The Old Side-Step
Dear editor, When your civil liberties are violated because the “Good old boys” want to have the right control what happens in government and the county. Interesting when you give people a little power, they abuse it for public gain and prestige.
They put residential communities at-risk having halfway houses and victim witness programs right under your noses. Never informing the residence what or who is nesting there. You’re living with criminals and witnesses of crimes and you have no idea what they can do.
We are living in a county that doesn’t look out for their citizens. Only themselves.
Funny how power and position make you a better person than me. We voted half these idiots in; the rest are gophers that “Do what they’re told” and never accomplish anything.
“The Old Side-Step” We waste more tax paper money supporting these people. Hell, my dogs can do a better job. Millions of dollars spent on a county building with useless people inside.
Oh! By the way, “What’s happening on Ash Street.”
Rita Marcoli USA Insanity
Dear editor, Certainly, it was hard to believe that last week's letter was really written by a retired police officer. Endorsing the universal possession, and presumably use, of ‘assault rifles' unsuited for guarding one's house or personal protection or sporting use – good only for spraying bullets around like a hose. What does he want next? 'hand-grenade basketball in schools or an anti-aircraft gun in every front yard?' Then he supports the ex-president who is perhaps the worst criminal in the US. After all, it is well known that not only did he continually lie while in office – to the tune of 22,243 documented prevarications but he assembled a gang of 'government gangsters' on our southern border and ordered the kidnapping of hundreds of children – often tearing them right out of their mother's arms – and hiding them. These children, and their parents, had done nothing wrong – other than wanting the better life and opportunity to work in the USA, just like most or all of Mr. H. L.
Hall's ancestors – and Donald Trump's, as well. Besides these hundreds of crimes of Kidnapping and child abuse, often resulting in death; when we voted him out of office lawfully, he treasonously organized a mob of supporters and attempted to have himself appointed 'dictator in chief' against the will of the majority and – when that failed – he stole hundreds of the nation's most sensitive secrets, probably sent copies to our enemies, refused repeatedly to return them and then whined like a baby when we finally went in to recover them.
Mr. Hall also appears to believe that a girl who is raped and left pregnant should be severely punished by being required to have the baby, pay for its birth, pay all its expenses and forego all her own plans and dreams for the next couple of decades and probably for life.
'Get real, Mr. Hall'! And if you can't, lose your pencil.
Warren Bennett NMSHD Geotechnical Engineer, Retired
On Nuclear Energy
Dear Editor, I read Mr. Lopez’s editorial in the September 7th Citizen promoting the return to uranium mining to fuel nuclear powered, locally sited, electrical generating stations because wind turbines are not a practical solution.
New Mexico has long depended on a short-term natural resource extraction economy. We need to get away from that and develop and sell our skills rather than of relying on boom to bust economies.
Mr. Lopez askes what to do when a turbine busts. You fix it with the necessary equipment and skilled labor. Eastern New Mexico University has a program in turbine maintenance.
When a wind turbine goes bad what does it harm? Our ex-President claimed they caused cancer.
Hogwash. When a nuke goes bad what happens? Look at Chernobyl and Fukushima; both are long term cleanup projects. The uranium tailings spill outside Gallup was one of the biggest uranium spills in history. This happened 43 years ago and the cleanup is ongoing.
Mr. Lopez proposes building nuclear plants here because they are safe. Middle of an area in a long term drought that has a limited water supply. Just what a nuclear plant needs, no cooling water. Zaporizhzhy as an example. Largest nuclear plant in the world, just shut down due to cooling water concerns. How do you deal with the mining and primary refining waste? There are huge repositories of uranium wastes outside of our town. A ProPublica article recently highlighted the continuing uranium problems locally.
On the other side of nuclear are the wastes generated after enrichment. We have no way to get rid of this waste other than time, like 200,000 years. Yucca Mountain was built as a graveyard for nuclear waste. It was never opened. If it were opened, the amount of currently stored waste at “temporary” sites around the country would almost fill it to capacity. WIPP down by Carlsbad just handles military waste.
So, let us build more nuclear power plants and we will figure it out later? This is what we have been doing for 80 years. Every year another 2,200 tons of this toxic stuff is generated and has no permanent place to go.
Forty plus years has passed and the cleanup from the last round of uranium mining has not been adequately completed. Mr. Lopez wants to resume uranium mining again because they know better now.
Want to bet?
R L Smith