Letters to the Editor

By JUTTA KAYSER
Los Alamos

Yesterday at 3:30 p.m., I walked my leashed dog across one of the baseball fields starting from the parking lot at the White Rock Transfer Station. I passed the sign posted on the fence “All Pets Must Be On A Leash”.

I started walking my dog close to the fence of Field #3. While walking, I noticed a man crossing the large soccer field to my left, with a dog running about 60-100 feet ahead of him. I did not see any danger because the man was fairly close behind him.

My dog – an Australian shepherd mix, weighing 50 lbs. – was sniffing the grass along the fence of Field #3 when all of a sudden Read More

By MARK DEVOLDER
Los Alamos

Electrical and electronics items are typically discarded at the Los Alamos Eco Station. A variety of items are discarded in an open bin located on the west side of the transfer station. Light bulbs are also discarded on the west side of the transfer station. Items such as batteries, power packs, etc. are placed in a plastic roll-top container (with secondary containment for spills).

Televisions are discarded in the same general area. Some items appear on shelves in the Reuse Area. I have a number of concerns about the electrical and electronics discard effort at the Read More

By DAVID IZRAELEVITZ
Chair
Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee

The mission of the J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee is to honor the intellectual and ethical legacy of the Scientific Director of the Manhattan Project through lectures, college scholarships, and activities that promote STEM interest in our youth. As Chair of this Committee, I would like to publicly express our gratitude to Larry Sheffield for holding the World Premiere of his documentary film Oppenheimer, After Trinity on the 119th anniversary of Oppenheimer’s birth, here in Los Alamos. It is also a generous gesture Read More

By J. TAUB
Santa Fe

Definition of non-profit snail mail overkill in 2022: 1,561 solicitations from 268 organizations, most from entities with which we never had contact or sent funds. Some were identical solicitations, received at the same time, same address, same name(s). And a few, still, for my Dad who passed 10 years ago.

I’ve donated to non-profits since my teens (eons ago!) and strongly believe in the value of non-profit organizations. But today, instead of applying my funds to further goals I support, they’re flipped to drown me in a tsunami of repetitive snail mail, while hijacking and Read More

By LYNN HANRAHAN
Los Alamos

An upside to the horrible Covid pandemic would be a more balanced approach to determining how indispensable we really are in our everyday life. Is my presence at work really a matter of life and death? Are my kids really going to fall behind if we miss a few days of school to be on the safe side?

I raised three kids in the two decades immediately preceding the Pandemic. During these years we probably caught every common germ known to man. I once spent twenty two months having at least one kid sick with something — and we were always the outdoorsy, healthy types. It takes Read More

By REID PRIEDHORSKY
Los Alamos

You may recall that the county published results of its scientific, demographically balanced poll of community satisfaction in February.

While some of the scores are truly excellent (e.g., safety, natural environment), I think that it is important for folks to realize just how bad the quality-of-government scores were. That is, it’s not just me and a few other vocal individuals who are unhappy with our county government. The dissatisfaction is broad.

I am including a figure with five key questions that I excerpted from the survey results. I’ve added the percentiles Read More

By CAT OZMENT
Los Alamos

Last night Los Alamos County Council appointed five people to serve on the newly established Nuisance Code Implementation Task Force (CDAB-lite). I thank Councilor Cull and County Manager Lynne for standing up the CDAB task force so quickly, and I thank the people who have put their names in to serve on the task force.

By charter, the task force will only consider the implementation of the new code. I’m using this opportunity to make sure Council doesn’t lose track of their responsibility to clean up the administrative loose threads dangling in Chapter 18 after its hasty Read More

By SHARON SEITZ
Los Alamos Parent

When the school board started discussing Calendar A, B, and C, I knew they missed the main point. By then, Los Alamos was already doomed to an additional 2 Weeks of School added to any of their choices! 2 Weeks of more school!  Kid’s butts sitting in chairs for 2 more weeks!!! Absolutely appalling!!! 

The current 180-Day Calendar (Calendar Y for 23-24) MEETS the required HB130 Hours with minimal tweaks for the Elementary. No need for extended daily schedules nor added days in the year. For Elementary to reach the required 1080 (1140-60=1080) Hours, they need 17.5 Read More