Greg In The Desert

A few weeks ago I was driving down Unser Blvd in Rio Rancho and saw a whole lot of dark blue trucks, one with a satellite dish on top, and a bunch of military SWAT team like people parked at a business.

The Rio Rancho Observer reports that it was the National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction support team.

Rio Rancho was the scene of a mock emergency situation last week, when the 64th Civil Support Team, local New Mexico National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction support team responded to a call at a “storage facility” on Unser Boulevard. Major Troy Chadwell , deputy commander of the 64th Civil Support Team organized the exercise, which involved about 22 CST members reporting to the scene, trying to first determine what hazard was there and advising on the consequences of the contaminant to the community and first responders. Chadwell said the scenario involved a landlord of the facility entering a storage unit of a man who left without paying rent and finding what he thought was a meth lab; but was actually toxic chemicals manufacturing.

I’m not sure why but there was something creepy about all the color coordinated dark blue vehicles sitting on this lot, and knowing they were military makes it a little more creepy.

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• News : Rio Rancho trying to get share of federal stimulus money – Rio Rancho Observer – Rio Rancho officials are making sure their city gets its piece of the pie.

  Earlier this month, the city got news from the Mid Region Council of Governments that it would receive $14 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to extend Paseo del Volcan from Iris Road to US 550.

• News : Presbyterian still on hold – Rio Rancho Observer – The construction of Presbyterian Hospital in Rio Rancho is still on hold, but Elizabeth Brophy, a spokesperson for Presbyterian Healthcare Services, said the company is still committed to building a hospital in Rio Rancho.

  “We are very committed to Rio Rancho and the residents of Rio Rancho,” Brophy said. “We want to be able to provide services needed in that community and we will continue to focus very hard on that.”

  The construction of the $230 million hospital is on hold because of the bad economy. Presbyterian Health Services’ board of directors decided last year to hold off on issuing $200 million in bonds until the economy improves and there’s more clarity in the economy.

  “It’s frustrating for all of us on every level,” Brophy said. “We want to fulfill our promise but we are still coming to Rio Rancho, it’s just frustrating.”

• News : Secret bases and UFOs on Rio Rancho man’s mind – Rio Rancho Observer – The Northern New Mexico town of Dulce has long been associated with rumors of UFO sightings and an alleged secret military base underneath a mesa, but Rio Rancho resident Norio Hayakawa is hoping to provide the town’s residents with an opportunity to dispel those rumors, or perpetuate them.

  For a one-day conference, Hayakawa is bringing together residents, former police officers and Jicarilla Apache (Dulce is on a reservation) officials to discuss the rumors and to give people an opportunity to come forward with new information

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It’s funny sad because it’s true. I wonder if he would still think the same now?

17 September 2004 editorial published in the Daily Nebraskan and entitled “Individual Rights Buckle Under Seat Belt Laws,” by Derek Kieper, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in which the writer inveighed against mandatory seat belt laws, opining that “Uncle Sam is not here to regulate every facet of life no matter the consequences,” and that “Democrats and Republicans alike should stand together to stop these laws that are incongruous with the ideals of both parties.” … Evidently his words were far more prescient than any of us might have wanted, as an article in the 4 January 2005 Lincoln Journal Star reported that Mr. Kieper not only died in a car crash, but the tragic mishap that claimed his life was the very type of accident in which seat belts have proved so effective in saving lives ? preventing passengers from being ejected from vehicles.

(Thank’s Autoblog.)