Registration Scammers?

Appears Coloradoans are going to be "assaulted" by people forcing Obama registrations. Here is a link to a local news story from KKCO. Word of advice... register at clerks office, there are criminals scamming people everywhere and some of them don't just work for the Obama campaign.

So You Voted No? GJ City Council Doesn't Care

In 2008, on the ballot was a measure for the city to build a new Public Safety Building for $98 million. So the city held a "listening tour" and decided that they would borrow $30 million that is payable over 30 years at a cost of (drum roll please)$102 million. Interesting to say the least.

There was no doubt that the city wanted the public safety building and they were going to get it no matter what we the people said,  They used "Certificates of Participation". That is a loan that they don't have to go to the voters for approval. It seems they like the like "the end around play" (to use a football analogy) at the city. 

The voters did not approve the original proposal because it was thought to be to extravagant. So why not pare down the original proposal and send it back to the voters? Maybe we can find an answer from comments by City Manager Laurie Kadrich, "We would have done it at this time, regardless,” Kadrich said. “Sure, there will be people to say they’re doing it to beat the ballot.”

This seems to be a perfect example of what ballot Amendment 61 is trying to stop. I don't think anybody wants the police to have a shabby run down police station. What the people do want is for our governments to be accountable to the people.

Harry Reid says Taxes are Voluntary!

I guess we don't really need to worry about our taxes, like I posted below in Fred Thompson on Our Tax Increase. Because according to Harry Reid they are voluntary anyway....

Time to Catch Up

A week ago or so, I tried to lift a lawn mower to a place I needed to mow. About 3 seconds into the operation, I was reminded I am not 20 anymore and have been kinda "gimped up" for a spell. Now I'm going to try to catch up on all the news I've been missing, thanks for your patience...


Obama vs. Brewer

After blowing off Brewer since Arizona passed their immigration legislation, Obama decides that he can meet with Jan Brewer, Governor of Arizona and blow her off in person. I just hope that Governor Brewer doesn't want a job in the administration because it appears that the White House is hiring.........

White House vs. Senate Contenders

If you run happen to be a Democrat and be running against a Democrat Incumbent for Senate it appears that you might be getting a call from Rahm Emmanuel (Or a visit in the shower) and be offered a "job" in the administration. Ahhh Chicago politics...Richard J. Daley would be proud.

Plug the Damn Hole!

As a concerned President, Obama sent a bunch of engineers and oil men to the Louisiana coast to help plug the drill hole leaking into the gulf.....ahem....excuse me .....I guess he sent lawyers...so never mind.

Grand Junction "Listens"....

The City of Grand Junction had a "listening tour" about building a new police/fire station that was voted down by the public a couple of years ago. I hope they got their money's worth because it cost $1,000 a head to hear what those 41 people had to say...

Maybe next time you give a high school kid a hundred bucks and have him walk around the mall with a tape recorder and ask questions, might have a better result.

Moon Rocks ....Moon Rocks where could you be?

Moon rocks that they just discovered to be missing, were located in the home of Former Gov. John D. Vanderhoof. Governor Vanderhoof quit being Governor in 1975, so it took 35 years to figure out that they were even missing. What else has gone "missing" the last 35 years?

OK there's my brief thoughts on the headlines thanks again for your patience.

Immigration on the Western Slope

It has been quite some time since I wrote about the topic of immigration reform. I read that the Colorado Immigrations Rights Coalition has opened an office in Montrose, so I thought it time to state or restate my position on immigration.

First off, I like immigration. My forefathers came to the U.S. from Germany, Ireland and Russia. Bringing with them their culture, food, and traditions. They came to the United States, they learned our language, they shared their traditions and culture and learned the traditions and cultures of other Americans.

The difference between the mass immigrations between 1850 and 1910 and the immigrations of today is all the immigrants in days of old, came in the front door of America, not sneeking in the back door.

Immigrants of the day had difficult problems to deal with, just as much as immigrants of today. They were discriminated against and they did the "jobs Americans wouldn't do". They worked hard to get into this country. They worked hard to learn the language. They worked hard to pass the tests required to be come a citizen of the United States.

The current immigrants from Latin American countries seem to think that they are "owed" citizenship because they went through all the difficulties of breaking the law to get into this country. What? We want to reward lawbreakers with citizenship? How does that work?

Let's say a man steals a car. Because he had such difficulty stealing the car, should we should be rewarding him with a Rolls Royce? That is insane. You don't reward illegal activity. We needn't give away the citizenship of greatest country of the world. Citizenship is not a prize. You have to earn it. To become a member of the greatest country of the world you have to make the effort, do the work.

So if this Colorado Immigrations Rights Coalition has been put in Montrose to help legal immigrants in becoming legal citizens, I will support them all the way.

But if this Coalition's main interest in granting citizenship to millions of criminals, then let me be the first on the Western Slope to suggest setting up an ICE station next door.

The Body Farm

There has been a little bit of a stir around Mesa State College having a "body farm" located around the area of 29 and D roads. The placement of the body farm at that location will be temporary, according to Mesa State. The whole idea is kind of interesting to me for a couple of reasons. The main one being, that I live about 1 mile away.

Essentially a body farm is where they place human remains to study their decomposition for forensic and other reasons. From what I learn in the local news media, the folks in the neighborhood are kind of going "NIMBY" (Not in my back yard) on the project. They evidently don't like to have humans buried so close to thier homes. They are afraid of the smell, and the effect on their property values.

The piece of land they would like to have this body farm is in the neighborhood of 154 acres. I would think that Mesa State would not be placing the bodies right on the corner of 29 and D, so I doubt the smell would become an issue.  As for the property values declining because there are dead people buried near their property, I think that the Veterans Cemetery right next door would have already made the property values decline, if they were going to decline. 

Personally, I like the body farm idea, there are only five of these body farms in the country and the Grand Junction body farm would be the only one in a dry climate. Scientists might travel from all over the country to study at the body farm.

I am sure that Mesa State understands that once the new overpass opens up on 29 Road, that the corner of 29 and D becomes a lot more valuable piece of property. I am sure they won't be "farming" at that location for very long. If I lived in that area I don't believe I would complain too much, sounds like a good deal to me. A body farm would be a perfect neighbor. No traffic, no noise and no complaints.

On a side note...

I wonder what happened to the development project that was going to be at the 29 and D Road location? About a year a ago there were plans to have something like 1,000 housing units with commercial and industrial areas. That little plan must have went away with the energy jobs. I was actually hoping someone would add a grocery store to that development but it looks like the Pear Park area gets to stay "commercial free" for the time being. 

The Western Slope doesn't matter?

The website Coloradopols.com posted an article that states that Western Slope doesn't matter in a state wide election. The article essentially said that the Western Slope of Colorado doesn't matter, in a state wide election because the Front Range has so many more people than the Western Slope.

I think the folks at Coloradopols.com didn't give to much thought to their article. There are roughly 600,000 people that live on the Western Slope. That is about equivalent to the populations of Colorado Springs and Greeley combined. Do they matter in a statewide election?

If the Western Slope doesn't matter then why have we been visited by the two Presidential candidates (Obama, McCain), a Vice Presidential candidate (Palin) and then after the election we were visited by the President? I would say that the Presidential election is a bit bigger than a state election and we mattered at that time.

If you think the folks on the Western Slope don't matter, then let me point you to another election that was pretty close, Bush vs. Gore. That election was essentially decided by 537 votes cast in Florida. All the voters in an election matter, that is what democracy is all about. I don't think it matters if you live in Denver, Grand Junction or even Crook, Colorado you are part of this state and your vote matters.

Grand Junction and Amendments 60, 61, Prop 101

I read an article today in the Daily Sentinel that states that ballot issues for Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101 would cost the city 10% of it's budget next year.

Please realize that as of this writing I have not read the actual measures, just going off the information in the article.

I will go measure by measure, then give my opinion as it relates to the City of Grand Junction.

Amendment 60: This requires that a government can not extend your property taxes without voter approval. Voter approval would happen every 4 years. Limits mill levies and forces the state to make-up the shortfall. Humm, accountability to the voters that doesn't sound bad to me. It also sounds like it would limit the amount of debt incurred by government.

Amendment 61: This would limit the amount of money that a government could borrow without voter approval, including leases. Hummm, even more accountability to the voters, that's good. Larger limits on the amount of debt that a government can have, sounding even better.

Proposition 101: Decreases ownership fees for vehicles, limits sales taxes on vehicles over $10,000. Cancels lease fees and rental fees on vehicles, eliminates telecommunications taxes and lowers income taxes. Hummmm, lower taxes and fees, sounds best so far.

When the whole country is in a recession it is amazing what happens. As a business you learn to not spend money, except on the critical items, you cut back, you make due with what you have. A family does the same thing. They make the small cuts to save the big stuff. With government they seem to think they are impervious to the the poor economy. They keep spending like it is a boom time. They don't plan for the future. They are like a spoiled child that wants everything NOW! Well Vercua, you can't have it now. You are elected by the people and are accountable to the people. The first sign of good legislation is when the bureaucrats come out and say: "We can't do that or it is impossible".

The above measures would cut the city budget by about 10%. What is wrong with that? I would be willing to bet that every department in the city could cut 10% with little problem. The people and the businesses in this town have cut much more than that over the last year, maybe it is time for government to do the same.

What if this happens... you cut all these taxes, making Colorado more attractive to businesses, they move in, adding jobs and even more money to the state and local coffers. Maybe there is two sides to every coin. Accountability in government is a good thing and I think I like these budget measures already.

The Buddy Case and People

For those readers who do not live in Grand Junction... there is a local story that has been making headlines lately, that has defiantly stirred the public. The story is: a guy was caught after dragging a stolen dog to death, behind his truck. This is a horrific story that has people all over town wanting to drag the suspect behind their own car, to avenge Buddy's (the dog's) death.

The incident has sparked so much interest that somebody started a Facebook account Demand Justice for Buddy that already has 130,000 members (That is more people than actually live in Grand Junction).

The point of my blog post is not really about Buddy though, it is about people. I am an animal lover as well, I have three dogs myself and I would be devastated if this incident happened to one of them. My heart goes out to the owners of Buddy and what they are going through right now. What I find interesting is; how the public is ready to murder a person, in revenge of an animal.

In this country we have a certain "revenge" aspect to our culture that has intrigued me for a long time. Think about the slogans of big events of the past: Remember the Maine (Spanish-American war), Remember Pearl Harbor, Remember 9-11, War on Poverty, War on drugs, or War on Congress (OK, I made that one up).

If something happens in America that actually stirs the anger in Americans, you better watch out, cause you are going to pay. The quotes by Isoroku Yamamoto after the attack on Pearl Harbor, come to mind: "I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." and "Gentlemen, we have just kicked a rabid dog."

I think that is why so many people want to come to the United States, or are at least envious of this country, because we take care of our own. It is more like a "national community" than a country. If we are attacked anywhere from Florida to Alaska, we will protect our countrymen. We do not fight for nobility or land we fight for each other. That is a national pride that is truly American.

Our forefathers faced many struggles both here and abroad to become citizens of this country. Not to conquer more land or take over a culture. They wanted liberty. They wanted a community. That earned liberty, has made a truly unique American culture, a culture with Americans that will do anything to protect their own. We are fellow Americans that will fight for someone who cannot fight for themselves. We have proved that fact over and over again; from Pearl Harbor to 9-11, or even with Buddy.

We as Americans will disagree about a lot of things, but one thing I think we can all agree on is that we are blessed to be part of the American family.

Cabela's Grand Junction

I was reading about the Cabela's store that is opening here in Grand Junction in a KJCT news story about the "Big Box store invasion" and I knew I had to blog about the store. Once upon a time, I was an employee of Cabela's, (as was my wife, brother, sister, father-in-law, brother-in-law) so I thought I could bring some different insight to the opening of this particular store brand.

I have always had kind of a love-hate relationship with Cabela's. If you ever heard Tennessee Erine Ford's song "Sixteen Tons", you might understand what I mean. Working at Cabela's was not particularly difficult, in the physical since (I suppose every job has it's days). But the line in the song "I owe my soul to the company store" sure does fit. The Cabela's company headquarters is located in Sidney, NE. Also in Sidney, is a retail store and a huge warehouse complex where orders for the mail order catalog and retail stores are filled. Economiclly, Cabela's "owns" Sidney, NE. Sure there are other businesses there, but only because Cabela's doesn't sell Milk or gasoline.

My job at Cabela's was at the warehouse complex. I worked on the receiving dock. We would get trailers of freight from all parts of the world. Then at the receiving dock we were in charge of counting the freight, insuring it's quality, and enter the data into the inventory (computer system), then directing where the items would be stored. So I got to see everything Cabela's had to offer (at the time). Sometimes I got to see 1,000's of the same item (the singing fish comes to mind). Keep this in mind when you shop at Cabela's, you have a money back guarantee. They do sell some real garbage, but they also sell some quality stuff as well. Be a good customer and use the return policy.

The parts of Cabela's that I love are more personal. One morning, near the Warehouse 7 lunchroom is where I first met, the love of my life. I told the co-worker I was standing next to, that someday that girl was going to be my wife. His words were something like "there is no way you will get her." Well 2 years later we were married.

OK, I'm drifting away from what I wanted to write about. The part of Cabela's that is great for Grand Junction is, that Cabela's brings business. It brings tourists. In Nebraska, the second biggest tourist attraction in the state is, the Cabela's store in Sidney. The largest is the Zoo in Omaha. Of course, that is Nebraska (not a lot to see here....just move on).

The Cabela's store will be small (in comparison to other stores) and in a mall, so I'm not to sure how this store will look in comparison to the big retail stores that Cabela's owns. I do know that it will bring business to town, which will help the local economy and right now I wouldn't complain about any business that wanted to open up in Grand Junction.

Rocket Park

When I was in high school I lived in the neighborhood around Rocket Park. I have always had an a affinity for the park. As a teenager I used to "play" in the park, well not so much "play" as it was going to the top of the rocket to smoke. So I understand when a neighborhood likes a fixture. I like the idea of the name change (Who is Melrose anyway?) as reported in the Daily Sentinel.

What I don't like is the timing. The same week they announce that they are cutting the salaries or work days of City employees, They approve spending $300,000 on park renovations. Doesn't this sound a little crazy? I know that the $300,000 isn't much when it comes to a city payroll, but how many of these "projects" are out there waiting to be done? What does that do to the morale of employees you have working for you?

The park has been there for more than 40 years, just the way it is, can't we wait a couple more years to renovate? Is this part of the necessary services that we are waiting to be cut? The city just can't help themselves when it comes to spending money when there is no money (or a lot less) money to be spent.

Maybe Laurie Kadrich needs to figure out priorities a little. Let me help you Laurie, keep the employee's and wait on the park renovation.

Highway 6 & 50 access plan

I have been doing a lot of studying lately involving the access plan proposed by the State DOT for Highway 6 & 50. You haven't heard about it? Humm interesting...

Well it appears the State Department of Transportation would like to close a bunch of accesses to highway 6 & 50. I'm not writing about all the access points on the highway, but I am writing about the one that affects me and the neighborhood where I work.

Below is a map of the area. I am apologising for the quality now, it is hard to cram a large area in a small space. I'll also apologize for the line drawing I'm not known for my drawing.

The plan proposed for the area is one that will:

A) Close Scarlett Drive access

B) Turn the Sanford Drive/Hwy 6 & 50 into a 3/4 intersection. That means you could turn left onto Sanford from 6&50 and all right turns are OK, but you could not turn left from Sanford onto 6 & 50.

C) Close driveway access to Acorn Food Store/West Gate Inn

The plan essentially routes all traffic from the industrial area/Acorn/West Gate Inn, that is headed for Grand Junction, through the back streets to get to G- Road.

The routes to get to Grand Junction, I have colored on the plan.

My opposition to the plan

1) There isn't a problem. I looked over all the crash reports that the City of Grand Junction has online. They do not list intersections that have fewer than 5 crashes in the reports. Since 2000, the intersection of Sanford and Highway 6 & 50 has never been listed. There are over 25,000 cars per day that travel that intersection.

2) Most of the traffic in this area is truck traffic and other industrial equipment. To have this traffic weaving through the whole neighborhood is crazy and not safe.

3) Blocks access for customers going to West Gate Inn/ Otto's Restaurant and Lounge. If you live in Grand Junction and want to buy a good prime rib, would you travel out to Otto's, knowing you would get lost going home.

4) No access for motel customers to go into Grand Junction. The mall is a fairly popular spot in town, so what do you if you can't get there from your motel?

5) If Sanford was a problem intersection, didn't you just move the problem to the intersection of G and 6 & 50? Quite possibly making the "problem" worse with more traffic at that intersection.

6) Two of the 3 paths available to you, to get into Grand Junction, would require you to travel in front of the new strip club. That is a great way to showcase Grand Junction.

7) There is little in the way of trucking facilities in Grand Junction. If they implement the plan it will drive (pardon the pun) the truck traffic on down the road...along with their money.

8) Political point: The State of Colorado has no money, so broke that we are evicting mental health patients from their homes and letting criminals loose on the street. Why the hell are we building crap that we do not need.

9) I know West Gate has on staff about 40 to 50 jobs at any given time, Acorn (I'm guessing) has about 20, No idea how many people Sterling Crane and the many other businesses have in the neighborhood. This plan endangers their jobs. No business = no jobs.

10) Safety of the customers of West Gate Inn, and other businesses. Restricting access for emergency medical vehicles will increase the amount of travel time to hospital.

More Information

The state has a web page with more maps of the whole plan and a little bit more information. It is located here: http://www.dot.state.co.us/us6sh139access/content/publicInvolvement.cfm

There is a bright side to all of this... There will be a meeting at the West Gate Inn on October 28 at 4pm to 7 pm. They will cover the whole plan (I think), I will be in attendance and giving my view point as well as suggestions on other ideas. Please come and comment on the plan.

Polling about Clifton/ Fruitvale

I like polls. I don't know why, I think it has to do with statistics. I like to know the "pulse" of the people. I know that polls are pretty flakey statisticly at best, but it is fun.

So here is my first test poll to see how it works...

Colorado Budget Ax falls

I understand that there is budget cuts to be made in the state of Colorado, to balance the budget, it has to be done. I would love to see lots of different things cut in both State and Federal budgets. What I do not understand is why would you cut 91 beds from the Colorado Regional Medical Center in Grand Junction and the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan. Let's take 91 of the states most physically and mentally disabled people and have them "fend for themselves". To make it more of a challenge give them only 2 weeks to find a new place to live.

To me that is a real interesting concept. Just "dismiss" anybody who is too expensive to take care of, say like the new health care bill being touted around. If you cost too much we are just going to drop you. Colorado just came up with thier new "death panel" I guess.

Then you read about Colorado's new "stimulus CZAR", a paid thug to "watch" our money; Or how about the Colorado Lottery's great give-a-away, where they were passing out money in the park. You just wonder what the hell is going on in Denver. As for me, I can buy my own lottery ticket and I can do a fair job of finding our where our government is spending money without government intrusion. Have you heard of Google?

Has anyone thought of slimming a bit; how about wage or hour reductions. I think it is much better for more people to be working a little bit than whole segments of highly trained workers to not be working at all.

I can most certainly bet that there is more waste in the government that can be eliminated before we throw the disabled onto the street.

GJPD to get 1.3 million via Porkulus

The Grand Junction Police Department looks like they are getting 1.3 million dollars from the stimulus law, to pay for 5 police officer vacancies. Let's do a little math on this figure. OK, we are adding 5 police officers and the money is for 3 years. So, I guess it costs the GJPD $86,666 a year for a police officer then, with benefits.

Some how I do not believe that the City of Grand Junction pays it's officers that much money(though after noticing recent events, they are worth that much). So do we get to spend the extra money on police cruisers or does it just go into the pocket of some "well deserving" politician who helped the process along? They are "vacant" positions so does the money that was/is budgeted for the positions going into keeping the spring cleanup or chip seal? After the 3 years are we supposed to just fire the police officers? Does Grand Junction get more money if the Clifton area become incorporated? Maybe we can get another 5 million for the officers for that area, I'm sure Obama can whip that cash out of the printing press fast enough.

Maybe the Obama administration is accounting for the runaway inflation that will occur from borrowing 12 trillion dollars, so police officers will be paid $86,666 a year. Maybe they threw in a little extra for a down payment on the new police station that the voters already rejected but will be built in some fashion, if we like it or not.

I better go for now, I've got to go to the police station and fill out a job application.....

Clifton/Fruitvale or Grand Junction

There is now an "election" for the Clifton/Fruitvale landowners about either annexation into Grand Junction or incorporate into a city. That is all well and good, nice that they have a choice of where they would like to live.

In my selfish way, I bring up the question; "What about me"? I live in an area that is not in the city currently and does not get a choice during the current election. I live at about 30 and D roads. Which is in an area (Pear Park),that is checker boarded with Grand Junction city and unincorporated areas between 29 and 31 roads. The voting starts at about 31 to 31 1/2 roads for annexation.

So it brings me to a bunch of questions I am curious about...

1) What happens to my area if the Clifton area decides to be annexed into Grand Junction, do we just get "sucked into" the city with Clifton at that point? I know we will become an enclave and will be added within 5 years according to state law, but wondering about the present.

2) Can the city handle that many people being added all at one time? What if they incorporate Pear Park too? Grand Junction is already cutting all the good services around town to save money.

3) If the Clifton area turns into the City of Clifton is there going to be a competition for the land in between? It might have the opposite effect both Clifton and Grand Junction may not want the Pear Park area, because there is like two businesses in the whole area, so no tax base, just a service drain.

4) Does the Persigo agreement need to be rewritten if Clifton becomes a city?

5) Is the county going to cut staff that is no longer required? For example, cutting staff at Sheriffs department because they no longer need to patrol an urban area.

6) Is there going to be a buffer zone created like exists between Fruita and Grand Junction, or Grand Junction and Palisade?

I guess right at the moment, I can seen no difference between being a part of Grand Junction, part of Clifton or just a part of the county, it just frustrates me that I don't get a choice the matter, I just get stuck with the results.

Grand Junction Mercury Storage

I was thinking about reaction of Grand Junction politicians regarding the storage of mercury in a facility near Whitewater. It is almost like a reflex to say... "NO we do not want this poison in our area! Mercury will kill us! Say no to mercury!" and the chants go on....

What I find interesting is that when the government asked people to store mercury in THEIR OWN HOMES, in a fragile glass container, there was no backlash. What I am talking about is those fluorescent spiral light bulbs. They all contain mercury. The government told us we HAVE to have them in homes by 2011. Good idea? I think not.

I worked in a gold mines for about 10 years. The process that collects gold from the rock, also collects mercury from the rock. Some of the "old timers" that did the actual refining of the gold metal would often have a large amount of mercury in their system. They worked at a time where personal protection equipment wasn't used much, if at all. I can tell you from my personal experience that too much mercury, will turn you loony tunes, that is a fact. Some of those guys were had lost a few marbles that is for sure.

But what I haven't seen is the affects of radioactive uranium tailing's has on people. They stored (or still store, I'm not sure) radioactive mill tailing's in the same location. Isn't radioactivity worse than mercury poisoning?

I am not convinced that storing mercury in Mesa County is a good idea, but I am also not convinced that is is a bad idea either. I have many questions that haven't been answered...

What is the storage facility going to be like?
What is the economic impact?
Will the traffic increase?
Do we get paid for doing it?
How are they going to ship the mercury?
What is around the storage facility?
Do we have a choice?

Plus many more questions. I am not a NIMBY (Nimby is short for Not In My Back Yard) kinda guy. I need to know all the options before I say yes or no to something. Don't turn your back on something just because it sounds good for campaigning, actually investigate the situation, it may actually be a good thing.

Grand Junction Sales Taxes Down

The city came out with their sales tax figures and I just wanted to note a few things I read that bugged me:

First off I need to say I HATE IT when anybody gives statistics using percentages. It is doesn't tell you the whole story. For instance lets say you have 100 bucks and it loses 10% in April. That means you have 90 bucks now. The next month you have the same 90 bucks and in grows 10%, now you have $99. It was the same 10%. But you lost a buck.

With that said it was stated in the Daily Sentinel that the city is down 37% in sales tax collections for the year. They also said that the city has made 6 million dollars in cuts to the budget. That happens to be about 4% of the city budget. So common sense tells me the city might be a little over budget by the end of the year. Or the other possible thing that it could be is that the city was collecting too much taxes when things were good. Does the city have a "rainy day fund"? I do not know.

I also saw that Jodi Romero stated that “We’re hoping we’re bottoming out now”. She also stated that “We’re optimistic that some of the retail spending will begin to recover,” Romero said, adding that she hopes that by the end of the year it will equal 2008 levels.

So I guess the Presidents economic policy of hope has worked its way to the city governments now.

Recession Barometers

I get stuck in a rut every day digging through all the bad news of the day, so I think I need to write a bit of uplifting stuff so here it goes...

I know that some people use the Dow Jones Industrial Average, unemployment statistics, the latest GDP numbers and other such statistics to gauge the depths of a recession. I use some different methods to do the same thing.

The grocery store line
If you wait for an excess of 30 minutes in a grocery store line, the economy is doing real well.

Traffic
If you can drive down North Ave. and hit most of the traffic lights green, that means traffic is light, because no one has any money to be driving around.

Home "for sale" signs
If you see more than 4 realtor signs per block, the economy is on the decline.

More cars than pickups on the road
As more of the drillers pack up, the less pick-up trucks that are about town. Plus cars are less expensive than trucks.

So I look forward to...
standing in line for an hour at a grocery store...
or hitting every light red on North Ave...
or getting caught listening to my neighbor complaining about something...
or just getting stuck behind a big smokey diesel truck...

Not everything in a recession is bad either....
We are healthier because we can't afford eating out, alcohol, tobacco.
We spend more time at home with our families.
We break the "credit card" lifestyle.
Many entrepreneurs and inventors start up during bad economic times.
We relearn what is truly important in our lives.

I know it is not the season, but here's a little Christmas story...
About a decade ago, Pam (my wife) and I were working, and failing, at trying to stay ahead of all the bills and trying to get Christmas gifts for the kids. So that year we got some very small priced gifts (dollar store kinda stuff) for the kids, didn't really decorate anything, and Pam made a Christmas tree out of construction paper that we taped to the wall. The ornaments were all construction paper. To be quite honest we were really depressed we could not do better for the kids. But you know what, it is one Christmas that we all remember as being one of the happier Christmas' we have had.

Mesa County DUI Van

In the nature of full disclosure I would like to say a couple of things before I get to my point: 1st is: I don't drink, don't care if you do, I just don't. Second is I believe that people who commit DUI's should get a much harsher punishments. Drinking and driving is like shooting into a crowd, your going to miss some people, but the ones you hit will be fatal.

On that note, I want to discuss the story I read this morning about Mesa County buying a DUI van. This is the whole story I read, copied from kjct8.com:

DUI crackdown was one of the major topics at this months Mesa County Meeting.
The Sheriff's Office wants to purchase an impaired driving enforcement toxicological testing vehicle. The DUI van would allow the officers to check for blood alcohol content at any location without having to take suspected drunk drivers to the jail.
The van will cost over $160-thousand, but it will all be covered by grants. With the recent rash of DUI fatalities... the commissioners feel the necessity of this equipment is dire.

The story is slim so I may not have the all information, but these are my first thoughts:

1) Is there a huge issue with police transporting suspects to jail to do DUI tests? Is it just too time consuming? If so, why are we going to have yet another vehicle (and at least 1 other person) take a van to the scene, do the tests, then haul the suspect back to the jail?

2) I have been seen a lot of bureaucracies and I never trust them when they use names like: Impaired Driving Enforcement Toxicological Testing Vehicle instead of DUI van.

3) I know the cost of vans has went up, but $160 grand for a van, people get real. Oh it's a DUI van so they had to put a blood draw kit in it, I guess medical costs have went up.

4) The cost of the van is covered by grants, it doesn't say whose grants but it's a pretty safe bet it leads back to federal government. Just because it is a grant doesn't mean it is free money, somebody pays, somewhere.

5) We are going to spend $160,000 on a van to assist with DUI's but nobody could spend a couple hundred bucks for 2 more stop signs at 23 and G road, an intersection that has already killed 3.

At first look, maybe we should step back and look at this one a little closer.