Only a few short months ago, Allen Short and the Modesto Bee were pushing the sale of “surplus water” to San Francisco. Short was then General Manager of the Modesto Irrigation District (MID). He departed under a cloud, partly because the sale proposal proved immensely unpopular with local farmers and partly because of an internal investigation yet to be revealed to the public. Despite Short’s demise, the Bee is still […]
Allen Short
MID Finances Still Hidden Behind Media Smoke
Emerson Drake’s latest revelation about the incestuous relationship between Modesto Irrigation District (MID) board member Tom Van Groningen and the Stanislaus Economic Development and Workforce Alliance (the Alliance) raises yet another red flag in the ongoing story of MID finances. Van Groningen and now-departed MID General Manager Allen Short have tried mightily to make farm water subsidies the big issue in MID financial affairs. The latest broadside came from Lee Delano in a […]
Is the Bee Serious?
There are times when our beloved local newspaper outdoes even itself in high self-mockery. On those increasingly regular occasions, you have to wonder whether you’re reading the Bee or yet another clever send-up by the perpetrators of The Onion. Just consider last Wednesday’s editorial, “Water posturing stifles compromise.” The Bee couldn’t “resist pointing out the irony” when the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) decided to increase river flows for […]