MUTH’S TRUTHS

When the need for budget cuts became undeniably apparent, Gov. Jim Gibbons warned that the first thing the Left tends to do is close facilities and services which are popular with the public in order to rile up the public against budget cuts. He told how the bureaucrats in DC always close the Washington Monument and the national parks first…and publicly.

So what did Washoe County parks director Doug Doolittle (don’t even go there about the appropriateness of this bureaucrat’s last name) do this week in response to the need to tighten the ol’ budget belt?

He closed the sledding hill at Galena Park.

For the entire season.

Doolittle told the Reno Gazette-Journal on Friday that he doesn’t have enough people to supervise the sledding hill on weekends, adding that the snow hill requires two or three employees to monitor it for safety.

This kind of bureaucratic BS really burns me up.

How in the hell did kids ever go sledding safely before the government decided it was absolutely, positively necessary to post taxpayer-funded nanny-state, big brother snow-bureaucrats on the scene to keep a careful watch over us? And even if it was absolutely critical to have a snow-bureaucrat monitoring kids sledding down a snow hill, why, pray tell, can’t the government just temporarily transfer a meter maid or a tax auditor over to snow-monitoring duty? Who would miss THEM?

Doolittle says he’s putting up a sign letting everyone know the sledding hill is closed.

Um, if they can afford a “Closed” sign, why can’t they just make one up which says, “Sled At Your Own Risk”? Duh.

Of course, the logical common-sense solution here is for the kids to do what kids have always done…go to the snow hill and sled on their own. But “Screw the Kids” Doolittle will have none of it. No, no, no.

Although Doolittle says he can’t afford to post a snow-bureaucrat at the snow hill to monitor kids sledding down the snow hill, “Doolittle said rangers will be around to shoo people away if they break out their sleds” and try to have fun anyway.

Rotten, stinking, lousy, no-good…

If you’d like to share you thoughts on Doctor Doolittle’s decision to screw kids out of the joy of sledding at a public park this winter season, give him a shout at (775) 823-6529. You can leave a message on voice-mail today, or wait until tomorrow and take a shot at reaching him live. Or email the Snow Scrooge at ddoolittle@washoecounty.us

While you’re at it, you might want to contact Washoe County Commission Chairman Bob Larkin and ask him why closing down a sledding hill for kids is the only place his parks department thinks it can tighten its belt. His number is (775) 328-2005. Or you can send him an email via his website by clicking HERE

And folks, this is EXACTLY why we need to demand budget transparency at every level of government - from the feds down to the parks department. Every check written by the government should be publicly posted on a public website so the public can readily and easily see if we really need to close down a kids sledding hill or if maybe there are some other places in the budget that could be cut instead.

P.S. After originally inking this column yesterday morning, I took a drive up to Spooner Lake, just west of Carson City. There’s a sledding hill across the street from the lake, and a hundred kids were there yesterday slip-sliding away to their little hearts’ content. Big kids, too.  Having the times of their lives.  No fights.  No serious injuries.  No damage to any endangered species or habitat. No bear attacks.  Just good, clean, old-fashioned sledding fun.
 
And not single stinking government bureaucrat/nanny within 10 miles of the place.
 
I don’t know how we pulled it off without them.

Posted on December 16th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: Nevada