Joshua Whitfield: Recall the lesson of Bastogne and tell the water board, ‘Nuts’
On December 22, 1944, around 11:30 a.m., a group of German soldiers flying a white flag approached the American lines south of Bastogne, Belgium. They carried a written letter from the German commander demanding the surrender of the 101st Airborne Division. The Germans had surrounded the 101st. Lt. Colonel Ned Moore woke the division CO, Brigadier Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, with the message. McAuliffe crawled out of bed and responded: “Nuts!”
I saw some parallels between Modesto on Dec. 20, 2016 and Bastogne Dec. 22, 1944. The State Water Resource Control Board came to Modesto with a proposal and have surrounded our region with unaccountable, overreaching bureaucracy. They are demanding we surrender our rights to our water. Doing so would devastate our region’s economy.
In Germany, 72 years ago, the 101st held their positions in Bastogne and the allies eventually won the war. I hope the SWRCB saw the 1000-plus people at the hearing. I hope they heard our collective regional voice as we replied “NUTS!” to their economically dangerous and deeply flawed proposal. It’s worth our fight no matter the odds
Joshua Whitfield, Waterford City Council Member
This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Joshua Whitfield: Recall the lesson of Bastogne and tell the water board, ‘Nuts’."