Honoring Justice Sandra Day O’Conner
Dear editor, The State Bar of New Mexico honors the life and legendary career of former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. I’m sure many of our members will fondly remember when Justice O’Connor joined us for our Annual Meeting of the State Bar of New Mexico in 2007. We were honored for the opportunity to learn from one of the greatest trailblazers of the United States Supreme Court.
State Bar of New Mexico President Benjamin I. Sherman
Community Pride
Dear editor, For the past seven years the City of Grants has been working very closely with DWI Compliance, the Municipal Court and any other agencies interested in having their clients perform community service in lieu of paying fines and court fees. Most of this community service is performed at the Animal Control Shelter and picking up trash for the Office of Code enforcement around the City.
Sometimes this program takes a lot of patience on the part of all agencies involved, with clients that are dealing with many different types of life issues and addictions. By allowing clients to work off their fines and court fees, money is actually saved by not having to jail these individuals for not being able to pay their financial obligations to the courts.
This past week, twenty-four large bags of trash were cleaned up by a very hard worker. After this individual finished his commitment to the court, there was a desire on his part to go to the college and look into the GED program we had talked about. I love the quote from Paulo Coelho, 'When we stive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.' Lorenz Diefenbach wrote in 1873, 'Arbeit macht frei...work sets you free.' I have noticed a sense of pride these community service workers have when they have tackled a challenging project and got it completed. The City also benefits from this restorative labor as our City looks cleaner for the work performed by these individuals who are trying to pay their debt to our society. In my heart I always have a prayer for each of my brothers and sisters that complete their community service that they will continue to find the strength to move forward with their lives and find the joy of a life free from addiction and trauma.
Robert S. Windhorst, Code Enforcement Officer, City of Grants
Israel and Palestine
Dear editor, Hear, O Israel: why do you make war on your brother Ishmael {also son of Abraham}? Why do you keep your bother in an open air prison {Gaza} forcing him to despair? Why do you accept over $3 billion in military aid from the United States every year? Why are you so preoccupied with killing your brother? Cannot brothers {Jews and Arabs} live in peace? The peaceful removal of one man will solve this crisis once and for all. That man is Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu. Hamas and Hezbollah are the direct result of his hate towards all Palestinians.
As a citizen of and believer in democracy, I applaud the efforts of the Palestinian people. Their efforts are similar to what is happening in many other parts of the world. Believe it or not, one thing that overrides capitalism and political correctness in the United States is the right to have one's voice heard. This is the foundation of which our democracy is built on.
The Palestinian people should continue to defy Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu’s powerful armed forces so that Palestinian democracy can continue to thrive. It is unfortunate that the United States compromised on one of its most fundamental values in order to protect its economic interests in the Middle East; something that happens all too often domestically as well. It is not the Palestinian people that are attempting to expand Hamas and Hezbollah power but rather it is Netanyahu who has engaged in intimidation to prevent the will of the people {both Palestinian and Israeli} from being heard. Why else would he stoop to such underhanded tactics to block various means of communication among the citizens of Palestine and Israel?
To the people of Palestine, the trumpet of freedom beckons you to rise in protest and louden your voice to preserve your sacred heritage, promote your children's future and obtain the blessings of liberty we all cherish. Palestine, the hour of your redemption is at hand. As you the rightful citizens move forward to reclaim your own country, rise and strike! In the name of those who were murdered fighting for everyone's rights, rise and strike! To push back this evil regime, rise and strike! Let no one continue to fear this man. Every Palestinian must be strong and fight on for their freedom. Rise and strike!
Joe Bialek Cleveland, OH 44109