On the Gun Ban
Dear Editor, The Governor of New Mexico has overstepped her authority once again by declaring a 30 day ban on citizens that open and conceal carry. There is no doubt in my mind that the Governor has broken her oath of office to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of New Mexico by declaring this illegal edict.
I imagine that the Governor is taking this approach, not because she cares about the safety and well being of the residents of this great State, but because she is hoping that this unconstitutional declaration will get her recognized and propelled to higher office by those that are ramming electric cars down our throats, taking our gas stoves, and weakening the economy and energy power of the United States by going after oil, gas, and coal, with no reasonable plan to replace them!
I will ask the four other Cibola County Commissioners to join me in presenting to our New Mexico Governor something in writing that will express our anger and dissatisfaction at her thinking she can get away with trampling our Second Amendment Rights and leaving us at the mercy of the criminals that care nothing about breaking the law and hurting and killing others. I remind Cibola County Residents that about four years ago we gathered at the Cibola County Great Room and over 750 democrats and republicans showed up in support of our Cibola County Second Amendment Resolution making Cibola County a sanctuary County for the Second Amendment rights we have under the US Constitution.
Robert S. Windhorst, Cibola County Commissioner, District 4
Infrastructure in Grants
Dear Editor, I read the article on the August 28th special City Council meeting. The article states that I showed a presentation 'that included pictures of potholes, worn down sidewalks, holes in rodes, etc.' The article failed to mention why I made the presentation and what I was asking for.
I'm not one to complain without suggestions for improvement. After showing photos of areas that our Pipes and Maintenance departments identified as high priority, I called for two things.
First, I asked that the City consider having a Geotech survey done this year that would help us gather accurate mapping of our water and sewer lines, man holes and pressure valves. Second, I spoke to the fact that we are not properly funding our roads, pipes and maintenance departments, who are all too often dealing with one emergency after another.
I suggested that we begin to put aside at least 10% of our water and sewer enterprise funds, which are supposed to be spent on infrastructure in the first place. This could produce at least $600,000 annually. I then asked again for the 2004 GRT that was passed for public safety and infrastructure, to be line itemed out of the general fund and set aside for that which it was designated. I have been making this request since last year. Based on record breaking FY22-23 GRT earnings, we could have used over $400,000 towards our city's infrastructure. Both combined could produce over 1 million dollars that needs to be prioritized for our water, sewer and streets.
We presently have over 80 million dollars in our ICIP, asking for capital outlay from our State Legislature. That's a lot of money, but not much for infrastructure. Truth is, we can't always be depending on the State to give us money. We are going to have to find ways to run our city without taking everything from our enterprise funds. The citizens of Grants deserve better and I believe we can do the right thing.
Sincerely, Beverly Michael Grants City Council D-4