Letters to Editor
This category will hold letters to the editor, as requested by at least one Beat reader. This editor agrees that letters to the editor should be separate from editorials. Letters to the editor may not reflect the opinions of the editor.
LTE on Biden and the border
- Category: Letters to Editor Letters to Editor
- Published: 09 February 2024 09 February 2024
Editor--
"I'VE DONE ALL I CAN DO"
"I've done all I can do. Just give me the power. Give me the border patrol. Give me the people. The judges. Give me the people who can stop this and make it work right rationally." – President Joe Biden speaking to reporters, Jan. 30, 2024
* * * * * *
There are six brief sentences in President Biden's stunning assertion (above), and every one of them is out of touch with reality.
In one of his most ridiculous publicly uttered diatribes to date, Joe insists he's "done all I can do" to resolve our southern border dilemma.
Resident compelled to reply to recent LTE
- Category: Letters to Editor Letters to Editor
- Published: 09 February 2024 09 February 2024
To the Editor:
I recently read Pete Stubben's letter, which commented on Senator Correa Hemphill's clothes. Too often, we are distracted from substance by fluffy things, like a NM Senator's collar or the length of a US Senator's pants. Not too long ago, US Senator John Fetterman faced pressure to shed his cargo shorts for long pants because some in the Senate felt that shorts did not reflect the decorum required of the U.S. Senate. Now, NM State Senator Correa Hemphill is being snarkily scrutinized for being too dressed up, when every photo I've seen of her on the job in our NM State Senate has shown her to reflect the decorum traditionally expected of our legislators. What happens to the issues of policy and law when we focus on how people look instead of what policies they create and the values they support?
LTE: GRMC CEO thanks area legislators for their help
- Category: Letters to Editor Letters to Editor
- Published: 08 February 2024 08 February 2024
Letter to the Editor:
--- A big Thank You to Lt Governor Howie Morales, Senator Siah Correa Hemphill, Senator Crystal Diamond Brantley, Representative Luis Terrazas ---
I want to express a sincere thank you to Senator Siah Correa Hemphill. There is an important piece of legislation that added funding for rural hospitals in New Mexico (Senate Bill 161) and when Senator Hemphill found out Gila Regional Medical Center did not qualify for the funding, she went to work advocating for a change in the bill. As a trusted member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Hemphill advocated with other legislators and found a way to negotiate an amendment to the bill so more rural hospitals would have access to funds to provide essential health care services. Gila Regional Medical Center will have access to $5.7 million in additional funding because of her efforts.
LTE on Biden's comment on the border
- Category: Letters to Editor Letters to Editor
- Published: 08 February 2024 08 February 2024
Dear Editor--
"I'VE DONE ALL I CAN DO"
"I've done all I can do. Just give me the power. Give me the border patrol. Give me the people. The judges. Give me the people who can stop this and make it work right rationally." – President Joe Biden speaking to reporters, Jan. 30, 2024
* * * * * *
There are six brief sentences in President Biden's stunning assertion (above), and every one of them is out of touch with reality.
LTE supporting the Clean Transportation Fuels Standard
- Category: Letters to Editor Letters to Editor
- Published: 07 February 2024 07 February 2024
Dear Editor,
Since progress on the federal level has been lagging, it has led more states to try and do their part to reduce both air pollution and cut carbon emissions. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has made improving New Mexico's air quality an increasingly high priority and is positioning NM to become a leader in clean energy.
This year, the Governor might have the chance to sign a bill into a law which will both improve New Mexico's air quality and reduce the effects of climate change. This Clean Transportation Fuels Standard (HB 41) incentivizes companies to produce cleaner transportation fuels, which will reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions and improve New Mexico's air quality. Production of cleaner fuels means less air pollution, and less air pollution means better chronic respiratory health for the citizens of New Mexico.
Joe Shepard and his Regents - the Shame of WNMU
- Category: Letters to Editor Letters to Editor
- Published: 02 February 2024 02 February 2024
The closer we examine Dr Joseph Shepard's record, the deeper the corruption goes. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/47-trips-abroad-for-brass-of-western-new-mexico-university/article_bd4043ac-bec2-11ee-94d9-d71c7b9847dc.html , Kelley Riddle, the WNMU VP of Business Affairs, has reported that in the last five years, Shepard, his wife, several Regents and several WNMU Vice-Presidents have traveled to foreign countries including Columbia, Costa Rica, France, Greece, Israel, Nepal, the Netherlands, Serbia and Zambia, frequently flying first-class, all using University money to finance their travel. Shepard's wife, Valerie Plame, who has no official relationship to WNMU, was illegally issued a University credit card which she has used freely. One begins to wonder if criminal charges are appropriate against several of these individuals.
Joe Shepard is beyond despicable – using badly needed University money to satisfy the globe-trotting adventures that he, his wife and his friends have taken. The depth of the involvement of the Regents in this corruption is equally disgusting. If there are any Regents who have not participated in this Joe Shepard gang of miscreants, now would be the time to step forward and speak truth to power. Lacking such individuals, all of the Regents should be fired and replaced with honest citizens who actually deserve the trust of this community.
The students of WNMU, our kids, are the real victims of Shepard's extravagant personal spending and boondoggle vacations. It is long past time to go, Joe.
Mark S. Donnell, MD
Silver City
LTE about hearing on 2nd amendment infringing bills Monday 012924
- Category: Letters to Editor Letters to Editor
- Published: 28 January 2024 28 January 2024
TODAY, Monday, 29 January, New Mexico's House Judiciary Committee will hold public hearings on four U.S. Constitution 2nd Amendment-infringing bills. There is only one fact to consider regarding any detail of any proposed firearm bill in any state in the United States of America, and a single legal and moral principle underlying that fact.
America's Bill of Rights objectively and irrefutably specifies no INFRINGEMENT of the peoples' right to keep and bear arms, which by definition prevents every manner of obfuscation, obstruction, harm, and trespass -- from attempting to control manufacturing minutiae to ownership "permission" and registration to charging administrative fees to deferring an inalienable right until "the day after tomorrow."
Letter to the Editor re: Sen. Hemphill and WNMU's Shepard
- Category: Letters to Editor Letters to Editor
- Published: 27 January 2024 27 January 2024
Courtesy photoGreat to see State Senator Siah Hemphill sporting a white mink coat for the new 2024 Legislative session, just as she grills local U President on 'supposed' excessive spending...as Shepard and the University Regents (a) broaden Western's curriculum, (b) expand the student base, (c) improve the campus infrastructure, (d) resurrect a Cultural Calendar of events...with Mariachi Plata de Western; and now, as just reported, (e) possibly expanding the academia of job training and associate instruction to Santa Clara, NM, while working with SW New Mexico's largest employer.