Opinion Piece By Samuel Strait – October 8, 2018 – I think it was some time last spring when I was approached in a local business by a signature gatherer wishing for me as a registered voter to sign on to the petition to place Measure C on the November ballot. When I said no thank you, I think he was a bit discombobulated particularly after I patiently explained to him why I would not be a party to such a travesty. To be honest, I didn't give the whole sordid mess much thought until I heard Paul Critz, Don McArthur, and Brayden Hatch chatting up the topic as if no one in their right minds would oppose Measure C. Wrong, I oppose Measure C and so do most folks that do not sign on to the mostly emotional argument of "Save the Harbor" while in the process of proposing to rob Del Norte County of hundreds of thousands of dollars of potential income each year with no end to the robbery. Yes I know, the defenders of the harbor "CLAIM" that it is the visitors to our fair County that will pay the freight for the decades of mismanagement by the Harbor Commission. NOTHING could be further from the truth. The TAX money collected from visitors, is money that won't be spent at local businesses, restaurants, gas stations, or grocery stores but rather be sent directly to Washington DC. It may even motivate some vacationers to skip Del Norte County all together. Lets face it local voters after the first $10 million goes to the Federal Government, money will continue to be robbed from the local economy long after the debt 38 years in the future is repaid to the Department of Agriculture is but a memory. Unfortunately, commercial fishing is another resource based industry that State regulation and environmental tinkering will continue its steady decline. As the current supporters of Measure C acknowledge, depending on the declining fortunes of our fishermen will not provide a stable income for the harbor commission to pay its bills. Hence the go to solution for all government mismanaged operations, ANOTHER TAX. A person only has to know that excluding the loan payments for the harbor rebuild, the harbor may be able to meet day to day expenses now, but at the same time they have managed to amass $4.1 million dollars in deferred maintenance that they currently have no way to pay for. Not a very hopeful scenario for the harbor in the future particularly when you factor in any potential future damage that might be incurred by another substantial tsunami. Oh, you thought the current commissioners had taken care of that problem with the $55 million dollars spent to "harden" (I love that characterization) the harbor. Sorry folks, but that too is a myth. They only thing that the $55 million dollars has accomplished was creating a giant pencil farm in the inner boat basin, prettifying it, and making it a lot more expensive to fix when the next tsunami rolls through. I believe it was Mr. Critz, who accused me of having faulty logic regarding my opposition to Measure C, not quite sure what about my logic he was referring to, often the case in our conversations, but I find this particular TAX a bit short sighted and unnecessary. It seems pretty clear that the local harbor commission cannot continue to afford to go down the path they have chosen and they don't appear to be willing to entertain any other options, other than to tax. At some point local voters must come to the realization that having most forms of government run anything is a recipe for disaster. The harbor is a case in point. Three decades should be long enough for the harbor commission to realize that times were changing and a new dynamic was necessary for the harbor to remain solvent. No such luck. Now at the eleventh hour we are being asked to bail them out of yet another financial disaster from which the local economy can ill afford to divert hundreds of thousands of dollars to prop up a financially ailing harbor indefinitely. Perhaps, as has been suggested, it is time for the harbor commission to dig their own way out of their mess, sell off some assets to settle their debt, then privatize the harbor, a direction where many public harbors have gone, a privately held marina. Seems like it would be a win for all involved, no more harbor commission and some private investor to shoulder the liability and expense. Of course, we are being told the harbor is set to go bankrupt in two and a half years, like that will mean just exactly what? It has also been said that "The State will come in and take over and we will loose local control". Perhaps the Department of Agriculture going to come in and scoop up the harbor and take it some place, I think not. It seems the current harbor commission is all out of brain cells and appear unable to think out of the box. All of the "Sky is Falling" rhetoric is just that rhetoric! Even if Measure C were to fail, and it should, two and a half years is plenty of time for smart people to find a solution without resorting to robbery of the local community. Vote "NO" on Measure C.