As a taxpayer in the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District I would like to say their proposal to request the arming of employees who patrol the Bosque is a really stupid idea. We taxpayers in the district already pay quite a bit that other taxpayers don't shoulder, even though the Bosque and trails along MRGCD ditches are used by everyone who wishes. There is nothing wrong with that.
I do think that there needs to be some law enforcement presence in the Bosque and that having them armed is okay. Doesn't it make sense to fund the Sheriff's offices in the four counties the District serves to carry out the work? They are qualified to do this kind of work and the District is not. You wouldn't want the Sheriff's offices doing field wildlife and conservation work and irrigation and flood control work along the river so why ask the District tax payers to fund its own police force when others can be paid to do it professionally?
The thinking over at MRGCD must be muddled due to the fact that the board and management is somewhat dysfunctional. Still, the rank and file employees have improved the place over the years.
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Considering I live beside a ditch, I am very embarrassed about my lack of understanding when it comes to MRGCD. At the same time, they are quite the invisible entity, at least in my experience down here in the South Valley. I can't remember the last time I saw the "ditch rider" for instance. My only real contact is dealing with the jurisdictional snafu of whether MRGCD or the County should clean up the graffiti along the ditch, a snafu that has always led to no graffiti being removed whatsoever.
I'd like to find out more about what's really going on, esp. after reading the demise of "ditches to trails", which I also knew nothing about. Must be time for some phone calling.
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