CDO Threat Exacts Heavy Human Toll on Los Osos

When the Regional Water Board lay siege to Los Osos by issuing “proposed” cease and desist orders to homeowners in late January for allegedly polluting—instead of negotiating in good faith with the newly-elected CSD board—it launched a reign of terror on the town, leaving a trail of anguish, illness and ruined lives.

Now that the county has taken over the Los Osos sewer project, the 45 homeowners cited at random out of 5,000 for suspected pollution can only wait to see if the state now drops the CDOs against them. Having served their intended purpose, the CDOs are now obsolete. They were obsolete after the marathon, televised Los Osos Cease and Desist Order Hearings at RWQCB headquarters in San Luis Obispo in April and May, when the Water Board’s prosecuting attorney recused herself, and a break in the hearings was declared for a new Water Board prosecutor to parachute in from Sacramento to resuscitate the state’s fading case. Meanwhile, the 45 falsely accused CDO “defendants” get no break from the everyday stress of wearing a CDO collar, no break from almost five months of living in a 24-hour-a-day roller coaster/pressure cooker of high anxiety mixed with numbing fatigue, enduring the trauma of being forced to live under the threat of losing their homes for flushing their toilets. Different degrees of the same trauma are also embedded in those facing a $300 to $400 monthly sewer bill down the road and will have to sell their homes and move—between 30% to 50% of the town over the next five years. After 30 years of accumulated stress, today there are thousands of sewer-related hardship stories in Los Osos. Following are some of those “war stories” as told to The Rock by CDO recipients and long-time residents willing to come forward and describe how their experience has impacted their lives—emotionally, financially, psychologically, physically—in any way they could share with readers, as well as with the RWQCB, as difficult and painful a task as opening up their lives to the world might be.

    Before the cease and desist orders fell on the heads of individual homeowners in Los Osos—in the pre-CDO days they call the “PCDO” days—Beverley De Witt-Moylan said she and husband Bill “stayed out of local politics, thinking ‘they’ could all fight it out, if they enjoyed that so much, and we would just wait till the smoke cleared. We simply did not have any interest and felt rather disconnected from Los Osos as our hometown.
    “We do not have that luxury anymore,” Beverley Moylan told The Rock. “We have a deep awareness of the forces working to make their point at all costs. We are now committed to winning this battle for the people of Los Osos who cannot fight it for themselves, but suffer the consequences every day. We have a new commitment to our hometown and are inspired by others who are standing up, speaking out, and taking risks in the face of fierce intimidation.”
    At the May 11 water board hearing in San Luis Obispo, Bill, president of the Prohibition Zone Legal Defense Fund, read Beverley’s “20 Objections” into the record. When Bill reached objection 11 and said, “I object that I have not been offered the services of a public defender,” CCRWQCB Chairman Jeffrey Young, an attorney, interrupted.
    Chairman Young: This is not a criminal proceeding. I’m curious why…
    Bill: Then why is there a prosecutorial staff?
    Chairman Young: Prosecution doesn’t, you know, mean a criminal proceeding.
    Bill: Then what does it mean?
    Chairman Young: Just they’re the ones moving the case forward. They’re prosecuting it. It’s a term used in civil actions also. That’s all.
    Bill: But we would suffer the consequences if we were indeed issued CDOs, wouldn’t we?
    Chairman Young: Well certainly. There’s a consequence to being issued a cease and desist order, you’re absolutely right. But this is not a criminal proceeding.
    Bill: So then I would not be a criminal if I continued to use my septic?
    Chairman Young: Did anyone say you would?
    Bill: I was just asking…
    Chairman Young: No!
    Bill then read on to the next objection, masking his incredulity that Chairman Young would so cavalierly dismiss his comment when the CDO clearly warns the “Discharger” of possible “criminal fines or imprisonment.” And that failure to comply with the CDO could also provoke a “referral to the attorney general for injunctive relief and civil or criminal liability.” Certainly, having to vacate your home if a sewer isn’t built by 2010 is a criminal punishment.
    Bill’s reading of Beverley’s words was one of the more dramatic moments of the hearings, and left an impression not only on the solidifying group of CDO recipients, but also on the entire community—that the Moylans would not roll over. Continuing his emergence as a spokesperson for Los Osos’ most beleaguered citizens, Bill recently spoke before the County Board of Supervisors, asking that Supervisor Bianchi recuse herself from the LAFCO proceedings for biased remarks against Los Osos. Request denied.
    Said Bill about the challenge: “Since we have received the proposed CDO, I have had this uneasy feeling that someone is watching me behind my back. That someone who is covertly watching me is also planning to do me harm is extremely disconcerting. And yet, when I turn around to confront this thug, he suddenly slips behind some shadowy giant. I would walk up to him directly and ask him what he is trying to do if only he were not hiding behind big brother. And big brother is smoking Cuban cigars at my expense and smugly chuckling at me to boot!”

Media Freeze
    The impact their CDO has had, and continues to have, on the Moylans has been profound. Overnight it changed their lives from peaceful to painful, and forced them to fight back, not because they want to take on the State of California, but because they fear what will happen to them—and to the other 44 CDO defendants and other 4,956 homeowners marked to receive CDOs—if they don’t do something. “The biggest change for us is that we have become active when we never were before because of work and home responsibilities,” Beverley said. “I have recently written two letters to the Trib, one of which was published, something I would not have dreamed of doing six months ago. My professional position has caused me to avoid going public in any way in regard to local politics. That choice is gone.
    “I surprised myself by standing up at the April 28 hearing to cross examine witnesses and to lodge an objection. It was a matter of simply doing what I had to do. Standing up in the face of authority is usually intimidating for me, but this situation has liberated my survival instincts and my old-fashioned New England value of citizens’ rights and makes it possible for me to face down those who threaten my town and me.”
    Beverley isn’t satisfied with the way the local media has covered—or not covered—the CDO recipients. She tosses a special brickbat at the Tribune for leaving them out in the cold. “My three-page letter to Chip Visci et al at the Tribune spells out how I feel exactly. But it is worse. We EXPECT the Trib to be vapid, clandestine and evasive.”
    The day after the April 28 hearings, Beverley wrote to executives and staff at the Tribune, criticizing their coverage of the previous day’s 12-hour session. ”For the past several months,” she wrote, “I have looked in vain for articles in your newspaper dealing with recipients of Proposed Cease and Desist Orders (CDOs) from the RWQCB. This topic seemed extremely newsworthy from many angles, yet week after week, month after month, you contacted neither my husband and me, nor any Proposed CDO recipient with whom I am familiar. After a showy struggle with the RWQCB to get names of Proposed CDO recipients, you did nothing with the information.”
    The Moylans took dwindling time and energy to detail their critique to the Tribune, concluding: “It was too much to hope that our county newspaper would afford us the dignity of reporting the RWQCB hearing as it happened. It is discouraging to discover that our own newspaper would use its power for good once again to marginalize and demean Los Osos and its citizens by misrepresentation, by selective reporting, and by false statements and gossip depicted as news.”
    Bill also wrote the Tribune and on behalf of the people of Los Osos demanded an apology. Chip Visci, President and Publisher of the Tribune, would have none of that and wrote back roundly rejecting the guts of the Moylans’ complaint in a classic reactionary response that exposed in full tilt the reporting techniques and news-managing machinery at the Tribune, at least when it comes to Los Osos. What the Tribune did offer the Moylans was a token letter to the editor, which Beverley submitted but they did not print, and a “Viewpoint” commentary opportunity for a LOCSD board member—on the Opinion pages, far from the news. But once again, it was the persistent Moylans, their ability to communicate and tenacity in the face of overwhelming authority, that forced the Tribune to open its thought process to the public and, in doing so, illustrated its untenable position as both the exploiter and watchdog of Los Osos. (For the exchange of letters between the Moylans and the Tribune, go to May entries at www.calhounscannon.blogspot.com.)
    Added Beverley, “I am particularly disappointed in New Times. Bill left two voice mails for [former managing editor] King Harris regarding doing a story on CDO recipients. Mr. Harris did not even extend Bill the courtesy of returning his calls. At least Chip Visci carried on email correspondence with Bill, if only to justify his position.”

CDO Hits Home
    Bill and Beverley have lived in Los Osos for 24 years. When the Moylans bought their house, their realtor told them there would be a sewer, but they didn’t know when or how much it would cost. “We were aware of the plans for a sewer, and we were all for it, having come here from the city. There was no mention of the cease and desist order by the realtor, nor was it mentioned in our escrow papers. Like everyone else, we knew that a sewer had been mandated. We did not know that a cease and desist order with its ill effects was in the works. We never saw a document to that effect.
    “If we knew that by purchasing a home in the Prohibition Zone we would be dooming ourselves to what we are involved in now, we never would have bought in this town, since we couldn’t afford one of the homes outside the Prohibition Zone. That statement likely applies to everyone who bought in the Prohibition Zone.”
    Beverley watched a brief clip of the most recent hearing in which Chairman Young was saying that the cease and desist order was old news. “According to him, it had been known about for a long time, and his expression was slightly incredulous—as though we were people of such limited intelligence that we would willingly buy property in a doomed section of town, knowing that we could be run out of our homes. Like lemmings taking the plunge, we bought willy-nilly trying to live cheap on the wrong side of town, he seemed to be implying, when we knew all along…”
    Bill is a retired gas company employee and Beverley a full-time teacher and part-time therapist, and the Moylans could probably stretch their budget to afford a $200 a month sewer fee—today, but not in 2007. “After next school year, I am retiring, and then we will be on a fixed income. Then we will feel the pinch as costs go up. I have even thought that I might not be able to retire…
    “Though we have had many opportunities to sell our house and move on, we have stayed because we truly love it here. Los Osos is the only place to live, with its proximity to the ocean, state parks, the north coast, North and South Counties, and SLO. It is still a small town with a community spirit that we enjoy having a connection to. We have many friends and connections here.
   “If we had to move, I would be very disappointed. I love living here. I guess we’d have to do some studying, maybe be motivated to move out of state. Right now, with the CDOs, of course, selling and moving are probably out of the question.”
    The Moylans have paid the price for fighting back against the state. Monetarily, it isn’t cheap to defend yourself. It has cost them about $100 just to print copies and mail their evidence to Sacramento to make sure it got there on time. Then there’s the skyrocketing cost of gasoline to drive back and forth to the courthouse, the hearings and endless community meetings, sometimes in two cars. They Moylans have paid an even bigger price in lost health, which is difficult replace and find again when the circumstances don’t change and the pressure doesn’t quit. Beverley has a chronic autoimmune disease that had been in remission for about six months PCDO.
    “We received our CDO papers on January 30, 2006. In early February the peripheral symptoms that accompany this disease began to appear, along with a clenched fist that remained permanently lodged in my stomach for the months leading up to the hearing and the week or so afterward. By mid April, all the symptoms had returned. I lost nine pounds in the two weeks before the April 28 hearing and had to have an emergency infusion, which I was not able to schedule till May 1—one of those things where you’re on a cancellation list. Consequently I was pretty sick on the day of the hearing, but had to drag myself out of bed to sit in the hearing room for 12 hours—now that’s a physical challenge. The disease also affects my joints, and my back was healing from an injury, a peripheral result of the collateral symptoms of the disease, which all made the sitting particularly difficult. My doctor confirmed that receipt of the CDO could easily have brought the symptoms back, since stress exacerbates illness.”
    “She was symptom free for several months-life was good and getting better,” said Bill.  “Then the first mailing came to us. It was not two weeks before her symptoms started to return. It is hard enough watching someone you love suffer. What is doubly hard is knowing that there is a direct link to the return of her symptoms because of some ill-thought-out plan to deliberately make the people in ‘The Prohibition Zone’ suffer.”  
    “Psychologically, this CDO is always on my mind,” said Beverley. “Up until the last hearing there had been so many things to have to stay on top of coming from the RWQCB. New material to absorb and act on. Right now we are in a hiatus that gives us time to think and to remember other things as we plan the work ahead for our next deadline—June 23, when each of us is supposed to file a brief regarding starting over again with the hearing now that there is new prosecution staff. Every change they make is more work for us.”
    Weary and sleep deprived, Beverley’s part-time therapy practice has almost completely shut down because of fatigue and lack of time. “Both of these careers require a lot of personal commitment. Right now, I have so little to give to anyone.” That includes their two beloved 12-year golden retrievers. “Now the time and energy just aren’t there. But the worst part is that WE aren’t there far too often.
    “The CDO has infiltrated every aspect of our lives together. We have so much less time for each other than we used to. We have so much less patience for each other sometimes. We are too busy and too tired to enjoy life… On the other hand, we have also had great support from others, especially our fabulous, faithful Interested Parties, who are sticking with us through it all.
    “Aside from my professions, I am also in the middle of a three-year trauma training program. It is interesting to me to see some of my training playing out in this arena. I am especially interested in the ‘trauma bond’ that forms between and among individuals who have experienced a traumatic event together.
   “What is happening to the Los Osos 45 as a result of these CDOs is like an assault. The CDOs were sudden and unexpected, and the response was helplessness and overwhelm. That is trauma. We have developed into a group who depend on each other and have an uncanny connection because of what we are going through, though we may have nothing whatsoever else in common: the trauma bond.”  
     On the other hand, Beverley has been pleased with the support of the CSD. “Lisa Schicker and Julie Tacker in particular have spoken up at these meetings. They have also encouraged us to call them with any questions, concerns or comments.”

The RWQCB’s Case
    The Moylans hold a dim view of the case the RWQCB is throwing at them. ”The case against us is very weak, based on testimony by Matt Thompson and Roger Briggs, who did very little research, though Briggs indicated in cross-examination that he had been working on the Los Osos situation for many years,” Beverley said.
    “Everyone knows that the RWQCB has had years and years to work on this situation and has given passes year after year—until the election did not go their way. It is all in the report of their July 2004 meeting that neither the CSD not the citizens have had control over the delays in the wastewater treatment system.  
    “Against us they have nothing but the authority and omnipotence of their office, and so they will prevail. But not because they are right. Only because they have all the power to make and twist the rules to suit their circumstances. They have demonstrated gross incompetence, bias and negligence both in establishing this ‘Prohibition Zone’ and in proposing the CDOs.”
   Bill sees Orwellian overtones in the appointed board’s authority to torch the Constitution. “Realizing that some big brother governing body is worming their way into your lives and telling you what you MUST do is not a pleasant feeling. The sheer cost of bi-monthly pumpings is hard enough to swallow. The fact that some bureaucratic governmental agency sees fit to lord it over you and yours is the hardest part.  
    “The barely contained disdain and the lack of due process that the RWQCB board has shown is repugnant and infuriating; repugnant because it is not deserved and infuriating because the RWQCB directors and staff set the times, set the days, set the agenda and change the rules whenever they choose! From the beginning notice sent in late January, I have felt like I have been sent back to a time before democracy existed. The king summons and you will answer.
    “At the same time, I have also felt very much alive. Whenever one is in a fight, there is no past and no future, only the present. I have not asked to be in this fight, but I am fully engaged. It is a very strange juxtaposition of feelings. I sincerely hope that all the people in ‘The Prohibition Zone’ join in this fight before they receive their very own CDO. They need to realize that their rights are about to be trampled upon.”
   “If the RWQCB has the opportunity to begin again, they definitely will come back at us with both barrels,” Beverley said. “I doubt they will back down, and it looks like we don’t have a leg to stand on, since they are the prosecutors and adjudicators. I simply do not believe that this board is impartial. They have an agenda, which they have spelled out and which they intend to carry out. What we are engaging in with them is a formality. We are going through the motions, wasting thousands upon thousands of taxpayer dollars so that they can make a point instead of making a difference.”

---

    Dropping the CDO bomb on Alan and Jackie Martyn was a big mistake. If rounding up arch polluters is their mission, the RWQCB is picking on the wrong people. The Martyns don’t fit the profile, not even close. They have lived is Los Osos for 42 years, and have done everything possible through the years to see that Los Osos built a sewer, and it isn’t the Martyns fault that it wasn’t. In fact, Alan has played a prominent role in the community’s attempt to develop a sewer project. He also practices what he preaches and “enforces” his own water conservation program at home, so Alan and Jackie don’t need the RWQCB to tell them they’re not polluting, and should not have to endure the stress of wrongful persecution. Their CDO hit them particularly hard.
    “The impact of these proposed CDOs to the first 45 homeowners has been devastating,” he said. “Never in the history of the Regional Water Quality Control Board have individuals been targeted in this mass manner. These proposed CDOs have caused havoc to us who have received them. We have experienced emotional, psychological and physical trauma, such as: high blood pressure needing immediate medical care; immune disorder resurgence requiring extremely expensive medical care; and some couples have even considered divorce due to the relentless stress. I personally have required additional medication due to the chronic stress I have experienced from receiving my CDO and the hearing I and my wife attended on the April 28 that lasted 12 ½ hours until 10 p.m. that night.”
    Alan is frustrated by the RWQCB’s misguided prosecution and unreasonable expectations. “We, as common citizens, are required to mount a defense explaining in great detail why we should not be prosecuted over something that we can not control, the use of our septic tanks, which the RWQCB wrongly claims are polluting the ground water. We are also being told that we are responsible for the construction of a sewer plant within the next four years that our elected officials and regulators could not resolve or build within the last 30 years.”
    “I feel betrayed by the three recalled members of the CSD who were elected on the promise of ‘cheaper, better, faster.’ These former CSD directors let the cost blow up to over five times what they had estimated their ‘cheaper, better, faster’ system would cost us. They originally protested the county’s cost of a $67 million plant and proposed a $38 million plant. When all was said and done, those same three recalled directors signed a contract for over $165 million.
    “To add insult to injury, the The Tribune has not only contributed to the divisiveness in our community but has promulgated misinformation with its over-the-top headlines and consistent inflammatory articles about Los Osos. The Tribune has made it appear as if we do not care about clean water or are complacent about the environment. Nothing could be further from the truth. I personally do not know anyone in this community who is not interested in getting a wastewater treatment plant as soon as possible. The Tribune has done a great disservice to the community by using biased reporting focusing on the few dissidents in Los Osos and by omitting the real work being done by our current CSD.
    “The Tribune has also disregarded the heart-wrenching trauma caused by the RWQCB to the 45 CDO recipients. The Tribune’s response to citizen’s complaints about effective and unbiased reporting of Los Osos and its citizens has been met with defensive and arrogant letters by the publisher and his staff.
    Alan has been working for a sewer in Los Osos from almost the beginning. “When we moved to Redfield Woods in Los Osos in 1964 there was no mention of a sewer problem. We soon discovered the world of septic tanks.
    “I soon became aware of the need for the community to have a sewer system and made two separate attempts to organize the formation of a sewer district as well as a community services district. Bond council from Beverly Hills was willing and able to loan us and underwrite the small portion not covered by federal and state grants. Both times we were defeated. We were told by the director of the Sierra Club that if we put a sewer in Los Osos we would open the floodgates to growth and development. I advised him that the town was going to grow regardless.”
     Shortly thereafter, Alan consulted with Dr. John Alexander, the universally recognized environmental and wastewater expert, in hopes that he could advise him on how to install a wastewater treatment plant for Los Osos.
     “I felt that if anyone could help me it would be Dr. Alexander. His research and development firm had developed waste water treatment plants throughout the world, including Australia, Israel and South America, just to name a few. Dr. Alexander advised me that he would be willing to help us in any way he could. However, he said before he would advise us that Los Osos really did not need a sewer. He proceeded to explain in great detail why Los Osos did not need a sewer plant. The crux of his explanation was that Los Osos had a God-given filtration plant built right into its soil. I asked him if that were the case then why would the engineers and the county be so insistent on building such an expensive sewer plant. He simply replied, ‘Alan, follow the money. In general, engineers who develop such costly plants tend to make between 15% and most likely 20% of the total cost of the project.’ At that time, the proposed county plan was estimated to cost $67 million dollars.”
    For Alan, hearing Dr. Wickham confirm what Dr. Alexander had told him years before was a revelation. “What is extremely interesting, is that on April 28, 2006 at the RWQCB hearing, Dr. Daniel Wickham, who has a masters degree in fresh water biology and a PhD in ecology, testified that, indeed, the soil in Los Osos is the best filtration soil in California, and that the nitrates in the aquifer may have been there for eons and are not coming from our septic tanks. He specifically stated that there is no scientific data to prove that the septic tanks in Los Osos are polluting the aquifers. This completely corroborates what Dr. Alexander told me years ago. What is infuriating to me and to many other proposed CDO recipients is that the Water Quality Control Board, which has no wastewater experts on their staff, tried to make light of Dr. Wickham’s overwhelming expert testimony.
    “Both Dr. Alexander and Dr. Wickham have invented and developed proven on-site waste water treatment units that are affordable and easily installed, and yet neither their on-site systems or any other on-site systems have been considered as viable treatment remedies for septic effluent by the RWQCB.”
    Alan has nothing but praise for the CSD. “Our current Los Osos CSD directors have offered assistance, advice and support to the recipients of the pending CDOs. They have attended most of the organizational meetings held by Gail McPherson (Solidarity Against Fines and Enforcement). Gail has assisted us setting up a legal fund with Bill Moylan as president, a vice president, several directors and Ralph Carruthers, secretary/treasurer. The Prohibition Zone Legal Defense Fund (PZLDF) has been established to provide legal defense for the group of recipients of CDOs.”

---

    Bruce Payne, 70-year-old retiree, is a vocal critic of the centralized sewer at Tri-W, and not one to run from a fight for what be believes in. People listen to Bruce because he does his homework and understands technical subjects better than most. Bruce is married to CDO recipient Antoinette Payne, a local real estate broker who, unlike her husband, is a sewer proponent.
    “We came home from a weekend trip to find a CDO, delivered regular mail in our postbox. It provided one day to respond or get a $10,000 fine. My wife read the letter and looked at me and said, ‘This is your fault that I got a CDO.’” I said, ‘Just tell them it’s an owner occupied single-family residence.’ which she did by email.”
    The CDO has changed him, he said, emotionally, financially, psychologically. “I’ve been so angry at the unjust treatment of private citizens. I’ve changed from being basically happy or able to see humor in most things…to a strong desire to hurt someone. I hate politics! And I strongly dislike most of the politicians who are trying to force part of the village into the most expensive per capital wastewater treatment plant in the U.S.”
   “I’ve spent money I rather spend on other things to make 13 copies of our defense to give to the water board and the prosecution team. I want to stop this insanity.”
    His health has suffered. “A piece of plaque broke loose from somewhere in my blood stream and lodged in an artery to my optic nerve causing blindness in my right eye, temporarily, I hope. It has improved now to the point where I can see except for a spot right in the center of whatever I try to focus on. The ophthalmologist says my problem may have been caused by stress.
    “As many people in Los Osos know, I have been actively fighting for our rights, mostly when the Montgomery Watson Harza’s $9 million design became so obviously flawed and so expensive. I will continue to fight the RWQCB’s decision to issue CDOs to innocent people, and, if I have to, I’ll keep on fighting the current CSD whom I helped get into power because of their promise that the people would finally have a say. Now they have decided to join the state—like the Recalled 3—to fight us in court for our constitutional right to a Proposition 218 vote.
    “Much of the RWQCB’s case presented on April 28 attempted to discredit defense evidence. They seem to think that they can have documented evidence thrown out. Their great wealth of evidence is based on fraudulent data from illegal test wells. It’s like a game to them. They stacked the deck and then didn’t like the hand they dealt themselves. They continuously change the rules at the last minute. They change the evidence and change the charges as well as change prosecutors. They change everything. I expect the changes will continue until we start the project at Tri W.
    “The RWQCB will bluff like they have a royal flush. They’ve already said, ‘So what if they’ve never done CDOs before, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be done now!” Apparently, the RWQCB doesn’t have to be legal or appropriate. I’m on the edge of my seat, waiting for ‘adjustments’ from the kangaroo court.
    “I’m retired, and the last thing I ever wanted to do was stop the financial rape of the most vulnerable, stop discrimination against most lower- and fixed-income residents in this village, and now to prove the stupidity of pumping septic tanks and stop devaluation of property with CDOs.
    “If I turn around and run, where would I go?” Bruce asked rhetorically. “Besides I’m holding a Sneakie Beakie which beats a Royal Flush,” referring to the well-documented hand he knows he’s holding against the multi-headed water board. “My rules.”
 

 

---

     Cinthea T. Coleman, a 20-year resident, has been fighting for her rights against the LOCSD and CCRWQCB for over five years, and all she has gotten for her troubles is a visit from the Highway Patrol, a CDO in the mail, and her name at the top of the water board’s list of targeted homeowners.
   Cinthea took the LOCSD to court in May 2001 “because my right to vote on the assessment ballot was repeatedly threatened. The CCRWQCB’s Roger Briggs said, ‘If the vote turns out ‘no,’ then the fines (of $5,000 a day for individual property owners and $10,000 a day for the LOCSD) will begin.’ The decision didn’t go her way.
    “From that moment of unexpectedly brutal defeat in court, I constantly quested for the truth, mostly through requests for public records, groundwater monitoring reports and letters to editors, trying, and not succeeding, to correct the vast sea of misinformation.
   “My working theory was and still is: If proof exists that our septics are ‘failing’ and we’re ‘polluting’ our groundwater, then wouldn’t showing us valid scientific proof of this cause us all to shut up?
   “It did not exist, does not exist,” said Cinthea. Her persistence was apparently misread, because in March 2002, months after 9/11, she received a visit from the California Highway Patrol claiming she had made a “terrorist death threat against a state employee.”
   “This was predicated on a Cyndi Lauper quote in Spanish at the end of my self-published book ‘Peace Works,’ which I had translated. The quote was ‘the ramifications of death are, like, final.’ That quote appeared on the back of a three-page written request to Roger Briggs for groundwater monitoring data for Los Osos/Baywood Park. I had sent this request two and a half months before and, ironically, my request for the information was written on the back pages of my book. The charge was made by Gerhardt Hubner who worked for the Regional Water Board.
    “The CHP tried to find me at my hairdresser’s and we ended up in my driveway: me, sniveling that they could shoot me dead as I reached in my pocket for a Kleenex; the three of them fondling the butts of their guns, obviously embarrassed that it turned out to be not any sort of ‘threat’ at all. It was scary when it happened, don’t get me wrong. The RWQCB continued to copy the CHP on all their correspondence to me.
    “When I tried to clear my name I discovered the CHP ‘has no record’ of this even happening. The complaint was apparently allowed to melt away, but it was a horrible thing for them to do to me and for me to have to go through.
     “Two weeks after finding out I had no police record on the matter, my draft CDO letter arrived in the mail saying that I had been ‘randomly selected.’ Lori Okun, counsel for the CCRWQCB, offered me the opportunity to provide reasons why my personal information should not be released to the media and public. I explained my emotional problems and the chance of a relapse. To honor and respect my sincere request, they put me first on the list that was released soon thereafter.
    “In my draft CDO letter, I was ordered to provide personal information about my property. The only information I could be ‘requested’ to provide must be ‘technical.’ But no, I had five days to come up with something or fines of $1,000 a day would begin.
    “Next, I had to start pumping my septic every other month or face fines of $1,000 a day until December 2010. I’m ‘guilty’ of ‘illegally discharging’ in direct violation of the Basin Plan. Since its inception in 1983, this ridiculous Basin Plan has been totally ignored—by the state, county, CCRWQCB, former LOCSD. Now, I’m being charged, as an Individual Property Owner, and have been found guilty—but I do have a chance to put on my ‘defense’ against the State of California’s ‘prosecution team.’
    “I need to have nine copies distributed to whomever they say by March, no, no, April, no, no, end of summer, then I can show up with the other 44 ‘recipients,’ ‘Interested Parties,’ the LOCSD, who have pushed themselves in the middle, for the ‘hearing.’
    “On April 28, after 13 hours of ‘hearing,’ none of the draft CDO recipients were heard from. But the CCRWQCB heard how stupid and inept they are from Dr. Daniel Wickham. They heard how thoughtless they are from local Air Pollution Control District’s Larry Allen. They had a hard time deciding when we might be allowed to return for more disrespect and insults, under mock rules, in a fake court. We wouldn’t want to inconvenience any of the board members as they attempt to continue with this travesty. And why not? There seems to be no one to stop them.
    “Except yours truly. I figure they owe me. Big Time... Huge Time... Immense Time. I’ve been in seclusion for over five years. I had a two-and-a-half year emotional breakdown. I’ve considered suicide... more than once. I’ve been overwhelmed by the blatant lack of support, love, kindness, respect or even common courtesy.
    “I used to create work that went automatically into the ‘Cinthea T. Coleman Collections’ at the Smithsonian American History Museum in Washington, DC and the New York City Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Lately I’ve produced nothing worthy of being included. What a waste! Of my time, energy, potential and ability to contribute Great Things. After feeling totally insecure, I ‘turned it all over to the hands of the Lord.’ It seemed the appropriate thing to do.
   “It was then I got the idea for a lawsuit... Go on the offensive! Unfortunately, I’m the only one, the Lonely Draft CDO Recipient. I contacted and was refused by over 50 attorneys. Finally, I found a paralegal who is drawing up a $5 million personal injury lawsuit against Roger Briggs, CCRWQCB, et al. Unfortunately, she’s in and out of the hospital, so we’re not making such rapid progress. ‘Giving up’ has never been an option... neither has not defending myself, my property, my family or vindicating my trampled rights.
    “The state and local water boards are out of control with unauthorized ‘power.’ Their bias against Los Osos and the people who live here has ballooned into something rude and ugly. It’s caused and continues to cause them to make illegal moves against innocent people, causing widespread, profound damage—personally, financially, emotionally, psychologically and/or physically.
    “I have been targeted to be terrorized, threatened and harassed. Now I will ask the courts to decide. I’ve been the proverbial ‘pawn’ in others’ ‘games.’ I’m universally ignored except, thankfully, by The Rock. I hope this will help some of your readers understand the epic qualities and complexities of this long, ever-so-strange trip I’m on.
    “I could not have stayed here if the Tri-W mega sewer was built. I didn’t and don't have any place to go. I don’t want to go somewhere else... especially to be forced to do something I don’t want to do. My property, on which I owe $0, could be worth upwards of $600,000. So? That doesn’t mean I have a red cent!
    “If anyone but me ever thinks a class action lawsuit is a really good idea, then non-participants should be excluded, except for the huge-ass victory party at the end!”
 
                                                                 *****

    No one responding to this feature reported that realtors disclosed the extent of the “sewer problem” prior to purchasing their home. The Rock received this email from a hotmail account holder who wished to remain anonymous for fear of “retaliation” from the RWQCB.
    “I bought a home a couple of years ago. I was told a sewer was going in. I wanted to know how much that would cost. I asked my real estate agent to tell me what my cost would be and he did. He said it would be on my property taxes for almost $4,000. There was no other disclosure about anything else regarding the sewer.
    “Never did my agent mention anything about 83-13 and that we would have to stop discharging or using our septic tanks. He mentioned nothing about prohibiting waste discharge from my septic. Chairman Young said at the last CDO hearing that he wanted to talk with anyone who didn’t know what ‘The Prohibition Zone’ was and what it meant. Maybe Mr. Young should talk to Los Osos real estate brokers and agents first.
    “Nothing showed up in the title report. How can the county have permitted septic tanks after 1983?  How could they have built more than 1,000 homes with septic tanks? These questions need to be answered and the county held accountable.
    “Clearly the real estate agents knew that they were selling homes that would be illegally discharging from septics and didn’t tell the buyers. There’s a lawsuit here against all brokers and agents who withheld this information. They didn’t tell buyers that they’d have to use outhouses or anything of the kind.
    “The proposed CDOs by the Regional Board have killed the real estate market in Los Osos. Houses have dropped $100,000 from the prices of this time last year. Maybe more. Yet our property tax bills don’t reflect the loss of value on our homes.
    “I don’t want to give my name or I’ll be sure to get a ‘proposed’ CDO, but I believe the realtors are liable for non-disclosure, and the county as well for permitting and building after 83-13.”
 

---

  The Rock was forwarded this email of May 11 with difficult news from Lois Thompson. The subject of the email was “CDOs Taking Homes and Lives”:
    “Frank is in the hospital. Although we are not CDO recipients, living with this every day for three and a half months and even longer with the situation has taken its toll. Faced with the CDOs causing condemnation of our home and causing us to have to vacate our home—well, it’s more than anyone should have to live with.
    “It is like waiting for the executioner’s axe to take its toll. We both have been worrying night and day about what is going to happen to us.
    “Monday I took Frank to the doctor as he was short of breath and could barely move. Our doctor examined Frank and said we were to go to Sierra Vista where chest x-rays and blood tests could be done quickly. But when we got there, the doctor had called and Frank was admitted. The doctors all have asked if he has been under any stress. The cardiologist has discovered that Frank has suffered a recent heart attack. This, they told us last night. He is having some invasive tests done tomorrow and I really don’t know what the prognosis is.
    “The stress has taken its toll on me also and now this. If Frank doesn’t make it, I blame the insane and warped cruelty in these CDOs. Not only will they take our homes, but they will take our lives. This must be stopped and our water cleaned or whatever the hell is wrong with this place without robbing the people of their homes or killing them.”
    When The Rock asked Lois permission to use her comments for this feature, we received this update. “The heart surgeon did say that the heart attack had occurred about 10 days prior to his hospitalization. That could put it at April 28 or shortly thereafter. We were at the Water Board’s hearing for the CDOs on that day. Frank had to sit on the floor in the hall outside the meeting room. And we had to walk over half a mile to get there from our parking place. That meeting and the treatment given the good citizens of Los Osos were indeed stressful. In fact we have been under tremendous stress from all this—not knowing when the ‘heavy hammer’ will fall on us from the Water Board and not knowing if we will have a place to live come January 1, 2010. We have worked hard to have our home and the thought of losing it to a bureaucratic dictatorship is unbearable.
    “However, the ‘heavy hammer’ did fall and luckily Frank is still alive. He had emergency open-heart surgery on May 12. He is home now but must be kept from all stressful situations.  I am trying to hang in there, but at times it is extremely difficult. I chanced upon the Channel 20 airing of the most recent Water Board hearing and cannot believe the arrogant mistreatment of the very people who pay their salaries is taking place.
    “As far as polluting the groundwater individually by residents, the evidence against each individual must be the proof. And there is none and never has been any individual proof. From the start, the state has not played fair in these CDOs. If these Water Board officials were susceptible to the political pressure of the vote of the people and not appointed, this never would be happening. The State of California should be above all this.”

---

Letter From the Zone
    A letter postmarked May 18 was sent to The Rock with no name, no return address, signed “From the Prohibition Zone.” We print part of the letter because of its relevancy and poignancy.
    “My wife and I have been married for 57 years, and are now in our mid 80s…We chose Los Osos for its friendly people and small-town atmosphere. We were told by realtors that a sewer was contemplated, this has been debated for many years, and suggested it probably would be many more years before a decision would be made. That was the extent of the sewer information we received.
    “We have been in Los Osos for 20 years and enjoyed out retirement here, but lo and behold the ‘sewer dragon’ reared its ugly head and CDOs are in the offing. We’re finding it extremely difficult to mentally, physically, emotionally and financially to deal with this problem. At our age we should be enjoying peace and tranquility for the few years we have left. Financially this will bankrupt us. Physically, mentally and emotionally there have been some added medical problems to contend with that are not totally age related. Over the past few years we’ve been looking to move, without success. Where to go! What to do! These are decisions that are still up in the air. Basically, we’re hoping to stay here, as we do love of friends and community. Please allow us our hopes.
    “Writing this has been most difficult. There is much more but I must stop writing. It is too depressing to continue.”
    Good might, Chairman Young. Sleep well.