Letters to the Editor

By RICHARD SKOLNIK
White Rock

I write to endorse Lauren Coupland for the School Board for District 3, for the reasons noted below. 

In my view, Lauren’s main opponent in this race, Christine Bernstein, has not served the community well as a member of the School Board. The main role of the School Board is to hire a superintendent. Yet, the School Board of which Ms. Bernstein is a part failed at this task, in a manner that cost us educationally and financially.

In addition, it appears that Ms. Bernstein participated in the near silence of the of the School Board on matters related to COVID and chronic absenteeism, Read More

By JOHN BARTLIT
Los Alamos

The last line in the second paragraph of the letter from R. Moazzami (link) is a misquote of my latest column (link).

The correct quote from my column is not, “…a party system’s two touchstones….”

The correct quote is, “…a hardy voting system’s two touchstones….” Read More

By RHETA MOAZZAMI
Los Alamos

Thank you, John Bartlit, for your thoughtful opinions on the issues of secure voting systems and nuclear disarmament.

There are a couple of sentences, however, that make me chuckle at your “diplomacy”: “A priority of the VTP [Voting Technology Project] is “examining ways to make the process of voter registration more secure and more accessible.” As a crutch for its voter turnout, each big party talks up just one of a party system’s two touchstones—that is, needing to be (1) more secure and (2) more accessible.”

The Republican party would have us believe our systems Read More

By KANDY FRAME
Santa Fe

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer. The movie rekindled my interest in the history of those early days at the Los Alamos Laboratory and about the people involved in the Manhattan Project. I searched the internet for more details specifically looking for the dates of the different names for the Lab since its creation in 1943. To my surprise a Google search did not reveal much about the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL). A wikipedia search for LASL directed me to the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) wikipedia page. By following Read More

REBECCA SHANKLAND
White Rock

Christine Bernstein’s letter about school lunches recounts movingly her experience talking with kids about their opinions on school lunches, which our state is now sensibly offering to all students as a means of reducing child poverty in New Mexico.

Well-fed people find it hard to imagine the impact of hunger on children’s ability to learn and how that will probably affect their ability to become productive members of society: will they do poorly in school? drop out? Imagine the incentive to stay in school if that’s the place to get fed!

But of course what most Read More

LEE MARQUEZ
Los Alamos

As a veteran, one of the biggest priorities in my life is ensuring that I am prepared for emergencies, whether it be financial, environmental, or medical. I’m sure many other veterans are the same thanks to the training we had while in the service.

So it’s concerning to read about the Veterans Administration looking to implement a rule that cuts reimbursement rates on emergency medical services like ground and air ambulance services.

The VA has tried to make cuts on New Mexico before by attempting to shutter clinics in some of the rural areas of our state. Luckily, they were Read More

By ELIZABETH JACOB
Los Alamos

A Denny’s!!!!! (link)

We already have a McDonald’s that fills the morning menu and hamburgers.

What we need is a sweet little personable cafe like we had in Fleur de Lys.  Wonderful pastries, a variety of Mediterranean stocked foods, pleasing atmosphere of small tables and pleasant window draperies, excellent take out packages of their pastries and an owner that really cared about the customer.

Los Alamos needs variety, something different not the same o, same o.

Los Alamos is trying to establish itself as a tourist location with its history, mountain location Read More

By BOB BOURQUE
Los Alamos

For what it’s worth, here’s my two cents about the 20th St. development:

Now that Morning Glory is gone, how about replacing it with a good old coffee shop like a Dennys. Nothing fancy. Something that serves comfort food, for example bacon and eggs in the morning, meatloaf with mashed potatoes later on, and maybe beer and wine at dinner.

It would be nice to add some aesthetics to Trinity Drive. It’s sort of ugly, topped off by that Century Link monolith (maybe paint murals on it). And please don’t repeat that new construction at the old Black Hole. That thing looks like Read More

By DAVID B. ROGERS
Los Alamos

Fifty years ago, Aug. 4, 1973, my friend Bruce Gallaher went on an overnight backpack trip near Penitente Peak with a companion. While descending from the summit of that peak, they stumbled across the wreckage of a small plane, missing since October 2, 1968.

The plane crash, in dense forest, killed the four passengers. They had been scouting for elk in anticipation of hunting season. Their remains and personal effects lay around the site. The missing plane had been the subject of one of the most intensive such searches in New Mexico history. After government and civilian Read More

By JAN GILBRECHT
Española

I got to watch the new film Oppenheimer last Saturday afternoon in Los Alamos. The experience will stay with me for some time.

The director did a masterful job depicting the WWII war years on our local home front, the race to build the bomb, the anti-Red McCarthy Era, finally leaving us smack dab in the middle of the Cold War, a period that feels very familiar in today’s political climate.

Speaking with other audience members post-viewing, I heard a sense of fatalism expressed about humanity’s ability to confront and control the existential threat to our planet posed by Read More