Letters to the Editor
All should have health insurance
Editor:
Now is an opportune time to remind ourselves of the justice and equality brought to health care by the Affordable Health Care Act. Already in place are these changes:
In 2010
1. Children with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied health coverage.
2. Adults who were previously denied insurance due to pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health coverage.
3. Your insurance company cannot drop your coverage if you become ill.
4. Your lifetime maximums for coverage are gone.
5. Young adults up to age 26 can stay on their parent’s health insurance policy.
6. Small businesses offering health coverage to employees receive tax credits up to 35 percent of premiums.
7. New private plans must provide preventive care without co-payments and deductibles.
8. Recipients of Medicate Part D receive a $250 rebate.
In 2011
1. Medicare is required to provide preventive care without co-payments and deductibles.
2. Recipients of Medicate Part D receive a 50 percent discount on prescriptions drugs that fall into the “donut hole.”
3. Health insurance companies must justify premium increases to the states in which they provide coverage.
Almost every attempt to bring justice and equality to the social sphere has been met with outrageous opposition — Social Security, Medicare, The Civil Rights Act, The Vote for Women — were all attacked as socialist or communist conspiracies when they were first proposed.
Don’t be fooled by more outrageous lies.
I believe the wealthiest country in the world, a country whose constitutional pillars support equality and justice, cannot allow millions of working men and women and their families to suffer without health insurance or to be driven to bankruptcy by an unjust health care system.
Please call your Congressman or Senator and let them know that you support the Affordable Health Care Act.
Sincerely,
Kathe MacLaren, Socorro
It is not a simple answer
Editor:
Like September 11, January 22 is a date remembered by millions of Americans because of the terrible loss of life. The destruction of the twin Trade Towers in New York City in 2001 took nearly 3,000 lives. January 22, 1973 marked the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in our country. During the last 38 years more than 50 million unborn babies have been killed. And there is no end in sight to this ongoing carnage.
We need to look at all the victims, the infants, the women, fathers and society’s loss, as the smoke from a great destructive fire. We need to ask, “What is that fire that causes such destruction?”
It is not a simple answer. In part, it is the unwillingness to accept the responsibility to raise the child. In part, it is the attitude that sex is for fun. For many it has been separated – the commitment of marriage and procreation. And supporting these desires for self-gratification is the philosophy that death is a remedy for many problems.
If one’s schooling or career may be jeopardized an abortion is the remedy. If a lingering terminal illness causes anxiety and is a burden on the relatives, the remedy is to “save the person from suffering” by removing food and water. If medical care is too expensive, death is the remedy. Some have gone so far as to suggest that assisting one to end one’s life should be considered as a medical service.
God gives life and it is it is God’s prerogative to take it. Not only is death by the hands of man not the remedy, but that philosophy creates a depressing pale over all of life. Elderly people are often burdened with the feeling that they are just a burden. We want our elderly loved ones to feel appreciated and loved.
It was very reassuring for one old man to hear his son say, “Dad, you are not a burden. There is nothing more important for me now than to be here with you. I consider it a privilege to help you now after all the things you have done for all of us kids.”
Caring for others in time of need is the noblest thing we can ever do. It enriches the life of the one helped and many more who observe it.
The Rescuers in Chili did not give up on those 33 miners trapped underground for more than two months. And the world rejoiced at their rescue. It says to all of us that every individual is important and we will do all we can when you are in trouble.
Birthright of Socorro has made a commitment to help those with problem pregnancies. For more information call 575-835-4236.
Doug May, Socorro
More meetings a waste of money
Editor:
I made it to Socorro Electric Cooperative’s rate increase informational meeting held in Quemado, as did about eight other people. Considering the lack of notification it was remarkable that so many attended.
We were told that another meeting could be scheduled if we wanted, because they realized the meeting time was not user friendly — 3 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon. That’s putting it mildly!!
Considering the fact that even when the PRC gets 25 protests and will investigate, the board has voted for interim relief, meaning that the rate increase will go into effect anyway for at least nine months while the PRC investigates, and if the PRC finds that the rate increase was not warranted, co-op members will only get their money back when and if the SEC decides to refund it. Another informational meeting would be a waste of money (which the SEC board is good at).
There was a lot of smoke screen garbage, oops, I meant verbiage, about why we need this rate increase, but I took notes and it did not add up. What does add up is that our co-op has been mismanaged by a bunch of robbers masquerading as trustees, who have failed to respond to the mandates of the members; trustees who are under recall and who have hired people who have overbilled the co-op members to the tune of over a million dollars; who have tried to sue the members they are supposed to represent; who have two attorneys representing them in their illegal endeavors for which again the co-op members are being billed.
The sum of this addition problem, in my humble opinion, is to let the Rural Utility Service take over the co-op. They certainly could not make things any worse than they are.
C.J. Auffrey, Quemado
Co-op trustees aren’t the owners
Editor:
When the Socorro Electric Cooperative trustees and management were revealed several years ago to have an unpleasant aroma in their stewardship of the co-op, a reform effort began. Just plain folks could tell that each trustees taking an average of about $3,750 per month for themselves over a period of years was not good for the management of the co-op, nor good for its future. Such greed makes itself evident pretty soon, even to just plain members who subscribe to co-op services because it’s the only game in town.
We’ve come a long way since those articles were picked up by newspapers across New Mexico. Some of us felt a bit embarrassed that our co-op was becoming notorious for managerial excesses and fraudulent practices designed to benefit a few highly placed co-op individuals. Obviously, most co-op trustees didn’t feel a thing, except the possibility their gravy train might be challenged and exposed. Well, it has been exposed. Everyone from Socorro to Santa Fe to Tri-State to RUS to Washington, D.C., knows the stink coming from our co-op is not diminishing. It reeks.
Given all this, not much has changed at the board of trustees level nor at the co-op’s everyday operations. Trustees were voted out; trustees resigned; bylaws were changed; and management personnel were dismissed. The process has started to recall Paul Bustamante, the board’s president, yet he was elected to that post again and sits in the chairman’s position at meetings. He and his sidekick attorney sit at the table and run the co-op meetings, while Bustamante’s Teflon coating deflects all challenges. He inherited the job from his father, right? He was schooled in the art of iron-fisted, self-serving, inept trusteeship. Profitable to him and his board cohorts who’ve taken money for attending a few meetings, going to resorts for conferences, and played “Godfather” to needy members who can’t pay their electric bills. Beholden votes at elections.
We the members voted to cut the trustees’ monthly take so they might not grab more than $10,000 per year.
Juan Gonzales, who members voted out of office in 2009, later told the remaining trustees that they still “own the co-op.” Gonzales assured us all that regular members have no ownership rights. Many trustees believe him and have their attorney joined to them at the hip to defend this divinely granted position. Fired management personnel have already sued the co-op (that’s us) for lost wages and more litigation could come that could make them wealthy for life. Perhaps Gonzales has been counseling them, too?
Select co-op office employees oppose the reform and take liberties with private membership information. A co-op employee rifles through the files and makes revelations about membership in letters to the newspaper. One’s membership status is not a topic for discussion in the media by any co-op employee, let alone those opposed to the reform. Anti-reform people all seem to have a vested interest in protecting the status quo. We know it has paid well for some. That’s coming to an end. The case is in court now, and we will prevail. Reform is about to become a reality.
I urge all members to attend board meetings and make their views known. Attend the court hearings and support the reform effort. Stay tuned to the meetings for membership voting and sign petitions useful to the reform movement’s actions. Trustees can ignore our wishes only for so long. New bylaws are in effect and changes are coming. The sooner, the better.
Herb Myers, Socorro