Sept. 28, 2011

Lighthawk

304 Main St. Suite 14

P.O. Box 653

Lander, Wyoming  82520

Mr. Steel,

 Aircraft affiliated with your Lighthawk Aviation have been observed flying over the Scott Valley.  In some cases these aircraft have been seen to fly below the minimum safe altitude stated in the Federal Air Regulations Part 61.

We, the people of Scott Valley wish your organization to know some things about the people for whom you are flying in our Valley.

You may think you are serving the environment but in this case your organization is being sold a bill of goods.  You are doing flights on behalf of the Karuk Tribe supposedly to form a ground water model.

This is an agenda undertaken by the Karuk Tribe in order to justify the “taking” of water and property rights from the legitimate owners.  They are hiding behind the cloak of environmentalism to do this.

Think about it, Scott Valley is typical of semi arid inter-mountain California.  A vast majority of the rivers and creeks are seasonal.  This is the dry season and yet the Tribe chooses to conduct a ground water model?  Very poor timing for science, but looks dramatic if you want lies and propaganda.

Many of the families in this water shed have been here for a hundred and fifty years.  Our farmers are good stewards of this land — we live here.  We work with our environment every single day.  We raise children and grand children here.  Agriculture is the last economic engine in Siskiyou County.

The Karuk Tribe is run by Mr. Craig Tucker.  Mr. Tucker is not a native American, not a  scientist.  Mr. Tucker is a paid Green Corp. trained socialist community activist.

 Mr. Leaf Hillman is the director of the Karuk Department of Natural Resources.  Mr. Hillman was convicted of beating his wife with a beer bottle and leaving her for dead.  Mr. Hillman was arrested for Meth possession at Medford airport.   Mr. Hillman is heavily rumored to be involved in the dope trade on the Klamath River (the marijuana growers are the worst environmental offenders of all time).  Mr. Hillman is a criminal.

We are family farmers, not corporate farmers.  We do not spray pesticides.  We do not use large quantities of Chemical fertilizers.  There is no logging to speak of in the surrounding mountains.  Over ninety percent of the Scott is fenced from grazing.  We have been commended State Wide for our conservation measures and our farming practices. There are no water health hazards in the Scott River and there never have been.  Water rights are all recorded and legally obtained.  All wells are permitted by the County.  Ground Water use is supervised by the Superior Court of the State of California. Ground Water has been studied repeatedly in our Water Shed.

We have eye witnesses that one of your aircraft was flown at an altitude of less than 100 feet over a family farm while people were working under the flight path.  This is not only poor judgment, but is a violation of the Federal Code of Regulations.

We do not dispute that you may provide a good and valuable service in some if not many instances, but in this case you are being used.    You should do some investigation of and be more careful with whom you are associating.

We are asking that you do not conduct illegal flyovers of private property in violation of the minimum safe altitude stated in the Federal Air Regulations.  We ask that you use your time and energy in truly environmental causes instead of helping to persecute hard working families in search of some peace and quiet in our beautiful valley.

 As a side note the Kidder Diaries of 1855 refer to all of the creeks in Scott Valley being dry by the end of July. The Karuks know this. The Karuk Tribal council made the public statement in 2001 the Coho Salmon were NEVER native to the Klamath River.  They did not change their mind until large sums of grant money became available.   Craig Tucker and his Karuk tribe do not own land; they do not live or work; they do not have any water right what so ever in or near the Scott Valley.  The Scott River contributes less than 4 percent of the water in the Klamath River.  This is a scam and nothing more being perpetrated by S Craig Tucker.

For Hillman and Tucker, this has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with the money.

I am a pilot myself.  We would all like to see our aircraft and our expertise used for good.  This is not the case here.  Your organization is being used in order to destroy the lives and livelihoods of decent and hardworking families who care very deeply about the land, river and environment in which we live and work.

Our families have now been instructed as to the need to recognize an N number and based upon your immediate response, I may be forced to inform the FAA to report low this reckless and dangerous operation of an aircraft which endangers the lives and property of others.  I look forward to your immediate response.

Mark Baird

mcbair@sisqtel.net
-# WILD ROSE