Letters to the Editor

By TERRY DUBOIS
Los Alamos

I can’t help but think that as the weather cools, trapping season is just around the corner starting on Nov.1 and lasting all the way through Mar. 15.

It is still legal in New Mexico for trappers to hide these cruel devices on public lands where everyone recreates in order to profit from the sale of fur from the public’s wildlife.

Animals like foxes, bobcats, and coyotes will all be suffering in the months to come as they languish with a limb crushed in a leg-hold trap and await their death when the trapper returns. 

I am so grateful to Representative Christine Chandler for sponsoring Read More

By LYNN HANRAHAN
Los Alamos

I have spent a lot of time the last few months out in the garden and have noticed birds acting odd. Some just land on me.

My daughters mentioned the other day seeing large numbers of dead birds on their walks.

Over the last couple of days, articles have appeared about a mass die-off of birds in the American Southwest in the New Mexican and Guardian.

Please report unusual bird behavior in your backyard or neighborhood on inaturalist. State officials are hoping to figure out what’s going on and they need your help. Read More

By PETE SHEEHEY
Los Alamos County Councilor

I support Rodney Roberson of White Rock for Los Alamos County Councilor.

Rodney brings unique experience. He is a veteran of 20 years in the US Marine Corps, retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer. As a fellow veteran, I know military service teaches how to build effective problem-solving teams with people of all backgrounds and opinions. Service members often live in towns where a federal installation, like our national lab, is a major part of the local economy. This background will be valuable for Rodney to help the Council resolve our Lab-community Read More

By ADELAIDE JACOBSON
Los Alamos

Sept. 17, 2020, two hundred and thirty-three years after the adoption of the United States’ Constitution, Americans will observe Constitution and Citizenship Day.

During those 233 years we have had twenty-seven amendments to our Constitution. As a representative democracy we are in need of another. We need an amendment which will reduce the influence of money in our elections.

This ‘election season’ the influence of political spending continues to be very pronounced. Sources of dark money cannot be traced. Political action committees, whether receiving Read More

By ELLEN MILLS
Los Alamos

Christine Chandler has demonstrated her total commitment to serving her constituents throughout the large and widely diverse House District 43.

Christine has devoted her time and endless energy to developing relationships in her district and in the Round House.

Her background and experience are evident in the way she carries out the duties of a state representative.

I truly believe there is no other candidate that can match her skill navigating the wide range of difficult and challenging issues that New Mexicans face every day.

I support Christine Chandler for District Read More

By CATHERINE BOWMAN
Los Alamos

Many people in Los Alamos appreciate the value of data – its collection, presentation, and analysis – in helping understand causal relationships, and how things work in general.

In the last six months, this collection and presentation of data has been in the forefront of many peoples’ minds, helping to clarify and understand the origins, nature, spread, and short- and long-term effects of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the concomitant coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

In the early weeks and months, as the nature of the spread and the effects of the disease were inadequately Read More

By ALLISON SCOTT MAJURE
Los Alamos

The most fascinating political question I’ve ever asked a fellow voter is this, “Do you vote for the party or the candidate?”

At parades, festivals, candidate townhalls, concerts, intimate dinners, kids’ sporting events, and all the other gatherings that we used to take for granted, I would ask this question. 

Invariably, it would open up a political discussion, usually prefaced with my fellow voter’s independent decision-making capacity. “Why yes! I vote for the candidate based on their positions and character, etc. I don’t blindly vote for every single Read More

By JOYCE NICKOLS
Los Alamos

I urge you to vote to re-elect Christine Chandler to the state House of Representatives Nov. 3. She is running for her second two-year term.

Many of us in Los Alamos and White Rock know Christine from her many years of public service to our county. However, Christine not only represents Los Alamos County, she also represents many of our neighbors living in parts of Santa Fe, Sandoval and Rio Arriba counties.

A map of District 43 shows it to be one of the largest and most oddly shaped in the state. It takes about three hours to drive from its most northern point (El Vado Lake State Read More

By SCOTT B. JOHNSON
LAPS Teacher

Most community members would agree that the School Board worked proactively with the Los Alamos Public Schools’ administrators responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of their commitments to the community, and childcare providers in particular, was to give a four-week notice to reopen. It was the kind of leadership that has come to be expected by the community.

On Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020 the School Board had a work session where that leadership was disappointing. From the onset of the reopening discussion there was not just a rush to reopen, but also a rush to Read More

By RICHARD NEBEL
Los Alamos

This is an answer to Ann Perkins’s recent letter to the editor (link) on the demise of businesses in Los Alamos. If you want to solve the problem, the first thing you need to do is understand what the problem is. In Los Alamos, the costs are high and the market is small. Low dollar businesses have a hard time competing with LANL, doctors, dentists, lawyers, etc. for space.

The best solution for this is for small businesses to own the buildings they are located in. Not having to pay rent makes businesses more resilient and better able to weather events like the coronavirus pandemic. Read More