I have heard so much about the water shortage that I'd like to encourage people to support efforts to:

(1) Deregulate the pricing of water. If the price of water corresponded to its availability, everyone could use as much water as she was willing to pay for. There would be no water shortage.

(2) Remove regulations on construction that are in place purportedly because of the water shortage. If a developer wants to construct a new shopping center or a resident wants to build a house with five bathrooms, water permits should not be an issue. Price should regulate water use, not permits.

(3) Remove regulations that prevent residents from conserving water. Rainwater collection, composting toilets, and greywater systems should be permitted. I'm guessing that each of these technologies is not encouraged under current building codes.

For information on deregulating water markets and natural monopolies: http://www.cato.org/research/natur-st.html

Composting toilets (preferable in my experience to attempting to flush one's nutrient-rich feces down a low-flow toilet with drinking water): http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/compost-links.html

Using free markets to foster efficient use of water and other natural resources: http://www.rmi.org/

Colin Leath
cleath@i.am

Monterey

Blood-lusting Sadists?

I was appalled to read that the supervisors approved a bow and arrow hunt of either sex deer.

Have you seen the razor tips of these arrows? Have you seen a female deer take one of them in the leg or stomach or flank and then run off to die a slow excruciating death? First comes pain, then fever, then loss of blood, then slow, agonizing death. Not pretty is it? A scene most would like not to think of.

And how do the shooters tell if a doe, without horns, is a yearling, a two year old or just a big fawn? They can't and that's one of the things that bewilders me about the decision. Of course the guardians of our county got pressure from so-called sportsmen. Sportsmen indeed--the correct name would be sadists or blood-lusting adult delinquents.

The reason small caliber rifles are prohibited by the Fish and Game is the same reason that arrows should not be used to shoot what little is left of our wild native deer herd.

Juan Diaz
Hollister

Ban Clinton, Not Guns

Someday soon, talk like this will earn you a knock on the door:

No gun law can stop a determined criminal... The sudden corruption of America's youth has infinitely more to do with the degenerate Clinton role model than with Smith and Wesson... Roughly half a million times per year, armed citizens stop criminals... After Sharon Stone's celebrated gun turn-in, she used another personal gun to fend off a stalker. Stone learned only that brainwashed sheep turn their guns in.... The most esteemed Constitutional scholar in the nation, Harvard law professor Lawrence Tribe (a liberal) agrees that the Second Amendment guarantees the individual right... Since Australia's total gun ban, violent crime there has increased a staggering 45 percent (the government's own figure) because predators, who are totally unaffected by gun laws, know the citizens are defenseless, and thus murder, rape and rob freely.

Point by point, the anti-gun agenda is proven to be false. However, the damage committed by the new Clintonian degenerates may continue until someone, somewhere teaches them the things the corrupt Clintonistas despise most: individual responsibility and honor.

Jan Matthews
Big Sur

Castro's Cuba

It says a great deal about the nature of the United States government that Batista, a ruthless, corrupt dictator who presided over a people in massive poverty, was quite acceptable whereas Castro's Cuba, which enjoys universal health care, has a literacy rate greater than ours, has an infant mortality rate equal to ours, and has more doctors, teachers and artists per capita than any country on earth is unacceptable. The ultimate irony is that Cuba's democracy is real, whereas our own is but a sham. No wonder so few of us bother to vote. Corporations are our rulers and in whose interest we punish the people of Cuba because they will not allow the theft of their labor and resources, as was the case under Batista. I am ashamed of my country, which has fostered so much misery not only in Cuba but around the world.

Donald E. Spiel
Salinas

Homes for Seniors

While there is much focus on growth in South County--for young families with children, tourist accommodations and Silicon Valley overflow--the special needs of aging seniors, and especially those who will be limited to fixed- or lower-incomes appear to unaddressed.

In recent months (years?), we have seen luxurious, upscale construction and remodeling of existent assisted-living facilities in Monterey County (Villa Serra, Parklane, Beardsley Mansion, Wynwood, etc.). At the same time, we have seen a dramatic reduction of affordable residential options for moderate- and low-income seniors. While the city of Monterey is attempting to address this issue, it is extremely complex and demands attention from a variety of venues. On a countywide basis, with the expertise of planners, elected officials, community leaders and senior service providers, we must look to the future of the fastest-growing segment of our society--those who are 65 and older.

While growth is predictable for youth and young families, we must plan for their grandparents who will, inevitably, follow. With single-parent homes and households where both parents are in the work force, we see more and more need for outside assistance for the elderly. Extended families are looking to assisted living, home care and nursing homes for help to care for longer-living "older" elders and Monterey County has, historically, attracted a disproportionate number of retirees: We must plan accordingly.

Ombudsman for Long-Term Care stands ready to assist any local government in addressing these very serious issues and we look forward to hearing from them.

Vicki Bamman
Executive Director, Ombudsman