July 8, when Modesto Irrigation District (MID) Director Larry Byrd claimed he pumps “almost daily…and sometimes daily” from deep wells on the AB La Grange Ranch he farms with Tyler Angle, many of Byrd’s friends and associates were taken by surprise. One of those people was former MID Director Nick Blom, who was on the MID Board with Byrd for thirteen years.
“The impression I always had was that everything he had that he was farming was in district or had riparian rights,” said Blom on August 5.
When told of Blom’s remarks, Byrd said he couldn’t imagine how Blom got such an impression…