Opinion Piece By Samuel Strait – October 25, 2018 – It is truly a sad day when young people in this County are taken in by emotional appeals like "Save the Harbor". I suppose it could be said that it is even worse when adults are gulled by the same arguments. I have to find the humor in a recent Letter to Editor by a local woman claiming you have to be uninformed to vote No on Measure C. She spins her way through the usual suspects of tsunami damage, to "a little bit of help from our community to aid the continuing viability of the harbor, and finally ending with a resurrected harbor and commercial fleet. The harsh truth of the matter is clearly stated in the Harbor's "Notice of intent to circulate petition" ( Del Norte County sample ballot and voter guide), where the harbor openly admits that "the harbor is running a $498,000.00 operating deficit PER year and will run out of operating funds within the next 2 to 2 and 1/2 years". If Measure C were to pass, and the harbor was relieved of the $262,000.00 expense by the tax levy, it would allow them to postpone bankruptcy for 4 to 5 years, and, to be in exactly the same situation that they are in now. So I have to ask, both Ms. Loren A. Brown and Mr. Brayden Hatch just how uninformed are the voters who are voting NO on Measure C, when the harbor itself clearly appears to have misguided voters on the viability of the harbor in the first place.The basic economics of the harbor's current financial woes should scare even the heartiest of supporters of the harbor's current scheme to plug the massive shortfall of daily operating dollars, let alone address the $11.4 million in deferred maintenance and the $5.5 million indebtedness to the Department of Agriculture. The question becomes not why people are opposed to Measure C, but what rational adult, let alone a nineteen year old self described Bernie Sanders Socialist, would support this kind of an irresponsible bailout of the harbor for a cash strapped County. The final nail in the financial coffin of the current Commission might not even wait around for the 4 to 5 years, but come in the form of another devastating tsunami and millions of dollars of further damage made even more expensive to restore by the ill conceived actions of the Commission members that reached far too high in restoring the damage from 2011.Let me assure Ms. Brown and Mr. Hatch, that voting NO on Measure C will not be the kind of catastrophe that they and the harbor commission are peddling to the public. It will likely have very little effect on the Commercial fishermen or the "850 jobs" in the harbor. It will not change much of anything with regards to the $10 million crab industry, that only more State crabbing regulations are likely change to any great degree. Finally, only someone who is truly uninformed would think that the additional TOT will not ultimately be paid by local businesses and their employees.No passage of a measure on the local ballot is going to change the fact that the harbor was in trouble financially long before the 2006 tsunami. In the last eleven years there have been few attempts by the members on that commission to change course and become viable. The actions of the commission during that time have, if anything, made the harbor's money problems far worse. To suggest that this current effort by the Harbor Commission and its supporters will "Save the Harbor" is hypocrisy of the highest order. The harbor, quite frankly, has been financially circling the drain for some time. The commercial fishermen in the harbor aren't in any condition to change that situation and shouldn't be party to the idea that it is possible. The combination of the harbor's current inability to fund daily operating cost, pay its debt and cover a massive deferred maintenance costs, which by the way is indisputable, should give anyone pause, informed or otherwise. This "uninformed" voter will be voting NO on Measure C.