PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Our Annual Dinner was a great success-although not without a "wide range of comments!" We had a total of 82 seats purchased. The next day, Bob Blymyer said, "Let's shoot for 100 next year." I said, "Only a hundred?" It's a lot of work, but with some advance planning (which has already begun), we can "further our reach" next year. Speaking of which, I recently got a call from Jeff Raimundo, who ran the "No on Measure L" campaign, and supported our dinner financially as an Honor Roll guest. He did so BECAUSE we had Dave Jones as a speaker. Dave Jones called this a "bold move" on the part of the League. We are thankful that Dave accepted our invitation. It was a "bold move" for him too. Well, we gained a few and lost a few, but I think it was a "net positive."

On April 25th, Bob and I met with Jacqui Freeman, News Director of "Mix 96" at 96.1 FM, at her invitation, to talk about the League. Evidently, she is receiving the Perspective and has been following the League for some time. Bob wants to continue our interview with Jacqui with a series of interviews on the League's activities. A large part of the program focused on the League's history, the Auburn Dam, and related issues. I started my response to the inquiry about the Dam with a brief history of how the Dam was conceived in the first place. Briefly, in the winter of 1955, it came about as a result of finding out that the Folsom Reservoir, built nearly three times as large as they thought they needed, turned out to be almost too small!

Be sure to read Bob's article on "Metro Fire," as the League looks at the options of how to address a poor decision for taxpayers. Also, please note Bob's comments on Sacramento County's $1,000,000 subsidy to Daugherty Chevrolet-who's next?

Hope to see you at our next meeting, May 17th at 12 noon.

Ken Payne