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The list of bookmarked blogs I read regularly has steadily grown. A few of them are talk-shop journalism blogs that the average Mercedian wouldn't bother with. However, anytime I stumble on a blog with a tie to Merced County or the Valley, it goes right on my list.

The latest one I've begun reading is "Thegardeningsnail's Weblog," written by Katherine Schell, a regular at the Livingston City Council meetings. She's mainly writing about the happenings at City Hall, and I'm always interested in other perspectives.

Supervisor John Pedrozo isn't so sure.

At the close of this morning's board meeting, he said he thinks the supervisors should consider steps to make their meetings more secure.

Referencing the recent shooting at the Merced Superior Court, Pedrozo asked county staff to look into posting a sheriff's deputy in the board's chambers during all supervisor meetings.

Discussions among Merced County's five supervisors rarely get heated, but they did today.

The subject, of course, was money.

Each year, each supervisor gets a pot of money -- this year it's $100,000 -- called "special project funding." They're allowed to allocate the money to any community project in their district, as long as the majority of the board approves the expenditure.

Typically, supervisors split their money among several projects: $1,000 to help re-roof a community center, $5,000 to clean up graffiti, $2,000 to fix the high school pool, and so on.