The Oakwood Press (Oakwood

A Disgraceful Affair

It is high time that the picayunish feud between the city of Dayton and the Stephen J. Kubina family of 4000 East Fourth street be resolved.

All summer Kubina, his wife and three small children—ages six, seven and nine—have been without water and have been forced to "borrow" that precious commodity from neighbors.

And now it appears the family will be without gas as well as water this winter, thanks to what seems to be a vindictive spirit on the part of city hall.

The feud began last spring when Kubina, to cut the high cost of building, installed his own plumbing in the home he had erected. The city building inspector refused to approve the installation on purely technical grounds and, when Kubina refused to tear out his work, retaliated by depriving him of water service. It turned into an impasse, with both sides refusing to budge an inch. The Kubinas carried water from a neighbor's home for cooking and bathing purposes, and even used buckets of water to flush their toilet. On one occasion they stretched a hose from a neighbor's home and connected it with their plumbing system. Everything functioned smoothly until the city ordered the neighbor not to leave his hose in Kubina's reach. Since then Kubina has been forced to "steal" water.

Several weeks ago Kubina piped his home for gas and summoned an employe of the Dayton Power and Light company for inspection of his work. It passed inspection, but the city refused to permit the gas company to make the final connection—not on the grounds that the gas installation was improper but because Kubina had not complied with the plumbing code in the earlier work. The only connection between these two installations would be the use of a hot-water heater, and since Kubina has no water he would have no need for a water heater.

We don't know how serious technically are the plumbing violations of which Kubina is accused. For all we know his plumbing system may function perfectly or it may be a bunch of junk. But we do know this feud is senseless to the point of absurdity. And we do know that depriving a family, including three small children, of water could very well be a menace to the health of all concerned. We cannot agree with a city health inspector who held there was no health menace as long as the Kubinas flushed their toilet with buckets of water.

It is, as we say, high time that this silly feud be ended.

If the city feels that Kubina is in serious violation of the building code why does it not take Kubina into court? Why punish his children?

We believe that both Kubina and the city are being pig-headed about the whole affair. Individuals, we know, sometimes are inclined that way, but it is inconceivable that the city would be so small and would use its might to beat down a citizen instead of taking him into court.

We suggest that since the building inspection department and the city manager have not been able to settle this relatively simple problem the city commissioners take a hand. And, after they have restored peace, we suggest they see to it that this sort of back-fence quarreling between the great city of Dayton and one of its humble citizens be forbidden.

The whole affair is disgraceful.