Radios meant for ranchers are still in storage

Stacked in a storage shed west of Las Cruces are more than 230 radios that were meant to boost safety for southern New Mexico ranchers and other remote residents who frequently encounter illegal border-crossers. About five years ago, around the time the devices were purchased, officials said they expected the radios to be in the hands of ranchers by the summer of 2005 to improve communication where cell phone service is spotty or nonexistent. But the hand-held and vehicle-mounted radios and related equipment — valued initially at $250,000 — have yet to be put to use by anyone in Doña Ana County because a number of problems have cropped up, county officials said. At least one hurdle stemmed from some ranchers not wanting their vehicles to be modified to install the radio and antenna equipment, said Larry Bleimeyer Sr., Doña Ana County radio communications supervisor. But the larger problem is a lack of radio towers, especially in the southwestern part of the county, that are needed to relay transmissions to emergency responders, said Doña Ana County Sheriff's Cpl. Jim Hash. He noted that even sheriff's department personnel aren't able to talk to the county dispatch center in places along N.M. Hwy. 9, which parallels the international border. He said he often must rely on car-to-car transmissions with Border Patrol agents or the Border Patrol's El Paso-based dispatch center. Dudley Williams, who ranches a large acreage in southwest Doña Ana County, said he spoke with sheriff personnel a few times about the radio program in its early stages but never heard anything further...more