Happy Halloween

Spooks- by Sandra Liatsos

There's a goblin at my window,

A monster by my door.

The pumpkin at my table

Keeps on smiling more and more.

There's a ghost who haunts my bedroom,

A witch whose face is green.

They used to be my family,

Till they dressed for Halloween

http://www.theholidayspot.com/halloween/poems.htm

Some Halloween Trivia

Jack o'lanterns originated in Ireland where people placed candles in hollowed-out turnips to keep away spirits and ghosts on the Samhain holiday.

Vampire bats really do exist, but they are not from Transylvania. They live in Central and South America and feed on the blood of cattle, horses and birds.


Samhainophobia refers to an abnormal and persistent fear of Halloween. This time of year may also stir up other phobias such as the fear of: cats (ailurophobia), witches (wiccaphobia), ghosts (phasmophobia), spiders (arachnophobia), the dark (nyctophobia), and cemeteries (coimetrophobia). And in Honor of "Coulrophobic", May this author suggest that no one wear a clown costume on Halloween?

The Police and the Budget

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/75318-10-27-07.html

Here are a few more questions this author has about this new metal building.

Why not fix the current storage area?
Why not put a storage area in the new maintance building they are building?

Why didn't the chief mention this during budgeting? This is supposedly a horrible situation that has been on going. The fact is the metal screws have been sticking up from the floor since the fire station was built. So why is it just now being mentioned?

The Police and the Budget- Part One.

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/75318-10-27-07.html

It seems the police feel they need more storage. And while the author might believe that police work generates a lot of paperwork (after all, it is a governmental entity!) This quote made the author ask several questions:

Stidham explained that the loft, which is positioned above the fire station, was designated for storage for both the fire and police department. The chief said the loft is "extremely dangerous" and unsafe to walk across.

"It's easy for people to impale themselves on the four to five inch screws that are sticking through the top of that floor, and there's only a certain portion down the middle that you can stand up in," Stidham explained to the council. "We have a certain amount of things stored up there, but it's extremely limited ... and it's shared with the fire department."

First and most importantly- would it not just be cheaper and more budget wise to simply fix the loft?

It seems that it would be possible to cover the screws and make a flat floor good for storing things and walking on. Simple.

Council Meeting

This author was sorry to have missed this Council meeting. Unfortunately, this author has been traveling.

Here are two highlights from the newspaper.

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/75319-10-27-07.html

The mayor also announced that he will be running for a second term in office in March.
And remember previously the Judge has said he will not run.

and this:
An effort to increase the maximum accrued vacation hours for Bosque Farms employees died last week when no one from the village council voted to approve advertising a proposed amendment to the personnel policy.

It sounds like the Council spent some time thinking about this. And of course they have to be concerned because they are buying the chief a new building so they couldn't handle the accrued leave.

Another Interesting Article

This article says there really isn't a problem with water in New Mexico and all the fuss is a fuss about not much.



It is unfortunate that during the drought we suffer from inordinate attention from politicians and laymen given to a "water crisis" that does not exist. In what follows I attempt to first show that we have a sound water system in New Mexico which is based on water markets in which private water rights are traded, and, second, to shed light on some of our problems that are basically minor.



Even with this as the basic premise, this article is very interesting and sheds some light on water rights, water use, return flow credits, and strong points and weak points in New Mexico law about water.



http://www.riograndefoundation.org/papers/economic_aspects_of_water.htm

Water and New Mexico

Here is a very easy to understand hand out about New Mexico Water Laws- the history of the laws, the current laws, and a little bit about water return flow rates. This is a must read for anyone trying to understand the basics.





www.nmculturenet.org/heritage/river/PDF_Files/SocSci/Part2_Handouts.pdf

Return Flow Credits

So, what are return flow credits? And why is it so important that Bosque Farms turns in their return flow credits?


This comes from a Nevada website but it seems to explain everything in a very matter of fact, easily understandable way.

All of the states' Colorado River apportionments are consumptive use (net) allocations. This means that Southern Nevada (and also New Mexico) can actually divert more water than its apportionment, as long as we return that water back to the river.

When you take a shower or wash your car at a commercial facility, the unused water flows into the sanitary sewer. This sewer water travels to a wastewater treatment facility, where it is treated.

So, it is important because the state of New Mexico must stay in compliance with the interstate water agreement which says that New Mexico may only take a portion of the water in the rivers. And as it is most likely that New Mexico is taking more than its share, we must prove we are returning some of it to the river to equal the extra we are taking.



Now doesn't it seem though that New Mexico would be all over the communities that haven't turned in their return flow credit reports?

The Park Program (From October 3)

Did you know that this summer the weather was so hot and there was no shade for the park program? They would go across the street to use the 'backyard' of the community center during the afternoon.

But never again.

This author noticed driving by the park and SHADE! Nice job Council.

This is one thing the Council can claim as their own completely. It wasn't started by a previous Council member, it wasn't finished by a following Council member. They thought up the idea and they put the money towards it and finished it. Way to go.

Now... what about some shade over where the kids play?

Missing People

This author has been obviously rereading some of the earlier posts and would like to point out some of the favored readers that made comments have not commented for many months.

If they are still around this author would like to invite them to speak up again. Their posts were fun and interesting to read.

Eldorado

US Military Man

Land Lady who could always be counted on for short posts.

YesACop who had well thought out opinions about the police.

FatBoy5595

Of course, there are others and this author hopes they are all reading and will continue to comment. These are just a few of the names that stuck out as people who have not commented in a long time that always added interest.

Water Plans

This author got curious with all the discussion about return flow credits and went looking. This author is still looking and learning but look at this link below. You can visit the water plan for this region. It is a long dry read but some of it is worth reading.

This author would not hesitate to say that if you manage to read through some of this, you too will be able to make some accurate predictions about what Bosque Farms will be doing with water in the future.

http://www.ose.state.nm.us/isc_regional_plans12.html

Thanks Officers

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/74876-10-13-07.html

Thank you to the officers that truly get out and fight DWI crime.

During the Eighth Annual Damacio Montaño Officer Choice Award ceremonies over the weekend, officers from each of the six local law enforcement agencies, including the New Mexico State Police, Valencia County Sheriff's Department and the Isleta, Los Lunas, Belen and Bosque Farms police departments, were honored for their dedication in arresting drunk drivers.

Andrew Owens, a sergeant with the Bosque Farms Police Department, arrested 34 people for DWI this past year and has been with the department for only 18 months.

Good for him.

The Judge

Good for Judge Wilke for being honest about not running. Many of the politicians in our local offices can't or won't make a straight up statement about their running in the next election. But Judge Wilke is not running again and he gave everyone enough advance notice to begin thinking about running themselves.



This author would like to see a strong-I'll follow the la- non grandstanding-ethical-I'll help you learn to follow the law type of judge.



Is t here someone like that out there?

Good for the Village too. This author thought (Note for "Coulrophobic" this is an opinion) that Judge Wilke was grandstanding and often did things that just skirted this side of ethical. Long time readers saw that for a fact here on this blog.

Not a Problem in Our Village

If You Don't Believe in Killing Cats,

You are Already an Advocate

National Feral Cat Day

Alley Cat Allies implores you to take action: talk to your public officials, ask questions, engage residents to question animal control policies, and discuss how animal control practices are hurting or helping cats in your area

Shouldn't be a problem here in a community where dogs are welcome into the library right?
This is an animal friendly community.

Maybe the librarian could hold a feral cat day next year and invite the feral cats into the library.

http://www.nationalferalcatday.org/

A Thought

I love America more than any other country in this world,

and, exactly for this reason,

I insist on the right to criticize her

perpetually.

-James Baldwin

This author will add that this quote also stands true for local government as well.

Question for "Dizzy"

"Dizzy" This author doesn't know if you are still checking as you haven't posted lately; but while going through some back posts this author came across the comment you made in March 2006 that said there was 'hope' for Councilor Proctor.


Now, over a year later. What is your opinion?


(Of course, others feel free to express an opinion as well.)


http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2006/03/advertising_23.html





"Dizzy"


However, after the last council meeting "there is hope" for him. Maybe we all under estimated him and he's going to surprise us. That's what I'm hoping for.

Wikipedia

For those readers who overlooked or scoffed at the concerns one reader had about using wikipedia.org as a reference to prove a point, you may find this interesting.


A fictitious Danish municipality called " Æblerød " was added to the wikipedia in January 2004. Before the entry was deleted 20 months later, it had made it ... into mirrors of Wikipedia it had more than 700 Google hits in December 2006. Danmark Radio reports the hoax was created by the Danish .. student Jens Roland and some friends. They also added false entries involving Æblerød to other works. Roland says they wanted to investigate what one could get away with, and for how long. He has commended Wikipedia for getting it corrected.


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

Let's hope...(From Sept. 28)

Let's hope this gets fixed soon.

...which included information that the village was delinquent on return flow reports that needed to be filed...

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/74401-09-22-07.html

Summer Program. The Van. part 2

While on the topic of the Summer Program guess what other sad event happened; no trip to McDonald's.

The children who attended the Summer Program were promised a trip to McDonald's at the end of the program. Of course, it was too hot to walk and too far for some young children so it was expected that the program director would have a plan.

She did. The Village Clerk Administrator did too.

When it time to plan and finalize the trip- the Village Administrator essentially said 'nope, not doing it, forgot about it, don't care about it, it's not happening'. So it didn't.

Thank you to the parents of the young director who brought in treats and "SAVED THE DAY". Good for them.

No matter what the reasoning, when you tell children something is going to happen, it should happen. Thumbs down to the Village Councilor, Mayor and Clerk Administrator for not following up on a promised treat to young children.

The Fire Fighters and Their Gear

This author has been wondering- the police seem to be getting new cars (and four wheelers) and the sewer and water guys (and gal) are getting some new vehicles in their department.

Has the Fire Department recieved a new truck?

Has more money been put aside for the needed truck to do their volunteer service?

Did you know that the last vehicle the fire department bought was used? Yup!

Did you know that the volunteer fire department men and women often pay for their own training, travel to and from training and take their own personal days off of work to go to training?

Did you know that the volunteer fire department has paid for their own supplies in the recent past?

Don't you think it's time the Village start helping the fire department get the supplies they need to fight fires? Maybe before they start paying for a pool evaluatiaon or maybe even arsonic removal.

This author would like to see the Council and Mayor and current Clerk look for funding for this important function.

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2006/03/comparison.html

An Interesting Site About Arsenic (from 9/28)

Note: In light of the recent discussions about water rate increases, this author remembered this post and thought to pull it up again.

Of course, never once has the reason been given to raise water rates to help pay for arsenic removal. But this article and info is still pertinant. And remember the reason for water rates has been given as 'aging pipes' which we all know is bunk.

This site is called the Arsenic Site. It bills itself as a site that is unique and put together to discuss arsenic and cleaning arsenic out of water.

http://thearsenicsite.net/1/

What is very funny is that this site specifically links to an article from the local News-Bulliton and questions the raise in water rates that Mayor Ake has been discussing. This is right on the main page as linked above.

Here are the comments from the site administrator.
"Site admin comments: We have allowed $2 per thousand gallons of to be treated for an operational cost on disposable adsorptive media. In a typical household, this is $150/yr. Even if you put in a 10 year depreciation on the equipment (it should last longer), the cost is then about $450/yr. Neither of these is close to $840/yr!"

The Van and the Summer Program

Too bad that this summer was so hot that the young children going to the summer program, unless they rode their bike could simply not go to the library.

The library is a great place and it's kid friendly with lots of great things in it (for those who might not know - those things are called books) !!

But it was simply too hot for the children to walk.

There is a van at the community center. A nice bright red one. It is handicapped access able so every child could go to the library. It is supposed to be used for events such as this- to transport those who need it around the Village as well as to be used for the senior program at the Community Center.

So why did the children have to walk? (and why did the children who didn't have bikes eventually not go to the Community Center?)

Is there special licence needed for driving this van?
(based on the size, most likely not, but this author hasn't checked 'facts' to be sure. )

Is there only one driver insured for this van? How crazy would that be?

What is the reason the poor children had to walk in the hot sun, ride their bikes, or not go to the library?

You would think this would be part of a summer program. It is in other communities. And let's be honest, that is part of what this is about, that is one of the reasons mentioned when this program began- other communities do this. So let's do the whole thing right.

Prophetic

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2006/01/village-of-bosque-farms-and-budget.html


This author recently came across this post and look, way back then in 2006 there was discussion about water rates being increased.

Two posts Today to Count for Today and Tomorrow

This author hopes that works for everyone, but as this author is going out of town for the day and one author has recently been looking to move out of Bosque Farms and is busy looking at homes in Peralta, this will have to work.

This is your chance- an open mic. sorta chance- if you have something you might like to post or share or even express concern over- do so now.

If you have something you might like to see this blog cover in the future, then do so now.

Some More Information, The Budget and a Comparison

From last year numbers- 35% of the Valencia County 7.8 Million dollar budget it spent on the Sherrif's Department. And for that money this is what they get:

28 deputies, two lieutenants, and three sergeants. The department also includes four detectives, one detective sergeant, two court security officers, a civil secretary, a records clerk, an administrative secretary and seven dispatchers.

http://www.co.valencia.nm.us/Sheriff.htm

Now granted, many of these same officers say they end up paying for their own equipment. But guess what? So do many other workers in many other positions. And keeping this on track, let's compare this to Bosque Farms.

Based on the numbers for last year and the year before, the budget for Bosque Farms is about 4.5 million dollars and 50% of that goes to the police department.

Did you know the Bosque Farms police have rifles? spike belts for high speed chases? buy their gas at a gas station?

In Valencia County's rural areas, vandalism, arson, auto theft and burglary are the big problems. In fact, unincorporated Valencia County — with a population of about 47,000 — had one more burglary in 2005 than unincorporated Bernalillo County, with a population of more than 109,000.

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

To Do List

The Running To Do List (Original Post Sept 25, 2006)
Just a review. This is not an attempt to say "nothing gets done" this is just an updated copy of a post from August 25.

The purple items are added, some of them are items the Council has discussed and dropped and some of them are items this author feels need to be done. Hm. not much added since the last go around on this list.

The items that have been accomplished have been deleted. Hm. The only thing that this author has deleted because it is completed (deleted for space sake) would be the walk path benches and fountains. (Thanks for getting this done finally!)


Green is ongoing currently. (Some wording has been changed for clarity or space.) Just a few things have changed to green on this go around. Good for the Council to finally get some work going.


This list looks like the result of those very short meetings that Mayor Ake is so proud to hold.
__________________
--- An emergency evacuation plan needs to be developed. (Didn't this author read in the paper that the County was taking much of this on for everyone? Hope so.)

--- The take home car policy needs to be evaluated and the numbers and facts need to be considered before continuing this program.

--- A Master Calendar needs to be developed (for National Night Out, Yearly Garage Sale Day..)

--- The park bathrooms need to be available and vandalism limiting methods considered.

--- The Community Center needs to be used for everyone in the community- ALL year long.
(Credit for the Council for budgeting for and keeping it going a limited summer recreation program. This needs to be improved as upcoming posts will demonstrate.)

--- The Horse Path Committee is doing what? The public needs to be updated.

--- Arsenic needs to be taken out of our water.

--- An adopt a road or adopt a neighborhood program needs to be developed.

--- Does the fire department need a new truck?

--- A neighborhood watch program, the public needs to be aware of this.

--- The Property Law needs to be completed and passed.

--- FEMA needs to be petitioned to take Bosque Farms OUT of the flood plain.

--- The Current hiring and background check policy needs to be rewritten and clarified.

--- The Fireworks Ordinance needs to be considered now (Not in July!)

--- A policy needs to be developed about who can use this Community Center for free or fee and when. (Such as 4H getting free use for picking up trash, why can't other groups?)

--- The results of the pay comparison have been turned in, now a pay raise policy needs to be developed. This is back to black. The pay comparison is finished but the employees need to see the results and a policy needs to be developed. Get going Council.

-- The librarian needs to be told to not bring her dog to the library. The general public would not be allowed to do the same, it is not a seeing or hearing helping dog so it needs to be out.

Businesses

This author is sorry to see the Movie Gallery go out of business.



There are some new businessses that need to be welcomed to Bosque Farms.

This author will be first in line for Paradise Donuts. And a new water business is now open for business and a few more look like they are opening up.

Good Luck Businesses.

Happy October

October has more than Halloween as a great event worth noting.

National Fire Prevention Month. Check your fire alarms.

Other special events this month include:

Adopt a Shelter Dog Month

Celebrate Sun Dried Tomato Month

National Caramel Month

Women's Small Business Month

And so on. And as a favor for the reader early on who tried to make a guess about this author and criticized good eating and good cooking here is a recipe for everyone.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/recipe-caramels.html