Monday, January 21, 2008

WITH SEWERS SHOULDN'T WE HAVE A CHOICE?

EDITORIAL: SHOULDN’T WE HAVE A CHOICE?

The following editorial was recently carried in the Jan 17th Dearborn County Register

Dear Editor:

When it comes to sewage, I am Pro-Choice. Just as with all my other utilities and services, I think people should have a choice.

This is America – the land of opportunity. Each of these utility companies and service companies has the opportunity to sell me their services. I should have the opportunity to choose the ones I want.

So why are people being mandated to subsidize one of these utilities?

Wires, cables, and pipes run In front of many homes in America and the homeowners choose to connect to some or all of them. If you have a well, you don’t have to take water. If you don’t want cable or have a satellite dish, you can choose the alternatives. You can choose no television at all. You can take local phone service, you can take long distance, or you can choose to have cell phones. Gas lines are optional as are electric services.

So why do we have this raging sewer hook-up debate in several sections of Dearborn County?

It is because we have forgotten that this is America- the land of opportunity with freedom of choice.

We should have the freedom to exercise our options. There are state approved sewage treatment options available for owners of larger plots of land and farms. We should not have to abandon septic tanks and fields, if they are functioning or can be replaced. Owners in some circumstances might choose that option, because rural electric is unpredictable, thus rendering grinder pumps inoperable at times. Homes set back long distances from the road have issues with extended pipes and/or multiple pumps.

Some of our sewer utility companies chose to install cheap and fast infrastructure. They shifted the responsibility for maintenance and the burden of long-term costs onto the homeowners and taxpayers. This is not acceptable.

The people are angry and disgusted with the process and the laws that allow this to happen. The legislature that can fix this problem is loathe to attack it, because the development lobbies fund their campaign war chests. The engineering companies that design these systems and consult with the utility companies are paid no matter what they design. And if it breaks or needs more maintenance- then they get more business later too.

What city or town would really want a pressurized grinder system, as opposed to a gravity feed one?

What homeowner would want to have a grinder pump, electric bills, and maintenance expenses, if they could have gravity instead?

Why shouldn’t the utility company provide the back up and maintenance of lift stations where needed, rather than having a blue million grinders -all privately owned and maintained- scattered all over the county in everyone’s yards?

Why have we not found ways to design homes to recycle the gray water rather than treat it all as first use? Your toilets could be flushed with your laundry or shower gray water. Gray water can be used for gardens and lawns. Treatment costs at the plant would decrease, because treatment volume would decrease.

As I said before, I am Pro-Choice when it comes to sewage. And I would choose a septic tank over a grinder pump without hesitation. Offer up gravity systems, and I think this sewer debate would become a non-issue. We need to quit passing our problems on to the next generation. Build it right; build it to last. Offer up more creative systems for water recycling.

Our children and grandchildren will thank us.

Christine Brauer Mueller
Lawrenceburg Township

13 comments:

dude said...

This country needs to wake up and get rid of this tax system we have. The fair tax is the way to go ,cause even the illigeal allens will have to pay tax on something they buy,before we deport them. Maybe if we figure out how to work this fair tax and WE THE PEOPLE can put OUR vote towards it it might take a few years to get used to it, but like anything we will like it in the long run. If you nlike our current tax system google AMERO and see what comes up! How will it work after that?

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised that Bob Ewbank did not demand the Register run a side by side editorial where John Seiden details how the rest of us going into great debt to subsidize his reception hall would make him, very, very happy!

And aren't all we taxpayers in the "happy" business?

Go to the bank and make John Zeiden "happy."

Go to the bank and make John Maxwell "happy."

Go to the bank and make our county attorney and title company owner "happy."

When we all are working our second jobs to pay for sewers that do not work when the power goes out...

...think about all those people we are making "happy!"

Anonymous said...

What city or town would really want a pressurized grinder system, as opposed to a gravity feed one?

A: Development owned cities and towns. They love these cheap sewers. They really love that they have enough inpocket politicians willing to do their bidding and show so much enthusiasim sticking the rest of us with the bill for their sewers. Hungry politicians: Where would crooked developers be without them.

Anonymous said...

...think about all those people we are making "happy!"

I will be thinking about these "happy" crooks with each and every future vote.

Anonymous said...

Well there is a problem with any mandated sewer hookup whether it be gravity or pressure. The problem is what to do with my "shovel Ready" horse barm.

Will I need a direct connection to a large gravity sewer line and shovel it in or will I need a large hopper attached to an INDUSTRIL SIZE grinder pump and shovel it in?.

And what do I do about my 6 dogs' output??? and my chickens, guineas, turkeys and pheasants and ducks? Huh?

Talk about septic systems not safe for human excreta what do we do about all of the above mentioned?

Is it true that they are going to hookup a large, very large grinder
pump to the Commish Meetings?

Anonymous said...

"Is it true that they are going to hookup a large, very large grinder
pump to the Commish Meetings?"



The voters will shovel the crap out of the commissioners' office this election cycle.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of a load of crap.

How are Jeff Hughes' phone calls coming?

Anonymous said...

The weather is kind of nasty today. School is cancelled, the kids are home. I guess if we were on a grinder pump, I would be encouraging the kids to go to the bathroom now and try real hard. Because heaven knows when the power may go out.

Anonymous said...

AN ANALYSIS WORTH READING :
by Dick Morris, former political advisor to
President Bill Clinton


If you happen to see the Bill Clinton five minute TV
ad for Hillary in which he introduces the commercial
by saying that he wants to share some things we may
not know about Hillary's background . . .beware . .
.
As I was there for most of their presidency and know
them better than just about anyone, I offer a few
corrections;

Bill says: "In law school Hillary worked on legal
services for the poor."
The facts are: Hillary's main extra-curricular
activity in law school was helping the Black
Panthers , on trial in Connecticut for torturing and
killing a federal agent. She went to court every day
as part of a law student monitoring committee trying
to spot civil rights violations and develop grounds
for appeal.

Bill says: "Hillary spent a year after graduation
working on a children's rights project for poor
kids."
The facts are: Hillary interned with Bob Truehaft,
the head of the California Communist Party. She met
Bob when he represented the Panthers and traveled
all the way to San Francisco to take an internship
with him.

Bill says: "Hillary could have written her own job
ticket, but she turned down all the lucrative job
offers."
The facts are: She flunked the DC bar exam, yes,
flunked, it is a matter of record, and only passed
the Arkansas bar. She had no job offers in
Arkansas , none, and only got hired by the University
of Arkansas Law School at Fayetteville because Bill
was already teaching there. She did not join the
prestigious Rose Law Firm until Bill became Arkansas
Attorney General and was made a partner onlyafter he
was elected Arkansas Governor.

Bill says: "President Carter appointed Hillary to
the Legal Services Board of Directors and she became
its chairman."
The fa cts are: The appointment was in exchange for
Bill's support for Carter in his 1980 primary
against Ted Kennedy. Hillary then became chairman
in a coup in which she won a majority away from
Carter's choice to be chairman.

Bill says: "She served on the board of the Arkansas
Children's Hospital."
The facts are: Yes she did. But her main board
activity, not mentioned by Bill, was to sit on the
Wal-mart board of directors, for a substantial fee.
She was silent about their labor and health care
practices.

Bill says: "Hillary didn't succeed at getting health
care for all Americans in 1994 but she kept working
at it and helped to create the Children's Health
Insurance Program (CHIP) that provides five million
children with health insurance."
The facts are: Hillary had nothing to do with
creating CHIP. It was included in the budget deal
between Clinton and Republican Majority Leader
Senator Trent Lott. I know; I helped to negotiate
the deal. The money came half from the budget deal
and half from the Attorney Generals' tobacco
settlement. Hillary had nothing to do with either
source of funds.

Bill says: "Hillary was the face of America all over
the world."
The facts are: Her visits were part of a program to
get her out of town so that Bill would not appear
weak by feeding stories that Hillary was running the
White House. Her visits abroad were entirely
touristic and symbolic and there was no substantive
diplomacy on any of them.

Bill says: "Hillary was an excellent Senator who
kept fighting for children's and women's issues."
The facts are: Other than totally meaningless
legislation like changing the names on courthouses
and post offices, she has passed only four
substantive pieces of legislation. One set up a
national park in Puerto Rico . A second provided
respite care for family members helping their
relatives through Alzheimer's or other conditions.
And two were routine bills to aid 911 victims and
responders whi ch were sponsored by the entire NY
delegation. Presently she is trying to have the US
memorialize the Woodstock fiasco of 40 years ago.


Here is what bothers me more than anything else
about Hillary Clinton. She has done everything
possible to weaken the President and our country
(that's you and me!) when it comes to the war on
terror.
1. She wants to close GITMO and move the combatants
to the USA where they would have access to our legal
system.
2. She wants to eliminate the monitoring of
suspected Al Qaeda phone calls to/from the USA .
3. She wants to grant constitutional rights to
enemy combatants captured on the battlefield.
4. She wants to eliminate the monitoring of money
transfers between suspected Al Qaeda cells and
supporters in the USA .
5. She wants to eliminate the type of interrogation
tactics used by the military & CIA where coercion
might be used when questioning known terrorists even
thoug h such tactics might save American lives.

One cannot think of a single bill Hillary has
introduced or a single comment she has made that
would tend to strengthen our country in the War on
Terror. But, one can think of a lot of comments she has made
that weaken our country and makes it a more
dangerous situation for all of us.

Bottom line: She goes hand in hand with the ACLU on far too many
issues where common sense is abandoned.

Anonymous said...

EDITORIAL: SHOULDN’T WE HAVE A CHOICE?


You can pick one of the many choices between what John Maxwell is offering and what Bob "Stand By Your Man" Ewbank is offering!

Welcome to Dearborn County!

A smorgasbord of Development approved and bought and paid for choices!

You think you would like still another choice?

Well submit your alternative to Jeff Hughes, he and his lovely family will do a phone survey relative to such alternative and he will then get back with you in a year or two!

Anonymous said...

I wonder how our wonderful county republican leadership will try to depress the republican vote against the two candidates who beat Fox and Hughes in the primary as they push their independent development chosen dupes in the general?

I wonder if that will give aid and comfort to Hillary?

I wonder just how low the republican leadership is willing to go?

Anonymous said...

I wonder just how low the republican leadership is willing to go?

If they hit bottom, they will simply send Jeff and Rick out for a couple of shovels.

Anonymous said...

Hey people. I have a wonderful thought. If some arrogant, bigheaded and full of himself bottom feeder tries to tell you how to vote this year, tell him to kiss your ass. Don't worry about his now imaginary power and influence. He is one honest election away from total cosmic irrelevance. Give it a try. If he strokes out in the process, please, whatever you do, do not blame yourselves. There is always someone waiting in the wings to take up the role of arrogant, bigheaded and full of themselves bottom feeders. Welcome to the New Dearborn County.