Key Moments Last Week

...Retired Rock County Deputy Sheriff, current Rock River Boat Patrol Captain and expert search and rescue diver Henry Sautin provided powerful testimony and tremendous first-account credibility of the difficulties of low-water navigation. Sautin outlined the dangers to public safety that artificial low water exacerbates.

...RKLD expert biologist Steve Hjort; Hjort's issue-areas were covered by testimony by 11 DNR staff experts. Hjort offered excellent first-hand knowledge of the lake system and was strong against the DNR's cross-examination.

...RKLD expert hydrologist Rob Montgomery; His testimony, accompanied by a PowerPoint, forced a concession from DNR that his conclusions about the behavioral characteristics and first-hand knowledge of the lake are indeed correct.

...Cathy Blesser, DNR expert on endangered plant species. She pulled her testimony back from the judge, acknowledging the wild orchid that has been a topic for several years now, is not threatened by current or RKLD's requested water levels.

...LKWA expert witness Linn Duesterbeck; His economic analysis proved to be far from expert, and Professors Kashian and Stockham for the RKLD provided real expert testimony that Judge Coleman surely recognized as much more accurate, and much less speculative.

More later on the public grants that DNR awarded to the LKWA; illustrating a bias against the RKLD and our grant applications at the time.