Letters to Editor

Editor,
There actually is considerable information available on the proposed Site Layer 1 data center. This proposed project, just 59 miles from Silver City and 30 from Lordsburg would produce 3 times as much air pollution as current local mining operations.The data center could consume approximately 2.3 million cubic feet of natural gas every hour, enough to power 900 local homes for an entire year.
The developer has provided this information on its public notice of the intent to file an application:

Emit 1,292,118 tons per year CO2 - equivalent to 280,000 cars

Emit 1,529 tons per year of other pollutants, including particulates, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and ammonia.

They call this "clean burning" natural gas!

A SSW wind would bring this pollution directly to Silver City.

Do we want to breathe this?

John Rokosz

Mimbres

Note: Attachment is from Silver City Daily Press

Dear Editor: 

Dear Mayor and Councilors,

Opportunity to Purchase (OTP) ordinances are vital not only for homeowners in manufactured home lot-lease communities, but also for the towns they are situated in.

We are seeing why this matters right now at La Plata Mobile Manor. After the land beneath residents' homes was sold recently to out-of-state investors, residents faced an immediate 70% lot-rent increase, along with new fees, including $35 per month for each household pet—even pets that never leave the resident's property. For low-income families and retirees living on fixed incomes, this action puts hundreds of people at risk of experiencing homelessness even though their homes might be paid for.

To the Editor:

RE: Southwest Solid Waste Authority

It is difficult to choose where to begin with SWSWA and its relationship with Grant County. Let's begin with what we currently are faced-with: A quasi-county agency which has been mismanaged by incompetents for decades. The financial, facilities and operational issues that are currently in dire need of review/restructuring developed neither overnight nor in a vacuum.

Apparently, no one has provided any oversight for an agency that has unsafe facilities, underpaid employees (some of whom are working in appalling conditions) and aged/faulty equipment - not to reiterate the aforementioned incompetent leadership.

Transport trucks are constantly breaking-down and unavailable. Bins going unemptied for weeks. Arbitrary ridiculous unpublished "Edicts" from whomever is nominally managing the agency at any given time. When calling SWSWA, no one answers, or a "Secretary" answers the phone and provides no insight into any query.

In reply to "LTE thanking Representative Vasquez":

Representative Gabriel Vasquez voted AGAINST the Laken Riley Act. He also did not stand up at the State-of-the-Union Address when President Trump called on all those who support American CITIZENS to stand up.

On that basis alone, I would never, never, ever vote for Gabe Vasquez again.

To the people of Grant County,

I need to speak plainly.

A man in your community — Joshua W. Wells, age 77 — died alone in his wheelchair in his front yard after multiple hospital visits. He died outside, in visible decline, with no one present in his final moments.

I understand that Joshua lived privately. I understand that rural New Mexico has its own boundaries. But silence becomes neglect when someone is struggling and no one steps forward.

I am not asking for excuses. I am asking for recognition — that a man who lived among you deserved more than to die alone in the cold.You may not have known the extent of his decline. You may not have known how many times he was hospitalized. You may not have known how little support he had.

Dear Grant County, Beat editor,

For weeks, Better Together New Mexico has documented how Emerge recruits candidates, trains them, connects them to an influential political network, and helps move them into public office. 

Now we must confront what that political pipeline means for New Mexico.

Emerge New Mexico identifies 118 of its alumni as currently serving in elected or appointed office. Candidate training itself is not the problem. The concern is the governing philosophy repeatedly advanced by many Emerge-trained officials: more mandates, more taxes, more regulation, more government programs, and less freedom for families and businesses to make their own decisions. 

The policies are no longer theoretical.

This is a letter of appreciation for Representative Gabriel Vasquez. He has recently taken action on important issues in our communities, wildfire prevention and protection of water resources.

Recently, Representative Vasquez hiked with community members, and leaders of wildlife and conservation groups, to an area near the Trout Fire burn. He listened to local concerns about cuts to US Forest Service funding. In addition to layoffs and staffing reductions from DOGE, additional cuts are being reviewed by Congress for Fiscal Year 2027. Representative Vasquez is working to protect us locally as a co-sponsor of the Public Lands Workforce Stability Act. The Act protects the jobs of USFS workers, who are our frontline in wildfire prevention.

I am writing this as a heartbroken and hopeful member of our Grant County community.

I have been riding my bike in Grant County for 39 years. I have watched the sun rise and set over the Gila from the saddle of my bike. This land has always asked us to slow down and pay attention — not because it is dangerous, but because it is alive.

For over 40 years, cyclists have been woven into the life of Silver City. These are not strangers. They are your doctors, your teachers, your veterans, your neighbors. They are my friends. And one by one, I have watched them get hurt — bikes destroyed, bodies broken, and spirits carrying wounds that don't show up on an x-ray. PTSD is real, and it follows people home long after the road has been cleared.