Reply #7: Um... lack of water HAS been killing us.

[politicat]

The suicide rate among farmers and ranchers in Colorado, western Kansas and western Nebraska has been triple the average for farmers (and farmers are up there with psychologists, ATControllers and social workers) for the last few years due to drought. It's very likely that someone in his family or one of his friends has died, or been forced into bankruptcy, or had his land taken by the county or state to pay taxes. That water is very precious to us - it means the difference between being able to survive and not.

No, no one in his family probably died on the roads because when it blizzards out here, we stay home and don't make a run for milk. If you had read the article, you would have read that four of the five people who were killed died in traffic accidents - one entered a flash flooded wash, two were in motorcycle accidents on the icy roads, and one lost control of the vehicle on slushy roads. (In other words, driving too fast for conditions or overconfident or not paying attention or a combination.) The last one was a woman with Alzheimer's who wandered away from home - and that can happen at any time of year.

Besides, the rancher was probably referring to the shovelling he was doing - it's not likely that he was even aware of four motor accidents and an Alzeheimer's patient. That was what he was paying for, not with lives.