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© St. Petersburg Times, published May 30, 2000
Editor: I'm a Pasco County resident and have recently had my well dry up. I've read all of your stories regarding this serious situation and have tried to conserve as much as possible. I, too, live in a neighborhood that has one watering offender who seems to think that his grass is more important than having drinking water. Of course, he is not the one with a dry well, I am.
I'm writing because I've been calling different official offices trying to get a little assistance with this problem and I'm astounded by the answers I've received.
I've contacted Swiftmud and Tampa Bay Water, but I always get the same answer."Sorry, you're a few miles (3.1 miles) outside the pumping area, and I'm sure that the water we're pumping into Pinellas and Hillsborough isn't affecting you."
The other comment to me was "Sorry, you're out of the pumping area and if we don't get some rain soon then we won't even have enough water to pump to Hillsborough and Pinellas." Duh! I can't believe that they can even say that to me with a straight face. How can you pump over a million gallons a day out of Pasco County and then tell the people of Pasco to foot the bill when our wells dry up.
We are not given the opportunity to put an end to the pumping of our resources into other counties. But to add insult to injury, when we're left without, we have to pay thousands of dollars to restore our water. All of this with no guarantee that in a few months it won't dry up again.
I think that Hillsborough and Pinellas should offer some sort of financial assistance to Pasco residents whom they have sucked dry. After all, their county commissioners didn't stop to think that the over-development of that county would leave it without enough water. No, they just kept approving the growth and figured that they would just bribe the poorer county of Pasco to give up some of its water.
-- Christina Vitali, Hudson
Editor: Have you tried to get a job lately? Go out and fill out an application and find something new -- a credit report -- on your employment application. We haven't even got the job and we have to give them permission to do these things just to get a job?
That means if you've got bad credit, you don't get a job. If you've got a bad work history, you don't get a job. If you made a couple of mistakes, you don't get a job. Even if you're in college to get a degree and you have bad credit, you still don't get a job.
-- David W. Franke, Port Richey
Re: New residents need newer faces in same-old sheriff election, May 23 letter.
-- Editor: The writer presented some interesting points in his letter, however I think he missed the point here.
The law must be obeyed; we cannot afford to do otherwise. If you choose to ignore the rules, regardless of whether you are a silver-haired grandfather or a teenager with a drug habit, you are flagrantly ignoring the very rules you voted to put in place. We have gone way past the days of cowboys and hanging judges, although I will admit it had its place to expedite matters.
Police do not make the laws but are bound to uphold them. If you have a problem with this, take it up with your legislator and give law enforcement officers a break. They are not the bad guys here. They work long, hard hours under a pay scale that would send most people in the job market screaming in the opposite direction.
If the lawbreakers out there didn't work overtime to abuse the rules, law enforcement wouldn't have to resort to sting operations.
The courts are constantly mired down with hundreds of insignificant cases, making it no easy job for the state attorney's office either. If they don't have all their ducks in a row, they have no hope of winning in competition against the equally well-schooled and highly trained legal professionals representing the defendant.
Many a case can be lost if the i's aren't dotted and the t's crossed; the wrongdoer is out in the street once again, free to break the law.
Don't be so quick to find fault unless you can come up with a better solution.
Barb Capodanno, New Port Richey