Reusing washing machine water

Good issue on water problems (6/11) and some ways to help. Your gray water article (Editorial) did not mention an easy, very old trick and, I assume, no problems legally. Is saving the washing machine rinse water for the next soap washing cycle legal? A lot of the washing machines back in the 1940s were built for that (at least I remember my mother’s did).

The water may be a little cloudy (mostly soap, so why not) and cold, but we almost always use the cold water cycle anyway. Nowadays, it is a little more difficult, but doable. We have a top loader, so we plan to put the rinse water in a barrel and then pump it back in the machine for the next load. Wish we could get to the machine’s controls to do it more automatically. Even the wash cycle waste water would be great for the toilets but would be a major plumbing problem.

Back in the 1960s, I helped take down an at least a 100-year-old Victorian house on California Street (close to Thompson). We discovered under the driveway a brick cistern for rain water that must have been at least 1,000 gallons. So when I built my house, I put in a 550-gallon plastic rain cistern under our patio.

Frank Peterson, Ventura

Winning isn’t everything — part deux
This old adage especially holds true for the apparent winners of the Sierra Club’s Los Padres Chapter election. Are members, who tell me that I won by a large margin, correct? I suppose I’ll never know, since for the second time in six months, an election was thrown out for what I think are illegitimate reasons. Apparently, the ballots won’t even be counted.

The fact that I won the first election by a large margin may not mean anything. I trust the advice that I have been given about the results, but who knows.

I do know that the implications made by the club, that purchasing new or gift memberships are somehow acts of cheating, are wrong. Members are constantly being solicited to purchase gift memberships. I’ve never seen any restrictions on who should be a recipient. It seems that this issue should have been discussed prior to the election so that we wouldn’t be in this situation.

An even larger problem in this election was that people had horrible problems getting ballots. Many people did not receive ballots on time to vote or had to request replacement ballots if someone advised them of the procedures. But many people must have missed out on the election entirely if no one contacted them to tell them the election had started and how to get a replacement ballot. The number of people who didn’t get ballots must be considerable. Why no attention on that?

I wish to thank all those members who have now voted twice for me only to see the election overturned. I only wanted to help protect special places and animals. Perhaps it is time for others to step forward, but first you should ask the people in control if they find you acceptable.

Barbara Berns, Thousand Oaks

Terrorists and time machines
Star contributor Paul Moomjean is outraged at Vice President Biden’s loose lips (Right Persuasion, 6/4). He is especially incensed at a recent Biden blunder in which diarrhea-of-the-mouth Joe told the world about reinforced bunkers to be used by Dick Cheney and his top aides in case of another 9/11 emergency. “Did you catch that, terrorists? It’s not just Cheney but also his top workers and advisers,” our local writer exclaims as he hammers his point home.

It seems that Joe Biden recently told dinner guests about the existence of a secret bunker under an old U.S. naval observatory. Moomjean grants that Biden doesn’t say exactly where the naval base is located, but he thinks that anyone serious about the destruction of the bunkers could use Biden’s leak to advance his cause. 

Local patriot Moomjean clearly doesn’t comprehend the extent of Biden’s leak.  To pinpoint the hideaway, all a terrorist needs to do is jump in a D.C. taxi and ask the driver to take him to the U.S Naval Observatory. (Since the 1970’s, that location has also been called the Vice President’s Residence.) It’s in northwest Washington near Rock Creek Park. 

Did you catch that, terrorists? A $10 cab trip will take you from the D.C. train station to the secret bunkers prepared for Dick Cheney and his trusted aides. Now all you have to do is climb in your time machine and go back one or two years. Don’t forget to take explosives with you. You’ll need them to blast Cheney and his crew bunkered deep within their hideaway.

As a loyal American and concerned citizen, I commend Paul Moomjean for alerting us to this threat to the security of Vice President Cheney and his staff. If they are retroactively expunged by terrorists, we now know who to hold accountable. The

finger of blame will be pointed squarely at Joe Biden and his need to run on at dinner parties. And maybe the guy with the time machine.

Rick Scott, Ventura