Letters to the Editor

By MARK DEVOLDER
Los Alamos

Many years ago, I read that you are what you eat. Because I live in Los Alamos, I shop at Smith’s like many residents. Smith’s provides products from the Kroger grocery supply chain. Kroger products are imported from all over the world – strawberries from Mexico, grapes from Chile, tuna fish from Indonesia and Thailand, wine from France, beer from Mexico, etc.

The saying, “You are what you eat” could also be modified so that “you are what you consume.”

I just got a wake-up call. About a year ago, I purchased several containers of Elmer’s School Glue at Smith’s. I did Read More

By Rio de Chama Acequia Association:

On behalf of the 18 acequias and over 600 landowners, officers and acequia commissioners of Rio de Chama Acequia Association (RCAA) wish to thank Los Alamos County for allowing RCAA to enter into a long term agreement to purchase San Juan/Chama project water.

This water has been helpful in extending our irrigation season which in turn has allowed our farmers and ranchers to sustain their crops and livestock during persistent drought. Many of our farmers and ranchers contribute directly to our local economy but more importantly they also contribute to our Read More

By CAMILLE MORRISON
Los Alamos

In January the House of Representatives will impeach President Biden, the Senate will acquit him.

Same song second verse.

Editor’s note: Letters and columns published in the Los Alamos Daily Post reflect the views of the writer. The Post encourages readers to do their own fact checking. Read More

By ANDY and BARBARA PHELPS
Los Alamos

Is Smith’s treating our community fairly?

Yesterday, the price for Smith’s unleaded gasoline in Los Alamos was $3.19 per gallon. Smith’s in Santa Fe on Saint Michael’s was charging $2.83 per gallon making unleaded gasoline approximately 13 percent higher in Los Alamos. That approaches the definition of price gouging (exorbitant pricing in a period of emergency).

Smith’s in Los Alamos has guaranteed they face minimal competition by the restrictions and pricing on the abandoned MariMac property, yet they benefit from School owned property.

Service Read More

By WILLIAM MEAD
Los Alamos

Residents of Los Alamos County had a wake-up call Sunday. We’ve learned that all our communication modes depend on a single fiber-optic link. Even local phone calls were impossible, and access to emergency services was greatly limited.

I suspect the community alert system was down as well.

Without a local radio station, we were completely uninformed about the extent or likely duration of the black-out.

The County should improve communication services in two ways:

• Individual and mass communications within the county should be independent of trunk services; and

Read More

By AARON WALKER
Los Alamos

The nuisance code (Chapter 18) is written in a manner that forces the public to trust (this is in bold because it will come back) that CDD will enforce the code “appropriately” and not unfairly or overstep its bounds. With CDAB being removed from the picture, this forces the residents to completely rely on IPRA or trust that CDD is acting properly.

What has CDD done to lose the public trust? A LOT. Not just through code enforcement, the department has eroded public trust in the department through numerous missteps:

• Michael Arrellano was kept on staff and acting in his capacity

Read More

By CATHERINE OZMENT
Los Alamos

I am the first Chair of the Community Development Advisory Board speaking in my capacity as a private citizen.

For a county that already struggles to comply with Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) requests, Council made a peculiar choice Tuesday to increase that workload. This may be due to an apparent lack of understanding among some Councilors about how CDAB came into being and the functions it served (and an unsurprising apathy among others).

CDAB exists because in 2017 people IPRAed code enforcement cases and paperwork, and the practices revealed were Read More

By GANAPATHYSUBRAMANIAN GOPINATHAN
Los Alamos

Pumpkins bought, used on Halloween and thrown out.

I am from India, where we do have regular use of pumpkins for our normal household cooking.

We even take out the seeds, dry them in the sun with some ash mix and then get the seeds opened and even consume the white portion inside. Thus there is almost zero waste of pumpkins as such in India.

This year I happened to be in the USA and have for the first time witnessed the quantum and variety of pumpkins being marketed, purchased, used for Halloween and thrown out.

A cursory browsing on the Internet shows there Read More

By AARON WALKER
White Rock

This took me a while to write because I needed to come down from my anger regarding the actions of Council Nov. 29. I’m still quite worked up about it, but I am at a point where I can write about it without fuming.

The Good:

I must give my thanks to the 47 people who put their name on the list of supporters and the additional members of the public that showed up in person and on Zoom to provide public comment. There were over 50 unique names that asked the council to slow down, and some of the people that gave comment were at their first council meeting. I also would like to give special Read More

By NANCY ANN HIBBS
Los Alamos

I am so encouraged that there are teachers out there that see the need to “teach cursive to our students” (link).

I realize computers are our main means of communication – it is so refreshing and appreciated that students and adults have the ability to write “cursive” to everyone – be it a thank you note, to-do notes, etc. It is so appreciative!

Please continue with “cursive to our students”. Read More