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What Happened At Lake Berryessa? A Condensed Political History 1958 - 2018 by Peter Kilkus Version 11/7/18 Table Of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Lake Berryessa History Timeline .......................................................................................................................................................... 2 How It All Began: The Origins of the “Big Lie” ............................................................................................................................... 11 Will History Repeat Itself In Reverse? What Happened in 1975? ......................................................................................... 17 A Modern History (Short) of Lake Berryessa Issues: 1957 - 2012 ....................................................................................... 19 Napa County Got the Headaches, Solano County the Water ................................................................................. 19 Napa and Solano battled over Berryessa’s fate: Powerful forces aligned against Napa ........................................ 20 Death of Monticello Was a “Heartbreaker” ........................................................................................................... 22 Monticello Dam Proposal Stresses Critical Shortage of Water Throughout California ......................................... 24 Delays in Master Plan Sabotage Berryessa Economy ............................................................................................ 24 Notice of Intent: Solano Project--Lake Berryessa; Napa, California ..................................................................................... 27 The “Big Lie” Continues: Task Force 7 Protests Reclamation’s Unjustified Negative Propaganda ........................ 29 The Facts Fight Back: What You Need to Know About the Battle for Berryessa ............................................................ 30 Local Chamber of Commerce Businesses Fight Back .................................................................................................................. 32 Residents Fight Back: More Than 900 Unleash Scorn on Reclamation Plan .................................................................... 33 The City of Winters Fights Back ........................................................................................................................................................... 36 The Perversion of Public Law 96-375: Demolition Hardball by the Bureau of Reclamation .................................... 38 Reclamation Defends Unjust Requirement to Demolish ALL Existing Facilities At Lake Berryessa ..................... 44 The Pensus Years: The Lake Berryessa News View .................................................................................................................... 45 Pensus: The Short Story That Was Actually A Fantasy ......................................................................................... 45 Pensus Signs Berryessa Contract – Begins Facilities Development – Announces Resort Openings ..................... 46 Springtime at Lake Berryessa: Pensus in Bloom? .................................................................................................. 48 They’re Off Like a Herd of Turtles! Bureaucracy at Berryessa ............................................................................. 49 Lake Berryessa: When Do Past Memories Actually Become “HISTORY”? ........................................................ 52 Goodbye 2011: Another Year of Process Without Progress! Will 2012 Be Any Better? ...................................... 56 A Lake Berryessa Midsummer Night’s Dream (With Apologies to William Shakespeare) .................................. 58 Applehood and Mother Pie! What’s Right, What’s Wrong, and Why ................................................................... 61 Catch-22: The Bureaucratic Double Bind Theory in Practice ................................................................................ 68 Seasons, Cycles, and Radical Change: Chaos Theory - Lake Berryessa Style ...................................................... 70 Floundering About at Lake Berryessa (This is not a fishing story.) ....................................................................... 72 SNAFU, FUBAR and BOHICA: Deciphering Berryessa’s Ancient Rock Sculpture at Steele Park ..................... 75 Feds Final Folly: The Destruction of Steele Park - Public Law 96-375’s Unintended Consequence .................... 77 A Modest Radical Proposal: Transfer Management of Lake Berryessa to Napa County ...................................... 79 A Path Forward To Revitalize Lake Berryessa: Fire The Feds! ............................................................................. 85 1 Open Letter to the Federal Government: Get Out of Lake Berryessa! ................................................................... 87 Napa County and the Bureau of Reclamation: Working Together to Rebuild Lake Berryessa? ........................... 89 Will 2017 Be Lake Berryessa's Lucky Year? ......................................................................................................... 91 Milestone Achieved! A Positive Report on the Potential Future Rebirth of Lake Berryessa! ............................... 93 The Future of Lake Berryessa Looks Brighter, But The Sun Also Rises A Bit Slowly ......................................... 95 Napa County Releases Lake Berryessa Request For Information & Interest ......................................................... 97 "Holes In History" at Lake Berryessa: Simple Incompetence, Fervent Ignorance, Malicious Arrogance ............. 99 Revitalizing Lake Berryessa - Idling Towards Home .......................................................................................... 101 Beating A Dead Horse With A Stick OR Beating A Horse With A Dead Stick? Berryessa Betrayed AGAIN! . 102 Napa County Frustrated by Bureau of Reclamation Stalling Tactics Talks on Resort Redevelopment .............. 104 Congressman Thompson Interior Department Officials Tour Lake, Discusses Managing Partner Agreement .. 105 Another Bureau of Reclamation Time Warp Moment - The “2020-something…” Schedule ............................. 106 Lake Berryessa History Through Napa Register Editorials .................................................................................................. 108 Stop resort owners from polluting lake: February 27, 2001 ................................................................................. 108 You can help chart future of Lake Berryessa: July 22, 2003 ............................................................................... 108 Berryessa: Put it back in public hands: February 23, 2006 .................................................................................. 109 Berryessa's future brightens: June 15, 2006 ......................................................................................................... 110 Clock ticking at Lake Berryessa: April 12, 2009 ................................................................................................. 110 The local’s view of fiasco at the lake: April 15, 2009 .......................................................................................... 111 Restoring trust at Berryessa: April 17, 2009 ........................................................................................................ 112 Bureau hopes to return Berryessa to its heyday: April 10, 2011 .......................................................................... 113 Inching forward at Lake Berryessa: March 16, 2013 ........................................................................................... 114 Lake Berryessa History Through Napa Register Articles ...................................................................................................... 116 Reclamation considers revamping Berryessa shoreline: February 25, 2001 ........................................................ 116 Trailer Clash: February 25, 2001 .......................................................................................................................... 117 Officials plan makeover for Lake Berryessa: August 12, 2003 ........................................................................... 120 Lake Berryessa public hearings begin: November 13, 2003 ................................................................................ 121 Report says Berryessa better off without trailers: November 9, 2003 .................................................................. 122 Battle over Berryessa: Lake's history full of federal-local tensions: December 11, 2003 .................................... 123 Battle over Berryessa: Trailer owners offer own blueprint for future: December 11, 2003 ................................ 126 Crowd tells feds not to move Berryessa trailers: January 22, 2004 ..................................................................... 127 Residents debate Berryessa's future: January 11, 2004 ........................................................................................ 128 Lake Berryessa trailer owners hire lobbyists: July 26, 2004 ................................................................................ 129 Mobile home park residents challenge feds over lake economy: December 12,