Why We Have an Ariel
Dear editor, Recently, we were informed that someone in our community expressed an opinion on our upcoming aerial delivery. In 2008 our community purchased an aerial to complement our fleet of firefighting equipment in accordance with ISO (Insurance Services Offices). They deem that any community with five or more building with an apex of 35' or three stories should have an aerial to help support fire suppression efforts and our community meets those criteria. Every five years that aerial device requires an inspection and in 2020, it did not pass its testing requirements, so we began a search for a replacement. In this year’s legislature, Senator Josh Sanchez was able to provide an appropriation of $100,000 to help us replace this piece of equipment and it was fortuitous that we were able to locate a replacement within the cost parameters with enough funding to outfit it for our community and not impact our GRT (gross receipts tax). Some would ask why an aerial when we have other fire engines; well, this unit also serves as a reserve fire engine and allows us to maintain our ISO rating of #4 which in itself saves everyone in our community that purchases fire insurance on their premiums; to the tune of $1,000,000 for our size of city. We are here to provide the best firefighting team possible and with these units we are able to fulfill our mission to this community and our neighboring partners, as well.
Sincerely, Robert Hays Grants Fire Chief
Laws in Place
Dear Editor, In regard to the incident that took place at the Grants Cemetery with the Mayor Erik Garcia, I would like to say that there are laws in place for a reason and those laws should apply to everyone; This includes the Mayor of Grants. When I saw the video on KOB News I was disgusted. The mayor riding around town on his bicycle provoking citizens into physical fights for some kind of political stunt to play the part of the super hero, who is cleaning up the town and putting it on Facebook. It's not only unethical but also dangerous. What if that was your son or brother that was visiting a deceased family member at the cemetery and an elected official, tasked with helping the community, comes along and decides to use them as a prop to further their political agenda. Tell me Mr. Mayor how did that work out for you? If the city is sued it is because of the mayor’s actions and his poor choices on that day. If he was truly concerned and trying to do the right thing for the community like he claimed in his interview on KOB, he should be working with the citizens (especially the most vulnerable) to open drug treatment centers and community outreach programs to help people who are in need instead of kicking them when they are down just to further his own career and try to make a name for himself. And as for the self-righteous people on their soap boxes that say Curtis Salazar deserved for this to happen to him, they should be ashamed of themselves.
No one deserves to be treated like they are less than, just because the mayor is trying to prove a point. Everyone deserves respect and common decency. He needs to be reined in by the City Council and reminded that his position as Mayor is supposed to hold him to a higher standard of professionalism. And his actions should be lifting the City of Grants up not making a mockery on tv.
'Respectfully,' Darlene Roybal
Fall Cleanup
Dear Editor This past Saturday the City of Grants had a Fall Cleanup! Roll-offs were positioned throughout the City and people were out working on different cleanup projects! One of the successes that we had at this cleanup was the participation of nine very hard-working community service workers! We appreciate all their hard work! A big thank you to my daughter Hannah Windhorst, who is a Compliance Officer for the DWI Compliance Program for Cibola County, who stayed till the end and made the arrangements for our community service workers.
I want to personally thank Mayor Garcia, Mayor Pro Tem Gunny Garcia, and Councilwoman Beverly Michael and City Manager, Donald Jaramillo, and City Clerk Francis Salas for coming to the cleanup and working hard throughout the cleanup! Cibola County Commissioner, Ralph Lucero, also showed up, as he always does, and helped with several projects around the City. Terry Fletcher is always on hand to do his part! Leadership is always top-down! Our leaders set the example by showing up and participating to make our City of Grants the cleanest City in New Mexico!
Lastly, a big thank you to all residents that took the time to clean their yards and place all the trash, rubbish, and weeds in the roll-offs provided by the City! The City Manager suggested that in the fall we have a painting project, or a large park project as a component to our Spring Cleanup. It think this is a great idea! Our next County Cleanup is in San Rafael this coming Saturday!
Robert S. Windhorst, Code Enforcement Officer, City of Grants