Klamath Bucket Brigade Headed For Sawgrass Rebellion

Contact: Bill Ransom, Chairman of the Board, The Klamath Bucket Brigade

1-541-850-9495

9/20/02

"On to Homestead" will be the cry heard over Klamath Falls September 28, 2002 when the Klamath to Florida Convoy departs here on an 11-state, 22-day journey to Homestead, Florida in support of The Sawgrass Rebellion.

Major parts of Dade and Collier Counties in Florida were once part of the majestic Everglades. In the early 1900's, the Army Corps of Engineers drained swamps, built canals, and redirected water to the southern tip of Florida and opened up prime farmland for private ownership.

The Everglades Act, enacted in 1989, established a plan to restore natural water flows to Everglades National Park and protect affected private property landowners from flooding. Section 104 of the Everglades Act required the Corps to modify a system of canals, levees, and other structures. Known as the Central and Southern Florida Project (C&SF Project) it was to "improve water deliveries into and where practicable, to take steps to restore the natural hydrological conditions within" the Park. It also directed the Secretary of the Army, "to construct a flood protection system for that portion of presently developed land within such area."

The Corps never provided the flood protection to the 8.5 Square Mile Area (8.5 SMA) as directed by Congress. Instead, a lengthy and complex series of plans, proposals, meetings and hearings ultimately resulted in a decision by the Corps in 2000. The Corps selected a plan called Alternative 6D, which proposes what the Corps calls a "flood mitigation" plan for the residents of the 8.5 SMA, instead of "flood protection." The Corps proposes to build a levee and seepage canal through the middle of the 8.5 SMA community; to force residents out of all homes and land northwest of that levee and within the seepage canal; and to flood those portions of the 8.5 SMA. The remaining residents, southeast of the levee, would face berms, levees, and canals, in what was once the center of their community.

The Corps hopes this action will turn 350 families into "willing sellers." The Klamath Basin knows all about "willing seller" programs.

After receiving a letter asking for help from the Dade County Farm Bureau, The Klamath Bucket Brigade is joining the 8.5 SMA Legal Defense Fund, The 15,000 Coalition, Inc., The Everglades Protection Society, and The Dade County Farm Bureau as part of more than seven hundred groups pledging their support to The Sawgrass Rebellion nationwide. The largest property rights advocate group in the United States, The Paragon Foundation of Alamogordo, New Mexico, has also agreed to help South Florida residents in their stand against "unwarranted taking" of their properties.

The Sawgrass Rebellion will culminate with a property rights rally, when four caravans from across the United State converge at Naples, Florida October 17 and 18. Participants will then travel across the Everglades to Homestead, Florida on October 19.

The Klamath Bucket Brigade invites everyone to join us at the Kickoff Rally for the Klamath to Florida Convoy at 9:30 A.M., Saturday, September 28, on the sidewalk in front of the Klamath County Government Building on Main Street in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Scheduled speakers will be County Commissioner John Elliott and Bill Ransom, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Klamath Bucket Brigade.

The Convoy, headed by the Klamath Bucket Brigade's traveling Bucket will leave Klamath at 10 A.M. and head south into California for the first big scheduled rally on Sunday, September 29 in Tracy, California where Congressman Richard Pombo will speak.

During the 22-day trip to Florida, a member of the convoy will be reporting on our progress during the Lars Larson radio program broadcasting in Klamath Falls on 1450 KFLS between noon and 4 P.M. weekdays.

We to ask you to bring shovels and buckets signed with messages of support from the people of the Klamath Basin, and items to donate for planned auctions along the way. The auctions will help us raise money for the Florida landowners and the still struggling farmers of the Klamath Basin. If you would like to donate an auction item but can't make it to the Kickoff Rally, please call 850-9495 for pickup or delivery times.