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Students Can Still Fly Home (NM, Richardson)
The Albuquerque Journal ^ | June 23, 2005 | Colleen Heild

Posted on 06/24/2005 4:50:33 PM PDT by CedarDave

Gov. Bill Richardson's office said Wednesday that students from the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired will fly on the new state jet.

The statement was included in a news release blasting an Albuquerque Journal story published Wednesday that reported the state's 10-year practice of transporting students home from the Alamogordo school on weekends had ended.

The news release labeled parts of the story as "wrong" and "untrue."

According to the story, School Superintendent Dianna Jennings had said in a telephone interview earlier in the week that the school would seek alternate air service because the state was unable to commit to the flight schedule the school needed.

She told the newspaper in the tape-recorded interview that "what had been communicated to us" was that the change was due to a reduction of the state's air fleet to raise additional money to buy a new jet. "We asked to continue that service this year and received notification that they would not be able to do that," Jennings said. "What they told us was they could not commit per trip."

General Services Secretary Edward Lopez Jr. told the Journal on Tuesday it was his understanding the school was going to seek an outside provider.

The governor's news release said the Journal story was "wrong" in saying the state can no longer commit aircraft for student travel. It quoted Jennings as saying "the Journal report that General Services Department can no longer commit state aircraft for student travel was simply untrue."

"As we have stated," the news release said, "the jet will service all the state agencies, including this long-standing responsibility to fly the children from this school home on weekends."

(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: New Mexico
KEYWORDS: 3blindflights; billrichardson; governorkrispykreme; kingrichardi; richardson
Gotta do whatever it takes to make the Gov King Richard I look good for 2008.

Of course the larger question is why are NM taxpayers paying for flights for children, even blind ones, to go home weekends.

1 posted on 06/24/2005 4:50:33 PM PDT by CedarDave
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To: CedarDave

Original here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1430161/posts


2 posted on 06/24/2005 4:54:27 PM PDT by CedarDave (New Mexico: Ranked dumbest in the country and our leader is King Richard I)
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To: CedarDave; lizol; Tijeras_Slim; martin_fierro
Gov. Bill Richardson's office said Wednesday that students from the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired will fly on the new state jet.

What about students from the New Mexico School for the Deaf?


3 posted on 06/24/2005 4:56:34 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: CedarDave
Gov. Bill Richardson's office said Wednesday that students from the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired will fly on the new state jet.

That's perhaps the most important insertion of the word 'on' in any sentence in the English language.

4 posted on 06/24/2005 5:01:44 PM PDT by Textide
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To: Paleo Conservative

Actually, that's a good question.

The school for the deaf is in downtown Santa Fe while the school for the blind is in Alamogordo, in the southern part of the state. Guess it's all about location!!


5 posted on 06/24/2005 5:04:16 PM PDT by CedarDave (New Mexico: Ranked dumbest in the country and our leader is King Richard I)
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To: CedarDave

Talk about shaken and a quaken to get it right. A lot of talk to weasel out of what was actually said.


6 posted on 06/24/2005 5:08:04 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Government is running amuck)
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To: Textide

ROFLMAO.


7 posted on 06/24/2005 5:11:39 PM PDT by pleasedontzotme
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To: Paleo Conservative

LOL


8 posted on 06/24/2005 5:11:51 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: CedarDave
Its a good publicity stunt using tax payer dollars.

He is going to wind up being a pain in the rear for Hillary in 2008, but I expect him to give her the soft gloves treatment so she will pick him to be her VP.

9 posted on 06/24/2005 5:15:06 PM PDT by Sonny M ("oderint dum metuant")
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To: CedarDave

10 posted on 06/24/2005 5:33:27 PM PDT by DesertDreamer ("We have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom."~~President George W. Bush, 9/2/2004)
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To: CedarDave

Actually my understanding of the law (at least in most states) is the home school district provides the transportation to and from the state school for these kids. Transportation for the disabled students is provided under IDEA, exactly how each state implements the requirments varies in different states I guess, perhaps NM chose flights for their blind students based on length of travel? How long does it take to get from the site of this school and one of the more distant students home? Having said that I do hope flights are only used for those who really would need to be in a car for more then 3 to 5 hrs.

Here all kids ride in their home districts car/bus, even if that means they ride for more then a couple of hours. They do get dismissed from classes at 1pm on fridays so all have a chance to make it home in time for supper with their families. The transprotation companies of smaller schools do try to car pool as much as possible with neighboring districts to help save costs since smaller dists. usually only have 1 student attending one of the state academies.


11 posted on 06/24/2005 6:32:22 PM PDT by tickles
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To: Sonny M
He is going to wind up being a pain in the rear for Hillary in 2008

I sort of like the guy (not enough to vote for him) and he would be tough for Hillary to beat.

12 posted on 06/24/2005 6:33:27 PM PDT by Mike Darancette (Mesocons for Rice '08)
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To: Mike Darancette

He's a Castro worshipper.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F


13 posted on 06/24/2005 6:51:26 PM PDT by Criminal Number 18F (If timidity made you safe, Bambi would be king of the jungle.)
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To: Mike Darancette

Richardson is very likeable. But he also is very much an old time politican who will cut deals with his cronies and severely punish those who cross him, especially in public. I fully expect someone to be out of a job or demoted over this matter. He routinely punishes legislators who vote against him or his pet bills by vetoing funds for capital projects in their districts.

Interestingly, he has hired many print, TV and radio journalists to staff department PR positions. I would like to see a listing of all of them for future reference as there is no way they can be objective after they leave his service (unless they have scruples and wise up to him).


14 posted on 06/25/2005 6:54:14 AM PDT by CedarDave (New Mexico: Ranked dumbest in the country and our leader is King Richard I)
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