The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1919-04-04
MAYOR BRUMBY ANSWERS
CHALLENGE OF MCNEIL
Continued from page one)

No. 9. This count in the indict-
ment charges that well No. is drain
ing a bed of peat (decayed vegeta-
tom thirteen feet below the surface
of the ground, and that this water
is being pumped directly into the
mains. Admitted. We get six mil
lion gallons of water per month out
of this well, pumping it from a
depth of thee hundred and twelve
feet. Between this peat bed and the
bottom of the we'll there is layer of
red clay ninety-fve feet thick, resting
upon strata of solid granite two
hundred and four feet thick. This
red clay and all surface water COM
ing from it cannot possibly enter the
well, for it is lined with solid steel
casing sealed against the granite rock
one hundred and eight feet below the
surface of the ground. Somewhere
below a depth of two hundred and
sixty feet is where the water enters
this well, for it was practically dry
until we reached that depth. If, as
you contend, we are really draining
this peat bed, you will have to admit
that nature has furnished us with
"some" filter. The water from this
well is also chlorinated, just as is
done with all the others.
No. 10. The prosecutor charges
that the we'll on Cole street is located
within few feet of a filthy stream.
Defendant pleads guilty to this
charge. This well was dug in August,
1917, and there is just as much water
in that stream today, and it is just as
filthy, as it was at the time the well
was dug Like all the other wells,
this we'll was drilled through solid
granite, and the surface water cased
off with solid steel casing. An analy-
sis of the water from this well shows
it to be one of the purest that we
have. The prosecutor might amend
this count by stating that there is a
large mud hole in the vicinity of well
No. 6, which fact the prosecutor evil
IDENTIFY overlooked.
No. IL. 1t is charged that we spent
thousands" of dollars digging wells
which were abandoned; one of these
was abandoned by the contractor at
his own loss. In the other one, we
went down two hundred and eighty
feet, but found no water-not even
surface water" though it was with
in less than fifty feet of a flowing
branch. The total expense to the
Water Board in this connection was
$1647.36. The prosecutor, however,
does not seem to be consistent, since
he has been advocating the abandon
ment of all the wells, which furnish
such an abundance of water, and yet
scores the board for abandoning one
well which produced no water at all.
Why was it that we didn't hear from
our vigilant prosecutor at the time
our predecessors went out to Black
jack and spent a great hunk Of bond
money without even producing a
drop of water? Where was Mr..
Hawkshaw, the Deceive, back in those
days?
No. ~. Here we come with the
experts" again, who state that a
deep well water supply for Marietta
is temporary and that within 'reas-
onably short time" the wells must be
abandoned, entailing the loss of thou
sands of dollars, etc. These experts
made this statement a reasonably
long time" ago, some of them making
this prediction as far back as 1910,
when the first we'll was dug. In the
face of this, the wells positively re-
fuse to diminish their supply, and UNI
til they show some signs of doing so
the city does not need to issue bonds
for 100000 to go out after an
other supply.
No. 13. This count charges that
the city now owes S109,000.00 as
against $12,OOOOO when defendant
assumed Office. The facts are as fol
| lows:
The city had nothing to show for
the SIP, 100000 that they owed when
l took charge. On January LIST, last,
the report of the certified public ac-
countant who audited the books shows
the city owed at that time SCI, 674.31
made up of the following items:
Balance on old debts 100000
City's share Public Square
paving -------- 100000
City's share Atlanta Street
paving and miscellane-
Gus items ---------- 13,674.31
Property owners share At
lanta ST. paving (offset
by notes secured against
the property -------- 100000
$61,674.31
The above are GROSS liabilities.
To offset this the city had at that
time assets as follows:
y @ = Z