Water Resources: Hydraulics and Hydrology
book. How I was destroying the data collection program, the government's agency
program, and all this--he just run me over the coals.
He wouldn't even listen to me when I told him, "Well, we're strapped for money. We've
got to do what we can. Besides, this wasn't done unilaterally. Your people have been
over here for four or five different meetings talking about it. It's nothing new to your
staff. Maybe you haven't been told about it but everybody that has been over here knew
about it. It's nothing new, but I couldn't even get a word in edge wise with him.
But then I fmally said, "Well, if that's the way you feel about it, then we'll just let it go.
He was so incensed that he called up the Weather Service and tried to get my counterpart
over there to protest what we were planning on doing also. He wouldn't do it. So he tried
to get him fired. I mean he was the GS guy who had been switching funds from data
collection to technical analysis. So he was raising hell with me because I was going to
take some of the money away from data collection. So it was just very difficult for me to
swallow.
Q ..
So he was really playing games?
A
Well, he was putting it all on the fact that they weren't going to be able to get as much
data in the future, it was all going to be my fault. It wasn't his fault, it was my fault.
But, anyway, I let it go knowing that GS was going to come over, I assumed, after
listening to him, that there would be a plea from them to our generals anyway. Right
away I went up and talked to General Kern [Brigadier General Richard S. Kern]. He was
a Deputy Director of Civil Works at the time
I said, "Well, here is what
happened. I gave him all the background on it. I said, "They're going to be over here
for sure. So you ought to be aware of it and pass the word on up the line so that you're
prepared for them when it happens.
Well, they came over eventually, but they had the Chief of Hydrology muzzled. They
weren't going to let him talk because I told them ahead of time, "When you come over
here, if you let him talk to one of these generals like he talked to me, you probably won't
have any more funds from the Corps of Engineers for stream gauging."
Anyway, they kind of muzzled him when they came over. So he didn't get to say very
much. But he did say enough to aggravate the general, so that they weren't too happy
with him either.
Q ..
About what time was that. What year, do you remember?
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