Letters to the Editor

By WAYNE HARDIE
Los Alamos

Some of you may recall that almost four years ago the Los Alamos County Council entered into a preliminary agreement with an out-of-state investor to purchase the CB Fox and Reel Deal Theater buildings.

Not knowing what the County would do with those buildings the Council hired a consultant to come up with options. Some of them were laughable, such as converting the CB Fox building to a movie theater (you read that right), even though Reel Deal Theater was already a fairly new theater (the CB Fox building was a theater until 1955, when it was converted to a department store). Read More

By RICHARD NEBEL
Los Alamos

I took a look through the county climate action plan and I found an issue that I think needs to be  addressed. The plan calls for aggressive water conservation due to future water scarcity brought on by climate change. My experience is that water storage tanks cost roughly $1/gallon of storage. If you look on your utility bill at the thousands of gallons of water that you use every month, new water storage is a non-trivial expense.

How is the county going to convince people to make this investment to reuse water when the county isn’t utilizing the water rights that it already Read More

By KARYL ANN ARMBRUSTER
Los Alamos

The differences in the positive campaign messages of Democratic candidates for County Council Denise Derkacs, Ryn Herrmann and Beverly Neal-Clinton and the negative campaign messages of David Reagor are stark. The letters of support for these candidates are similarly positive versus negative. The positive letters come from Democrats, which one would expect, but also from Independents, former Republicans and even current Republicans. They tout the accomplishments and praise the ability of Democrats to work with others to get things done for the residents Read More

By WILLIAM MEAD
Los Alamos

Since we had no usage history with our new-to-us 2022 Prius Prime, we decided to run a tank through the hybrid without any wall-plug charging so we could be sure the gasoline hybrid system was working.

The Autumn weather for our test was mostly in the 50-70 degree range. Reportedly, the mileage will decrease at colder temperatures.

We traveled 624 miles on 8.9 gallons of gas – that’s 70 mpg! We drove mostly around town, but with one trip to Santa Fe and one trip to Espanola. This is calculated from odometer and gas-pump data. (The EPA rating is 50 mpg.)

We can charge the car using Read More

By PAM HOUGHTELING, M.S.W, C.F.M.W.
Los Alamos

I have known Beverly Neal-Clinton for 20 years, both personally and professionally. She has been a go to person for me to sound out ideas and explore possibilities for my small business. 

Beverly is intelligent, thoughtful, professional and willing to listen. She sees the big picture while attending to essentials and can extrapolate new approaches to existing issues. She advocates for small businesses, affordable housing, inclusivity and providing mental health services.

I’m excited to have her contributing to the County Council and our Read More

By GEORGE CHANDLER
Los Alamos

I voted for Beverly Neal-Clinton, running for County Council. She addresses issues with humility, acknowledging a need for more information when necessary, and with her innate entrepreneurship, looking for innovative solutions in the niches of problems.

When we were discussing the housing situation with a group I mentioned the problem of gentrification when developing new community housing. Beverly was the only member of the group who showed awareness of this problem and how essential it is to maintaining the nature of a community as it changes. The impact Read More

By GEORGE CHANDLER
Los Alamos

Describe Denise Derkacs in one word.

Diligent.

What happens when you get into a discussion with Denise about County issues without doing your homework first?

Adducement of facts.

What quality characterizes a good County Councilor?

Fact-based decision-making.

Who did I vote to reelect?

Denise Derkacs. Read More

By PATRICK SULLIVAN
Los Alamos

As a 22-year resident of Los Alamos, I’ve seen many candidates run for and sit on County Council and I can’t think of a more qualified candidate than Ryn Herrmann. I’ve known Ryn for 10 years and was a co-worker of hers for 7 years. I’ve seen her immerse herself in our community as an advocate for local business, a volunteer, and a leader. Her dedication during the Pandemic to supporting our local businesses was inspiring.

As the former Chamber of Commerce Director, she made it a point to engage as many businesses as possible and to advocate at the local and state level. Read More

By KEN MILDER
Los Alamos

There is much to be admired about Denise Derkacs’ service to the community and leadership on the County Council. Both the quality of her service and the results of her accomplishments are reasons for my endorsement of Denise for the County Council.

In addition to those accomplishments, are my observations of her personal interactions with citizens of Los Alamos. Humility and respect from elected officials are important to me. Denise listens to her constituents and shows respect for their opinions, whether or not she agrees with them.

A sample of her accomplishments Read More