Letters to the editor, Aug. 12

What exactly IS an average household?

In last Friday’s paper, Pahrump Utility Company had a paid advertisement titled “Water Facts #1.” Well, I submit the following as 1.1.

First, there are key words “average utility customer home”, that most individuals will miss when reading this ad. Those four words are all that make it state facts. Otherwise, to use lawyer speak, “It is statements of fact not in evidence,” meaning that no one, including the state engineer or any other so-called expert can say with any accuracy how much the AVERAGE household in the Pahrump Valley actually uses each day or year.

First, there is no such thing as an average household. The water committee stated that the average household contained 2.4 individuals. When that average is applied to actual households, it quickly becomes apparent it is a bogus number. A family of four to 10 starts off in trouble from the get-go.

Now, some will use that fact to argue for putting a meter on domestic wells. That is a hollow and self-serving argument since developers here have touted the abundance of water and the rural lifestyle available, then subdivided farms and ranches, enabling them to sell this same land with domestic wells for many years to unsuspecting buyers.

No matter how many acres of land one has, domestic wells are currently allotted three acre feet of water per year to support this advertised rural lifestyle. So what if they currently haven’t had the time or finances to start their family and have those planned five kids, horses for those kids, or raise a garden to help feed those kids.

Some families here depend heavily on their yearly garden to provide healthy fresh fruits and vegetables for their family. Without this supplement, some would be unable to adequately feed their eight kids.

Sure, homeowners in developments around the valley may only use an average of one-third acre foot of water per year on their postage stamp-size lot but a short drive through a development would lead one to believe that all that landscaping, lake and golf course greenery comes at an additional usage of groundwater. Yes, they may be using effluent to some degree but if what I am being told is true, that effluent is being supplemented with fresh water. Shouldn’t that additional groundwater be added to the total usage for those households in that development?

Also, while I am asking questions, what was the motive for Pahrump Utility Company paying for and placing such an ad in the PVT? It’s their money, I’m just curious.

Dave Caudle

We love our animals to death

Today’s ten highest grossing box office releases are about animals, including: “Finding Dory,” “The Jungle Book,” “Zootopia,” “The Secret Life of Pets,” and “Kung Fu Panda.” Nearly half of our households include a dog and nearly 40 percent have a cat. Two thirds of us view them as family members and cherish them accordingly. We love our animals to death.

Literally…

For every cat, dog, or other animal that we love and cherish, we put 500 through months of caging, crowding, deprivation, mutilation, and starvation, before we take their very lives, cut their dead bodies into little pieces, and shove those into our mouths. And that doesn’t even include Dory and billions of her little friends, because we haven’t figured out how to count individual aquatic animals that we grind up for human or animal feed.

The good news is that we have a choice every time we visit a restaurant or grocery store. We can choose live foods - yellow and green vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts, grains, as well as a rich variety of grain and nut-based meats and dairy products. Or, we can choose dead animals, their body parts, and other products of their abuse.

What will it be?

Pinter Verducci