#63, March 7, 2001
It is near-dark, but the starlight is yielding to the
vanguard violet rays of the sun. I see a shadow on the high horizon, between
the bay trees-- too fat for a deer, too still for a human. Wrong side of the
fence for a cow. An hour later, and it's clear: the cows have breached the
ridgetop fence, and are marching among the trees of Westridge Open Space Park.
I see this hillside every day, come rain, shine, winter
green, summer bronze. Never have I seen it with cows. I see cows all over the
North Bay, but they've been banned from the City Open Space since it was
created. I must say, love these critters, these walking milk-making
works of art, psychedelic black and white on green. Billboard Clo and her
"sustainabull" agriculture.
It's like waking up on Gary Larson's version of the
Serengetti. I'm snapping zoom lens photos from my back step. My son,
running late for school, pleads for permission to instead run with the cows.
Morning sun spills over ridge into my our kitchen. Let me walk in beauty!
But at lunch, I read an email describing some disturbing
developments at City and County Halls. It seems the City Council decided, with
as little fanfare (i.e. publicity) as it could muster, to reverse the City's
fledgling policy of putting water conservation ahead of further draining the
Russian and Eel River watersheds (i.e. it resurrects and approves, by 4-3 vote,
Amendment 11.) Then, it further seems, the County Supervisors are the following
morning alerted of the City's decision by the County Water Agency Director (he
"saw it in the paper", uh-huh.) So the Supes vote to seal the once
declared "dead" A-11 deal by adding it to their agenda as an
"emergency" measure. Emergency, hmmmm… was it the last day of a big
pipeline sale at Friedman Brothers?
So, in less than 16 hours with minimal public notice and
zero public testimony, these gents turn back the clock on our water policy half
a century. Sure, no one expected our two new council members to support the old
council's policy, but they at least could have bothered to hear, as sitting
councilmen, a few hours of public testimony. Councilman Moynihan calls this
decision-making without "dithering." Then I read that Council
reconsideration (i.e. repeal) of the campaign financing reform measure enacted
last year (after Mr. M spent a record-shattering $47,000 on his
campaign) is scheduled for the Council's next afternoon session, when
most people wouldn't be able to attend.
It gets worse. Riding home, I hear about Canadian family
farmers being bio-pirated by agro-chem giant Monsanto. The farmers' fifty year
investment in selectively breeding disease-resistant varieties of canola was
destroyed by cross pollination from Monsanto's genetically modified plants.
Compassionate Monsanto responds by suing the farmers for replanting their
seeds, now contaminated with Monsanto's patented genetic material, without
paying royalties.
I return home to find the cows have trampled the dozens of
caged oak seedlings on the hill, which my son and I have raised from acorns.
Stupid cows! After dinner, I attend a Planning Commission's hearing, listening
to the Sonoma Mountain Conservancy attorney tell his high-priced lies about
Lafferty Park. He hints at lawsuits if the City fails to again revise
what is now an eight inch thick document.
But the Commission, including Councilman Mike O'Brien, votes
unanimously to move ahead with Lafferty Park. Outside, it's a lovely night,
warm for winter, stars so bright. How could I stay mad at those cows… they're
just doing what cows do. Their fence will get mended, and the skinny little oak
trees, while bent, aren't broke. Riley and I will fix their cages some lovely
Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow, a few more people will be outraged enough to join
the fight for the little guys, the seedsavers and family farmers. Someday these lawyer's will tell their
clients, "I've done all that I can do, I can no longer work for you."
Today the sun again rises in beauty, and the cows have come
home.