A prescient, observant brother and citizen

My brother emailed me today and informed of the following letter he wrote to the US Army Corps of Engineers last December--see the date--cautioning them on the record snows up North and what might be expected:

                                                        December 23, 2010

Dear General Van Antwerp;

Record snowfall in the Dakotas and Minnesota and this is only December.  Please, please consider increasing the release of water from upstream dams on the Missouri river now to lessen the chances for flooding in downstream states this spring.  Your early action now can make all the difference for farmers and residents in many states.

Sincerely and respectfully,

And sure, it can be argued that they have to be cautious and careful but here's the case of an aware citizen, lacking all the information they have at their disposal and already, back in December, noticing a record amount of snowfall up North, thinking it might be prudent to increase the flow of these upstream dams on the Missouri, as a precaution, far in advance of possible heavier flooding.  

They didn't start doing it until many, many months later.

It's a little bit of "armchair quarterbacking" now, in June, but it surely wasn't back then, in December.

Just saying.

Good call, bro.