Don’t piss on my head and tell me it’s raining

I know that emotion is not supposed to be applied to matters of the legal bureaucratic process, but there are times when what is needed is a frank display of what is real, and what is really going on behind the shine of legalese language. I applaud the concern and content of many of my fellow citizens, and the degree of which they have researched and doggedly sought the facts of current and past actions of such a company and their intent worldwide and subsequently our county. The possibilities or actual desirable positive outcomes of this project are so minimal, and the strong possibilities of severe detriment are so large. Also, I believe anyone of the only few individuals who are going to profit from the sale of land has a tainted angle on this and should recuse themselves from the public input. Here is the transcript of my input at the last meeting.

Thank you commissioners for being here, no thanks to you, the members of AIG, oh, I mean Nestle.

After many meetings and hours of discussion it seems that Nestle reps would have you believe that they are a friendly community oriented business that just loves Chaffee County. I was not at the last meeting but got the news from others that the discussions went on for hours with all the mind numbing boring details of this deal hidden in legal jargon, but was seen as primarily aimed at running out of time dissuading public commentary. Well, we’re here tonight to tell you we’re here and we’re staying to comment and staying to live in this community. Who of you from Nestle lives here? No one? Okay… who plans to move here if this project goes through?

The prime intent of the bottled water business has been to contaminate tap water in the psyche of the public in order to boost the image of bottled spring water and thus billions in profits thru age old and technological advertising coercion.

The pitch sounds good and polished, but that doesn’t tell the local story of Nestle’s national and international problems in other communities. This presentation has all the tendencies of Karl Rove’s use of semantics to cover the true intent of the desired outcome, which is detriment for profit. This has been polished to the nth degree by lawyers, and some smart people, but it still stinks. The developers from the front range who pitched Vandeveer as any other exit off the interstate said, “We’ve done this 100 times and we can do it for you here.” Well, we didn’t want that here, and we don’t want this project here either.

We want the natural resources to stay here, or at least not be raped for the sake of this level of corporate greed and worldwide pollution, and utter lack of commitment to the future. This is basically water wrapped in oil in the form of plastic, a petroleum product, and all aspects of this venture are tied to more oil and energy waste instead of less.

Application compliance is not synonymous with community good. What we the people want is less Reagan-esque strict adherence to the rule book and more Andy Griffith compassion and common sense.
To the Nestle folks, if this project goes thru, in your lives away from our close knit community, you will be feeding your children with money that is derived from water that would be used to grow food to feed our children in this county. In fact you already are and have been in so many places for so long.

We in Colorado as the new shining ‘held up to the light’ example of the whole west due to exposure in the political arena of late are desperately striving to enter the 21st Century after 8 years of the retardation of ethics, conscience, and civic responsibility. With a purposeful mindset towards the greater good for community, country, and planet, WE are working hard to accomplish positive goals. All of Nestle’s plans, business dealings, double talk, and intent are, to me and many others, obviously profit and exploitation driven and without soul.

There’s an old saying in the South, “Don’t piss on my head and tell me it’s raining.”

I as a resident of Salida strongly, emphatically, suggest the Commissioners deny any permit to Nestle.

Jimmy Descant
Salida, CO