Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Letters to the editor

A reality check

Editor:

In regards to Vivian McAlexander's letter to the editor (El Defensor Chieftain, May 4). The fact of the matter is, Ms. McAlexander is a lot like Gordy and Ernest. She just doesn't get it! The only one who displayed rude behavior in the council meeting in question was the mayor. He tried to interrupt and stop a statement I was reading to the public (on two separate occasions) because he didn't like the subject matter.

Then, if you want to talk about childish behavior, he threatened to stop the meeting if I didn't stop reading my statement. He didn't want to play anymore, and tried to take his ball and go home. He tried to stop my right to public free speech. Needless to say, he failed miserably.

You're probably the only one in Socorro that hasn't caught on, yet, about Ravi not liking people to say anything other than what he has directed them to say in public. I'm not like the other councilors, and I won't play his little dictator games.

I do apologize for the "spineless" councilor thing that was reported in recent newspaper issues. I am sorry, but I think I was misquoted in the papers. What I really said was, "they are jellyfish."

Huge, rabid, ravenous, maniacal — is that a word? — ego? That sentence describes Ms. McAlexander's hero (Ravi) perfectly.

My only comment on any past dealings you may have had with local police officers is, I'll bet you've only talked with each officer only once, because none of them are ever around long enough to talk to anyone twice.

I would think that someone with your impassioned opinions about what is going on in our local government would be more concerned with why this administration is chasing off your "Knights in Shining Armor" at such an alarming rate, rather than worrying so much about what one outspoken councilor does at public meetings. Could there be a tiny chance that what I've said is true, Ms. McAlexander? Just a tiny chance?

I wouldn't be buying tickets any time soon for a cruise on what you call "Ravi's smooth-running ship" if I were you. Even the rats are beginning to build rafts.

In closing, let me say that your final paragraph was the most troubling of all. You said, "whatever problems may exist within the Police Department is something that should be dealt with internally." (Do) you know why you said that? Because the truth has been kept from you and the public for so long, that you'll believe any lie without question. You have no idea what is going on, and it makes you uncomfortable to hear someone stand up in public and tell you the awful truth.

It's no fun for me either, but I refuse to let them get away with what they are doing for even one more minute. If the question of 29 officers being run off in 10 years, and 10 within the last four years doesn't make you wonder what the hell is going on, Ms. McAlexander, then you're obviouly living in a whole other world than the rest of us.

For those of you who are spooked by your children watching flaring tempers and listening to raised voices of concern, turn the channel. We're not Nickelodeon TV. This is important stuff. If you'd rather watch something that has been endorsed by all of the other councilors and the mayor as good viewing for your kids, go to Pay-Per-View "Cage Fighting." It's got Councilor Pargas' personal seal of approval for good, wholesome, healthy TV viewing for our children.

I'm sorry you don't like me, Ms. McAlexander, but you better get used to me because I'm not going anywhere any time soon.

Gary Jaramillo

Socorro City Councilor

Phone billing scams

Editor:

Everyone, especially small business owners, should be aware that there are more scams than ever out there. You cannot be polite or kind to these people. If they telephone to sell you someing, HANG UP! Don't talk to them and certainly don't give your name, address and phone number to anyone you don't know!

You should also be aware that phone companies, at least this is true of Western New Mexico Telephone Service, will put anything on your bill that any fraudulent entity demands. You will be required to pay it, regardless of the fact that you did not agree to this billing and have protested it repeatedly. Furthermore, they will terminate your service if you don't pay.

There is no help available from anyone. Neither the FCC, FTC, RTC, Attorney General's Office nor Better Business Bureau in this state, or possibly any other state, will take any action. All you will get is an acknowledgement that they received the information.

I think this particular scam is called "cramming" and it is illegal, but no one enforces the law against it, if there is one.

They can make your life miserable with continued billing and then leave you without a telephone, regardless of the fact that you are a senior citizen located in a rural area; and there are some places cell phones don't work.

We need to learn to be non-trusting, and I've finally learned it the hard way.

The questionable company isSmall Business Organization, or SBO-online, and I still don't know what they are billing me for. Avoid them!

Barbara Moore

Magdalena

In other words

There has been much publicity recently in El Defensor Chieftain and the Albuquerque Journal about plagiarism attributed to Steve Pearce. The evidence is fairly clear, and his name will be attached to the roster of celebrated plagiarists. Among them are Democrat Joseph Biden, a U.S. senator from Delaware, who distributed to reporters copies of a speech lifted from Labor Party leader Neal Kinnock. Another is Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor and counsel to Albert Gore before the Supreme Court in 2000. He copied much of the material in his book, "God Save This Honorable Court" from H. J. Abrahams's "Justices and Presidents." Martin Luther King plagiarized his Ph.D. thesis from secondary sources compiled by graduate students at Stanford University and Emory University. Historian Stephen Ambrose, a best-selling author and popular TV personality, copied much of the material used in "The Wild Blue" and "Nothing Like It In The World," and earlier books. (I can't resist saying, notwithstanding, that he is one of my favorite authors.) Doris Stearns Goodwin, author of "The Fitzgeralds and The Kennedys," plagiarized from Lynne McTaggart's book on Kathleen Kennedy. Reporters Jason Blair, of the New York Times, and Mike Barnicle, of the Boston Globe, have been exposed in their own newspapers as plagiarists and fabricators. We must stop at some point, so let H. G. Wells be the final illustrious plagiarist.

Once it is discovered, plagiarism is hard to deny. Res ipsa loquitur, as lawyer Laurence Tribe might say. Excuses can be offered, however. Steve Pearce used material supplied by an aide, a normal practice among politicians, without knowing the aide had stolen it. Ambrose thought his readers would already know that much of his material was copied from other sources without any need to clutter up the text with quotation marks or attributions. The most interesting comes from Goodwin who said that she made notes of source material in longhand and thought when she copied the material into her book that it was her own writing.

Like most other Tech professors I have encountered a discouraging pandemic of plagiarism in graduate student theses. One student, whom I will not name, from a country I will not identify, copied extensively from an organic chemistry textbook that was familiar to me. When I read him the riot act, he said that copying is accepted practice in his homeland. It is a sign of respect for the wisdom of the revered author who would be too modest to request mention of his name.

The treatment of the plagiarists listed above has been gentle. None of them went to jail, and Jason Blair was the only one to lose his job. Plagiarism is not a legal offense unless the material is copyrighted and used for financial gain, but even then it is almost never prosecuted.

About 30 years ago, Stirling Colgate, at my suggestion, invited my uncle, Jack Campbell, then governor of New Mexico, to give the commencement address at Tech. He gave an inspiring speech, but later I was shocked when I learned privately that he had not written it — it was prepared by an aide. At that time, I did not know what today is common knowledge. Politicians, even intelligent and high-minded ones, do not usually write their own speeches.

Kay Brower

Socorro

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