Posted on 01/29/2009 5:23:56 PM PST by CedarDave
Gov. Bill Richardson has asked state engineers to look into ways to prevent suicides at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge near Taos.
Since 1999, about three people a year have leaped to their deaths from the 650-foot-high span. Seven suicides were reported in 2005, and the most recent such death occurred last month.
Rescuers who have had to climb into the steep, rocky gorge complain that the job of retrieving bodies puts them at risk.
The governor "is very concerned about the problems up there," Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia said. "It's not a new problem. He's heard of the stories over the years."
Richardson got involved after meeting with constituents, Ray-Garcia said. The governor asked the state Department of Transportation to study possible solutions, and Ray-Garcia said the rough timeline could involve engineers studying the issue over the next few months, making a recommendation in the summer and perhaps installing something on the bridge by the end of the year.
DOT spokesman S.U. Mahesh said the department is in the early stages of studying the issue. One sensitive consideration, he said, is the bridge's historic status. "We're seeing what we can do — if they want to put a cage around it or some kind of barriers," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at santafenewmexican.com ...
SPLAT!
LOL! Don’t bank on it.
PING to the NM list!
Comments regarding the play on words in the title are entertaining.
Just thinking that if it’s risky to retrieve the bodies, then don’t retrieve the bodies.
Porkulus grant!
A Rilly rilly big trampoline, with, uh, like walls.
Or just a whole series of trampolines so that you never can fall more than like 8 feet.
And the last one funnels into a little cage where you’re automatically dosed with Prozac until the Rescue Squad can get there and give you a billion dollars from the Federal Government.
Another billion for the NM suicide prevention program!
(Wow, I’m really good at this! I should be a DimocRAT.)
I have a friend who was working with a guy who jumped...It has a 99.9 % success rate
/johnny
Contract out the bridge to Texas as a form of execution. Since it’ll then be a state sanctioned place of death, protesters will prevent people from using the bridge for suicides. Additional income opportunity: Sell spaces on each side of the bridge for coin operated toilets and ‘Indian’ merchandise made in China.
The governor “is very concerned about the problems up there,” Richardson spokeswoman Alarie Ray-Garcia said. “It’s not a new problem. He’s heard of the stories over the years.”
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It takes a few years to take full effect. If Richardson were in charge of my state I’d probably jump off a bridge too.
Birds gotta eat, same as worms.
If things keep getting hot for Richardson, he may need to use the bridge himself.......eewwwwwww,,,,talk about polluting the bottom of the gorge...........
I guess he didn’t get Pelosi’s message that fewer live, breathing people are good for the economy and the ecology.
Suiciders are doing their part to further the Pelosi agenda.
How different from SF. They're all touchy-feely about the people who jump from the Golden Gate Bridge; in NM they're concerned about the poor shlubs who have to repel down to get the bodies.
LOL
You are so right! Now if we can just get more dems to jump we can save the planet and our country at the same time!
hellloooo it’s not the bridge, it’s the Taosenos...maybe we should just ban ALL bridges...sheesh
http://www.taosnews.com/articles/2009/01/23/news/doc49763897bbba4284910536.txt
Taosenos bash for Osama. Good thing you mentioned that COLORADOMOMBA
I suggested tying a very long rope to the pedestrian overlook portions on both sides of the bridge with a sign telling the suicides to tie the rope to their ankle before jumping. That way, the state police could just haul the rope and body up and it would save time and money.
My suggestion was not well received.
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