Jacques Cousteau’s milieu

Michael Raffety Mountain Democrat correspondent

El Dorado Irrigation District’s alpine reservoirs are chock full of water and spilling, especially after a recent thunderstorm over the Sierra.

Lake levels reported by the water agency June 30 pegged Lake Aloha in Desolation Wilderness at 99% full and and nearby Echo Lake at 100%. Caples Lake in Alpine County and Silver Lake in Amador County are also at 100% capacity.

Jenkinson Lake in Pollock Pines on June 30 was 78.6% full, with 7.08 cubic feet per second running into the lake and 44.2 cfs of outflow, mainly to eventually feed into the reservoir for Outingdale to avoid having to send water tankers to fill the community’s water tank.

Jenkinson Lake on June 30 held 32,257 acre-feet of water out a of a maximum of 41,000 acre-feet. The goal has been to maintain at least 25,000 acre-feet at the end of the irrigation season to have enough to carry over for another dry year.

Folsom Lake was at 83% of capacity as of midnight June 30, according to SMUD data. That meant Folsom had 815,394 acre-feet of water out of a maximum of 977,000. Folsom had reached a maximum of 90% this season.

EID Operations Manager Dan Corcoran reported to the Board of Directors that Folsom was releasing more than it was taking in as it was sending flows to the Delta for fish and for delivery down the Central Valley Canal. The June 30 report said inflows to Folsom were 1,671 cfs and releases from the dam were 5,447 cfs.

“(EID) continues to rely solely on local supplies during 2022,” Corcoran said.

“Due to local runoff into Jenkinson Lake through the Camp Creek Tunnel, supplementation by releases through the Hazel Creek Tunnel (connected to the El Dorado Canal), Jenkinson Lake remains on track to meet or exceed its end of season carryover target,” Corcoran noted.

Corcoran added, “The district (is) well positioned to meet 2022 customer demands (and) demands during the past three months (were) lower than 2021.”

Declaration of Independence Continued from A1

n See EID, page A14

their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Signatures:

Georgia — Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

North Carolina — William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina — Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Maryland — Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia — George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

Pennsylvania — Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware — Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

New York — William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey — Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

New Hampshire — Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts — John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island — Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut — Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

Saluting our States

ARKANSAS

Statehood: June 15, 1836

“Natural State”

• Flower: Apple Blossom • Tree: Pine • Bird: Mockingbird • Musical Instrument: Fiddle • Insect: Honeybee • Gem: Diamond

VILLAGE OAKS SENIOR CARE

Our There’s No Place Like Home

Where Seniors Are Family.

• 24/7 Assisted living that keeps residents engaged and active. • 15 Private rooms with outdoor living space. • Our smaller facility allows for personalized care for each resident. • Our on-site chef can easily accommodate any special diet needs.

MICHIGAN

Statehood: Jan. 26, 1837

“Great Lakes State”

• Flower: Apple Blossom • Tree: White Pine • Bird: Robin • Muffi n: Blueberry • Fossil: Mastodon • Reptile: Painted Turtle

Award winning, non-profit health center

Primary Care Family Practice General Dentistry Behavioral Health Pharmacy

FLORIDA

Statehood: March 3, 1845

“Sunshine State”

• Flower: Orange Blossom • Tree: Sabal Palm • Bird: Mockingbird • Animal: Florida Panther • Drink: Orange Juice • Reptile: American Alligator • Song: The Swanee River

We Stock Quality Fencing... We Deliver Premium Alfalfa

Golden Fire Stove Pellets

Stock up NOW and beat the price increase! $6. 99

Reg. $7.99

Limit 50 bags per coupon. Delivery not available at sale price. All items must be picked up at time of purchase

MD Offer expires 7-31-2022