[AT] Agriculture in Coastal Central California and weather, now a state agency story

[Paul Waugh]

Not with 'change' LOL
Paul
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Louis" <louis at kellnet.com>
To: "'Antique tractor email discussion group'" 
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 11:34 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] Agriculture in Coastal Central California and weather,now 
a state agency story


> The system is broke and corrupt, how do you fix it?
>
> Lou
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Cecil Bearden
> Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2010 10:20 AM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Agriculture in Coastal Central California and
> weather,now a state agency story
>
>
> Lou:
> I have to agree
> I do some consulting engineering.  I have a small town of 175 residents
> that
> needed a sewage lagoon and I designed it for them.  However by the
> standards
> of the DEQ, they must either build an additional 1 acre lagoon, or prove
>
> that they do not need another one.  The only design information we had
> for
> the existing lift station that served the lagoon was the nameplate
> capacity
> of the pumps and the run time.  By calculation the town needed an
> additional
> .25 acres of lagoon.  However we all know you do not size a pump for the
>
> maximum capacity to run constantly.  I specified a doppler flowmeter to
> be
> strapped on the lift station piping to check the flow.  This requires a
> construction permit.  I spent more than 40 hours trying to get the
> flowmeter
> specifications in the format the construction div needed.  They had to
> have
> everything on 11x17 paper with a cover sheet that had a picture of the
> state
> of OK on it with a county map showing the county where the town was
> located
> then a map of the town and a location of the lift station in the town.
> A
> town with only 7 streets!!!  I am taking a night class to learn Autocad.
>
> However, I am not proficient with it.  I worked all one weekend trying
> to
> get what they wanted, and just had to quit.  I had paying clients that
> were
> being let down while I tried to get this appproved.  I told the town to
> just
> atach the Doppler ( the equivalent of putting Duct Tape on the pipe in 2
>
> places) and start recording data.  DEQ threatened to shut them down
> immediately if we did it.  I told them to go ahead and we would settle
> it in
> the newspaper and with the state representatives who were on the
> appropriations committee.
>
> They told me if we installed it I could not ever send another
> application to
> the DEQ as an engineer.  I installed it myself.
>
> The economic situation in most states has created a situation whereby
> the
> states cannot pay enough to get the experienced people who have retired
> from
> industry to go into govt service.  We just do not want to put up with
> the
> stupidity.  The morons they hire now cannot work in industry or are
> foreign
> born and cannot really function in the industry so they take the lower
> paying state job because the state cannot discriminate against them.
> They
> cannot speak the language to us old farts who are a little hard of
> hearing.
> and in their society, every I is dotted and T is crossed.  The law is
> supreme.  I ran a program for 30 years for OK.  I was in charge of the
> Safety of all 4600 dams in the state, and 165 of those would kill
> someone
> for sure if they failed.  I had more responsibility than most state
> employees, but started work at $980/month and retired at $3200/month
> with a
> $2000 bonus because I had stuck it out that long..  I was required to
> have a
> professional engineers license.  I did get a retirement of $2000/month,
> of
> which they deduct $500/month for insurance.  That retirement is why I
> stayed
> there. and because I wanted to farm.  I could get off work nearly
> anytime I
> wanted.   However, I knew the law and my regulations.  I got rid of the
> ridiculous ones and wrote the rules where we could operate within them
> and
> still allow construction to be done and emergency work to be done
> without
> delay.  They have not found a fluent english speaking replacement for me
> and
> now require the dam owner to submit a $150 review fee with the yearly
> inspection report on the class c dams.  They have no idea what the
> engineer's recommendation is or if the engineer really knows what he is
> looking at.  I made the original inspections on 163 of those 165 class c
>
> dams, and with my experience I could review a new application in 10
> minutes
> including the hydrology and tell if it met our requirements.  However,
> when
> I gave them a 2 year notice that I was going to retire, they would not
> find
> a replacement I could train.  They would not even hire an assistant that
> had
> any backbround.  The director was a meteorologist and he thought that
> was ll
> that was needed.  I brought in over 4 million in grants during my last 5
>
> years and left with 2.5 million in "the bank"  we could have hired
> someone
> with that.  They would not let me hire anyone with that money as it was
> not
> "guaranteed" to keep coming.  6 months after I left the 2.5 M was
> gone......
> It was earmarked for Dam safety, but was never spent for dam safety..
>
> However, you cannot find any of their employees that would tell where it
>
> went as they probably do not speak very good english.  I must say, my
> best
> temporary employee was a college student whose mother emigrated here
> from
> Mexico.  However, he could not afford to work for the statreafter he
> graduated.  I trained 4 good college students, but they told me they
> cvould
> not afford to work for the salary after graduation, and would not put up
>
> with the BS that I had to gothrough every day.
>
> One last story:  My Div Chief was a great guy.  He was the reason I
> stayed,
> as he let me take care of my job and tried to keep the BS from getting
> too
> deep.  He handled most of the agency operation and kept the politics out
> of
> my job as best as he could.  I hired him!!!  He was a meteoroligist!!
> He
> became my boss about 4 years after I hired him...   We had this lady
> lawyer
> that was appointed to be our assistant div chief as she was the
> directors
> old girlfriend.   I was equipping 3 trucks for a stream gauging project
> that
> was going to take about 2 years to install 21 remote reporting guges and
>
> maintain them.  I ordered 2 sets of combination wrenches for each truck,
> as
> we had to order off of state contract.   She had to review everything as
> she
> did not trust me.  She was always trying to find something that she
> could
> hang me on.  My Chief would straighten things out if I needed, she was
> just
> one of the thorns in my side..   She asked why we needed 2 sets of
> wrenches.
> I told her one was for left handed nuts and one for right.  She bought
> it!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> 3 months after I retired, this lady was caught speeding late one Friday
> afternoon on a state turnpike in a state car while smoking Marijuana.
> She
> spent the night in jail and still works for the agency even though she
> resigned.  Someone talked her out of it and they let her come back.  The
>
> director retired last month...
>
> And that is why these regulatory agencies are so screwed up.
>
> Cecil in OK
>
> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
> Sorry for the rant, I am getting really p#$$%@ off at all the stupid
> regulation, and the idiots that are sent to enforce it.  Let's get back
> to some common sense.
>
> Lou
>
>
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