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Las Vegas Review Jou rn al-'august 20, 1951 ystem Alone Cry Basic People % HENDERSON, Aug. 20 —The lost tribe of Southern Nevada, or the forgotten 6,000, if you prefer—the Hendersonians — is raising its voice loud and strong on the current water system con­troversy. To the man—and woman—th'e people of the community are behind the stand of the plant lessees 100 percent. As_far as this town is concerned the life and growth ofHenderson depends upon the water and power aVai- | able to the plant arid townsite. It : was the unanimous opinion of | those contacted, and no plant ] lessees were included in the sur­vey, that any move to take wa­iter from the Henderson pipeline should be studied long and care­fully and the plant and townsite should be protected at all costs. One old timer, who has resided in Nevada for 40 years, remark­ed dryly, “ Its like the old1 fable of the grasshopper and »the ant. We’re the ants. Las Vegas had its chance ten years ago to tie into the Henderson pipeline and what did the far-sighted business­men of the town do—turned the offer down. They did the same thing years ago when they gave away our power 'from .Boulder Dam. Today is more important to those guys in there than tomor­row^ but out here we’re looking fahead 50 years from now. We’re long range planners, but those men in Vegas see just today.” * Another said,1; “ Like a local columnist I’m a tax payer too, and I don’t see why we should fight putting water into resort hotel'swimming pools. All we have to do is give up a few de­fense contracts ahd forget the' kids fighting over in Korea. We can do that by drinking more whisky and using more i water for our;chasers,” Knowledge' that domestic wa­ter use always has priority otfer industrial use was shown in the’ comment given by a local mer­chant, who said, “ I believe Las Vegas should be permitted to have any surplus water we may have provided the present and future needs of the plant and townsite are fully protected. We have to be careful to see to it that should there be a large pop­ulation growth in Las Vegas, the industrial supply of water here would not be jeopardized, be­cause domestic water use comes first. Any contract should be carefully warded, carefully stu­died before it is signed. I be­lieve this is a paramount im­portance.” The possibility that gambling will' not always be legal in Ne­vada was brought up by a businessman. According to his way of thinking the Las Vegas and Clark county people had bet­ter get behind the plant out here ! because, “ If gambling is voted out of the county, thg only thing Southern Nevada will have to fall back upon is the BMP. Without the plant and the industries out here," all of Southern Nevada would .4fall flat, on its face. Phoe­nix has managed to build up a lovely, city and bring in large industries, so has Tucson. These industries will cushion any drop ?in tourist travel in those towns. This county needs the same fore­sight. Leave this water system alone. It may be the life stream saving the county from disaster some day.” . “ The people of Henderson are certainly not to blame, for the water shortage in Las Vegas,” another man said, "so why should we risk our own develop­ment, by giving up our water system and face the same, thing Las Vegas is facing now later on. Las Vegas should plan for its 'Own system and not ham­string Henderson’s development or growth.” , , “ Tourist business is a fickle business,’’ a woman commented. “ People get tired going to the same place and switch to other places. Right now the west is getting all the tourist business, but tomorrow some other part of' the country might draw, therm So I think that it is time I Southern ^Nevada began to plan [for that time and turn its at­tention to industry with its steady payrolls. We’ll have to have'w ater to grow here.” A rather caustic remark'was made by another, merchant, “ If Las Vegas would stop trying to make, a hard eight and try to build up. a sound industrial econ­omy, Las Vegas would be able to float a- bond issue .without any trouble.” “ Now that Las Vegas has discovered we have a water sys­tem, maybe they will quit look­ing on us /as belonging on the wrong side of the tracks. A little S* friendly attitude toward 1 people out here inight have made a big difference in our attitude toward’ their need for water,” a woman commented. If the water district had stuck to their first proposal, that of purchasing water from Hender­son until its own pipeline could be built, they might have had no trouble, an engineer re­marked, “ When they came up with the 40 year deal, they ruined their chances as far as I’m con­cerned. They got a little too big to suit me. After all, we want to grow too, and chemical indus­tries use tremendous amounts of water.” “ When the water district said they hadn’t met' with the plant lessees, they forget that there was a chamber of commerce meeting more than two years ago whielywas attended by plant representatives. They were told then that the plant must have full protection” ^' was another re­mark. The attitude of the man on the street :1s that Las Vegas should afkwfnpt to organize a water company, selling stock if necessary and put in its own system. Surplus water from here could be furnished until the wa­ter district was able to open its own water lines.’ The man on the street feels that surplus water 'should be giv­en Las Vegas but only until it can put in its own system. He does not Want Henderson and the BMP tied into any d e a l which woulfl hinder the growth here,