Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Wholehearted Support for Aspen Principal

by

By TAMMY MOORE
Los Alamos

I would like to express my wholehearted support for Kathryn Vandenkieboom, Aspen principal.

I know Kathryn to be a kind, compassionate and supportive woman of integrity. The students of Aspen are always her first priority.

Though the demands of her position require much of her, her door is always open and she is always available. She is the ultimate professional.

Kathryn exudes a calm and confidence as a leader. She does not make decisions lightly, but rather is very thoughtful and conscientious. Her high expectations of her staff, students, and herself have provided Read More

Letter to the Editor: Do Great Conversations Matter? ‘You betcha!’

by

By LORI HEIMDAHL GIBSON
Los Alamos

Do great conversations matter? How about civility? Does having the best possible local schools matter? I say, “You betcha!”

Sunday marked the 4th Annual Great Conversations fundraiser hosted by the Los Alamos Public Schools Foundation; a delicious afternoon of sharing ideas with a diverse group of Los Alamos-ites, who enjoy critical thinking, problem-solving, listening intently with an open mind to new ideas and worldly experiences of some neighbors we hadn’t had a chance to know until Sunday’s “meeting of the minds.” 

I loved every minute of our Read More

Letter to the Editor: Unequivocal Support for Aspen Principal

by

Letter to the Editor

The April 21 story reporting a lawsuit filed by Zeynep Unal against Los Alamos Public Schools and Kathryn Vandenkieboom, principal at Aspen Elementary, was incredibly disheartening. 

The story, particularly the wording in the lawsuit, portrayed Kathryn much differently than the child and family advocate we know. We would like readers to know that Kathryn.

Five years ago, when it was announced that Kathryn would lead Aspen as our principal, cheers of joy rang out! We were thrilled to be working with a woman fresh from the classroom and one we all respected to make decisions, Read More

Letter to the Editor: Thank You For Supporting ‘Run for Her Life’

by

By CARMEN RODRIGUEZ
President, Los Alamos Chapter of Hadassah
 

What a wonderful community we live in!

 

On behalf of the Los Alamos Chapter of Hadassah, we want to thank all the runners, walkers, sponsors and volunteers who supported our third annual “Run For Her Life” 5K and 10K run to fight breast cancer held Sunday, April 14 in Los Alamos.

 

Although it was a very cold and windy morning, we had 70 participants and made $4,100 that will be sent directly to Hadassah for breast cancer research. Every dollar counts when we are helping Hadassah help everyone in the world. Read More

Letter to the Editor: Los Alamos – Neither Suicide and Nuclear Weapons nor Sweet Small Town America

by

By SARAH CHANDLER,
Married mother of five
White Rock, N.M.

Recently I was getting my hair done out of town. When I told the hair dresser that I was from Los Alamos, he said he didn’t know too much about us except that we make nuclear weapons and that our children kill themselves.

For a moment my vision of who we are was erased. Soccer games on Saturdays and Boy Scout food drives and Home Coming Parade perfection disappeared from my few and I was left with a stone cold confirmation that there was some kind of truth in what he saw, an idea I have never permitted to enter me.

Einstein, whose words, in this town anyway, Read More

Letter to the Editor: Only One Site Creates ‘Ambient Repose’

by

By JOEL M. WILLIAMS
Los Alamos
 
Where’s the “ambient repose” to entice a visitor to spend a night or more in Los Alamos instead of Santa Fe?

While the leaders of the County profess a desire to make Los Alamos a more desirable “destination,” it strikes me that none of the places to stay have any ambience to make anyone want to spend even a single night here.

 
So I wondered: without any constraints about something already being there, what and where would I put something that I thought would provide the desired asset.

Low level shot: by csturgeo (Selected for Google Earth Read More

Letter to the Editor: Please Lower Your United States Flags

by

By Lisa Lindberg
Los Alamos

Last night as I drove through town on the way to take my dogs for a walk at sunset, I was astonished to see that there were United States Flags not being flown at half staff to honoring the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

On April 16, 2013, President Obama ordered that the United States Flag be flown and half staff immediately until sunset on April 20, 3013.

I find it sad that organizations including banks and schools were not following the Presidential order. But even more alarming was seeing that several fire stations did not have their flags at half staff.

As first Read More

Letter to the Editor: Thanks for Wonderful Support of Sock Hop

by

By JOY BEERY, Executive Director
Los Alamos Family Council

Enthusiastic dancers encouraged by ELVIS (aka Morrie Pongratz) Tim Gallegos, DJ, were the highlight of the 2013 Family Council Sock Hop. 

The ticket and food sales as well as donations will support the variety of programs at the Counseling Center and the Youth Activity Centers. 

Secundino Sandoval donated a $3,000 painting called “Resilience” – begun before the Los Conchas fire and completed after the evacuation. 

We are reminded that those families who have gone through both fires certainly have displayed resilience Read More

Letter to the Editor: Drilling Wells Disaster for White Rock

by

Robert Selden
Los Alamos

The plan to drill wells along the rim of White Rock Canyon is a disaster for residents of White Rock, La Senda and Pajarito Acres.

This project will bring industrial activity with visual and noise pollution into the residential areas, and degrade the quality of our lives.

The quiet and beauty of our hills, canyons and forests are one of the primary reasons many of us like to live here. This project as currently planned will damage open space areas along White Rock Canyon.

It will require service roads, construction, drilling and well operations, which will detract from the Read More

Letter to the Editor: Nothing Short of Miraculous!

by

By Ann McLaughlin, Artistic Director
Los Alamos Concert Association

On Friday night, the Blue Window Bistro suffered a plumbing disaster resulting in flooding.

This could also have been a disaster for the Los Alamos Concert Association as we had reserved the restaurant for a post-concert dinner for 60 people, following the performance of Amsterdam’s Calefax Reed Quintet Sunday evening.

Instead, Melissa Paternoster and her wonderful staff flew into action and catered the dinner at the Betty Ehart Senior Center.

Working in an unfamiliar kitchen, these great people presented us with Read More