Letters to the Editor
Thank you for
your generosity
Editor:
The Cottonwood Valley Charter School golf team has successfully completed its fourth year of existence here in Socorro due to the generosity of many people, so we’d like to give all of them a huge “Thank You!”
The volunteers have all assisted in providing golf skills instruction to over 35 K-8th grade students for the past three months, many of whom would never be exposed to the numerous character-building attributes for which the game of golf is known.
From our 100 percent volunteer coaching core to the great folks that have donated clubs, balls and numerous other sundries over the years, we have daily evidence why our high school golf teams are regarded as two of the strongest and most well-disciplined programs in New Mexico.
Socorro is well known around our state for being open to all walks of life, and nowhere is this more evident than at our New Mexico Tech Golf Course. It truly is the melting pot of our little town, and our program would not be possible without the generosity of the staff that cares for our course.
Russ Moore, Sabino Grijalva and the rest of the crew have consistently provided the CVCS golf team with everything a successful golf program needs to flourish, and we sincerely appreciate all that they do for our course.
Holm Bursum III at First State Bank, TWGI Marketing and our anonymous donors have made this a “cost-free” extracurricular activity for our golfers. Were it not for their support, this program would not exist. Thank you so much!
Thanks again to everyone that has helped our program out over the years, and because of their support and endorsement, we’ll be back again on the links this upcoming November!
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact Dennis Walsh at dwalsh@nrao.edu
Dennis Walsh
Socorro
Should questions of
morality be legislated?
Editor:
Re: Doug May’s letter to the editor on Jan. 22
Mr. May is correct when he writes, “‘It is not a simple answer.’”
Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to have saved those 50 million unwanted babies? Some of them may have beaten the odds and made brilliant contributions to the world. Some of them may have been wards of the state, and some of them would have been just the right age to serve in 1990 when 200,000 were killed in the invasion of Iraq and Kuwait and the Shiite south with large scale destruction of Iraqi military.
Mr. May’s argument is based on the commandment: thou shalt not kill. As noted in Jonah Lehrer’s book, “How We Decide,” during World War II, U.S. Army Brigadier Gen. S.L.A. Marshall surveyed thousands of American troops right out of combat and found that less than 20 percent actually shot at the enemy, inhibited by the commandment thou shalt not kill.
With this information, in 1947 the army changed its training program. Soldiers are desensitized to the act of killing so that it becomes an automatic reflex. In Vietnam, the ratio of fire was nearly 90 percent.
Think of these men and women and their families, friends and foe. What are the long-term affects at home and abroad? Does the right to life stop at our borders?
We do have Birthright of Socorro and I expect they give good guidance. Nevertheless, legalized abortion was the right decision allowing women and families to solve this private dilemma. The most recent horror story goes to emphasize what happens when women are denied access to legitimate services by poverty or by legislation.
Questions of morality are not so simple. Can or should they be legislated?
Dorothy Brook
Socorro
Maybe we should sell the co-op to PNM
Editor:
Imagine that! I have come back to Tucson from an extended vacation, my daughter is back to school and I finally go through all my mail, catching up on all the B.S. in Socorro.
I read every copy of the two county newspapers and the Albuquerque Journal only to see the same bunch of “trustees” up to their old tricks. Even after recall petitions have been submitted, some of the names are deleted as not “worthy” of a vote!!
Then the wolves in the hen house delay the meeting until March. Come on, it is just a matter of time before the judge up in Los Lunas finally hears everyone out and the “trustees” and their attorneys are dealt with and the member-owners are finally given the chance to vote in the five board members “wanted” by the public all along, period.
Hopefully the new five board members do a staff realignment and see why all the rush to hire a new manager, and the same bunch of auditors is looked into. These new five board members should really think about selling the “co-op” to PNM. They (PNM) would definitely run things differently or else lose their shirt and wouldn’t answer to any trustees but the customers they would serve.
Because as member-owners what do we really own? Think about that member-owners. Wouldn’t it be better to have a large sound corporation running things and not have all this animosity and worry about your “trust-me” neighbors? I am sure PNM would hire all the existing field and office workers.
I will be back in San Antonio very soon. When anyone sees my vehicle there, come on over. I make good coffee, cold beer, sodas, or just plain water. I would like to visit with old friends and move on because we are all aging and losing some much needed MATURE time together. James Padilla, fifth house down from the public church, east side of the street.
James Padilla
San Antonio and Tucson
Positive responses received
Editor:
After the information meeting held in District I, I received many phone calls and spoke with neighbors and friends regarding the information presented on the proposed rate increase. I was amazed by the positive response to the meeting. Some people I spoke with were unable to attend, but through word of mouth they heard about the presentation, as well as the question and answer session.
While they are not excited about the proposed rate increase, they understand that rates have to go up. Their main interest was with better and constant service since the construction of the new substation in Tierra Grande.
As for the members that did attend the meeting, they were grateful for the excellent explanation for the rate increase given by Cathy Cobb and Richard Lopez.
On a negative note, the lack of class shown by five or six people at the meeting by passing around a recall petition to have me removed from the board was not appreciated by most in attendance.
In closing, thank you to those who attended the meeting and those that called me with their concerns and support.
Leo C. Cordova
Trustee, District 1
Socorro Electric Board of Trustees
Request for records denied
Editor:
On Jan. 6, I requested from the Socorro Electric Cooperative the records for all payments to or on behalf of each trustee from Jan. 1 to April 17, 2010. That was the date on which a bylaw was adopted by the members that limits the compensation of trustees. I asked that the payments be listed separately for each trustee. I also requested records for all payments from April 17 to the end of the year.
The bylaws adopted on April 17 require that this information be available to members on request. There is no issue of privacy, for similar records are available for all persons paid by public entities.
On Jan. 27, Richard Lopez, as Interim Manager of the SEC, responded to my letter saying, “Due to the fact that the SEC is involved in a lawsuit whereby the Cooperative and certain past and present board members are being sued, no records will be released except by court order.”
It seems, then, that the board of trustees believes that information concerning what payments they have received from the SEC, including what amounts they might have borrowed, could be used against them in a lawsuit. That suggests that the trustees do not have confidence that the payments they have received are both legal and appropriate for their work as trustees.
Richard L. “Arf” Epstein
Socorro