SIERRA VISTA HERALD: Fri., Oct. 6, 2006
Five facts on upcoming Proposition 400 vote
Letters to the Editor
My name is Charlene Smith. My husband Don and I have been married for 41 years and his family has ranched in the Benson area for more than 75 years. I want to write this to clear up some of the scare tactics, innuendo and half-truths used to get voters to vote no on Proposition 400.
- The complainers would have you believe that the Smith Ranch Development will use your ground water for the development. Fact: They will get their water off-site at such a depth that it will not affect your well. They also have proven to the satisfaction of the county and anyone else willing to listen to reason that their water source is good for at least 100 years.
- The complainers would have you believe that the development is next door to them. Fact: Most of them live at least 1 to 2 miles away from our retained property, and this retained property along with some state property provides another 1/2- to 1-mile buffer zone between them and the Smith Ranch development.
- The complainers would have you believe that they value the ranching way of life. Fact: Most of them live on land that was once one of the most beautiful ranches in the area, and most of the rules and regulations of that development have long ago been violated with helter-skelter development. Where were these people then?
- The complainers would have you believe that 500 septic tanks with leaching fields are preferable to one state of the art wastewater treatment plant. Fact: In other towns and cities with such plants, the ground water is very safe from toxic waste and the ground water usage much less than in places using private wells to water their lawns, etc. The complainers also fail to mention the fact that your neighbor's leaching field uphill from you just might be leaching wastewater into your well.
- The complainers would have you believe that we only sold this land to get rich. Fact: Our ranching way of life, as our only source of income, ended in the 1970s when cattle prices bottomed out, never to fully recover. We were only able to continue ranching by working two or three jobs apiece. As we got older, we realized that because of the inheritance taxes on this much property, our children would only inherit a huge tax bill, only payable by a sheriff's sale to the highest bidder, aka any fly-by-night developer, and would not have anything left of our heritage.
Please consider these facts, not the half-truths you hear, and vote “yes” on Proposition 400 especially if you love this country as we do.
~ Charlene Smith, Benson