A Happy New Year

Some Trivia to Entertain you:


The Chinese celebrate New Year between January 17thand February 19th. This is at the time of the new moon. The Chinese call this time of feasting and celebrations as Yuan Tan. The most famous decorations used by the Chinese for the New Year are the lanterns. One can see the lanterns glittering bright in the streets.

The New Year in Scotland is called Hogmanay. The people in Scotland follow a ritual that has a great significance. One can find barrels of tar set afire and gradually rolled down the streets in the villages of Scotland. This ritual symbolizes that the old year is burned up and New Year is going to begin.

http://www.123newyear.com/new-year-trivia/

Want more?

http://wilstar.com/holidays/newyear.htm

The News We Have Been Waiting For - Crime Here

And here it is, the News-Bulletin Article about crime in Bosque Farms.
http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/67539-12-20-06.html

What does it say? According to FBI statistics, Bosque Farms is ranked 30th in the state in property crimes and 28th in violent crimes. (A total of 34 cities in the state gave the FBI their statistics last year.)

... the Village of Bosque Farms has historically been relatively untouched by both violent and property crimes. (Emphasis by this author)

And historically is the key word. Even when the 50% of the complete Village budget was NOT spent on the police department, the crime rate has remained relatively low.

Here is a quote from an article in 2003:
Bosque Farms Acting Police Chief Lt. Joe Stidham said although they had their first homicide in nearly 20 years this year, the village is almost void of violent crimes. He said he believes the number of violent incidents in the village has remained low because of the character of residents who live in Bosque Farms.
http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/38262-02-21-04.html

For twenty years, no homicide and the police budget was not 50% of the total budget for 20 years. So, don't try to claim that the money the police department spends is the only reason this Village is safe.

In fact, not even the chiefs try to claim that. Read the above quote- the character of the residents is what Chief Stidham attributes to the low crime rate. In 2005 he mentioned the strict patrolling of the Blvd. and Community Watch program too. This year he gave his department all of the credit. Former Chief Cordova also attributed the people who live here in Bosque Farms. Julian Cordova credits not only his deputies for the decrease in larcenies but also the community. And the last Chief? He said this:

Police Chief Louis Burkhard said although he believes homicides are usually not preventable, it has more to do with the people who live in Bosque Farms. Citing the demographics that may be a major factor in the statistics, Burkhard said he believes the small-community atmosphere tends not to attract that type of violence.

Did you know in 2003 three there was only one rape? And this year? Two. a 100% increase. 8 Auto thefts in 2001 and 8 this last year. 2005 8 Burgerlies, this year 8. These comparisons can made and the numbers twisted any which way. These were just the ones this author pulled out.

Read these articles for more information.

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/32359-03-15-03.html

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/archives/arch_NB_1685-2001.HTM

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/22092-03-06-02.html

The Laws are Changing

It seems that since the current crop of Councilors has hit the stands the laws have been changing left and right. The fence law, the size of the lots on the Boulevard, and so on. The planning and zoning laws have been changed to 'update the language' and the subdivision laws have been changed for the same reason. This is one thing they have done- change what has recently been done in the past.

In the past the Planning and Zoning law was written and wouldn't be changed except some minor changes for many years. Now? Under this group? The planning and zoning law was rewritten and updated by a committee of residents and passed within the past two years. Since then? The laws have been changed and changed and changed several times over and not even minor changes at that.

The same can be said for the subdivision planning laws. They were passed five years ago and now they have been changed and updated and 'fixed' several times over by this current Council.

This author would like to see more action on more important things.

In the meantime there is an upcoming meeting on the new proposed Property Maintance Ordinance:

The Ordinance Committee will hold a public workshop on 15 January 2006 to discuss the proposed Property Maintenance ordinance. http://bosquefarms.us/index.htm

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.

~ Alexander Hamilton

An Important December Date

In late November the patent was filed for the first dishwasher by a woman, this is the date in 1886 that the patent was issued. (December 28)

In 1886, Josephine Cochran proclaims in disgust "If nobody else is going to invent a dishwashing machine, I'll do it myself." And she did, Josephine Cochran invented the first practical (did the job) dishwasher.

She later went on to found a company that eventually, after her death became known as the Kitchen Aid Company.

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bldishwasher.htm

There is a great drawing at this site should you wish to have your own dishwasher, you should be able to figure it out.

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1476.htm

Talking About the Budget

This author spoke with someone who attended the meeting and heard some very disconcerting news. The treasurer reports to the Council how much of the budget they are meeting by percentages.

This author can only hope that reporting the budget by percentages is just a way to make it simple for the general public to understand. This author can only hope that the Councilors understand more of the budget than the bottom number.

When the treasurer and the Council look at the bottom number and say "we are 40% through our fiscal year and we have spent 43% of our money", there should be concern that they are merely juggling numbers with the many budget resolutions to make the numbers fit.

In addition the numerous budget resolutions will make it difficult at the end of the fiscal year to follow how the budget worked. Did the money get spent where it was budgeted? Where were the overages and why? It will look nice but won't be such a nice record for future planning.

This seems to be a throw back to the treasurer's reports under Mayor Baldwin. He only cared about the bottom number. If you were 50% through the year your income and your expenses better be at 50% outgo and in flow. And if you had to change it via a budget resolution then do so. This author had hoped things were progressing, not taking a step back.

Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa occurs from December 26 to January 1 each year.
This was created by Ron Karenga

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa

Who Is Representing You?

Recently from the stand at the Council Meeting, this author has learned, that Councilor Proctor told the audience that the luminaria night that had been sponsored by the business group of Bosque Farms was not going to be occurring this year. This is the same luminaria night that the business association was asking for donations and volunteers for just recently.

There are many things wrong with this on many levels.
First the business group asks for money, donations, volunteers etc. They asked for this on the Village website at a minimum. And then they don't follow through with their plans? And shouldn't the businesses be sponsoring this and rather than asking for help they should be getting advertising space for their sponsorship?

But what about Councilor Proctor?
He took complete blame. He essentially said he didn't follow through on this project. He said it was a lot of work and he lost track of it.

Sounds similar to what work he is doing on the Council.

To the best of this authors information he is not on any committee, not heading up any project, not doing anything but attending the normal meetings and voting.

Is he doing what he promised during his campaign?

Happy Holidays

Happy Chanukah

"Hanukkah" means "dedication."
The holiday commemorates the rededication of the holy Temple in Jerusalem after the Jews' 165 B.C.E. victory over the Hellenist Syrians. Antiochus, the Greek King of Syria, outlawed Jewish rituals and ordered the Jews to worship Greek gods.

http://www.history.com/minisites/hanukkah/viewPage?pageId=730

http://www.holidays.net/chanukah/story.html

Happy Holidays

MERRY CHRISTMAS

And for your entertainment, a little bit of Christmas Trivia.

One acre of Christmas trees will produce enough oxygen for the daily needs of 18 people.

One sixth of all purchases in retail sales in the United States is for Christmas.

The first Christmas card was designed by the artist John Horsley.

A Reader Comments On Budget Numbers

"Formerly Counciled" had this information to share with everyone:
There has been discussion about the 50% number seen in the paper. This is 50% of the TOTAL budget.

The total budget this fy is about $4.5 Million. That is from July 05 to July 06. But remember, this includes all of the funding the state provides that is earmarked for specific things. That means at least $1 Million for the fire station is included in that number. There are GO bonds that are for library books, Funding from smoking taxes for youth programs, etc.

So if you look at the budget and just state it's 50% of the budget that is correct. But it is also correct to say the % of dollars going to the police dept. is more than 50% of the income the Village recieves if you take away the funds that are already directed to some set expenditure.

For comparison, the 02/03 budget was $2.9 Million, and that budget used incorrect figures from previous year to the tune of $60-70 thousand. The 04/05 budget was $3.0 million almost exactly.

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2006/12/challenges-original-post-date-dec-12.html

And because this blog author double checked using the newspaper, here are some additional links if you would like to read about past budgets in more detail.

The 02/03 budget with a quote about the incorrect numbers:

"They over-figured last year what the water revenue would bring in," said Mayor Roger Baldwin. "They missed it by $60,000 last year."
The projected water revenue for the new village budget is $390,000, while last year's figure was $450,000.

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/28040-08-03-02.html


http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/archives/arch_NB_3720-2001.HTM

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/52890-07-23-05.html

In Support of Limiting Large Animals

So all around Bosque Farms, and even around New Mexico there is a sign on many horse owner's fences that says being around horses has inherint risks and that if you get hurt because of how a horse behaves, it's your problem and state law protects the people who own the horse.

This is based on State Law.
Equine Liability Act NMSA §§ 42 – 13 – 1 et seq (1993)

What is interesting is that the organization that encourages horse owners to put up this sign is the New Mexico Horse Council. This very Council has a suggestion for how much land a horse might need to survive.

The major component of a horse's diet is good forage, such as hay or pasture. A horse weighing 1000 lbs. will eat about 600 lbs. of forage each month. How much land will you need to feed one horse for a year? Keeping a horse on dry land (non-irrigated) pasture, use the following formula to determine how many acres your horse will need per year:
1 animal unit (1 horse) per inch of annual rain (for the region) per section of land (640 ac.)

example: 640 acres divided by 8 inches of rain = 80 acres per 1 horse.

http://www.nmhorsecouncil.org/NMHC_AboutHorses.html

This author will grant that it seems the basic assumption in the formula above is that the horse will be gaining most of it's nutrition from foragaing. However, it doesn't say that. It says you will need 80 acres for one horse on unirrigated pasture if you have 8 inches of rain.

What do you think? If it is irrigated land you have your horse on obviously you need less than 80 acres. But will irrigated land support two or three horses on a half acre? Doubtful. It is certainly doubtful that they will have enough room to move and walk as a horse needs to.

It appears that there are some who wish to protect their rights, their right to have a horse and their right to own a horse and to let the horse be a horse, but they don't wish to think about the horse any more than as property.

The law needs to be clear, two full acres for a horse and one acre more for each additional horse.

Budget, A Few Thoughts.

"Coulrophobic", who seems to have an inside track, had this to say:
Regarding the repair and maintenance of roads in the Village, the State gives the Village roughly $100,000 each year for this type of work. The Village has to apply for this money each year. I think the State has some kind of formula for doling out the money, so the Village only gets so much. The Village maintenance department comes up with a list each year of the streets that they think need the most attention and the Council votes on the list.

The blog's official stance is this: The Village Councilors and the Village Mayor should be doing more than begging for money from the state. They should be saving funds for these types of ongoing repairs. We have roads, they know the roads will need to be fixed, there should be funds for this. Period. Priorities should be set, a future spending plan developed, employees forced to live in the budget and rewarded when they do so and still serve the public well. There should be savings and priorities on spending in each department.

"US Military Man" said: If we spend all our money on police we can not possibly afford other things. What is the Village government doing - waiting for the state to give us $100,000 a year for roads.

What you are not seeing "US Military Man" is that the police say if they don't get paid more, they might leave. And because the Council wants to look good and say 'see we're for public safety' they give the police what they ask, more and more and more.

And certainly there is an argument for doing just that, taking care of the police officers. They do an important job. However, this blog's official stand says that the Council needs to prioritize, plan for the future, think about the bigger picture and then make decisions about the budget in a larger context.

"El Tigre" believes that the budget is not worthy of consideration until May, simply because we have smaller numbers than Los Lunas. The more complex the task, the longer it takes to complete it. Since Los Lunas is about 3 times the size of Bosque Farms, it follows that our budget task should take a third as long as Los Lunas. I think our fiscal year begins in July. That means we should be on top of it in May.

And this despite the fact that the past few years the Council has been holding Budget meetings in March and April.

"Been Around" If they don't want to do something - blame it on the state. If they want money for something - ask the state. If they don't get money for something - blame it on the state. WHY HAVE A LOCAL GOVERNMENT IF IT IS ALL THE STATE'S FAULT AND RESPONSIBILITY?

SNOW!

The snow is lovely and is just in time for a Christmas.

The authors wish everyone a safe holiday. Please be careful driving on the snow and ice.

Posting will be sporadic during this holiday season.
Family time will always be first in the author's life.

An Idea, Horses and Land (From Dec 13, 2006)

Along the route of the author's morning run there is a house that sits on an acre.
This is fine.
The owners of the house on the acre have set aside a smaller portion of their land for horses. This is fine.
There are horses on this maybe less than a quarter acre portion of a lot of this acre.
This is fine as well.

Sometimes there are only a few horses, one or two, in this small section. This is fine.
Sometimes though there are as many as ten horses. And they are there for not a day or two, but months. Ten horses, small lot. This is not fine.

Horses need more land than that if they are going to thrive.

And while this is not the rule in Bosque Farms, but rather the exception, it seems there are several homes along this author's jogging route that want to cram a bunch of animals, horses or dogs or both, into a small section of land.

?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Maybe it's time

Maybe it's time to talk about limiting the horses you can have on your lot.

And maybe if you own a commercial boarding stable or horse farm, it doesn't matter.

I would propose a local law that limits it to one horse per two acres.

IT IS FOR THE HORSES

Challenges (original post Dec 13, 2006)

The Councilors and the Mayor have been challenged by this blog to impliment some policies about background checks, hire quality employees, finish the walk path and keep a balanced fiscally smart budget that plans for future events.


This blog asks them to take care of the arsenic water problem. They ran on the promise that they could do this and had what they thought were some creative solutions. Let's see them live up to these promises.


This blog challenges the Councilors to hold meetings when everyone can attend, particularly if they are important meetings like the budget meetings. If no one attends those meetings still need to be held when others can attend should they want to without taking a day off. They ran on this promise and they need to live up to it.

This blog wants them to do something, anything for the betterment of this Village.


Do you have challenges for the Council and Mayor? Feel free to share.

The Budget, Is it in Progress?

It had better be. Look what Los Lunas had to say in their budget.

Submitted herewith is the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Budget for the Village of Los Lunas. This document culminates a six (6) month process representing the staff's efforts to not only prepare a comprehensive budget document for the upcoming year, but, to continue with the development of a long term focus to prepare the Village fiscally for future. (Emphasis added by this author)

It takes them SIX Months to develop a budget. Based on that Bosque Farms had better get started.

...Priorities were developed and utilized in preparation of this document. These priorities also take into account the impact of federal and state unfunded mandates that require local appropriations without outside revenue sources.

http://www.loslunasnm.gov/pdfs/finalbudget07.pdf

This two page introduction letter and the additional information provided to the readers who look at this budget are informative and well worth reading. It provides an overview of how the how priorities were set and needs ranked in each department prior to developing a budget. It provides an explanation of many of the funds within the budget and many of these funds are
similar to the ones in Bosque Farms.

This is what Bosque Farms employees should be doing now. Departments should have master plans and goals and lists of needs. These should be ranked in order of importance and a budget should be developed for each department. Fluff should be cut and decisions made about what the emphasis of the budget will be for the upcoming year. This should be going on now.

To Quote a favorite person of this author "US Military Man"

If we spend all our money on police we can not possibly afford other things.

We should prioritize the things we need. That does not include paying for studies on a swimming pool. That does not include a recreation center. WE NEED ROADS.

SCORE, Something for Businesses

The Mayor of Santa Fe has been pushing this resource to the businesses there. This author thought it might be worth 'checking out'.

One way to learn more about setting up and staying your own position is to visit the website:
http://www.score.org/index.html

If you do a search there is a chapter group in Albuquerque as well. And it notes that some of these Chapter Groups will travel to a place of work to help you. There are online articles, an email newsletter, and help from the chapter groups. You can even get email advice. And all of that became obvious with a quick glance at the website.

This author can see why the Mayor of Santa Fe would push businesses to use this program. Why pay to reinvent the wheel in the form of economic development when this place can offer help and services that the city doesn't have to pay for as a way to help businesses.

Crime

This weekend's newspaper was devoted to crime in Valencia County, unsolved crimes, the impact of crime on survivors and in the article titled "Rural County, Big City Crime" By Clara Garcia a little bit about officers and communities.

What is fascinating about the following quote from this article is that a state police officer is advocating neighborhood watch programs. He states, just as this blog has, that the officers and the people who live in an area need to work hand in hand to prevent crime.

This is contrary to what others on this blog have said just recently. Programs do need to be set up and neighbors do need to be helping each other and the police need to be encouraging and supporting this type of program. No matter how good a job the police are doing.

But police say such operations (special operations) are only a temporary fix. Besides more officers, they say the community needs to be more involved.

Shilling said he has seen some citizens step up, forming neighborhood associations and waging their own war on crime.

"Crime prevention doesn't start with law enforcement. It starts with citizens not wanting crime in their neighborhood," he said. (He is State Police Lt. Robert Shilling)

(Emphasis added by this author)

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/67453-12-16-06.html

Light Poles. (Original Post dated Dec 6)

Here is something interesting. Everyone talks about Bosque Farms as rural and says there are no street lights.

Really? The official counter decided to see if that was true or not and headed out one night on a counting expedition.

West Bosque Loop
10 Street Lights and at least two of those looked like they were on public right of way.

South Bosque Loop
10 Street Lights and at least three or those looked like they were in public right of way.

North Bosque Loop.
10 street lights and at least one looked like it was in the public right of way.

Esperanza
8 street lights with at least two looking like they are in the public right of way.

So it appears that those who want street lights can get them. A letter to PNM returned with the response that they do not set up privately owned light poles, that maybe a private company might have lights and install them for you.

A note from the counter: Depending on your definition of street lights the count may be higher and lower. Anything mounted to walls did not count as a street lamp for this count. Anything free standing and fairly tall did count as a street light for the matter of this count. None of the lights in the Village parking lot and none of the lights in the park and on Village property on the North Loop counted. This is not the definitive count of street lights in Bosque Farms, only the roads listed were counted and not every light was on that specific road but may have been in view of that road.

Do your own count and see what you think.

Tomorrow In History

The Boston Tea Party

While not directly Bosque Farms it is still interesting to note that on tomorrow, the 16th, in history in 1773 the Boston Tea Party was held. This was in direct retaliation for the British Parliment, who when the repealed the Townsend Act voted to continue to tax tea. The tax on tea was partly to prove that the British Crown had the right to tax the Colonists and partly to help the East India Tea Company. The East India Tea Company was in dire straits financially.

The Boston residents had two ships in harbor but they were not unloaded on the night of December 16, 1773. They were not going to be allowed to unload by the angry residents of Boston. They were not going to be allowed to leave by the collector of customs until the tax on the tea had been paid. A group of residents dressed as Indians threw the tea overboard.

“It was now evening, and I immediately dressed myself in the costume of an Indian, equipped with a small hatchet, which I and my associates denominated the tomahawk, with which, and a club, after having painted my face and hands with coal dust in the shop of a blacksmith, I repaired to Griffin's wharf, where the ships lay that contained the tea. When I first appeared in the street after being thus disguised, I fell in with many who were dressed, equipped and painted as I was, and who fell in with me and marched in order to the place of our destination.”

In 1834 the above report by George Hewes would be published.

http://www.reasontofreedom.com/celebrate_an_american_anniversary_december_16

http://famousamericans.net/benjaminedes/boston-teaparty.com/

In Support of Limiting Horses in Bosque Farms

While there does not seem to be a National Standard there is some useful information worth considering before jumping to the decision that the statements by this author are rash and uncalled for when discussing limiting horses.

The size of a piece of land necessary to maintain a horse (in other words, the amount of grass/water that land contains in order for the horse to live comfortably on that piece of land) depends entirely upon the area where you live. For instance, if you live in a dry area (but not so dry it’s a desert), it can take 50 or so acres per animal to maintain him. ... absolutely necessary to know what this is for you and your horse—talk to veterinarians, other horse people, anyone and everyone involved with livestock and horses to find this out. ...

http://www.suite101.com/lesson.cfm/19620/3142


And another website with similar information.
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/pets/horse.htm

Thank You Readers

It is time to share a short appreciation with the readers who comment and the readers who just read. This author has noticed that there have been some who have come and gone and would like to include them in this appreciation as well. They have all contributed to this blog and have added information and provided fodder for discussion. You are missed and it is hoped you will join in again in future discussions.

With very little thought here are some of the less regular people who read and post comments. There are others and this author does not want them to feel left out but without reading every post and every comment there will be someone who is left out. Apologies.

"Spotman1"
"BigPig5595"
"YesACop"
"ResidentResponder"
"Fugettaboutit"
"My Turn"
"Bosque Mom"
"Eldorado"
"Dizzy"
"Sunshine"
"Just Amazed"

Missed Date. How can someone forget this?

It was almost exactly thirty years ago (11/26/76) that the trade name, Microsoft, was registered with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico. The spelling of the name was kicked around for almost a year beforehand, varying from "MicroSoft", to "Micro-soft", to "Micro-Soft", until they finally arrived at "Microsoft".

http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_office_word/archive/2006/12/01/what-s-in-a-name.aspx

TONIGHT

The Geminids are a very fine winter shower, and usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing the Perseids. Studies of past displays show that this shower has a reputation for being rich both in slow, bright, graceful meteors and fireballs as well as faint meteors, with relatively fewer objects of medium brightness. Many appear yellowish in hue. Some even appear to form jagged or divided paths.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/12/12/meteor.shower/index.html

The above link will tell you the best viewing times and places in the sky to look for this outstanding meteor shower. As an avid star watcher, this is a favorite of this author.

The Anti- Donation Clause Law

ANTI-DONATION CLAUSE
Article 9, Section 14 of the constitution of New Mexico. The provision that prohibits the state from making direct grants of aid to entities or persons, despite the need or value of the project, unless the strict requirements of the provision are satisfied.

http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/glossary.asp

And to answer "US Military Man's" question. The law about the anti donation rule was changed to reflect the government's ability to provide land, infrastructure and buildings for housing projects for affordable housing. And because it is legal to use eminent domain, it would seem that yes, the government can take from one to give to another in the name of affordable housing.

About 55 percent of voters backed Amendment 4, which would permit the state or local governments to pay part of the construction and land costs for affordable housing projects. Constitutional ''anti-donation'' restrictions were changed in 2002 to allow governments to contribute land, infrastructure or buildings for such housing projects

//www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?ID=18063

Community Meeting (Original post Nov. 13, 2006)

This author was unable to attend the meeting. Because this is the post that originally generated the comments from "GetOverIt" and "Eye Care" this is the post that has been moved up. For those that went take a minute and share what you learned.

How the authors of this blog missed this comment, is still being mulled over. Apologies to "The Hog" and Thank you as well.

November 28th, there will be a Community Meeting at the Village offices at 7:00pm. We will introduce the Officers and new programs. The Village news letter will contain the date and time.
"The Hog"

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2006/10/keeping-it-going-neighborhood-watch.html

Anti Donation Clause

Did you know there is a state law that says that goods and services can not be donated by the Government to any one or any cause? Even if it is something that seems 'good'?

This is known as the anti donation clause. And a tricky law it is because it can be something as simple as providing a free space in a newsletter published by the Village to advertise a business or organization may be a violation of the anti-donation clause.

The state has very specific laws about how to track what money comes in and how to spend the money that is in Village accounts.

One excemption was recently passed by the voters at the last election. The exemption created by the constitutional amendment in 1992 allows government to provide land, buildings or infrastructure for affordable housing.

This type of discussion arises many times for many government entities. Every government that uses tax payer money should be wary and learn the basics of this law. Here is one example:

Attorney Garcia reminded the Commission and the Department that under the law they are not allowed to compensate any landowner for damages done to property, that would be a violation of the anti-donation clause and is not allowed. What the forage lease agreements contemplate is future purchase of feed for animals that is allowed under the law.
http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/commission/minutes/documents/2002-05-10.htm

Apologies, Pearl Harbor Day

This author wrote this post and then didn't publish it. Unfortunately.
A very important date in our World History is December 7, 65 years ago was the year Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese.

http://www.pearlharbormemorial.com

http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/pearlharbor

A Conflict Of Interest

From the free encyclopedia online wikipedia.org here is a definition of what a conflict of interest is and one example of one type of conflict of roles. (Edited for brevity, follow link to read complete information.)

A conflict of interest is a situation in which someone in a position of trust... has competing professional or personal interests. ... (This) can make it difficult to fulfill his/her duties impartially. Even if there is no evidence of improper actions, a conflict of interest can create an appearance of impropriety that can undermine confidence in the ability of that person to act properly in his/her position.

Isn't that interesting? This article says that even if there is no evidence of improper action a conflict of interest can make it seem like there is something wrong. The perception of something being wrong can make it difficult for the voters to trust you. That sounds like the way it should be rather than voters turning a blind eye to everything, including illegal actions.

Family interests, when a close relative is employed ... or where goods or services are purchased from such a relative or a firm controlled by a relative. For this reason, many employment applications ask if one is related to a current employee. If this is the case, the relative could then recuse from any hiring decisions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_interest

One Article about One Subject.

This blog normally likes to try to find a small clip from the link that will 'whet your appetite' and encourage you to read more. This article is an interesting article about child molesters and the life after prison.

It is not about Bosque Farms but rather about one topic that has been discussed on this blog.

It left this author wondering: Is it a good thing that those of us who live here do not react to the news of child molesters in our Village like those in this article? And it left this author wondering, should there be a law in New Mexico like the proposed law in this article? Would it help?

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-molester5dec05,1,2065406,full.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

One day this author is going to learn how to do a small link, like other bloggers. In the meantime, sorry.

Scorpions

There isn't much to say about this except visit this link.

This author has seen a few scorpions in Bosque Farms, but very few. However, this makes it almost seem interesting and worth while to have one visit your home.

http://fireflyforest.net/firefly/2006/11/13/fluorescent-scorpion-in-uv-light/

Yellow Flags

Almost four years ago the Bosque Farms Business Group held a food drive. Every business that participated hung yellow flags out on their signs. Recently when driving on the Boulevard this author noticed several businesses with yellow flags hung out.

Is the a current food drive going on or are these remnants from four years ago?
Here is your answer:

http://bosquefarms.us/Holiday_food_drive.htm

Help us lend a helping hand to our neighbors who are having a difficult time right now. You can bring non-perishable items to any of the participating businesses. Each business participating in the Drive will have a yellow flag out front. Donations will be collected though Sunday, 10 December, and will be delivered personally by the business owners. The participating businesses include:
	Auge's New and Used Vehicles Shaw's RV Sales Cross Country Farm Store

Accidents in Bosque Farms

The Division of Government Research tracks accidents and fatalities and where they occur. This same DGR uses this information to generate graphs, annual reports, community reports and maps showing this information.

If you wanted information on how many accidents occured in the same place you had your accident this might be the place to begin searching.

This type of information should be reviewed by communities such as Bosque Farms yearly. The Council has never mentioned looking at this type of information. It certainly wouldn't take long to review a yearly report and to compare it to last year's report and to decide if anything needed to be acted on.

What type of actions might come out of this? They might decide to petition the New Mexico State Highway Department for more stop lights, lower speed limit, or they might decide to try to patrol at a certain area more heavily for safety reasons.

http://www.unm.edu/~dgrint/llm.html

Some Valid Questions for "The Hog"

"The Hog" has said he has hung up his keyboard. Before he decides to do that for good, it is hoped he will take a minute and answer these questions about the Bosque Farms Neighborhood Watch Program.

It is hoped he is still reading this blog?! And will answer!?

Formerly_Counciled" had these questions:
I came with several simple questions that I was looking for information on, specifically about neighborhood watch. How much time does it take? What does a bock person do? What is the first step? And what are the current neighborhood crime trends in Bosque Farms? Are the police behind this and going to support the neighborhoods that do this? What are they going to do to help support or train anyone interested?


"Been Around" had these questions:
So are the residents suppose to go out and generate interest in their neighborhoods and then contact the police?.

American Library Association

Every year when the budget is made for the Village the decision is made which organizations the Village will belong to for the year. One membership that the library belongs to is the American Library Association.

Its mission is “to provide leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.”

http://www.ala.org/