Re: You can't ship excuses

Dear Mr. Jensen,
Thanks for seating me, even if not by name, on your high-test oversight committee. And thank you, Roger, for telling everyone it was probably me to whom he was referring. However, as substantial and thorough as your suggestion was, Mr. Jensen, I would submit that you are barking up the wrong tree.
Committees accomplish very little and the bigger the committee the less gets done. Your suggestion of a stellar assemblage of knowledgeable and concerned experts is fine except I can already hear the howling ard barking as they all posture and prance to be named Best of Show.
As one experienced in the efficient management of large and small packs of good boys (and girls), the best advice I can offer is,
"Sit ! Stay !"
I would suggest a single meeting of the stellar group you suggested, its sole purpose being to name and pledge support to an alpha person with plenary powers. Once established, he or she might task specific members to study specific aspects of the overall problem and report to him or her for executive action.
Right now we have Commission members, RGRPC executives, village mayors, Friends Executives and all of their respective wives and Significant Others barking at one another— to say nothing of business people in both villages and bureaucrats from two competing National Forests, all in a struggle for a controlling hold on one bone— er, I mean prize— the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad.
Do I have the answer as to who the alpha person should be? No I don't. But it seems to me that it should be the Commission that names such an ombudsman— sort of like a Drug Czar or Über Commissioner to crack the whip and get things under control.
I know— easier said than done. But unless there's truly a Top Dog with whom rests both the responsibility for success and blame for failure, along with the authority to make things happen, nothing will. That' s what's been going on. Enough! Sit ! Stay !
Take it from this poodle. Things only get done when the pack is under the control of a single hunter who knows how to manage a group of know-it-all hounds.
I've gotta run. I thought I heard something go splat into my bowl in the other room. Could be roast beef. Nah. Not likely.
Love and licks,
Gnuf-Gnuf
P.S. — If you want my vote for Pack Leader, I'd say Rey Medina. Don't ask why or I'll chew on that bone for longer than your patience might tolerate.