Letters: Oroville Dam and Trump
Why not demand help?
Re “There’s flood threat; then there’s Trump” (Erika D. Smith, Insight, Feb. 14): California pays billions more in taxes to the federal government than it receives, and Californians should have the right to some of that money in an emergency. What kind of president would endanger lives of citizens just because they may or may not have voted for him? Or just because he may have disagreements with some of the local politicians? I’m relieved that California is “defiant” and one of the few states that doesn’t seem terrified of Trump.
Kim Scioloro, Sacramento
Stop blaming Trump
Erika D. Smith is correct on one thing: The government, federal and state, has invested little on our crumbling infrastructure. President Trump has been in office less than a month, so is it really his fault?
Like him or not, he is our president. Give him a chance. And stop with the sky-is-falling rhetoric. In less than four years you have the opportunity to elect a new president. That’s one of the great things about this country. Maybe next time you can nominate someone better than Hillary Clinton, who couldn’t even beat Donald Trump.
Daniel Perry, Rocklin
Trump warning only half-fact
The dam issue was brought to the attention of state and federal officials many years ago and nothing was done to take care of the problem. Trump has been in office for one month now, so blaming him for Oroville seems like misplaced anger to me. I am very happy that Trump is living up to his oath of office and his promise to deal with people in this country illegally. The law is the law and it should be enforced across the board until it is changed or eliminated. The help the farmers need to harvest their crops is an issue that should not be solved by ignoring immigration law but by working with Congress to put a plan in place like the bracero program of years past.
Michael W. Casey, Orangevale
Dam was DWR’s fault
There it is! It didn’t take long for you to call on the president to take ownership of the state Department of Water Resources’ mistake.
Undoubtedly there will be federal funds supplied, but what people want to know is what is California going to do about this? The fault lies squarely with DWR. Some bureaucrat decided to “test” the emergency spillway by not opening the gates enough. This after studies showed the erosion would happen. The whole mess could have been avoided. Someone needs to be fired. Leave the president out of it.
David Brown, Sacramento
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This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 4:00 PM with the headline "Letters: Oroville Dam and Trump."