Opinion

Letter To The Editor: Red Cap Meets With Laboratory Retiree Group Board

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By VERNON KERR
Los Alamos
 
The Los Alamos Retiree Group is a civic minded group of retired Laboratory employees that is constantly looking for projects to better the community.
 
The LRG may not be the best organization to have an outing to pick up trash around the Los Alamos Resevoir and so the idea of welcoming visitors to the city was attractive. They have already received some Red Cap head cover. They have accepted the promise to wear the cap downtown and to engage any tourists they meet.
 
In speaking to the Board of Directors, I noted that the town needs
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Goodwin: Educational Retirement Plan

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By JAN GOODWIN, Executive Director
New Mexico Educational Retirement Board
 
Both of my parents are retired educators, so my family understands firsthand the importance of secure retirement benefits for educational employees.
 
The New Mexico Educational Retirement Board (NMERB) plays an important role in the lives of our 46,000 retirees and 60,000 active members. They and the Legislature have entrusted NMERB with providing secure retirement benefits to all of New Mexico’s public educational employees and their beneficiaries.
 
I consider
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Letter To The Editor: Without Your Support I Would Have Been Lost

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By JOHN L. HORNE
Los Alamos
 

Dear friends of my son John and me,

 

I wish to thank each and every one of you for your prayers, loving kindness, and support following the passing of my son, John. Without your support I would have been lost.

 

From the very beginning Sheriff Marco Lucero and Chaplain Jennifer Bartram were at my side to console and support me while dealing with the shock and grief I was confronting.

 

My sincere gratitude to Los Alamos Sheriff, Marco Lucero; Rio Arriba and Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office; New Mexico Mounted Patrol; and Los Alamos Police Department Read More

Letter To The Editor: Carbon Dividends

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By PAUL O. FREDERICKSON
Los Alamos

Carbon Dividends. Many scientists in Los Alamos have a clear understanding that climate change is very real, and cite several observable effects as evidence. One of these effects is the very rapid increase in the number of record amounts of rainfall across the country, or record drought severity, or record heat spells, or record cold spells, various examples of instability in our climate.

See below for more in the way of evidence, but first we want to call everyone’s attention to a possible solution.

The June 20 edition of the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Read More

Letter To The Editor: Restore Office Of Sheriff Duties

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By GREG WHITE
Los Alamos

Open letter to the Council and all citizens of Los Alamos County concerning the illegal activity of the Council from last year until now in regard to the Office of Sheriff of Los Alamos County, giving the Council chair until Monday close of business to postpone the scheduled meeting until Thursday night so as to be able to revise the agenda to include the Sheriff’s budget and meet the required 72 hour notice for agenda publication, as well as leave the County one business day before the new fiscal year starts Saturday to make the necessary changes to comply with state Read More

Letter To The Editor: Sewer Rate Increase Warranted

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By BRADY BURKE
Los Alamos

I went to the BPU meeting. There were about 15 people there and I was the only one that stood up to speak out against the increase on the sewer rate increase. I would have spoken out against the potable water increase, but they had a 45 page powerpoint presentation on power sources by some outside consultant where I could not understand her accent. That presentation was going to take hours and the Potable water issue was somewhere after that. My condolences to the BPU for having to stay.

My first comment to the folks that don’t go to these meetings is that you have no one to Read More

Letter To The Editor: Response To Don Neeper

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By TERRY GOLDMAN
Los Alamos
 
“However, in a society modeled on winning—getting ahead—there must be losers.”
 
Don Neeper almost gets it right (link). In America, however, this is better said: In a society modeled on getting ahead, there must be those who don’t get as far ahead as others.
 
These are not losers; they are just not as big winners. What matters is how you view your circumstances. Wherever you draw the line, American ‘losers’ are almost all far ahead of Syrian or Libyan losers, to pick two recent examples. You might call
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Man With Gun At Smith’s: Legal Details Matter

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By KHALIL J. SPENCER
Los Alamos 

The other day, the Daily Post carried a short story about a man being reported to the police for having a gun in Smith’s (link). Although I’m pretty sure that even hate tatoos are protected by the First Amendment, and it turns out it was a pellet gun, its understandable that this gentleman raised suspicion but the bigger issue here is the law and there is state law that addresses this specific situation.

Thinking only of the supermarket part of the store, I was wondering what actually happened as the Daily Post story was short on details. New Mexico Read More

Neeper: What Drives A Culture Insane?

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By DON NEEPER
Portola Valley, Calif.
Former Los Alamos resident
 
In the Los Alamos Daily Post of June 20, V. B. Price asks whether a national culture can go insane. Price sees recent mass shootings as evidence of a developing mad culture within a fear-laden population that could tip into a disguised civil war or dictatorship. I suggest that Nazi Germany of 1939 and ISIS of 2017 provide examples of insane cultures that answer Price’s question. However, I also suggest that the crucial question is not whether a culture can go insane, but rather what drives it crazy.

Price cites studies

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