To the Editor:

This letter is on the subject of "there's always the spigot, City considers new law to turn off water to chronic code violators" as written in the Waitsburg Times on Aug. 18.

After reading the article, I decided to attend the City Council meeting Sept. 21. The city is using Mr. Rick Smith as an example of a city code violator. Even though City Attorney Chris Hedine says the new proposed law is legal, I feel it is not morally right. It seems to be a long stretch from a city nuisance to shutting a household's water supply off.

This new law may not be confined to Waitsburg's nuisance code, according to the article in the Waitsburg Times. It was also discussed at the city council meeting whether a household would be required to pay the utility bill even though they could not use the water because it had been shut off. The answer was yes!

All but one council member voted yes to the proposed law. What is happening to our friendly, neighborly, help each other little town? We are not a bigger city like Seattle.

In my opinion, we do not need to go "big city." What happened to "live and let live?"

Edna Marie Downing

Waitsburg