8-5 FB New Plan for Dam

 Protecting America against terrorists is getting easier and cheaper: All you have to do is change your mind.

Several months ago there was a proposal to work on the security of a canyon county dam. Over in Canyon County, most people know about Riverside Road which goes across Lower Deer Flat Dam near Caldwell. It’s almost a mile long and is used a lot by farmers and merchants. The dam’s been there for almost 100 years but the feds had a feeling that it might not be there much longer because of a potential terrorist attack. Rather than close the road in an effort to prevent a bombing…or something, Bureau of Reclamation project managers thought up an $8.4 million alternative to closing the road. To explain, here’s Canyon County Commissioner Dave Ferdinand: “They’ve come up with an idea that they could extend the width of the embankment by adding lots of fill dirt so if somebody wanted to blow those up it would just take a lot more effort to do.” After that statement the issue was re-considered, ostensibly due to the price tag for security and another plan was hatched…close the road altogether. But that was met with resistance by local farmers who use the road as a shortcut. The new plan…put up portable barriers to the road in the event of a terrorist threat.