IT'S BEEN BUSY HERE

The city of Albuquerque has decided that to live with state laws, they had to dig warning trenches at all intersections that have red light cameras. So now we can hear bump, bump, bumpety bump, every time we approach an intersection with a camera. This is to warn the scofflaws that if their mommas and/or daddys are loaded with dough, they can have an expensive attorney get them off free. Sort of like Paris Hilton. But with lots less publicity.

And I'm sure that the warnings will also cause a lot of skidding (because they're driving too fast?) and sliding (into other vehicles?).

They should also be a boon to shock absorber repairing companies. Lots more vehicles will need repairs (as if our potholes didn't help enough). They call them Rumble Grooves. How cute. But there are four intersections where the surface is concrete. So Rumble Strips will be installed there. These Rumble Strips are considered dangerous to cyclists and might even cause anti-lock brakes to function without warning.

John Castillo, the city's director of municipal development, says he's had a lot of "positive feedback". That people have remarked the Strips and Grooves alert them to the cameras. Well, duh. I think Mr. Castillo needs to find another job. He certainly doesn't seem to know anything about road safety.

On the other hand, Marty Chavez (our Mayor) and Ray Schultz (our Police Chief) do know a good deal about it. But they have to try and buck people like William Payne a state Senator from Albuquerque (who probably has tickets for running the lights).

I don't know if it will work, but I've put a link to the local newspaper and this article on the header. If it yells about not being a member there should be a link that lets you sign on as a guest.

Dang it. Another storm. Logging off.

SPEEDERS AND RED LIGHT RUNNERS

The anti red light and speeder camera group is at it again in Albuquerque. They want the cameras done away with. And they're very voiciferous about it, too.

I can only surmise that these people, led by State Senator William Payne, have all been caught (and probably more than once) by these tell-alls.

The psychology here is so obvious it's painful. These yahoos (no not the search engine) feel that they have both the right to speed and the right to run red lights. It's that simple.

They're special people who are above our mere mortal laws. They have priority over the rest of us. I just didn't understand that before. Pussy footing with the laws where a sub human like Paris Hilton has a weak sentence cut in half because of the money she has inherited (notice I did not say she earned it), should have explained it. Stupid me.

And the bull that came from the Bobby and Al Unser's mouths when they threatened the police was dismissed. You can't say that their limited fame and money protected them from the penalties of the law. They really shouldn't have been charged with anything in the first place. They're special people. Semi literate, but special.

In any case, I have come up with a individual alternative for such people. The stop and go light in the picture is designed for their use. And their use only. The rest of us humans still have to use the old three light model. You see, with that light above, they cannot be charged with running the amber light and we all know they wouldn't run the red light.

Think how much safer our intersections will be with this set up. The lead foots (I didn't say lead brains) will never have to worry about going through on the yellow light. Just be sure you don't venture into the intersection while they are on the road.

Our city council (made up of intellectually deficient men and women) is going to lower the penalties for breaking the law, too. Yep, cutting the fines down to a slap on the wrist. Another law on the books that is toothless. More cars destroyed, more twisted bodies in the morgue.

Did I mention that a toothless law is pointless law? Sort of sad, isn't it?

GOT A SPARE MILLION OR TWO?

It seems our Legislature (yeah, William Payne and his cronies) decided last year that we should all have "voter Id's" in order to vote. So the Secretary of State dutifully had them printed at the order of the electees. And she mailed them out.

They arrived, except in about 200,00 cases, at people's residences, in time for the prmary. Yep, 200,000 people didn't get theirs on time. I called the Secretary's office and was told that no, I did not need the card to vote. My driver's licence was plenty good enough identification. "Why," I asked, "did you mail this useless card to me then?" "The answer," she replied sweetly, "is that the Legislature said we had to mail them out."

Cute, huh? Not when you consider that some cards that were sent to incorrect addresses, there were umpteen mistakes on others, some were mailed to dead people and some went to wrong addresses. And it cost us $1 million bucks.

And our Governator just signed a bill in March that revokes this plan. This bill was thought up by the Republican minority and formally won the Dems vote, too. But so did the original bill that cost us the money. Nothing was mentioned about the hours and hours put in to originate these "ID" cards, nor how much that cost us.

But I'm willing to bet that William Payne and Tim Jennings (another Republican Senator) pushed for this bill, too. These are the guys who want Albuquerque to return to wiping out innocent drivers by getting rid of our red light cameras.

Anyway, how about taking up a collection for us, Washington? We could use it.

A VAST WASTELAND LOOMS

According to some recent research, it looks like New Mexico is going to become a huge desert. If you believe. If you don't know that vast chunks of it already is a huge desert. Richard Seager of Columbia University Earth Observatory says we're likely to see a new kind of drought. We'll have a climate that is dry all the time. And we probably won't think very kindly of it. That sign may not be so funny after all.

Of course, New Mexico has been plagued by droughts of varying severity going back to at least the 1930s. That was the drought that created the word "Okies" for migrant Oklahomans and Steinbeck's book The Grapes Of Wrath.

It would be difficult to believe that anyone living here now is not aware of our on going problems concerning our water supply. We regularly have to restrict water usage in the summer, use alternate sprinkling days, have special hours of use that help save water. We even have people who are referred to as the "Water Police". They can give you a ticket if you waste water while sprinkling your lawn. Albuquerque and some other cities here will even pay you to get rid of your lawn and replace it with rocks.

But instead of our Governator Bill Richardson and State Senators like William Payne and Tim Jennings concerning themselves with the fact that we may not have any water to drink, they seem to be more concerned about getting caught by speeding (and red light running) cameras.

Apparently these guardians of the public welfare are unfamiliar with certain water saving devices that have been in use in Europe for decades. And they seem to work well. And they are available in the US. And they are made in the US. And their cost is not that much more than a standard item.

And they are called Dual Flush Toilets.

Sound funny? It shouldn't if you use the men's restrooms at your favorite casinos. The urinals are clearly marked. They dispense only ONE gallon of water per flush. The commodes use TWO. The home use toilets are easy to use. Two buttons. Pick the one you need.

All of us are aware that there are certain bodily wastes that go away with only one gallon. More serious stuff takes two. But the toilets in your home and many, many office buildings seem to feel that you need two gallons for anything. Ladies may, men don't. Pretty obvious we are wasting our precious water. Like it's going out of style.

Dual flush toilets should have entered the buildings codes, as mandatory, many years ago. All new construction needs to have these water savers. There is no excuse, other than laziness on the part of the people we elect to office, that we are forced to waste our precious water.

I'd sure like to hear from some of our representatives about this.

WHERE'S MADD?

A driver here in the Duke City has been arrested for DWI. That's news? You betcha. It seems this is his twenty eighth (that's right, 28 times) for this offense. He's had "at least" 14 convictions, too. He's had his license revoked five times. It was revoked when he was busted this time, too. He's been to jail for a total of almost four years on DWI charges, (that's since 1985, because tracking information only goes back as 1985) and was on parole for two of these offenses when he was arrested. According to the police officer who stopped him, he fell when he attempted to get out of the car. And failed the field sobriety test. And refused a breathalyzer and/or blood test. Under our laws here, the most he can get is three years in prison, a $5,000 fine, "alcohol evaluation and treatment" and a lifetime license revocation. According to our Sheriff (whom I trust) the laws just don't allow for long jail sentences "unless he goes out and kills someone". That's a chilling way to stop him. Seems to me State Senator William Payne should be more active about that, than worrying about a ticket for speeding. In my opinion, MADD and DADD should be interested in getting a law with more teeth in it, too. The man is a loaded gun, friends, aimed at anyone's head.

IT'S A VENDETTA AGAINST US

I think I see the hand of William Payne here. Albuquerque has more than 90,000 students. It's the 32nd largest district in the United States. In 2005, a state legislative study recommended against splitting up the Albuquerque Public Schools district. In 2007, the state senate voted for splitting up the Albuquerque Public Schools district. Go ahead, say it. WHAT? Yep, a complete turnaround. It seems to me that splitting the district up would result in the poorer sections of the city getting less in tax dollars. Elizabeth Everitt, our school superintendent, said splitting up the tax dollars would result in the West side (poorer section) getting only 19 per cent of the tax base, but 94 per cent of the building funds. In other words, we'll build the schools there, but not be able to staff them adequately nor do the required maintenance. Senator James Taylor, (D-Albq.) the bill's sponsor, said: "This is something I've championed for a while." He didn't explain why he was in favor of making education worse for our lower income citizens, just that he's championed it. Now, actually doing something about alll the dead, useless weight that been entrenched in our school system is one thing. That should be up to the locals here. But to have a pompous Senator order any city to obey some state rule that would only compound the situation, smacks of hidden reasons. I wonder if he, or any of his friends or relatives, have been caught running red lights or speeding? That sniper picture up there may be more accurate than we know.

ALBUQUERQUE IS UNDER ATTACK

The trouble with political jokes is that very often they get elected. - Will Rogers If I had a lariat, I'd be swinging little loop about now. It seems that one of our state senators William Payne, ( R-Albuquerque) by name) feels that Albuquerque is making too much money from our "speeder/red light runner" cameras. The standard fine is $100. Of that, $14 goes to the company that owns the equipment, $15.65 to the hearing office, $18 processes the fines, $36 pays for expansion, education and projects like the meth team (Albuquerque was declared the world capitol in meth labs just last year). And $16.22 to other costs. That adds up to $99.87. I have absolutely no idea where the other 13 cents goes. William Payne is the state Senator who wanted this city to put up flashing yellow lights (at a cost of $500,000 each) wherever there were cameras. Apparently the amber light means nothing to him. I know I was taught that it was a warning light in driver's ed. In any case, wiser heads prevailed in the House and the bill was tabled. Hooray. There is wonderful quote from William Payne, speaking of the $74 he wants: "If it's a safety issue, I fail to see the logic." If it's a safety issue? Well, duh, William. There are published reports showing the decrease in accidents, injuries and deaths at all the intersections where the cameras are installed. And William has trouble seeing it as a safety issue? (Please see quote at beginning this of this article for further clarification.) I have question or two for both Mr. Payne and Mr. Jennings: Is it possible that you have gotten a ticket or two at these intersections? Or your friends or family? After all, Senator Payne, you didn't respond to my email a couple of weeks ago. Remember? It concerned the "flashing beacons" you wanted installed? I'm prepared to print any email or comment you care to make to this article. As long as it's kept clean. Please feel free to comment.