Lincoln County's road boss is recommending that Bonito Lake Road
be downgraded to a base course route, at least temporarily.  The
three-mile road was damaged significantly during the Little Bear
Fire in June, subsequent flooding and heavy truck traffic aimed
at containing mud and ash draining into the lake and down other
drainages.  The county is asking the state Legislature for
$100,000 in capital outlay money to cover part of the cost of
repairing or rebuilding the road from New Mexico State Highway
37 to the lake owned by the city of Alamogordo.  "One of the
concerns that came up a lot on this Bonito Lake Road is that I'm
sure (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) is going to do
something with the city of Alamogordo on dredging that lake,"
County Road Superintendent Carl Palmer told commissioners at
their meeting last month. "We're going to create tons and tons
of material that has got to (travel) across that road. When I
was here before, I presented to you that we mill the road and
bring it back to a