PAYING FOR OTHERS … in voting with the council majority to decline adding fluoride to our water supply, Councilman Brett Lee had an interesting observation … “I would hope that we would at least make an effort to set up a situation where people could voluntarily and quite easily donate money to preventative dental care programs,” Lee told his council colleagues …

This, after the council had already directed to staff to research other programs that might be effective for dental health … according to Tom Sakash’s piece in The Davis Enterprise, “Mobile dental clinics or early childhood preventative care programs are two examples that have been floated by council and community members as alternatives to water fluoridation.” … count me among those floating such ideas … fluoride is not a “poison” as some have claimed, but as Mayor Joe Krovoza so ably put it, “When you’re regulating in the area of what people are going to put in their body, I think the bar of regulation becomes extremely high.” … amen to that …

Lee went on to say “I think after a few months, six months or a year, it’d be interesting to see whether actually people are as supportive as they have said. It’s quite easy to come up and say (you) support early childhood dental care and things of that nature, but it’d be interesting to see as a community whether we actually are willing to put our money where our mouth is and try to do something.” …

What I don’t understand is Lee’s suggestion that any such dental health programs be funded by citizen donations … if it’s an effective and cost-effective program that helps those in our community who for one reason or another don’t have access to good dental care, then fund it with our tax dollars as we do other such programs … I’d be happy to have such a taxpayer-funded program in Davis … it’s what we’re supposed to be all about …

RUMOR MILL … one kind reader fired a guided missive my way declaring that “the current political buzz is that the proponents of fluoride will return as soon as the issue of the water rates, currently the subject of litigation and petitions to place some on the ballot, are finished.” … an interesting theory, my friend …

“The buzz also says that the four councilmembers who voted against fluoridation — leaving Dan Wolk as the lone bird on the wire — did so out of fear that their support of a ‘bait and switch’ would add support to the campaign against the water rates, including support from those who had initially supported Measure I.” …

Councilwoman Rochelle Swanson said as much when she declared while voting against fluoridation that she didn’t want to “risk” the water project … for sure, there are a number of folks who were solidly behind the water project and voted “Yes” on Measure I, then felt betrayed when the council suddenly decided to unveil plans to fluoridate that very “clean” water the town just voted for …

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES … now that the Davis City Council has indicated those using their fireplaces to warm a winter night will be cited only if someone complains, a new page in the history of jurisprudence has been written …

As I understand it, having a fire in your fireplace is perfectly legal if no one complains … but if someone does complain, the Fireplace Force will show up at your door and issue a citation with a nasty fine … in other words, what’s legal in one part of town is illegal in another part of town, depending on who your neighbors are …

Next thing you know the council will declare it’s perfectly legal to drive 60 miles an hour down E. Eighth Street as long as no one complains …

— Reach Bob Dunning at [email protected] Comment on this column at www.davisenterprise.com

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