Thar's Gold in Them Thar....

Check this article out. Here is a good idea for Bosque Farms, a new way to raise funds without raising taxes.

A sewage treatment facility in central Japan has recorded a higher gold yield from sludge than can be found at some of the world's best mines

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE50T56120090130

Be sure to read the whole article though because although it is an interesting idea, it is more than likely that Bosque Farms would not see the same types of results. Worth some thought though.

Unmarked Cars and Drug Task Forces

So you can read it on Stidham's blog- there are drug task force options. What does this have to do with unmarked cars?

Well, Stidham has routinely explained to Mayor Ake that they need unmarked cars in order to be safe. They can go under cover and visit suspected drug houses and maybe make some arrest they might not have otherwise made.

BUT that is why you call in a drug task force. They have people who that is all they do- go undercover, stay undercover, make the case for the police to come in and arrest the bad guys.

Now that he has stated that on his blog, maybe it is time to get rid of the unmarked cars?

America Saves

Here is a challenge for you- save some money.

This author talks about the Village budget but here is a chance for everyone of us to look at our own budget and think about what we need to do to help ourselves.

The economy is tight and many of us are not too far away from losing our jobs and by extension losing our homes. This is an interesting article by a young woman who has a family is paying off debt and saving money. In it she quotes some facts that are sure to make you shudder.

Nearly a third of families surveyed had less than $100 per week left after meeting basic expenses. About 75% could not survive for three months if they had to rely on savings or assets alone.

So here is a challenge for you and this is the week for it.

http://www.americasaves.org/

Another Thought From Flash

My son and I , after questioning the PD about their practice of stopping cars in the street, were told that the local merchants complained about stops in their lots....so....being one to ever question authority, we set out southbound on the boulevard for an informal survey. From the SW Grille to Auge's we did not find one person who objected...we didn't go everywhere, but did talk to most of the businesses, who agreed it was safer to pull out of the street and did not object. We didn't go north, so that must be where all the objectors are located. As usual, the PD has its own bits of information not available to the general public

http://bfgovernment.blogspot.com/2009/02/flash-does-math.html

This author about laughed off the chair with this post. Good for "The Flash" and son (Would his name be 'Light"?) for questioning authority. And isn't that interesting that when you check, it just turns out to be another lie?

Happy Valentines Day

Happy
Valentines
Day

Answering the Phone

Oh there it is, and doesn't it make sense?

This blog has commented previously on the lack of an answer for the police department. If you call the phone rings and many times goes over to an answering machine. And sometimes you need an officer but it is not an emergency so you don't want to call 911. Well here is the solution, straight from the "Big Pig" himself. (Remember, this is his spelling folks!)

There is a very simple solution to solve this problem, what is that you might ask? Well simply call the non emergency dispatch number listed below if you need a police officer for any reason. If you do not need a police officer please leave your message on the answering machine and your call will be returned. We apologies for any inconvenience this may cause, but the Village is not in a position to hire additional staff to answer the phone in the absence of the clerk.

Please Call Regional Dispatch Non Emergency Number:

505-865-9130

Now if we can just get them to return their calls when you leave a message. But maybe that is too radical a request?

Speaking of Old News

Take a tour through "Big Pigs" blog at the old posts. You won't have to tour far since the posts only go back to the start of this year. But hey! Lookie there! Stidham shares information about what happened in 2002 under another chief (not much according to him) and information about what happened in 2003 and 2004 under his control.

I guess it is supposed to make you feel better that you have a real go getter as a chief as opposed to the old chief.

What it is for this author is cause to worry. Why does Stidham feel the need to be so critical of someone who has been gone for so many years? Is he that insecure? Is there a reason to not report some of the positive things that the old chief did in order to make himself look better?

What this is is cause for worry because it makes him look like a bully and like someone who can't stand to have anyone else look as good/better than him.

Old News

This author has known about this incident for some time. However, it wasn't until recently that this author found this site. And now you too can read about the fight that our illustrious Chief had at a bar. Thankfully he wasn't our chief at the time. And while it is old news, it is enlightening.

An Old Article- the school district

This is an older news article from the local newspaper. However, it is still worth discussing.

http://www.news-bulletin.com/news/86264-01-24-09.html

Isn't that interesting?
The quote that really disturbed this author is this one:

Preschool should be more than just an option for parents of the Los Lunas district. It should be a required part of a child's education.

...on Jan. 13, Superintendent Walter Gibson said that preschool might make a substantial difference in the way students in elementary schools perform.

The schools already have our children in their halls for 185 days a year. They sometimes have the students for summer school 36 hours and they even have them for after school tutoring at 16 more hours above the normal school day. They sometimes hold students in summer school with the threat of not moving up a grade if the child doesn't attend. There are early intervention classes and head start and a lot of other programs for students who need extra help.

That is a long time to have a student in school. And now the superindentent wants to mandate the children go earlier than they ever have before?

Really?
Will that really help?

This author says no. IF all of this extra schooling on top of the normal schooling isn't working then maybe something needs to change. Smaller classes for one.

And here is a radical wayward thought for you readers- maybe this isn't the fault of the school. Maybe parents aren't putting in time and effort and demanding better from their children? Maybe the parents need tutoring on how to read with their child?

And maybe testing doesn't tell the whole picture? Testing is one day and even one part of one day or one part of several days and it certainly doesn't tell all the time and effort and work the teachers are doing to help the students. It doesn't tell how many absences the students have had or how many students are going home to empty homes and no dinner until late at night.

This author certainly hopes that no one will even consider mandating more school for children. This author believes that this is part of the problem. School. Children need to be children and play and learn through play. Taking that away from them for the cause of better test scores is not acceptable.

58%? What does it matter?

The following quote from this article should just reassure you.

Jones said Bosque Farms has received about 58 percent of its projected gross receipts tax for the fiscal year. The village's annual municipal gross receipt tax is currently down about 5 percent, and its state share of gross receipts is down 2 percent from the previous year.

The exact quote should not bother you so much but what should bother you is the idea that the Village just looks at the bottom number and says 'look, we are at 50% of the year through and we have earned 58% of what we expected.'

That is just how Mayor Baldwin and his Clerk Administrator did it, just this overall bottom figure quote with no thought about the whole picture. And by doing just that they spent a large portion of what was saved. They just talked about a bottom line number of income and never discussed what has been spent and why and where and overall how things look. And by the time Mayor Baldwin left a huge chunk of savings was gone, never to be seen again.

What about how much we have spent? Have we spent over 50% of what we budgeted already?
What about each department? How are they preforming? What about how much we saved (yes, a little joke there!)?

"The Flash" does the math

7897 traffic citations in a village of less than 4000 people? I'll do the math for you, that is one ticket every hour and six minute,24/7. My first speeding ticket in 30 years cost me $138 in Los Lunas and that was at 12 miles over, in front of Albertsons. If one rounds to $100 that alone should have generated $800K....and poor Wayne has to bail Big Pig out?

....looked at Albuquerque's traffic ticket stats and it appears that over the last 8 years, they have averaged about 34000 traffic violations per year in a community of half a million...their PD website....Big Pig and crew wrote about 8000 in a community of less than 4000 souls. A city 125 times as large as BF{assuming 500000 population} only writes 4 1/4 times the traffic tickets? What is this...can it be....is my math as bad as that...ponder, my friends what Bosque Farms has become

Read his whole post here

Happy Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day

Mr. Groundhog's Shadow

A groundhog lives down deep in the ground.
He Sleeps through the winter.
And every year about this time,
He wakes up and wonders,
"Is it time to get out of bed
Or pull the covers back over my head?"
So he pokes his head up out of the ground.
Will he see his shadow?

If you want to read about the history of Groundhog Day visit the official Groundhog and join the club. You can do that here.

If you want to read all about the myth and feel good about not believing in old folk tales take a look at this article from Slate.

If you want more Groundhog Day poems, read them by visiting this website.

If you are more interested in the movie than in any old groundhog, then look at this place.

Police Cars

We made a decision recently to not repair a broken Chevy Impala which was a cost savings of over $2,ooo, we will send this vehicle to action instead where we expect to receive between $2,000 and $3,000 for it. We purchased a used low mileage Impala from the state police and the Chief has given up his newer unit and will drive the used Impala in an effort to make it all work. The plan is to take the funds from the action coupled with funds saved in another line item to pay for the Impala.

This author would like to point out that at one time the police were buying new cars. New Cars. That is cars that didn't have mileage on them at all. Cars that wouldn't break down in a year or two thus leaving the officers without a car and in a rush to buy yet another used car.

This author is glad to see the chief working hard and giving up his newer unit. This author is sure the officers appreciate it.

But do tell, what is a low mileage vehicle from the state police? What is low mileage?

One final thought on this item:

The chief said:
We made a decision recently to not repair a broken Chevy Impala which was a cost savings of over $2,ooo... Author's note: the new vehicle will cost $4000. And that surely doesn't include a new paint job so we can have our cool graphics on the car at a minimum and most likely doesn't include a whole police package of light etc.

That sounds like the wife who goes shopping and spends $200 on new clothes and says 'it was on sale honey, I SAVED $300.


http://bosquefarmspd.blogspot.com/2009/01/mid-year-budget.html