Opinion

Letter to the Editor: PEEC Has Proven Ability to Deliver

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By Dave Fox, Anne Fox and Andy Fox
Los Alamos

Dear County Councilors: With respect and sympathy for the needs of other applicants for new facilities, CB Fox wants to go on record as a supporter of the PEEC Nature Center.

Of all the prospective CIP candidates, the Nature Center, placed on Canyon Road, fits Los Alamos’s new Creative District, imparting to the District the non-stop thrum of life that PEEC has already abundantly demonstrated it not only can, but does in fact, deliver every week of the year, year after year.

PEEC’s vitality, transported to the Creative District, adjacent as it is to the Read More

Letter to the Editor: LACDC Should Hire Locally

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Erik Swensen
ES Development Group

As you may already be aware, Mr. Kevin Holsapple of the Los Alamos Commerce Development Corporation (LACDC) is stepping down as the executive director.

His departure gives the LACDC board an opportunity to evaluate the needs of our community during these difficult economic times and gives Los Alamos the best opportunity to grow in a manner that reduces our dependence on LANL.

I am a 20-year resident of Los Alamos and recently started my own business after being caught in the aftermath of the CMRR project cancellation.

During my tenure, I’ve observed that both Read More

Letter to the Editor: CROP Walk/Turkey Trot Organizers Express Gratitude

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By Lynn Wysocki-Smith and Elisa Enriquez
Los Alamos Crop Walk Organizers

The 2012 Los Alamos CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) Hunger Walk and Turkey Trot was a great success thanks to the many individuals, businesses, churches and organizations that contributed funds, time and talents. 

We had approximately 220 walkers/runners participating in the event and raised $13,055, an increase of more than $4,000 from 2011, and were yet again one of the top CROP Hunger Walk fundraisers in New Mexico (second to Albuquerque.)

2012 was the first year we attempted a logo Read More

Letter to the Editor: County ‘Fiscal Crisis’ is Opportunity

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By Robert Gibson
Former Los Alamos County Councilor

“Never waste a good crisis” goes the saying. Sadly, it often takes a crisis to force overdue actions. The county budget shortfall is such an opportunity. 

The county government’s fiscal challenge is real. The revenue bubble it has enjoyed the six years since LANL started paying gross receipts taxes is deflating. 

Neither the Lab’s mission nor its political support in Washington are as strong as they were for decades. The Lab is not going away, but its size and strength are declining.

Our failure to focus on diversifying our economic Read More

Letter to the Editor: Outraged…

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By Diana Norwood
Los Alamos
 
I don’t get my feathers ruffled easily, nor often. As a resident and business owner in Los Alamos, I am outraged and offended when I read that someone has decided to spend “fifty thousand dollars” of County money, to have folks from Tennessee come here and tell us how to market our town.
 
It hasn’t been that long ago, when the beautiful structures were erected at the top of the main hill road to Los Alamos. “Welcome to Los Alamos … Where discoveries are made.”
 
I think that sounds real nice, and accurate. It
Read More

Letter to the Editor: Cast Your Vote for Michelle Hall

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By Morris B. Pongratz
Former County Councilor and School Board Member

I recently went to the County Clerk’s Office to vote in the UNM-LA Advisory Board election. I was only the fifth person to vote!

I know that this election may not be at the top of your radar screen, but elections are important so I urge folks to study the candidates and please vote!

One candidate, Michelle Hall, was recently honored by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) with the 2012 Excellence in Geophysical Education Award at the AGU Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held Dec. 5, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif.

The award honors “a Read More

Letter to the Editor: Vote for Michelle Hall for UNM-LA Advisory Board

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By Jack and Colleen Hanlon
Los Alamos

Please vote for Michelle Hall for the UNM-LA Advisory Board.

We believe Michelle is the best candidate for position one, which is the only contested seat in the election.

We are writing because such an outstanding candidate for the UNM-LA Advisory Board rarely comes along. If elected, Michelle will bring new vision, renewed enthusiasm and new ideas to the UNM-LA Board.

Here are just a few of her career highlights: She taught Geophysical Science at the University of Arizona for 10 years; she has been a Program Director at the National Science Foundation; she Read More

Letter to the Editor: Consultants Must Love It Around Here!

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By Jerry Fleming
Los Alamos

I read the other day that there is a serious shortfall in county receipts, and that now county management is scrambling to cut expenditures in order to avoid a serious deficit situation.

Personally, I cannot understand how this could happen, except that when you look around at all the projects going on now and over the past few years, it’s pretty clear that the county has been spending as though ever-increasing receipts would continue forever.

Now I see in the Los Alamos Daily Post that yet another boondoggle expenditure for “developing a brand” Read More

Letter to the Editor: Thank You for Resounding Endorsement!

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By Kevin Honnell
LA School Board President

On behalf of your School Board, I would like to thank the citizens of White Rock and Los Alamos for their resounding endorsement of our public schools in the recent referendum.

Whether you voted yea or nay, we appreciate that you took time to contemplate the future of your schools and provide us with direction, by way of your ballot.

From the Ranch School days, though the Manhattan Project and into the present, Los Alamos has always been a community that values education.

This endorsement of the schools-revitalization program by our citizens underscores Read More

Letter to the Editor: Setting the Record Straight on the School Bond – Rationale for an All-Mail Ballot

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Setting the Record Straight on the School Bond: Rationale for an All-Mail Ballot

By Gene Schmidt

Over the last two weeks, I have been following an interesting conversation in the Los Alamos Daily Post about the timing of the school bond election. 

At least one writer wondered aloud why the bond election was not tied to the general election last November.

Another wondered why the district chose to run an all-mail ballot that costs taxpayers up to $30,000 – money that might have been saved had the School Board chosen to run it as part of the general election last November.

In order to set the record Read More