What kind of bureaucratic logic declares a burn ban while it is still raining? In a year with heavy rainfall, we should be allowed to do more burning, not less. On Monday, 10 days after burning in Lake County has become illegal, it rained all morning. At one point it was snowing at my house, temperature was 32 degrees. Tuesday will be an excellent day for a burn.

It appears the people who make these decisions are more concerned with protecting their jobs than allowing the people of Lake County to protect themselves. “But we have the cleanest air in the state,” they'll cry, “and it's all because we don't allow burning after the first of May.”

I find that debatable, if not arrogant. More importantly, will they also take responsibility for the disaster that will be Lake County when the fuel load they have allowed to build finally burns? Doubtful. They also won't be talking about how clean the air is for a while, either.

More likely they will press for even more stringent burn restrictions, higher permit fees (remember when permits were free and lasted multiple years?), more bureaucratic control. Create the problem that justifies your job seems to be the way it goes.

Where is the leadership from our Board of Supervisors? How hard would it have been to extend the burn season for a few weeks? It wasn't many years ago burn season ran until the first of June, as it currently does in Mendocino County. Which, by the way, also receives an “A” grade from the American Lung Association.

Mike Fowler lives in Kelseyville.