• We do not know the cost of this project yet until the
   Bidder’s tell us what will work and what is feasible 
• The Lake will not be shutdown for two - years
• We do not have any hidden bidders
• We can not talk about Pleasure Cove Marina Resort 
  due to pending litigation
• There will be no reduction in the number of watercraft due to the Water Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (WROS)  

This is only a PARTIAL LIST of the working of the Bureau of Reclamation at Lake Berryessa, California as of December 26, 2005. Yet, interested people overwhelmingly and a coalition of the California Watershed Posse and activist continue the “Battle of Lake Berryessa”.

The question is:WHY does the BOR expect us to believe these lies?_________________________________________________________

Dear Lake Berryessa Friends,

This Letter to the Editor is about one of the most powerful lessons of our time…”Disinformation” 

It’s a methodology that is used on all of us over and over every day of our lives. You know already how our government works in its use of the media and for security measures.  Meanwhile, the Bureau of Reclamation is following the course and pumps out mills of  “disinformation” propaganda and reports about the degradation of Lake Berryessa.

Have you heard that the bid for Pleasure Cove Marina Resort was a competitive bid process in May 2005?  I’ll bet you have!  Through the BOR media releases element, Internet web site and use of the mass media you were lead to believe this was an on the up and up fair deal. Even the U.S. Attorney General Office turned its head the other way to avoid the findings of the CWP Due Diligence Investigative Team.  Most people would believe the government would operate in a “Fair and Balanced” position  for contract bidding. It’s just not true!

Now, you may well be thinking: “Why would the news media and BOR want to make you believe that the above bulleted items are all okay and no big deal”?  Well here’s why?

The news media are -- overwhelmingly – “in bed” with the BOR and environmental extremists. The images of Napa County Sierra Club's President Carol Kunze paddling her kayak with her dog Bozo on the front -- on the serene Lake Berryessa – picking up stray pieces of Styrofoam dock products – eluding high speed watercraft towing skiers – appeals to them enormously.

And so the Lake Berryessa myth lives on - - for FIVE YEARS now! --- Long past the normal life expectancy of a Lake Berryessa red toed salamander the government has kept us all on the edge of wondering about our assets and our families future enjoyment! 

There is a name for this phenomenon - -  disinformation.

The term refers to the deliberate dissemination of FALSE information (and the intentional omission of TRUE information) for the purpose of confusing rivals or influencing public opinion to the advantage of the Bureau of Reclamation.

Indeed, the false conclusion: “The Lake was polluted by trailer owners and resorts”. “That the fire threat of the dilapidated trailers caused and created an imminent fire disaster”. “Day users were being deprived virulent use of the lake”.  Without it, the concept collapses.    

My name is Hank A. Howard - a.k.a. “The BOR Critic” a prolific writer on escapades and trepidations of the Bureau of Reclamation. It grieves me internally to admit that thousands of Americans unknowingly accept blatant falsehoods as facts due to the power and prevalence of disinformation.

Take a look at some of the pernicious lies that you have no doubt read or heard:

• We don’ know the total cost of this project yet
• This Final Environmental Impact Statement is only a framework
• There will be no shutdown of the Lake for two-years
• The EPA has reviewed the document and approved it all.
• There will be no “clear and cut” removal of forested areas to carry out the projects. The existing resort footprints will  remain.
• We did not have to do the Dornbusch Economic Feasibility Study because NEPA never required it

What do each of these widely publicized, widely believed “facts” have all in common? Here’s what:

They are undeniably false ... as you will discover in this article about disinformation.

A close friend of mine from Lake Berryessa and a 35 - year users of Steele Park Donald Lombardi of Sunnyvale, California developed a working paper to the Secretary of Interior Gale Norton. The Secretary an appointee of President George W. Bush has remained silent on the Lake Berryessa issues and failed to respond to hundreds of emails, letters and phone calls about actions underway by the BOR at Lake Berryessa.  Don Lombardi in his pointed letter took issue with Secretary Norton’s so called precedent setting policy called:  4 – C’s.

The 4 – C’s stand for:  Communication – Coordination - Consultation – Conservation.  Don Lombardi revised the policy and changed it to the 4 – D’s for the Interior Department and the BOR.

Lombardi theory is known as the 4-D’s of Lake Berryessa. They are:

       DISREGARD, DESTOY, DEMOLISH, and DEFRAUD
   
1.) DISREGARD- The BOR has totally disregarded the Lake Berryessa Resorts owners, permitees, local cities and businesses for the financial losses that such an unproven remake of Lake Berryessa will cause. Even their DEIS report questioned the future and success of this project with no precedent to compare it with, other words it has never been done before in the USA. You cannot disregard the human sacrifice of the many California citizens this will affect, they will be the losers. The BOR is disregarding 50 years of proven recreation history at Lake Berryessa that cannot be denied.

2.) DESTROY-The BOR has gone out of its way to destroy the credibility of the Resort owners and the permitees of Lake Berryessa through fabrications and debasing them in the news media. Their actions can only be compared with a non- democratic society when it comes to the Bureau of Reclamation Mid- Pacific Region. They have shown utter contempt towards the people of Lake Berryessa. The Public Affairs Division of Mid Pacific has been a proven negative factor when it comes to news media quotes and they should be shameful of their actions. The threatening letters to the permitees can all be verified as proof. Example is the Pleasure Cove Resort. The BOR contracted armed guards and seized innocent citizens personal property, all this under the command of the Interior Department and the Bureau of Reclamation.

3.) DEMOLISH- The BOR intends to DEMOLISH the resorts and they have no idea of how much it will cost, and/or who will pay for the plan demolition of 1300 trailers (vacation homes) and over 100 concessionaire structures and 1500 boat slips. Will this improve or destroy the recreation at Lake Berryessa. In their plans to demolish the resorts, mobile homes, trailers the BOR has shown no remorse or concern for the financial disaster this will cause. They have shown at many meetings they had absolutely no answer to the public questions. How can you DEMOLISH this lake at this present time without the answers to every question asked and ignored as a nuisance point?

4.) DEFRAUD- The BOR’s handling of Lake Berryessa can only be considered to DEFRAUD the public into believing its in the best interest to them for what they are proposing to do. The public does not know if this is not stopped it will discriminate against many to benefit a few. The hidden secret is to DEFRAUD the public only to pass the Lake Berryessa future and privatize overall recreation opportunities to a wealthy Arizona Corporation – Forever Resorts International. “A hidden bidder waiting in the wings.”  The income from this project will leave the State Of California to be invested worldwide; all this is California money leaving our state. This belongs to citizens and the taxpayers of California and nowhere else and no one else should benefit from it.

The BOR has awoken a “Sleeping Giant” and will know they will have a great battle on their hands when they think they can make an example of the citizens of Lake Berryessa for future projects of Interior Department. We will not let anyone take away our DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS for the Future of Lake Berryessa.

No one has to DISREGARD, DESTROY, DEMOLISH and DEFRAUD to share in a democratic society and Lake Berryessa.

I would like to add the fifth element to Don Lombardi’s concept and that is:

DISINFORMATION

Hank Howard’s career sounds like something out of a spy thriller - - except its real. In addition to writing several magazine articles on military matters and fire related matters in the U.S., Europe and the Pacific Rim and Southeast Asia. He has traveled into war zones of North Vietnam, Laos, and Grenada. He is a highly decorated U.S. Air Force - Air Rescue crewmember with over 480 missions in Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos and over North Vietnam.  Howard’s career also developed into a Fire Chief’s position at five different locations around the USA. Retired in 1996, he became actively involved in issues at Lake Berryessa from the initial Scoping Sessions.

Few writers are more familiar with BOR terminology, process methodology of disinformation - - the clever misdirection, false rumors, press manipulation, and endless repetition of falsehoods until they morph into “truth”. Disinformation is a dark art, and Hank Howard understands its shadings and subtleties.

The morphing of BOR disinformation is supported by the BOR’s recent “Roll Out” presentations. The “re-clarifications” of controversial positions in the FEIS that according to the BOR “people are having a hard time understanding”.

• Why the Secretary of Interior has failed to step into “the ring” and begin to address the serious errors and omissions and continual disinformation in the FEIS process? Where is her DOI – IG Teams involvement?
• Why the US Attorney General has not opened an investigation into the potential illicit “bid rigging” of Pleasure Cove Resort and Forever Resorts?
• Why is it so important to concentrate on the seven resorts and trailers and fail to discuss other federal shortcomings, federal deferred maintenance at Lake Berryessa?
• What is the level of deception being portrayed by BOR in failing to tell decision makers and tax payers what the cost of this massive project will be?
• Why is the BOR hiding the fact that their budget will not allow this grandiose project and they need a “third party” entrepreneur to carry out the scheme?
• Why are the “trailer people” being treated by the BOR like some “scientific test case” to materialize its end goals and agency desire to institute a 2002 created “exclusive use” policy?
• Who is funding this gadfly scheme to redevelop Lake Berryessa at only the seven resorts? The “Battle of Berryessa” victims are already immeasurably harmed by BOR utterances and debasing the property value of assets in resorts?
• Why do you think the BOR failed to talk about existing resources and assets at Lake Berryessa and totally omitted them in the DEIS/FEIS. The presence of “dry site” trailers, food/retail outlets, lodgings, Marinas, boat slips and educational abilities cannot be found in the government documents?  

There is more to come in the future as the California Watershed Posse begins to draw down on the gauntlet and tighten up this process of disinformation in the Federal Courts.

Its very disturbing to see officials in the BOR making such “poor decision” that are off track and out of bounds in an arena they operate from hiding behind their policies and directives.

On Sept 12, 2005 I sent an email to Lake Berryessa Manager Pedro Lucero about Confusing Messages out of BOR Lake Berryessa. Lucero’s response was a one liner: “Thank you for your comments. Reclamation has broad authority to administer the federal recreation area as provided in public law”.

In this paper, most people outside the spectrum and closeness of this Lake Berryessa process would not fully understand what is behind this redevelopment scheme at Lake Berryessa. Possibly it is all a mission of DOI and BOR to privatize services for Lake Berryessa.

Public laws are made to prevent disinformation and false moves on the part of government officials. Just think of some of the following points and wonder how they were allowed to happen in an open government policy.

• Thru a contract the BOR steered a concessionaire (Petty) into establishing a surety bonding process for Pleasure Cove Marina  by contract manipulation.
• Thru poor contract management BOR failed to obtain a $750,000 performance bond from Pleasure Cove Assets Management Group,  yet allowed the same concessionaire to set bonds at $10,000 for individual trailer owners.
• The BOR terminated a contract for Pleasure Cove nine-months after signature for failing to submit $750,000 performance.  Neglecting to relate that the same concessionaire made off without failing to meet many performance objectives.
• The BOR set up its own “bonding process” on March 28, 2005 for Pleasure Cove Resorts while “NO CONCESSIOANRE” was selected  or proposed. Without any BOR policy in place to administer “bonds”.
• The BOR developed the DEIS/FEIS using a “Draft Water Recreation Opportunity Spectrum” document. Maps for Lake Berryessa  zoning were drawn in 2002-2003 prior to release of a final WROS document in June 2004.
• After they defaulted the contract to Petty for Pleasure Cove Marina for failing to produce the $750,000 Performance Bond  they allow a new concessionaire to operate the same resort instead with a $750,000 Escrow Interest Bearing account, At  absolutely no cost for the billionaire concessionaire Rex Maughan aka  Forever Resorts Inc.
     
• Summary: My friends, take a look at these concepts and begin to rationalize whether the BOR and DOI have been honest and straight forward with us in dealing with us in writing, face-to-face conversations, e-mails and contacts with BOR officials. Lastly, what is the level of disinformation that the BOR has developed and displayed in this process?