NATALIA -- When Mary-Bob Tapp walked out her front door Friday morning, all the troubles of BMA were standing in her front yard.

Too much for pipe too small to handle it meant fire ants floating in her front yard as 1.5 inches of water turned grass into swamp.

The fence pipes she had just paid to have re-welded were standing in water and she had visions of her car collapsing into the canal, once again, as she tried to leave her driveway.

Canal problems have plagued the Tapps over the years. A cow drowned on their property two decades ago. The latest big incident happened one month ago when they went out of town for a holiday weekend and came home to water everywhere but where it was needed.

G.B. Reynolds points to fields he says he can't use because water from BMA ditches continually flood the banks. Reynolds says the problem is caused by lack of maintenance on BMA's part, but BMA officials say vandals and landowner practices are to blame. (Photo by Jeff Wilton, Medina Valley Times)

"You talk about water waste," she said as she waited for BMA Field Manager David Ehlinger to get to the main office. "I understand; I've want it. I'm not stupid; things continue and no one changes them."

Ehlinger waited for the storm to pass before he started explaining.

"I sense your hostility and anger," he said. "You have a legitimate point. We'll look at it and correct it."

The storm was far from over.

"Do you have the equipment, manpower and enough of my tax money to do it?" Tapp asked. "I don't want this to end up in the appeals court. Why should I put up with this when it is so unnecessary."

Everyone "hangs their hat on bad management" in BMA, Ehlinger said, when complaining and threatening don't go anywhere near solving the problem.

"I'm the one who is going to get in and fix this," Ehlinger said. "My salary doesn't depend on your comments about taxes. I want your opinion on what it will take to fix this."

Blank sheets of paper and ballpoint pens hit the counter as Ehlinger and Tapp spent about 30 minutes mapping out a solution -- one that hung on a dump truck that doesn't exist.

"You're not the only one [with problems]," he told her. "I've got no way to move it. Every day we don't have a vehicle to move dirt we're taking steps backward."

BMA can't afford the $20,000 dump truck Ehlinger brought for them to inspect two months ago.

But, he said, and Tapp agreed, the district can't afford not to have it either.

Tapp wracked her brain looking for a way to legally provide a dump truck to get the clay from BMA to her property.

"Go to the [BMA] board," Ehlinger said. "We'll get started on your problem and do what we can."

Without the proper equipment, though, it won''t be a big help.

"This board is like a lame duck president," Tapp said as she left. "No decisions get made. Nothing gets done. The bottom line is that we have to get something done."