Too much to ask?

Being a former police officer myself for many years, there is no one who has more respect for the law and the officers who serve and protect this city. But the latest round of arrests for wasting water is straight out of "The Andy Griffith Show." And yes, anytime you do, there is a mandatory court appearance -- it is an arrest not a mere citation that you can pay your fine by mail. Unfortunately, the arresting officer, who was only doing what he was told to do, heard more of my opinion on this matter than he probably wanted to.

Yes, I was one of the malicious violators of the city's water-wasting ordinance, and I truly hope the cup full of water that ran off of my yard and onto the city sidewalk will not cause our wellfields to go dry. Can the city administrators be serious about this? Have they not drove through the floods of water running down the street when they are flushing fire hydrants? The flushing of one fire hydrant wastes more water than the runoff created by every sprinkler in this town.

Recently, there has been an increase in reported rapes, burglaries, vandalisms and other serious crimes in the city of Hays. It's hard to prevent crime let alone solve crime when our officers are busy driving the streets looking for water violators. Our police officers are trained to enforce laws and solve crimes against people and property. In my opinion, arresting people for watering their grass is an embarrassment to law enforcement and the city of Hays. There are many, many ordinances on the books, but many of them are not enforceable without arresting half the people in town.

The tiny amount of water running down the gutters is miniscule compared to the thousands of gallons of water the city of Hays wastes on a daily basis. First, we had to cut our trees down so the city trucks didn't get scratched, and now we have to let all green vegetation turn brown and die. And then they wonder why our young people do not want to stay in this paradise and why outside businesses have no desire to locate here. Try looking at the bigger picture here, folks.

Is a little green grass too much to ask for when there are millions of gallons of water being poured on crops, ballfields, golf courses and parks?

Tom Payne

Hays