Letters to the Editors

Why can't springs provide water in severe drought?

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 14, 2001

Editor: A few years ago when visiting Weeki Wachee, some of the facts in the narrative revealed that it is built on a natural spring that releases millions and millions of gallons of pure water that empties into the Gulf of Mexico every day. At the time I wondered why this is allowed to take place when we have such a water shortage in our state. I've never been able to get a satisfactory reply.

I've read and heard about desalination plants to be built to provide us with "pure" water at great cost. It's an unexplained mystery to me why all these millions of gallons of the purest water empty into the gulf, and then some miles farther down the coast there are proposed plants to remove the salts and impurities from this gulf water to make it fit for human consumption.

There's got to be a better way. Wouldn't it be a more realistic plan to use our natural resource (with plants, piping, etc.) without going through the other steps? Whoever is providing the backing for the desalination plant projects might use their funding and know-how better by using our natural product pure water in the first place. I'm certain I'm not the first person who's thought of this idea, but maybe this will prompt an acceptable reply and some positive action.

Let's all put politics aside and get to the root of the problem working together to solve it.
-- Roberta E. Wido, Port Richey

Senior tax break is discriminatory

Editor: A poor person is a poor person, whether he or she is 80 or 28. The county should not determine one's eligibility for special tax consideration based on age.

Many of Pasco's poor people must work, and they are trying to raise a family on less than what a lot of seniors are getting. A quick look around Pasco tells you who the poor are.

You don't see many young families out tooling around in big Caddys or Lincolns.

You don't see many young families going out to eat each night.

You don't see many young families standing in line waiting to board the Casino Boat for a trip to no place.

The young people I see who need added tax relief are the young people selling those big cars.

The young people I see are workers on those casino boats.

The young people I see are the waiters and waitresses in the restaurants and most of their customers are not young families.

I'm a member of AARP and take advantage of many of the senior programs, but if fairness is to be considered by the powers that be, this added tax advantage based on age and income is discriminatory.

Any time discrimination is used for the benefit of any group over another, it's fundamentally wrong.

Pasco should rethink this, and not be so quick to jump on something other counties may wish in the future they hadn't done.
-- Thomas Haines, New Port Richey

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