John Cole Wrote:
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> Watching all this debate on the sidelines, I am
> hearing that proper indepth research is important,
> but the major gripe is that is how far it goes.
> Nothing is done, so all that work just seems to be
> a waste of time and money.
>
> When it gets to the edge of the cliff time when
> the artifact is almost at the point of being
> destroyed, the entire process is repeated because
> so much time has elapsed since the original study
> was completed. There needs to be more
> followthrough.
Then John why aren't you writing, complaining, calling, etc. the government in DC? They are the ones with the purse strings?
When you do a proposal, there is always the chance that the $$$ will not be approved or used for other things. The Colorado National Park Service folks who did the study and proposal were doing all that they could. They do not have appoval authority, that comes from DC. The goverment has a procedure for getting funding for this kind of thing. A well-detailed proposal explaining why the thing is historically important, why it should be preserved, what impact would it have on the area, etc. etc. The folks in the Colorado National Park offices were concerned as you are about the current state of the train and the area. They went thru the required process with a lot of hard work, enthusiasm, and passion. If the funds are not forthcoming, it is not their fault and would you have preferred that they had not even tried? The $$$ spent were a drop in the bucket in the federal budget. If you want to bitch about waste in government, this one is way, way, way down on the list.
The staff and volunteers at the CRRM library (including me) spent a lot of time helping these folks do the this research and proposal and for folks who had nothing to do with it to carp and rant is really irratating! But it is to be expected from some on this list... the why don't you?, why isn't it?, it should be, or I would have done crowd.
Jerry Day
Longmont, CO