This Year

This author posted a to do list but let's think about this:

Why not do something this year. Something positive. This author would suggest to the Councilors of Bosque Farms, and the Mayor that they go forth with setting up a wi fi system for Bosque Farms.



Think of how business friendly that would be for current and future businesses. Wow, we might attract other businesses than used car dealers.



Some remote communities view Wi-Fi as an economic development tool to attract and keep industry. Corpus Christi, Texas, has embraced Wi-Fi as a platform for city services, running public safety data networks and municipal applications.



http://americancityandcounty.com/mag/government_citywide_broadband_network_wifi/



http://www.inc.com/articles/2003/09/wifi.html

The Police.

There are so many things wrong with this story:

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/78861-03-26-08.html

And not with the reporting mind you but with the whole story in the first place. This author had laid off the police because they were not in the news and were not begging for more money but look, it was too good to last.

A former Bosque Farms police officer has filed a civil lawsuit against the village, the chief and a fellow officer for what he claims was retaliation against him for speaking out about a coworker.

Do we hire a chief who retaliates? I guess we'll find out soon. And what if we do? What if the courts decide in Meo's behalf? Will anything happen to Chief Stidham? Will he be fired? I guess we'll find out. This author has a guess.

According to the complaint, Meo says that he voiced his concerns to Stidham about the competence and actions of an officer, who Meo "believed had engaged, and was likely to continue to engage, in conduct that created serious risks to the public safety and of possible deprivations of constitutional rights."

Do we hire people who engage in hurting others and hurt their constitutional rights? Do we?
We hired a guy who broke a girl's arm. So the answer, if you base it on past history, is yup we do.

And as if that isn't bad enough, when this officer tries to express his concerns they do what? Remove him from Swat team AND take away his police safety equipment.

The former officer alleges that the defendants retaliated against him by confiscating his necessary police safety equipment...

This author hopes that the reporter will follow through with the case and report on the final outcome. Those of us who live here deserve to know.

Two Offices

Sure it's legal to hold two offices. That is, Councilor Wallace can legally be both Councilor Wallace and Commissioner Wallace. The question is why?

Why would she want to do this?

The more important question is Why would we want to elect her?

Think about her meeting with the state legislatures for money. Every year she has brought up how the Rodeo Association needs money. Yup, she asks for money for a private entity. Now, will she be meeting with the state representatives for money and asking for money for the rodeo association and for Valencia County while trying to eat dinner with them on Bosque Farms money and time?

There is no reason to expect her to represent Bosque Farms at County meetings.

This author will bet all of this has something to do with horses.

A Quote to Think About

Of all tyrannies,

a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

It may be better to live under robber barons than under

omnipotent moral busy-bodies.

The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep,

his cupidity may at some point be satiated;

but those that torment us for our own good will torment us without end,

for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

--C.S. Lewis

Good Friday

Everyone, please have a blessed Good Friday and a blessed Easter.

This New Year

Have you wondered why potatoes are looking different, better, bigger maybe this year? Have you gone to the grocery store and yourself buying more potatoes than normal?



That is because this is the international

YEAR OF THE POTATO

http://www.potato2008.org/en/index.html

This author makes a great potato dish.

Alternative Views

It is sad that there does not seem to be an alternative view in Bosque Farms about how things are run. Open communication and differing views are how others make decisions. There used to be another blogger that talked about Bosque Farms and tried to spin it in a positive light, but not anymore.


But since April there has been nothing this blogger has cared to share with you readers.


I'm another concerned Bosque Farms resident who realizes the impact that the bfgovernment blog can have on the public perception of our Village. I am working to offer alternative information with others.


http://bfgovernment2.blogspot.com/

Sorry Readers

Sorry readers, "Coulrophobic" is correct, this author hasn't posted anything since the election. Today is the day to catch up. An awful illness laid this author down for a long time. Nothing life threatening for those that might be wishing it were so. For those who wonder why the others didn't keep it up, one has been traveling on work and one has been playing with a new grandbaby.

Congratulations to those that were elected.

This blog obviously was hoping for a different outcome. Such is life. It is simply very sad that such a small population turned out to vote.

This author now hopes that those in office will do something that will improve Bosque Farms and the lives of those of us who live here.

"The Flash" speaks about the Election

Thanks "Flash" for saying it. Thanks "US Military Man" also. This author didn't include the entire quotes simply for space sake. Follow the link below to read both of them.

"The Flash"
What's to be said about the election? 11% of the population re-elected the same inept people for four more years...more opportunity to "get" Lance?....the other "guy on the boulevard" who won't pave his parking?

....perhaps the Trinity trailer park could just take over the whole east side..affordable housing and meth labs...oh boy!

Boy you guys really set us up good this time. Let the cronyism, pandering and personal power grabs commence!!! Didn't we give them a mandate by re-electing the "posse"?

.......

"US Military Man"

From MY perspective this election was nothing but the consequence of the pitiable, current situation. I had hoped everyone would turn out to vote and not support any of the candidates for Mayor or Council. That would have sent a great message. And while I think many in the community feel very much like you, voting in their mind just was not going to make a difference.

History tells us that the natives always revolt. Maybe not on election day of 2008 and maybe not today, but the time will come. I wait for that day. We will overcome.

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2008/03/vote-today.html

VOTE TODAY

http://bosquefarms.us/elections.htm



What more is there to say? Please take a few minutes to vote.



This author going to follow the advice of one reader and vote for ONLY the candidate that is qualaified in the eyes of this author.

Signs that Mean NOTHING

Remember this when you vote:

This Council and this Mayor have made a habit of thinking that signs work and that putting up a sign makes it so. So similar to the businesses that put up a sign for every small problem until the signs are too numerous to read; so goes Bosque Farms.


The walkpath stop signs. The Council agreed to spend the money to paint words on the walk path and put up stop signs but guess what? The Village attorney stood up and said 'uh, if you are going to do that you might want to make it enforcable'. Nope, they didn't want to make it enforcable. So you can run the stop signs on the walk path all you want. (NOTE: not the stop signs on the roads, those have other laws to back them up).

The fireworks ordinance signs. This has been addressed previously. But this author wants to mention it as another sign that is meaningless most of the time. Which makes it in many more ways a problem sign because you never know when it is valid.

What other signs are there that might be meaningless?

Busy Councilor Wallace

Councilor Wallace has been so busy getting this fancy training she hasn't had time to do what she was elected to do- get things done for us.



http://bosquefarms.us/agendas/Reg.%20Mtng%206-18-07.doc



Here is the link to the last horse path committee meeting. June 18.

This has been an ongoing committee and what have the accomplished? NOTHING

And what did they do at this meeting? NOT MUCH.

They reviewed old business including a senate bill report and right of ways. They had a few reports and they adjourned.

Oh boy. She's working hard folks. Remember that at the ballot box.

A Great Audit

Good for the Council. Good for the mayor. Good for the Treasurer.

A good audit.

Of course, everyone understands that this just means that there is the amount of cash in the bank as required by law and that the Village is following state purchasing codes.

It doesn't mean that the Village Councilors are spending wisely or saving for large future purchases.

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/78217-03-01-08.html

Did You Know?

Mr. Walkup has donated computer printers and other items to the Bosque Farms Library?
Did you know that he has supported the Village in his very quite and unannounced way?
He helped support the fire department and the auction fund raiser they had a year or two ago.

Of course not, but he has.

And he hasn't even used his generosity as a reason to elect him to office.

But this is something readers should consider when voting.
Mr. Walkup gets things done, he does them, he doesn't complain, he doesn't advertise what he's done, he gets it done and goes on with his life. He doesn't use what he's done to further his ambitions either. He just does what needs to be done and then goes on to the next thing.

This is an admirable man. This is the man who has the vote of this author.

The To Do List

In an effort to help the candidates that are currently running, including Mayor Ake, this author provides a few of the unfinished things that need to be taken care of right now. And remember, this list has been ongoing for a long time now. In other words, the current Councilors should be aware of these problems and they either don't care, don't see them as a problem, or they don't know how to take care of these problems.

________________________

--- An emergency evacuation plan needs to be developed.

--- The library needs to be open more: longer hours, later nights, weekends.

--- A plan for animals in case of emergency needs to be developed.

--- 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 and important dates need to be noted and planned for ahead of time. (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 and expanded.)

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

--- Arsenic needs to be taken out of our water. (This is past due)

--- The levees need to be evaluated. The Corp. of Engineers, the MRGCD, and the Village need to work together to make this occur and to possibly prevent flooding.

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

--- 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!)

--- 911 Service needs to be considered and some method of insuring that those calling from cell phones will get service as soon as possible.

--- 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.

--- 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.

--- The Economic Development Committee needs to start developing economics and they need to start talking to people who want to talk to them.

--- The budget needs to include items for the fire department: training, equipment, a new truck.
(Not an old new to us truck).

--- A balanced budget needs to be developed with incentives to employees to save money (by providing ideas for saving water, energy etc), to work within their department budget, and to write grants for other funds.

"Go Dolly" A Reader Gets an Answer

"My Say" had this to say:

Just how much "Intergity" do you suppose Dolly is going to display this coming Thursday at the council meeting when she will vote to allow Virgil Proctor the zone changes he is seeking to allow him to put a Mobile Home park on property that he currently can't use because of previous ordinances? Least anyone forget, he ran to keep the Village "rural" among other things, and now he wants to get his property re-zoned so he can make more "untaxable gross receipts" money at the expense of the rest of the Village. Go figure!

Go Dolly! Show the residents of the Village how much 'integrity' you really have!

And your answer to how ethical Councilor Wallace is...
She voted to give Councilor Proctor the zone change he wanted.

Approved recommendations from the Planning and Zoning Commission to change several properties that had been previously been zoned M-1 including 430 Trinity Drive, which was changed to C-1; 290 Mitchell Drive, which was changed to R-1A; 1255 Bosque Farms Boulevard, which was changed to C-1; property in Section 12 T7N, R1E, which was changed to C-1; and 420 Trinity Drive, which was changed to C-1. Mayor Wayne Ake commended the commission for its hard work and research on the issue.

Councilor Virgil Proctor abstained from voting on the last two properties because he owns them.

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/78217-03-01-08.html

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2008/02/just-reminder.html