Shame on The Council

Why?

It is rumored that Miss Margaret Chavez who recently decided to not remain on the Planning and Zoning Board asked both Mayor Ake and the Council to consider allowing Lilly McNabb to replace her.

...she makes it a point to be involved and informed in all aspects of village government. In the past 30 years, McNabb has rarely missed a village council or a planning and zoning meeting — she says it's her duty to make sure she knows what is happening in the village that she helped to incorporate.

And guess what? The Council wasn't willing to vote her in. What were they thinking? Miss McNabb has been around for many years longer than they have and has been involved and caring for each and every person here in Bosque Farms. And what kind of thanks does she get?

What was the Council thinking???

http://www.news-bulletin.com/locals05/unsungcoy/55516-10-29-05.html

The Rodeo Association

http://www.bosquefarmsrodeo.org/

BOSQUE FARMS RODEO ASSOCIATION is a unique non-profit private organization dedicated to the preservation and continuation of the rural equestrian lifestyle.

It is a nice simple straight forward website with a place to look at upcoming events, join their organization and rent their facilities.

Do You Want A New Job?

http://www.dictatorforhire.com/

This author has noticed that some that take time to post on this blog think they know it all and can make everyone accept that.

While this place does not advertise it is hiring or looking for more dictators for their business, it might be and it seems, to the authors, that this is an avenue worth exploring for those of you who might want a new job.

Happy April Fool's day.

Helmets and horses

"El Tigre" in a great moment of sarcasm responded to "Been Around" and his/her legitimate concern about children and safety.

Why stop at helmets? If we REALLY cared about our kids we would mandate they get outfitted in full armored gear. Kinda like a real heavy duty set of football pads. Make sure the things are respirated to keep out all the allergens and nasty pollution.

He then proceeds to make the decision that parents need permits to have children and at age five all children should be taken away from their parents. Read here for the complete discussion.
Unfortunately, it appears "El Tigre" simply does not care for children.

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2007/03/new-committee.html

But this author will say that the NASD suggests that children wear helmets.
Small children should wear a riding helmet to protect their heads in case of a fall. Their balance and strength is not as developed as that of an adult, so they are more likely to fall should the horse spook or get out of control.

http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001101-d001200/d001110/d001110.html

"Been Around" Thinks of the Children

"Been Around" is thinking of the kids.

My idea of what is best for Bosque Farms involves helmets for children in their activities. Under 18 you must wear a helmet for biking, skating, skateboarding, horse riding, electric scooters, etc., etc., etc. Seems like a law that would make everyone safer, if that is what we really are talking about. Best and safe.

In other comments under other topics "Been Around" explores this topic further saying that the law the state was/is considering doesn't go far enough and doesn't cover children riding horses. "Been Around" suggests that this is something that the Council needs to do "Lead the Way in New Mexico in thinking of children's safety".

Good idea.

A Shared Use Path (From 3/21/07)

Oh dear, "Coulrophobic" had a lot to say in his/her post about the walk path in Bosque Farms. You can read the complete discussion here:

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2007/03/new-committee.html

But look, "Coulrophobic" is probably hoping your eyes will glaze over and you will just catch key words like "Safety" and the official title "American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO)" and assume that he/she knows what he/she is talking about.

Let's see. What the post boils down to is that the Council didn't have a bike path that was next to or part of the roadway and that is what "Coulrophobic" believes should have happened. And according to him/her there are requirements and people who say this is how it should happen.

The AASHTO mentioned above. But look:

A shared-use path serves as part of a transportation circulation system and supports multiple recreation opportunities, such as walking, bicycling, and inline skating. A shared-use path typically has a surface that is asphalt, concrete, or firmly packed crushed aggregate. The 1999 AASHTO Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities defines a shared-use path as being physically separated from motor vehicular traffic with an open space or barrier (AASHTO, 1999). Shared-use paths should always be designed to include pedestrians even if the primary anticipated users are bicyclists.

(Emphasis added)

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/sidewalk2/sidewalks214.htm

Something to Think About

If You Can't Answer a Man's Arugments

All is Not Lost

You Can Still Call Him Vile Names

~Elbert Hubbard

_______________________________

The Beginning of Wisdom

is to call things by

Their Right Name.

~Chinese Proverbs

The Truth, The Final Word?

"Dee Morales" says it well.

Claremont, you stated in an earlier post, “No call to 911”. Is this the truth, an untruth, half a truth, a lie, a rumor, hearsay?

I agree with you on one point…no one who has commented on this subject appears to know the complete truth. It is of my opinion, the truth lies somewhere in between everything that’s been written. I don’t think as a village resident it’s such a bad thing to want to know what the truth is.

Emphasis added by this author.

It is unfortunate but it seems all the public will hear about this event (or two events) is what we have been able to learn here amongst ourselves. This author was hoping the newspaper would hear about this event and publish more information for everyone.


https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21274246&postID=3059297867375746256

Tome Hill

http://www.tomehill.com/

It is getting close to the time to see walkers going up Tome Hill for their annual pilgrimage. May we all be careful while driving that day.

Planet Pluto

Hear Ye, Hear Ye,
Pluto is a planet again, but only if you live in New Mexico

http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/07%20Regular/memorials/house/HJM054.html

Your representatives at work

A Reponse to "Coulrophobic" and "El Tigre"

In the following post two readers have questioned why this author is upset that the ordinance Councilor Wallace has been working on for over a year is going back to committee.

These two readers would like to have you believe that this author doesn't want public input. But quite contrary to their spin on this authors words, it is not the public input or lack there of that is the problem. In fact, there have been many many meetings and all have been open to the public. The public has had ample time to make comment. Rather it is the lack of positive moving forward action that is the problem.

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2007/03/laws-are-changing.html

The Council just sat through a series of three to four meetings with the Council, the Mayor, the Planning and Zoning Officers, the lawyer and the committee that helped write this ordinance.

These meetings were long, drawn out, and open to the public. People attended these meetings and volunteered opinions and.... NOTHING. The Council did nothing to change any one of the issues brought up by the people in the audience. Neither did committee Councilor Wallace led that wrote this ordinance. In fact, this committee fought about why their ordinance was perfect and shouldn't be changed.

It is not the idea that extra public input is so horrible, in fact it is a good thing.

It is the fact that this is going through such a convoluted mess and nothing much seems to be moving forward. Again, typically when there is a committee, when it is finished it presents the work to the Council and then the Council takes over. That has not happened here.

The committee presented their work to the Council and then the Council sat there. It did NOTHING. It did not one thing while the attorney suggested changes, the Mayor suggested changes, the Planning and Zoning officer suggested changes and the public suggested changes. The Council did nothing and instead let Councilor Wallace take this back to the committee so they could consider the changes suggested. Despite the fact that, as mentioned previously, they lectured the audience about why their ordinance should not be changed at all.

And remember, as another reader pointed out, this committee left things vague so a court of law could decide what they meant. This is the committee that is unwilling to understand that each paragraph must work alone in an ordinance as well as in connection to each other. (This is how loopholes happen). This is the committee that wants clean pools to stop mosquitos but doesn't address buckets or tires stacked up on properties both of which are ugly and collect water that breeds mosquitos.

"El Tigre" asks what makes you think the pool issue isn't being taken care of? Is it? It hasn't been to date. The Council didn't fix it when they had the chance, when everyone was questioning this item.

It took over a year to get to this point. (A year longer than she promised it take to complete by the way.) And now it will take some more time for them to discuss suggested changes and in the meantime, this whole past year and until something is passed, NOTHING can be done about houses falling down etc etc ec.

The problem is not having public comment. There has been plenty of opportunity for public comment. The problem is the Council should have taken charge when it was sitting in meetings with this committee and it should have done it's job by listening to all of the myriad of suggestions and acted on them. Then it should have passed this law.

Instead it languishes in committee again. That is the problem.

Using the Walk Path (From March 6)

Call it what you will, this author calls it a walkpath, because this author walks on it.

But while walking on it, this author had an idea.

While it may be too short for a triatholon, the walk path could be used in some interesting ways.

For instance, each weekend the business association members could each take turns to adopt a foot (or five or whatever) and set up a table to pass out advertising, keychains, take home menus, etc. Avon ladies could pass out catalogs etc. Maybe that would be a bit much to have every weekend, but what about when the Business Association does their yearly "Shop Local Shindig"?

Also, for people who might need financial help for whatever reason, such as the family whose home burned down recently, a walk could be a good fund raiser.

And in fact, it might be kind of neat if someone were to set up a walking group. And wow, if the Business Group helped form it they could sponsor it by providing water and everyone who joins could buy a shirt with the business sponsor.

Just a few ideas.

Just A Reminder

For those of you opposed to the thought of apartments and condos let this author remind you:

Which Councilor voted no to the goals and objectives of the master plan?
And which Councilor voted no because they didn't include an option for senior apartments?

And which Councilor has tried to prove that the Council can allow for senior housing without allowing for other types of housing (such as low income?)


http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/63296-07-22-06.html

During the December meeting, Wallace said she was uncomfortable approving the goals and objectives because the plan precluded senior housing from being established in the village.

Money From the State

The word is out and Mayor Ake says the Village will recieve $1,338,480 from the state. This author hasn't taken the time to look at all the appropriations and see exactly where all of this "windfall" money is supposed to be spent and how much on what. Maybe someone else 'in the know' can share.

The Laws are Changing

The laws are changing again and again. It seems that is one thing this Council can do and boy are they doing it.

At the last Council meeting they changed the sewer ordinance. Just cleaning it up they said.

Now they are changing the animal ordinance. Judy Babcock is leading that committee. However, Councilor Wallace wants to be sure she is in on that ordinance so it is expected she will attend meetings for this ordinance.

There is the property maintance ordinance that is ongoing in changes too. And what a crazy mixed up experience this is turning out to be.
First, Councilor Wallace and her committee presented this ordinance to the Council and sat with the attorney to go over the comments he had made on their proposed ordinance. The Council didn't make any changes and the committee wasn't really listening to the attorney. And now they are going to have another committee meeting to decide what they want to do, if anything, about his comments. Then the Council will get to hear it again and start making changes. And then what? Sit with the attorney again while he goes over the Council changes? It seems a bit unorganized and a lot of time wasting to this author.

For those of you who may not know, the normal course of events is the Council sends it to committee, the committee finishes and sends it to Council (or to P and Z if need be) and then the Council and attorney review it and vote on it and pass it. Much more simple that what convoluted mess you are seeing with the property maintance ordinance.

The New Planning and Zoning Board

Thank you to these people that agreed to serve and were able to be voted in by the Council.

Sharon Eastman
Carl Halsey
Russel Walkup

(Please forgive any misspellings as this author has not seen these latter two names in print yet.)

Margaret Chavez

Margaret Chavez has officially stepped down from her post and planning and zoning
commissioner.

Mayor Ake made a proclamation and named the day Margaret Chavez Day and rightfully so.

She has donated many hours and many days of service to her community and should be remembered for this. She has been on the Council and on the planning and zoning board. She has helped to write many of the ordinances that are in use today. And many of the ones that have been rewritten are based on the original ordinances that she helped write.

This community owes her a great deal and should take a few minutes to thank her.

Now she can go to Council meetings and stand up and speak her mind without worrying about how it will impact how others view the planning and zoning board.

Thank you Margaret.

Impromptu Trip

After the last Council meeting this author took a quick trip. Thus the blog was left until tonight. Sorry. The Council meeting had a lot of interesting items that needed to be commented upon. Watch for this the next few days.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

May your blessings

outnumber

The shamrocks that grow,

And may trouble

avoid you

Wherever you go.

~Irish Blessing

A Crime Spree

Two readers have commented on the other crime in Bosque Farms. Another armed robbery.

"Dee Morales" said:
Good work to the police officers who caught the armed robber yesterday!!! A job well done!!! From what I saw and heard on the news we also need to thank the upstanding citizen who provided vehicle plate information, Isleta PD, and VCSO

For those of you who missed, here is the article in the local paper.

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/69690-03-14-07.html

It seems there is a regular crime spree going on in Bosque Farms. And now we are hearing about Albuquerque cracking down on crime which will in turn push it this way (according to the Belen Mayor on the radio).

So the Village Elected Head Honchos need to do their job and make sure that the 911 service is working for everyone and that there won't be another three hour wait for police help.

And maybe everyone needs to do as one business owner recently suggested to this author, everyone just needs to carry their gun on their hip like the judge. That would cut down on crime quite a bit.

A Challenge for the Paper (Calling Clara!)

Clara Garcia, where oh where are you? This blog agrees with "Dee Morales" when in regard to the latest incidents at Movie Gallery and the slow response time she said:

...but the residents of this village deserve to know the truth about the incident and why it happened. I don’t think that’s too much to expect. ... . Have the truth posted in a reliable forum, i.e. the News Bulletin, so there aren't any questions regarding a cover up.
http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2007/02/event-here-is-story-for-you.html

The News Bulletin has resources and connections that many of the readers on this blog do not have. And if it is written in a clear, concise and factual manner without a lot of quotes from everyone defending themselves and CYA it would be believable and worth while to read.

Many questions have been asked on this website and a good reporter should be able to answer many of them.
- What were the events.
- Did the lady at the Movie Gallery call 911 or just push some panic button. And where did that call get routed to?
- Why did it take the police three hours to respond? If it is because the 911 service is wrong does the fault lay with the telephone company? Or with the 911 company?
- What is being done to correct the situation?
- Do people need to worry about the police responding to their home? Do people need to call 911 to ensure we will get service ok?

Sharon

Good for the Sharon who called in to the radio today. She was clear and concise and brief.
She mentioned she was a conservative.

In Honor of a Reader

Maybe others won't see this quite in the same light but this author read this piece of Hollywood gossip and immediately thought of one reader who used to post quite often.

Recently however this author has said where is he?

"Fugettaboutit"

http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah4396.shtml

The Summer Program

The Council needs to be planning now for this summer and the summer youth program.
Let's hope that last year was not the only year the Council agrees to have a summer youth program.
Let's hope that it gets better with time.

* And note: this author is not saying it was horrible to begin with, but there is always room for improvement no?

It might be a neat option if there was a planned activity for some set time and if this planned activity was posted. Monday- bike derby sponsored by the Village police, Tuesday- ball games, Wednesday- painting rock pets etc. Then lunch at a set time and free play for a set time.

The Council needs to sit down and decide how much money they are going to put towards this program. They also need to call the old directors of the youth program and ask them what went right last year and what went wrong.

This author spoke with one of them and they had some very specific problems, one of them being that there was not very much shade and there was no place to go for air conditioning to cool down. The Community Center director was also unwilling to allow the children into the shaded picnic area behind the Community Center or into her building for any reason. There were other problems as well.

Many of these can be rectified and the program improved upon this year. Let's hope the Councilors do their job in this matter.

Why? A Question from a Reader.

"Dee Morales" when discussing what occured at the Movie Gallery had this question.

Why would Judge Wilke call the manager of the Movie Gallery and ask questions regarding the incidents? Seemed strange to me, but the manager said he did.

This author thought that was interesting and worthy of mention again. It sounds like the judge is looking to be elected again!?

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2007/02/event-here-is-story-for-you.html

Little Things

"Doing little things well is a step toward doing big things better."

-- Harry F. Banks

Apartments and Crime.

In an article about crime statistics in Valencia County there was this important quote:

..."we have a younger generation that feels that assaulting people and hurting people is OK," said Los Lunas Police Chief Nick Balido, whose agency ranked No. 1 in violent crime per capita in the state in 2005. "We have an abundance of (young people) living here in our community. We have a lot of apartment complexes and things here for the younger crowd."

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/67446-12-16-06.html

How important is that? This author finds it is very important that when talking about crime and violent crime the police chief of Los Lunas refers to apartments as one reason there is so much crime per capita in Los Lunas.

It makes this author think about Councilor Wallace who chose to vote no to a Master Plan because it called for a continued ban on apartments. She wanted apartments for seniors, despite the explanation that you can not provide apartments for one segment of a population without taking care of all other segments.

An Event (Here is a Story for You!) (From Feb 28)

Did you hear what happened recently? "Just Here" has, just as others in the Village have heard.

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2007/02/police-are-eating-out.html

Some time last week the Movie Gallery place was robbed. The burglers pushed the poor cashier down, which is assault, and took a bunch of stuff (video games and stuff). So she did what anyone else would do in that situation.

Guess what?
Three and a half hours later she called the cops again to the and was told she could leave a message. After explaining the situation and demanding to speak to the chief, she finally got a promise that the cops would be there soon.

It took some time after that but they FINALLY came and took a report.

We talk about economic development. With a response time like that who is going to want to set up a business here. When Movie Gallery has a hard time finding employees you can ask yourself: Who is going to want to work somewhere after that happens?And who is going to want to set up a business in Bosque Farms with a response time like that?

A challenge for "El Tigre" and others

"BF Watcher" issues a challenge.

Seems like there are at least 5 different versions of this event(s). It should be easy to find the real answer. If they have a CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system, just print out the logs and incoming phone logs. If they don't you can pull hand written records. (If they don't we need to demand a tax refund for tax waste).Clearly if this incident did occur with a person being pushed to the ground that should be a priority call with a response time of no longer than 5 minutes. That is if the police department was notified when the call came in.

El-Tigre, if you have a connection in the county can you have them print the records?

Let us know what you discover "El Tigre".

Wising Bee Keepers Luck

This author hopes that Ken Hays and any other bee keeper in the area have safe and healthy bees.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2867049

A mysterious illness is killing tens of thousands of honeybee colonies across the country, threatening honey production, the livelihood of beekeepers and possibly crops that need bees for pollination.

Researchers are scrambling to find the cause of the ailment, called Colony Collapse Disorder.
Reports of unusual colony deaths have come from at least 22 states. Some beekeepers are losing
50 percent of their bees.
...
To top it off there is another bee bug that is destroying hives: a tiny, parasitic bug called the varroa mite, which has destroyed more than half of some beekeepers' hives and devastated most wild honeybee populations. ...

A recent report by the National Research Council noted that in order to bear fruit, three-quarters of all flowering plants including most food crops and some that provide fiber, drugs and fuel rely on pollinators for fertilization.

The Police Are Eating Out (From 3/1/07)

Nothing makes this author take a double look faster than seeing two and even three cars at some place to eat. This is doubly true when the place the officers are eating at is in Los Lunas.

If they are on duty, the officers should not be eating in Los Lunas. Yeah, so maybe they get tired of eating out at the places here in Bosque Farms (there are so few of them afterall); they can pack a lunch if they want. But if they are supposed to be protecting Bosque Farms, let them stay in Bosque Farms.

Having a police force is one of the main reasons Bosque Farms was encorporated. Having a shorter response time is directly related to that. The further away the police are, the greater their response time.

Part of the reason officers are paid while they are on break is because they are on call. That means they are still on duty. They are not off duty when they are sitting there eating their dinner. And that is as it should be, they should be paid and they should be on duty. And because they are on duty, that is they are supposed to be protecting those of us who live here, they should be here, In Bosque Farms.

There really is no need to advertise to the bad guys (and gals) that our officers are on break, eating, and away from their area of protection. But that is exactly what happens.

Here are some questions:

• How far away are they allowed to travel to eat? Albuquerque? Belen? Rio Rancho?
• Are all of the officers on break at the same time?
• If so, and it seems the answer is yes they are on break all at the same time, then WHY?
• How does this help the people who live in Bosque Farms?
• What is the response time for the officers if they are sitting down at a meal in Los Lunas? Is this response time adequate enough to stop a rape? to stop someone from breaking in?
• How often can they leave the Village for a break? Once a day? Every break? Only for meals? To have a smoke?

Neighborhood Watch Programs

"Formerly Counciled" said this:

I do think this is important. I have heard there are some more meetings coming up that are going to be about setting up a neighborhood watch program in your area. Maybe the 16th and 24th?

So this author checked and found out the dates, however yesterday when trying to post there were some problems and instead will quote "Coulrophobic".

The next two meetings will be about the Neighborhood Watch program. I hope there’s a good turnout. The first of the Neighborhood Watch meetings is actually on Tuesday, March 13, starting at 6pm.

The other meeting will be Tuesday March 27th.

"Truth" Provides a Good Opinion

"Truth" has set up his (or her) own blog and had this to say about the very issue:

The incident @ movie Gallery should not have been simply "shoplifting" if violence was used, although it was not severe. Although there is problems with a security system, 911 should respond! If an alarm system is activated and routed to the wrong dispatch, the phone call should have been plenty for police officers to respond, or receive the call from dispatch. Yes, every work place has problems, but for the government to be having problems with keeping the people secure sure makes you wonder what our tax money is being used for! The Village of Bosque Farms has been unstable for a while now, you would think that instead of problems increasing, they would be decreasing! Its not right for anybody to have fear to go around the town they live in! There should be more sense of security, more police patrolling around town perhaps! It should never take 3 hours to respond, or even twenty minutes considering the police department is only a couple of minutes away!

http://bfgovernment-truth.blogspot.com/

Council Meeting (Moved from 2/13/07)

Thursday February 15, 2006.

6pm

Council Chambers

Will you be there?

FYI Daylight Savings Time.

Did you know that Daylight Saving Time changes this year? It now starts
earlier and ends later.

In recent years, clocks in the U.S. have been moved to Daylight Saving Time (DST) on the first Sunday in April and moved back to Standard Time on the last Sunday in October. As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the U.S. government established the change that DST will begin on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November. These changes take effect this March. For more information on DST and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 please see the U.S. Naval Observatory site at

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/daylight_time.html

Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Outlook have DST schedules built into them to automatically adjust the computer's clock and Outlook's calendar entries to reflect whether they are in DST or Standard Time. Both Windows and Outlook must be updated to reflect the new DST schedule that takes effect in 2007.

Defining the Terms

Based on recent discussions under the posts about the recent crimes that have happened in Bosque Farms, this author went searching for information.

What exactly is assault?
What is the difference between burglary and shoplifting?
What exactly is shoplifting?

So, while the definitions provided are not from New Mexico State Laws and are not from Bosque Farms laws here are some definitions that might help those readers who don't completely understand some of the legal terms being tossed around.

Assault:
An attempt or threat to harm someone else, which causes the victim to fear harm. It technically does not mean use of illegal force, which would be a battery. Rule of thumb: "Made you flinch" is assault, not battery.http://www.ncpress.com/LegalFiles/glossary.html

is the unlawful, intentional infliction of injury on another person. Many state laws distinguish between simple assault, considered a less serious crime, and aggravated assault, a more serious crime involving the use of a dangerous weapon or the intention to inflict serious bodily harm.www.wierlaw.com/glossary_criminal_law.htm

Shoplifting:
the stealing of articles from a retail business.www.nationaltcc.org/tcc/

??Did you Know??

Shoplifting can be a felony if the dollar amount of what is stolen is high enough.

Burglary
the crime of breaking into and entering a building with the intent to steal. www.nationaltcc.org/tcc/

So the difference between shoplifting and burglary is none really except that one is a retail business and involves just stealing and burglary involves breaking into the place first. And really there is not something as simple shoplifting because it can quickly become much more than just taking a few things, particularly when you hurt someone in the process.

Fences and Safety (Moved from Feb. 19)

Good for the Council in that they finally realized that there are safety concerns regarding fences. Since these four have been in they have been fence happy passing ordinances that allow for ugly fencing here and there and everywhere and in fact encouraging it. But now, they have decided there should be more to consider:

Realizing that there are safety concerns for both local law enforcement and citizens alike when it comes to the height of front-yard fences, the Bosque Farms Village Council agreed Thursday to limit how high they can be erected.
...

The council agreed that the ordinance be changed to read that no visual barrier fence shall exceed four feet in the front setback and no fence shall exceed six feet. The ordinance does not restrict the height of fences in the back or the sides of residential property.

Councilor Dolly Wallace was the first to question the height restriction, saying that she believes that police officer safety could be compromised if front-yard fences are too high. She said the police chief also has concerns.

Sgt. Beardsley said. "From a tactical perspective, you come into real officer safety problems when you can't see over a six-foot wall."

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/68957-02-17-07.html

And isn't it interesting, Councilor Wallace wouldn't listen to Councilor Linthicum about safety and fencing when he brought it up, despite his job as a chief deputy (higher rank than chief I might add), but now, she is listening to the police here. It is a long time in coming that she listens to someone and acts on it.

To top that off, this fence law was one of the first ordinances Councilor Wallace and Councilor Knowlton wanted passed. And they passed it with all haste.

And now they are changing some of the laws yet those who erected fences these past few years won't have to change their fences to fit into the new laws (it's called grandfathering) and you will have to live with the original fences that have been put up.

Remember, they could have done some additional research. They could have asked those of us living here what the majority of us wanted. They could have read more, looked at other laws in other communities. They could have done a lot of things but they didn't.