyon has clouded his good judgement and ignores the fact that daily hundreds of trucks make the journey south on 199 with no adverse effect on the Canyon's environment. By doing so this highly reliable form of transporting goods to out of the way places makes living in those places far more comfortable for those that live there. Please Mr. Gillespie, do not fail to include yourself in that group who benefits. It regularly becomes tiresome to hear the ignorance of those that place themselves on pedestals of virtue while ignoring the great benefit we receive from truckers who earn a livelyhood in a very responsible manner get lumped into the very few that abuse that livelyhood by driving while impaired. Clearly a vast majority of the truck traffic should not be included into that very small exclusive category of the negligent and be thankful that without the safety improvements that Mr. Gillespie's group, Friends of Del Norte, have held up are not marginally worse. Instead of whining about chemical spills as if they were a regular occurrence, it would make more sense for Gillespie to eliminate the road blocks to highway safety his group is responsible for, yet clearly we are not talking about anyone that bothers with anything remotely related to common sense. Over the past two years while most of California's population was mired in pandemic fears, truckers did not have the luxury of sitting at home. Their importance to society as a whole is immeasurable and too often taken for granted. Everything from the food you eat to the clothes you wear comes to Del Norte County by truck. If anyone paused to think about all the products that are considered "toxic" and wish for Mr. Gillespie's version of protecting the Smith River Canyon, be prepared for a lot of walking….And a lot of doing without.