Meadow Lake begins work on crime and cleanup.

Here are some highlights from our last meeting held on 12-09-2006:

The Directors of the Meadow Lake Residents Association are taking their concerns before the county commission, law enforcement agencies, judges and the governor. We've made contact with newly elected State Rep. Andrew Barreras and newly elected County Commissioner David Medina, and they've promised to help us with our efforts.

Sam Aragon offered a special thanks to Cyndi Sluder of Tierra Bonita, the county's Keep New Mexico Beautiful agency for procuring dumpsters for us to help in the continuing effort to clean up our community.

Rosemary Lebrecht explained that the association dues have been established at $5.00 per month per family for those that can afford it. These dues are needed to help cover association costs.

Joe Morse was asked to organize three committees at the meeting, and residents were asked to sign up and volunteer to work on them immediately.
The three committees will focus on trash and weeds, a Neighborhood Watch program and an abatement program to get burned-out mobile homes removed.

State Police Sgt. Andy Baldridge explained that he is stationed in Los Lunas and understands that the residents of Meadow Lake have been having problems.
"I'll be one of your primary points of contact, and one of my specialties is community policing," Sgt. Andy Baldridge said. "We're committed to doing as much as we can, and when we're not on other calls, we are specifically detailed to come out here and spend as much time in the area as we can." "The police, are a tool, but we're not the answer to the problems out here," Baldridge said. "We want to educate you guys and give you more tools on how to deal with these things."

Sheriff's Deputy Jorge Trujillo talked a little about the Neighborhood Watch program the residents can organize and said they will start at the first of the year to get those established.
"The best weapon you can have is a pair of binoculars, not a gun or a knife," Trujillo said. The long process of removing abandoned or burned-out buildings was spelled out, and John Mirabal,
county code enforcement officer, and Tony Savilla, an abatemant officer for the county, took residents through the 12 steps that have to be taken.

We also received an education of the trials and tribulations of a 911 operator thanks to the great insight Faye Mitchell shared with us.

An association Web site was created by Bob Gostischa and is now in place. The association's e-mail and blog, which were set up earlier, can all be reached by visiting: http://mlra.newmexico.googlepages.com/
"It's the quickest way to find out what's going on between meetings," Bob Gostischa said.

In closing, Sam Aragon emphasized: "We don't have to live like this. We formed the association to revitalize Meadow Lake and bring it back to what it used to be."

Jackie Schlotfeldt of the Valencia County News-Bulletin has done an excellent job of writing up the complete minutes of our last meeting. Their newspaper is an excellent way to stay up-to-date with local news.

The next meeting of the Meadow Lake Residents Association will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at the community center.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays And A Happy New YearTo All The Meadow Lake Residents