Opinion

Letter To The Editor: Response To Experience Rational Citizen

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By RICHARD NEBEL
Los Alamos
 
First of all, I don’t have a personal beef with the Sheriff. I don’t even doubt that he’s a swell guy. Most patronage politicians are. What I don’t like is his behavior of trying to expand his office at our expense and threatening people with lawsuits if he doesn’t get his way.
 
If you really want to resolve this issue, here’s how to do it. The first step is to find out what the law says. There is an easy (and FREE) way to do that. All public officials (like the Sheriff) and governmental entities (like the county) can request an opinion from the Attorney General of NM.
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Letter To The Editor: It’s The Law … Period

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By GREG WHITE
Los Alamos

 

The lawsuit can be easily legally avoided by abolishing the LAPD and transferring all the officers, duties and responsibilities to the LA Sheriff Dept. Maintaing the basic command structure. This is the ONLY LEGAL way to solve the issue AND make everyone happy as well as save $206,000 in salaries (except the police chief and deputy chief who will be out of a job and the county council who enjoy breaking the law). This would solve Mr. Chapmen’s concerns as well as Mr. and Mrs. Chandler and Mrs. O’leary’s.
 
To Mr./Ms. Concerned Citizen, please
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Letter To The Editor: Where To Find Duties Of Sheriff

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By DELIA CRUZ-MURPHY
Los Alamos

I am sure concerned citizens in Los Alamos are well aware of the growing concern regarding the position of the Sheriff. It is probably in the best interest of the people in the community to know where to find where the duties of the Sheriff are outlined. They are listed in Los Alamos County Code of Ordinances, Part I – Charter, Article III, Section 304.4: 

It also is in the best interest of the community to understand that it is not up to the Sheriff Read More

Letter To The Editor: Let’s Focus On The Purpose Of Sheriff’s Department

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By Experienced Rational Citizen
Los Alamos
 
I cannot debate Mr. Nebel’s concern about excessive force with certain metropolitan Police Departments in the state, given the DOJ’s findings; nor do I dispute the purpose of the military.  
 
But his skittishness about metropolitan Police Departments is not fully applicable here in Los Alamos County. And, lofty daydreaming about Mayberry clouds judgement—the days of Barney Fife are long past.
 
Reading some of his letters, I believe he has a personal issue with the current Sheriff, and is unfortunately unable
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Letter To The Editor: Proper Use Of Units In Electrical Matters … Does Matter

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By BRUCE BLEVINS
Chief Technical Officer, Ph.D.
Antenna Development Corporation
Las Cruces
 
Perhaps I am too concerned with the proper use of units in electrical matters. Here is a short tutorial (perhaps of interest to Andy Andrews link):
  • We pay for electricity in units of kWh – that is, the integrated product of the power consumption times the length of time. For example, a 1 kW load uses an energy of 1 kWh. Reduced to the basic terms of electrical energy, the number of Joules (energy). The equations of physics and engineering very carefully state the units to, among other things,
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Letter To The Editor: School Choice Needed For Education Progress In New Mexico

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By PAUL J. GESSING, president
New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation
 
It’s back to school time in New Mexico. But throughout the summer three big education-related headlines have framed education policy issues that will impact our school children this year and for years to come:
  • The recently-completed court hearing as to whether New Mexico’s education system is “adequate” and whether the courts should attempt to force legislators to spend as much as an extra $600 million on K-12;
  • Sen. Mimi Stewart, a liberal Democrat and union supporter spoke at an education-related conference
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Letter To The Editor: UNM-LA’s Community Internship Collaboration Is A Great Program!

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By KURT BENNER
White Rock

Dear Community,

With school starting on the 17th, I want to let you know about something I did last semester that was awesome! I gained valuable experience, learned a lot, and EARNED 1 credit at UNMLA and $600.

How did I do this? I was an intern with the Community Internship Collaboration – a joint venture between LAHS, UNM-LA and businesses in our community.

This program will start again this semester. There are limited opportunities and if you are interested, you MUST ATTEND one of the upcoming orientation sessions:

  • Wednesday, Aug. 23, 3:30-5:00 room 608 at UNM-LA; and
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Letter To The Editor: Cats Moving Into The Neighborhood

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By HUGH JAMES LATIMER
Los Alamos
 
In response to the comment about cats moving into the neighborhood: be grateful.
 
The Lyme spirochete has been around for millions of years. Lyme disease started to explode in the 1970’s and 1980’s, which is when the national spay-neuter programs got started, and the population of outdoor cats dropped like a rock.
 
I remember as a child in the 1950’s seeing kittens running around outdoors in the summer. In the last thirty years, except for my own protected outdoor cat colony, I’ve seen only one outdoor kitten.
 
The ticks that carry Lyme have
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Letter To The Editor: No To Pajarito Mountain Transfer

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By REID PRIEDHORSKY
Los Alamos
 

Some of your readers may be aware that the Los Alamos Ski Club is seeking a new arrangement for Pajarito Mountain. The original proposal was to transfer ownership of the ski area to the county, and a private company would operate it. However, that never actually happened, and now the club’s board wants to transfer ownership directly to this private company. I believe this poses an unacceptable risk that the public will lose access to the mountain.

 
This opinion is based on my reading of the ski club’s background memo to members (link). Quotes are from the
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Letter To The Editor: Yes Leadership Takes Courage…

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By TERRY GOLDMAN
Los Alamos

It was a great pleasure to see Tony Fox insist that the Council recognize that voting against the rec bond is not identical with voting against the rec projects. One may be fiscally conservative and still be in favor of some quality of life improvements and infrastructure development.

And while Dr. Shin is indeed correct that quantification is not precise, it is certainly clear that everyone who voted for the bond is also in favor of the projects. Now if only one in 10 fiscal conservatives are nonetheless also in favor of at least some of the rec projects, a small fraction, Read More