<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Very entertaining, looks like they took a lesson </div><div id="AppleMailSignature">from one of Maxxam's old rule books! <br><br>Sent from my iPhone</div><div><br>On Mar 9, 2016, at 1:07 PM, Tom Stokely <<a href="mailto:tstokely@att.net">tstokely@att.net</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_148899"></div><div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_148989" style="display: block;"><div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_148988"><div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_148987"><div class="y_msg_container" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149011"><div id="yiv8461552787"><div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149010"><div class="yiv8461552787WordSection1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149009"><div align="center" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149008"><table class="yiv8461552787MsoNormalTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="700" style="width:525.1pt;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149007"><tbody id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149006"><tr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149005"><td style="padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149004"><div align="center" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149003"><table class="yiv8461552787MsoNormalTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="width:100.0%;border-collapse:collapse;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149002"><tbody id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149001"><tr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149000"><td valign="top" style="padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_148999"><div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_148998"><image001.jpg><span style="font-size:12.0pt;"></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" style="padding:7.5pt 7.5pt 0in 7.5pt;" id="yiv8461552787gd_ab_info_area">
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;">
<b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;">Contact:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;"> SEC Office of Public Affairs –
<a rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:news@sec.gov" target="_blank" href="mailto:news@sec.gov"><span style="color:#1D5782;">news@sec.gov</span></a>, 202-551-4120<br>
<br>
<b>SEC Order:</b> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://links.govdelivery.com/track?type=click&enid=ZWFzPTEmbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTYwMzA5LjU2MjczNjMxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE2MDMwOS41NjI3MzYzMSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MDIxMTU1JmVtYWlsaWQ9bWdvcmRvbkBhcC5vcmcmdXNlcmlkPW1nb3Jkb25AYXAub3JnJmZsPSZleHRyYT1NdWx0aXZhcmlhdGVJZD0mJiY=&&&100&&&http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2016/33-10053.pdf"><span style="color:#1D5782;">http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2016/33-10053.pdf<br>
</span></a><br>
<b>Defense Counsel:</b> Kenneth Herzinger at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe - 415-773-5409</span></div>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;">
<hr size="2" width="100%" align="center">
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" style="padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;" id="yiv8461552787gd_ab_release_message">
<table class="yiv8461552787MsoNormalTable" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" style="width:100.0%;border-collapse:collapse;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="50%" valign="top" style="width:50.0%;padding:0in 0in 7.5pt 7.5pt;">
<h2 style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:normal;">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></h2>
</td>
<td width="50%" valign="top" style="width:50.0%;padding:0in 7.5pt 7.5pt 0in;" id="yiv8461552787gd_ab_release_number">
<h2 align="right" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:right;"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:normal;">2016-43</span></h2>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" style="padding:0in 7.5pt 7.5pt 7.5pt;" id="yiv8461552787gd_ab_main_body">
<h1 align="center" style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:center;">
<span style="font-size:18.0pt;font-weight:normal;">CALIFORNIA WATER DISTRICT TO PAY PENALTY FOR MISLEADING INVESTORS</span></h1>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:16.8pt;"> </div>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.8pt;">
<b>Washington D.C., March 9, 2016 </b>– The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged California’s largest agricultural water district with misleading investors about its financial condition as it issued a $77 million bond offering. <br>
<br>
In addition to charging Westlands Water District, the SEC charged its general manager Thomas Birmingham and former assistant general manager Louie David Ciapponi.</div>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.8pt;">
According to the SEC’s order instituting a settled administrative proceeding:</div>
<ul type="disc">
<li class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;">
<span style="">Westlands agreed in prior bond offerings to maintain a 1.25 debt service coverage ratio, which is a measure of an issuer’s ability to make future bond payments.</span></li><li class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;">
<span style="">Westlands learned in 2010 that drought conditions and reduced water supply would prevent the water district from generating enough revenue to maintain a 1.25 ratio.</span></li><li class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;">
<span style="">In order to meet the 1.25 ratio without raising rates on water customers, Westlands used extraordinary accounting transactions that reclassified funds from reserve accounts to record additional revenue.</span></li><li class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;">
<span style="">Birmingham jokingly referred to these transactions as “a little Enron accounting” when describing them to the board of directors, which is comprised of Westlands customers.
</span></li><li class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;">
<span style="">When Westlands issued the $77 million bond offering in 2012, it represented to investors that it met or exceeded the 1.25 ratio for each of the prior five years.</span></li><li class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;">
<span style="">Not only did Westlands fail to disclose that wouldn’t have been possible without the extraordinary 2010 accounting transactions, but also omitted separate accounting adjustments made in 2012 that would have
negatively affected the ratio had they been done in 2010. </span></li><li class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;">
<span style="">Had the 2010 reclassifications and the effect of the 2012 adjustments been disclosed, Westlands’ coverage ratio for 2010 would have been only 0.11 instead of the 1.25 reported to investors.</span></li><li class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="line-height:16.8pt;">
<span style="">Birmingham and Ciapponi improperly certified the accuracy of the bond offering documents.
</span></li></ul>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.8pt;">
Westlands agreed to pay $125,000 to settle the charges, making it only the second municipal issuer to pay a financial penalty in an SEC enforcement action. Birmingham and Ciapponi agreed to pay penalties of $50,000 and $20,000 respectively to settle the charges
against them.</div>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.8pt;">
“The undisclosed accounting transactions, which a manager referred to as ‘a little Enron accounting,’ benefited customers but left investors in the dark about Westlands Water District’s true financial condition,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC
Enforcement Division. “Issuers must be truthful with investors and we will seek to deter such misconduct through sanctions, including penalties against municipal issuers in appropriate circumstances.”</div>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.8pt;">
The SEC’s order finds that Westlands, Birmingham and Ciapponi violated Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933 and must cease and desist from future violations.</div>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:16.8pt;">
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Brian P. Knight, Creighton L. Papier, Monique C. Winkler, and Deputy Chief Mark R. Zehner in the Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit with assistance from John Yun in the San Francisco office.<span style="font-size:12.0pt;"></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149031">
<td valign="top" style="padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149030">
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" style="" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149029"><image002.jpg><span style="font-size:12.0pt;"></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" style="padding:0in 0in 0in 0in;max-width:100%;" id="yiv8461552787gd_ab_footer">
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal"> </div>
<div class="yiv8461552787MsoNormal" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1457467283621_149048"><br></div></div></div></div></div> </div> </div> </div><style><!--
#yiv8461552787
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Helvetica;panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Helvetica;panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Tahoma;panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
#yiv8461552787
#yiv8461552787 p.yiv8461552787MsoNormal, #yiv8461552787 li.yiv8461552787MsoNormal, #yiv8461552787 div.yiv8461552787MsoNormal
{margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";}
#yiv8461552787 h1
{margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:24.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman", "serif";}
#yiv8461552787 h2
{margin-right:0in;margin-left:0in;font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman", "serif";}
#yiv8461552787 a:link, #yiv8461552787 span.yiv8461552787MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;text-decoration:underline;}
#yiv8461552787 a:visited, #yiv8461552787 span.yiv8461552787MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;text-decoration:underline;}
#yiv8461552787 p.yiv8461552787MsoAcetate, #yiv8461552787 li.yiv8461552787MsoAcetate, #yiv8461552787 div.yiv8461552787MsoAcetate
{margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma", "sans-serif";}
#yiv8461552787 span.yiv8461552787Heading1Char
{font-family:"Times New Roman", "serif";font-weight:bold;}
#yiv8461552787 span.yiv8461552787Heading2Char
{font-family:"Times New Roman", "serif";font-weight:bold;}
#yiv8461552787 span.yiv8461552787BalloonTextChar
{font-family:"Tahoma", "sans-serif";}
#yiv8461552787 span.yiv8461552787EmailStyle21
{font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";color:windowtext;}
#yiv8461552787 span.yiv8461552787EmailStyle22
{font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";color:#1F497D;}
#yiv8461552787 span.yiv8461552787EmailStyle23
{font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";color:#1F497D;}
#yiv8461552787 span.yiv8461552787EmailStyle24
{font-family:"Calibri", "sans-serif";color:#1F497D;}
#yiv8461552787 .yiv8461552787MsoChpDefault
{font-size:10.0pt;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
#yiv8461552787 div.yiv8461552787WordSection1
{}
#yiv8461552787
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Symbol;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Symbol;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Symbol;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Symbol;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Symbol;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Symbol;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Symbol;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Symbol;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Symbol;}
_filtered #yiv8461552787 {font-family:Symbol;}
#yiv8461552787 ol
{margin-bottom:0in;}
#yiv8461552787 ul
{margin-bottom:0in;}
--></style></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><image001.jpg></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><image002.jpg></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>env-trinity mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:env-trinity@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us">env-trinity@velocipede.dcn.davis.ca.us</a></span><br><span><a href="http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity">http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/env-trinity</a></span><br></div></blockquote></body></html>