A couple months ago, the Daily Press published a piece by Tony Penna, General Manager of Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company (Apple Valley deserves new narrative on water, May 20, 2015) that read in part:

Charles Smith focusses so intently on details in letters by Tamara Alaniz and David Mueller that he missed their points (Math and Assumptions, Daily Press, August 6, 2015).

What Mrs. Alaniz and Mr. Mueller were trying to emphasize is the folly of the Town of Apple Valley paying up to $200 million to buy something we already have, which in this case is a water utility.

Government debt is skyrocketing worldwide, and we need only look toward any newspaper, broadcast or blog to find Greece lingering. As this newspaper’s editorial of July 21 (Greece offers sobering reminder) clearly states, America is on an unsustainable and dangerous fiscal path with its multi-trillion dollar debt.

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An interesting note accompanied my latest sewer bill from the Town of Apple Valley. Dear Resident, it read.

Two words really stuck out for me in a recent article about our aging water infrastructure (Expensive new water pipelines needed in High Desert, Daily Press, July 12, 2015). The article quotes a letter from the Water Education Foundation about the failure of certain agencies properly to address this issue, particularly municipalities.

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Apple Valley Town council member Scott Nassif’s recent letter claims that Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company’s profit is guaranteed by the California Public Utilities Commission (It’s about rate stabilization, Daily Press, July 9, 2015).

The Daily Press correctly identified a problem that exists with the proposed seizure of Apple Valley Ranchos by the Town of Apple Valley, in that citizens are awash in conflicting information and don’t know where the truth is (Residents, ratepayers wonder who to believe, Daily Press, July 2, 2015). I wish you’d gone the next step and asked why the Town of Apple Valley adopted the scorched earth policy that created this sorry situation in the first place.

In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the upper class doesn’t read because it feels no need to. The Town of Apple Valley has taken this one step further by not making reading materials available before accepting public comment (Town to host public scoping session on EIR for Ranchos acquisition, Daily Press, July 6, 2015).

The Town of Apple Valley (TOAV) has proposed spending up to $200 million to acquire (AKA seize) Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company (AVRWC). Now, with the release of their Apple Valley Ranchos Water System Acquisition Project: Initial Study, we once again have to ask why?.