Boswell: It could be worse

I heard a lot about how amazing the Roosevelt County Road Department crews were for about two to three weeks after the Goliath blizzard swept through the area, killing livestock and causing drivers to be stranded in their vehicles for nearly 24 hours.

A lot of people in the county helped out that Saturday night, and they all got recognition for it, which was nice to see.

But the longer I work with the county government and the more I attend county commission meetings, the more I have realized that road departments are continually sitting “between a rock and a hard place.”

They have a job to do that requires large amounts of money, which they never have, causing them to have to get creative in how they fix or patch up roads.

And it’s never enough. Roads are always a problem, so they are regularly complained about, and very few residents seem to grasp the reasons why road fixes are so delayed — those large amounts of money it requires to do so.

Along with all their hard work of trying to figure out how to do the impossible of fixing endless road problems with no funding, road crews are also out there in the snow storms and the large grass fires right along with officers and fire fighters, putting themselves in harm’s way to help put out a fire or to rescue a person buried under 10 feet of snow.

Road Superintendent Ricky Lovato described Goliath as “brutal” Tuesday when talking to me about road repairs after the storm, saying the costs were somewhere in the range of $50,000.

I think there are few people in Roosevelt County I like more than Ricky Lovato. On a regular basis, I watch this road superintendent fight the endless battle of road repair, and there are times I can almost see the weariness on his face as he, the county manager and commissioners debate more road projects and how to acquire funding for them.

I understand the roads are Ricky’s job, and he is paid to take care of them, but you’ve got to have some level of admiration for a guy with his level of patience and persistence in being regularly asked to accomplish the impossible.

Next time you find yourself angry over county potholes, think about what all our road crews do and what they have to go through to get it done.

And next time you see a road crew member around town — whether city or county — tell them thank you. Our roads would be even worse if not for the work these guys put in.

Alisa Boswell is the managing editor for the Portales News-Tribune. Contact her at [email protected]