My son has been reading the mails from Collins, to a large reading audience, and it should come as no surprise that he has run out of money to defend himself privately. I have no idea how much he has spent, but considering the County is in this over $2M, my guess it is several hundered thousand, at least. How many of you can afford that?
 My son indicated this move puts the County in a rather unusual legal position; they are Collins principal accusers, they are prosecuting him and they are now defending him, all from the same pot of money comingled with general fund monies that I am certain the Feds will find very interesting.
 I read the "editorial" from Rob McClean, President of Cal Am in the paper this morning, and while he makes several good points, it simply demonstrates his  arrogance and lack of political knowledge of Monterey County. Cal Am simply believes they can litigate their way out of any situation they choose, and I am deeply concerned that taking on the Ag Industry is a fools game, and very time consuming.
 Lets take two of his points: 1) by making the slant wells shallow, slightly above the 180 foot aquifer, the Ag Industry should be happy. Question, at what point does the 180 aquifer start and end? According to the EIR there are three aquifers in the Salinas Valley, 180, 400 and 900, or deep. If Cal Am's slant wells are at 100 feet are they out of the top of the 180? Is that water no longer Salinas Valley water? The farmers have already repeatedly said "screw you" to Cal Am and yet doggedly they move forward daring the Salinas Valley to stop them.
 Water Rights--the report being sited by McClean from the SWRCB is almost verbatim, the same opinion issued by them in 2009 when the Collins Regional Project was being visualized. Cal Am does not own water rights now, it must acquire them. Question, from whom do they do so? Remember this is the Salinas Valley, and Ag Land Trust has already successfully brought the issue up once. is Ag Land Trust simply going to go away? The Cemex well field site is a non-starter, it is owned by Marina Coast Water District. Why do you think Collins pushed for their inclusion in the first place? The Regional Project was the original idea of Marina Coast, we seem to collectively have very short memories and we are putting our faith in a private company that feels it can "bully" its way to success. May work in New Jersey or Germany but the Salinas Valley is a different beast.

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• Posted by oldguy49 on January 12, 2013 at 9:12 a.m.
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 OMG, I have no idea how many in this reading audience have been paying attention to the mails Collins has been sending out. My son and I have read every one and the evidence attached thereto. There is zero doubt that the County has been lying about their knowledge and leadership in Collins work relationship and McKee and Grant should be hauled in front of the State Bar, at a minimum. That letter from Potter to the Marina Coast Water District was a complete farce and I am pleased Collins tore them apart.

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• Posted by oldguy49 on January 23, 2013 at 3:09 p.m.
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