Opinion

Letter to the Editor: PRC Should Leave Renewable Energy Policies in Place

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By DOMINICK LAWTON
Environment New Mexico

The Public Regulation Commission is preparing to rule on how much New Mexico invests in renewable energy, and clean energy advocates argue that the PRC’s proposed changes would harm renewable energy development in the state. Looking at the facts, we have to agree.

New Mexico is the second-sunniest state in the country, but we currently get less than two percent of our electricity from the sun, lagging behind cloudy states like New Jersey. Our state needs to move toward a new, thriving clean energy economy, and not stay tethered to fossil fuels, which Read More

Letter to the Editor: Why Pick on the Next Big Idea Festival?

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By DAREN SAVAGE
Los Alamos
I have read a couple of Letters to the Editor in the Los Alamos Daily Post criticizing the leaders of the Next Big Idea Festival for not being more respectful of Yom Kippur, which began today at sunset, and ends at nightfall Sept. 14. The op-eds stated that the Next Big Idea Festival should have been rescheduled out of respect for Yom Kippur.

The LA Daily Post published a calendar of events in Los Alamos for this weekend, and there seems to be more going on that just the Next Big Idea Festival. Why has there been no criticism of these other events, also held over Yom Kippur?

Los Alamos

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Letter to the Editor: The Next Big Idea and Yom Kippur

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By JJ MAIER
Los Alamos

After reading Stauber, Spencer and Santiago, (letters published in Los Alamos Daily Post) I would hope that those who believe in the God or no-god of their choice, would all learn that the best of all teachings is RESPECT.

Sensitivity to or respect of the beliefs of others does not imply acquiescence to their beliefs, whether they are in an ancient or modern version of “wisdom.”

I agree whole-heartedly with Stauber and Spencer that were the date conflicting with a Christian holiday, it would have been changed long ago without question.

I am saddened by the crass insensitivity Read More

Letter to the Editor: More Great Local Customer Service

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BY RUTH WILLIAMSON
Los Alamos

Yet another local service deserves our accolades.

One of the blinds in my livingroom recently broke. I was informed by Cheryl Sowder at The Finishing Touch that the Hunter Douglas blinds, which I have enjoyed in recent years had been discontinued. The broken blind could neither be fixed nor be replaced by a window covering, which would match the other blinds throughout the room.

The only alternative was to purchase new window coverings for all nine of the windows. Since the current blind could not be repaired or replaced, Hunter Douglas offered to give me a trade-in Read More

Letter to the Editor: Education in Los Alamos

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By ANITA SCHWENDT
Los Alamos

I am concerned about the lack of funding for education in the state, and how it affects the quality of education in Los Alamos.

The community is committed to strong education, but the funding is not supportive of the quality that this town has come to expect. Considering that, for the last few decades, the great schools in Los Alamos have attracted and kept many families in this town, the quality of education is not just a concern for current parents, but for LANL, the county, as well as other community members. It is a source of recruiting and retention for LANL. LANL supports Read More

Letter to the Editor: Great Local Customer Service

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By KAY GRADY
Los Alamos

About two years ago, my husband and I bought a Lazy-Boy Recliner from CB Fox in Los Alamos. 

Recently, the foot rest broke. I contacted CB Fox to find out how I could get the chair repaired. Someone from the store came to my home to look at the chair and figure out what part was needed. The part was ordered, and CB Fox arranged to come pick up the chair and take it to their store. 

They fixed the chair and returned it to my home the same day. I was not charged for the part, labor, or transporting the chair to/from the store.

Great Customer Service from a local merchant. Read More

Letter to the Editor: On Big Ideas, Ignorance, and Irony

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By ED SANTIAGO
Los Alamos

It strikes me as ironic that in an age that has not known smallpox, in a town founded on reason, we’re debating whether or not a make-believe sky-god will be offended by our choice of date for a Big Idea conference.

Why limit our concern to Jehovah, though? Should we also check with Allah, God, Zeus, Amen-Ra, Quetzalcoatl, Zoroaster, Yukiyú, and the thousands of other gods mankind has invented  throughout the millennia? Each of those has or had adherents whose belief is just as strong and whose sacred-day rules are just as arbitrary. No matter what day is picked Read More

Letter to the Editor: Is the Next Big Idea to Tackle Ignorance, Revisited

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By KHALIL J. SPENCER
Los Alamos

After reading Judith Stauber and Daniel Cooper’s letter in the Los Alamos Daily Post, I kept expecting an explanation from the organizers of the Next Big Idea to what looks to this reader like a display of either insensitivity or stubbornness.

I do find it amazing that an event predicated on great ideas would have the “great idea” to schedule the event on Yom Kippur. Like the two authors of the original letter, I doubt that the organizers would schedule such an event on Easter, Good Friday, or Christmas Day.

Given that one can not separate the development Read More

Letter to the Editor: Keep New Mexico’s Special Places Free From Fracking

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By SANDERS MOORE
Environment New Mexico

In a speech marking the 50th anniversary of the historic march on Washington, President Obama said “Change does not come from Washington, but to Washington.”

We agree. Last week Americans submitted more than one million comments urging President Obama to protect our national forests, parks, and the drinking water they provide from dirty gas drilling.

Fracking – a dirty and dangerous method of drilling for oil and gas – has wrought widespread environmental damage across the country, including in New Mexico, turning treasured landscapes into industrial Read More

Letter to the Editor: UNM-LA Needs to be Part of Dynamic Future

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By NONA BOWMAN
Los Alamos

Dear Los Alamos citizens:

After being away from Los Alamos all summer, the progress in our town comes across as really impressive. Work on the Trinity Site seems really serious. 

David Griggs of the county staff, gave me my first tour of the new County Municipal Building. I haven’t had time to look closely at the pond redevelopment project, but it is good to see it moving ahead. It is also good to see a real building growing at the golf course that also will provide a large space and kitchen facility for the community to use for special occasions. 

When these Read More