Opinion

Letter To The Editor: The White Elephant

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By BRADY BURKE
Candidate For Los Alamos County Council

Last month, the Los Alamos County Council, through a sleight of hand process, as they are wont to do, unanimously accepted the Tourism Strategic Plan and requested a Tourism Implementation Task Force Charter. Yes, I said sleight of hand.

The County Council meetings follow a prescribed format, guided by Robert’s Rules of Order. Here are the main headings for the April 3, 2018 County Council Meeting:

1. OPENING/ROLL CALL

2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

3. PUBLIC COMMENT

4. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

5. PRESENTATIONS, PROCLAMATIONS AND RECOGNITIONS

6. PUBLIC

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About Those Missing Post Office Clocks…

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This historic photo shows two clock faces mounted to the exterior of the U.S. Post Office in downtown Los Alamos. It is suspected the clocks disappeared sometime in the 1970s-1980s. Courtesy photo
 
By DIMAS M. CHAVEZ
Los Alamos
 
I moved to Los Alamos as a youngster arriving Aug. 15, 1943. Our home was one of the original log cabins located not far from the Fuller Lodge, and I recall vividly watching the construciton of the Community Center, which included the new Post Office, and the famous two clocks.
 
For keeping time, we had a steam plant located not far from Ashley Pond that had
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Letter To The Editor: House Dist. 43 Needs To Be Represented By A Scientist With Experience In Politics

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By TOM BOWLES
White Rock

Electing Pete Sheehey to the State Legislature will ensure that the best interests of all of District 43 are represented most effectively. The reason is simple – District 43 needs to be represented by a scientist, with experience in politics, who also has the best interests of northern NM at heart.

Pete has passion about the issues, such as affordable physical and mental health care for all, plus the ability to apply calm scientific reasoning to problems and proposed solutions. I have known Pete for many years and have seen his effectiveness in creating a bright future for Read More

Glasco: Carbon Free Power Project

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By Timothy A. Glasco, Utilities Manager
Department of Public Utilities

On April 10 the Board of Public Utilities and the County Council will convene to consider approval of a Power Sales Contract (PSC) with the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) organization, to continue our participation in the Carbon Free Power Project. This will be the world’s first small modular nuclear reactor power generation plant. Located in Idaho, this 600MW facility is scheduled to be operational by 2027. 

Over the past four years a fatal flaw analysis was conducted, and the project was discussed Read More

Letter To The Editor: Why Christine Chandler Is Excellent Choice To Represent Us In House Dist. 43

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By T. DOUGLAS REILLY 
Los Alamos
 
Christine Chandler is an excellent candidate to represent District 43, including Los Alamos, in our state House of Representatives.
 
I first met Christine in the early 1990’s when I was at DOE in Washington. She came from LANL for three months to help our safeguards section. I learned Christine had an especially good education* and that she was sharp, pleasant and a very hard worker.
 
I have followed her career in the lab’s legal department and her many efforts to support the community of Los Alamos. At present, Christine is
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Letter To The Editor: Medicare For All Can Work

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By ED BIRNBAUM
Los Alamos

Lisa Shin’s op-ed in the LA Daily Post (link) talks a lot about potential problems associated with a “single-payer” model for healthcare in the U.S., but her arguments for the main part are focused on how Obamacare works now, not on a single-payer model. 

In the process, she ignores the fundamental question of how do we provide healthcare for everyone. Even with Obamacare and Medicaid expansion, millions of people still have no healthcare coverage, which means that their only recourse is to go to the emergency room when they get sick. What is her plan? Read More

Letter To The Editor: Response To Lisa Shin

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By RICHARD SKOLNIK
White Rock

I write in response to Ms. Lisa Shin’s letter to the editor of March 24, 2018 (link).

The US is the only country in the world that does not have a commitment to Universal Health Coverage, for which there are sound ethical and economic rationale. Universal Health Coverage means ensuring that all people in a country have access to an agreed package of good quality health services, coupled with insurance to protect people financially if they fall ill.

In addition, we spend 18 percent of our national income on health. No other high-income country spends more than 12 percent Read More

Hopkins: Christine Chandler Superbly Qualified For Dist. 43 House Seat

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By JOHN C. HOPKINS
Los Alamos

I urge all Democrats in District 43 to vote for Christine Chandler in the June 5 primary. She is superbly qualified through temperament, knowledge and experience.

I have known Christine almost from her first day at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in late 1986. At that time, I was a lab associate director responsible for the nuclear weapons program. Christine and I worked together on numerous issues and problems facing the lab.

She was always professional in the face of serious challenges. I remember one case early in her career when she was selected by the legal office

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Letter To The Editor: Put Sights On Whatever May Add To Mass Shootings

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By JOHN BARTLIT
Los Alamos
 
School kids of the nation seem intent on pursuing varied means of giving enough visibility to school shootings to achieve useful changes in the problem.
 
Any major discussion of mass shootings eventually gets around to the growing “culture of violence” — the gun-filled movies and video games. School kids could further heighten visibility with protests in Hollywood against the epidemic of violent movies and in Silicon Valley against gun-filled video games.
 
I don’t know whether this added visibility and the data would
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Letter To The Editor: A Case Of Legislative Error On Gun Rights

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By VERNON N. KERR
Los Alamos
 
Legislators have been known to do ridiculous things and a majority of Florida’s legislators have done so along with their governor.
 
They have assumed that acts of violence using a firearm are age related or cynically a trick to weaken the Second Amendment is in their sights. They have forbidden sales of firearms to persons ages 18 to 20 purely on the basis of age. This denies them their rights under the Second Amendment placing them with a class of persons forbidden the right to bear arms for cause. The forbidden class is that which consists of the insane, idiots,
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