Just 3 miles from the $2 billion fence taxpayers built on the Mexican border, there is an unguarded footbridge from Mexico to the U.S. It takes 12 seconds to cross. The International Boundary Water Commission claims it is not a bridge. They call it a grade control structure. Border Patrol agents think it is a bridge, but they can't do anything about it unless requested by Homeland Security. So far, that request hasn't come.
Officially it is called a grade control structure, designed in the mid 1930's to stabilize and prevent a shift in water during a high river flow. Well, the border patrol agent and the reporter both disagree with the spokeswoman for the International Boundary Water Commission who says, this is not a footbridge. A close look at the fresh sneaker tracks at the end of the structure in the sand though, tell a different story.
A bridge was damaged on the island of Kauai by flooding. The Hawaii state Department of Land and Natural Resources told residents it would cost $4 million and take two years to come up this the money. The residents completed the repair with donated materials and labor in only eight days. This is a great example of government bureaucracy vs. private sector initiative. Here is the story from CNN.com.
(CNN) -- Their livelihood was being threatened, and they were tired of waiting for government help, so business owners and residents on Hawaii's Kauai island pulled together and completed a $4 million repair job to a state park -- for free.
Polihale State Park has been closed since severe flooding destroyed an access road to the park and damaged facilities in December.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources had estimated that the damage would cost $4 million to fix, money the agency doesn't have, according to a news release from department Chairwoman Laura Thielen.
"It would not have been open this summer, and it probably wouldn't be open next summer," said Bruce Pleas, a local surfer who helped organize the volunteers. "They said it would probably take two years. And with the way they are cutting funds, we felt like they'd never get the money to fix it."
And if the repairs weren't made, some business owners faced the possibility of having to shut down.
