OP/ED

State Treasurer: Let’s Put Our Money Where Our Mouth Is!

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By LAURA M. MONTOYA
New Mexico State Treasurer

My journey is similar to many other New Mexicans’ in that it took a lot of hard work, hope, resilience, community, and prayer to keep pushing forward to work towards something better for me and my family.

Dreams were the hope that helped drive the determination to keep pushing forward, but survival was always at the forefront of every decision and job I undertook. Financial struggle, living paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet — a typical New Mexico story. Add limited resources, knowledge and opportunity, and you have an equation for failure or extreme Read More

Op-Ed: Deer And Roads In Los Alamos County

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By LESLIE HANSEN
White Rock

I have read with interest the recent letters about feeding wildlife and its possible unintended consequences. I was the senior investigator on a study of road-crossing behavior of deer in Los Alamos County that was funded by LANL around 2002 and 2003. If you would like to read the final report, it is available here: Life in the Fast Lane: Road Crossing Behavior of Mule Deer in a Wildland-Urban Interface (Technical Report) | OSTI.GOV. We put GPS collars on mule deer and recorded where, when, and how often they crossed roads in and around Los Alamos.

For the four deer we collared Read More

Op-Ed: County-Issued Roll Carts

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By MARIA PEROTTO
Los Alamos

Nuisance or Not

Each property owner as a resident of Los Alamos [town and county] has been required to use a county-issued container, the roll cart, which was instituted to control garbage dispersal and to eliminate physical injuries to collection staff. Garbage generation and collection are a part of everyday aggravation of regular life. Using roll carts is not a nuisance. Using roll carts is a sufficient solution to the town of Los Alamos for reasonable garbage collection. Anyone who has newly moved to Los Alamos has assumed the risk and conditions of roll cart use, Read More

Op-Ed: Why We Need Equitable Disclosure Bill In A Nutshell

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By GEORGE CHANDLER
Assessor
Los Alamos County

        1. The bill aims to bring valuations of non-residential properties up to statutory and equitable standards while minimizing the impact of these increases on property owners.
  2. Having valuations accurate ensures equity in property taxation. The tax rate in each county, municipality, school district, and other taxing governmental unit is determined by dividing the budget requirement by the sum of valuations in the district. The amount of taxes paid by each taxpayer is then the tax rate multiplied by their valuation. You can do the math: If some taxpayers
Read More

Op-Ed: Israel And Charges Of Genocide

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By TERRY HANSEN
Milwaukee, Wisc.

Kudos to Jody Benson for her powerful op-ed in which she declares, “No, I am not antisemitic. I am anti-genocide.”

The human rights organization Amnesty International has issued a nearly 300 page report concluding that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Israel and the United States have both rejected this accusation.

However, Amnesty International is not alone in reaching this determination. Amos Goldberg, a Holocaust and genocide researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has also concluded that Israel’s Read More

Op-Ed: I Am Not Antisemitic

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By JODY BENSON
Los Alamos

I am not antisemitic.

No, I am not antisemitic even though I stand against Israel’s decimation of Gaza.

I attest to the fact that Hamas, elected in 2006, is a totalitarian regime whose military wing the US has designated a terrorist organization.

I attest Hamas does not recognize Israel, and that since 1993, it has committed suicide bombings on Israel in retribution against the Israeli 1967 occupation of both Gaza and the West Bank.

I attest that on October 7, 2023, Hamas led other Palestinian militant nationalist groups in a terrorist attack in the Gaza Envelope that killed Read More

Op-Ed: We Need Doctors. Texas Has Them.

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By ELIZABETH HELLER ALLEN
Santa Fe

          • They need a safe place to practice medicine. We just need to get ‘em here.

For years, New Mexico has been seriously short of virtually all doctors: primary care, pediatricians, dentists, eye doctors, and other specialists … and all the people who help them take care of patients. It can take months to see a specialist and weeks to see a primary care physician, if you can find one. We are short almost 13,000 health care workers to serve our 2.1 million residents. That includes every kind of healthcare worker like EMTs, pharmacists and physical therapists as well as Read More

Op-Ed: The Best Way To Predict The Future Is To Shape It

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By SUZIE HAVEMANN
Los Alamos County Councilor

My friend Sharon Stover, who is a former and esteemed County Councilor, used to say, “There is always more to the story”. And I used to add “There are almost always two sides to every story”.

I thought about these sentiments during Tuesday night’s Council meeting as we heard presentations, questions, public comment, and staff’s answers on two important topics:  community wide broadband and the purchase of real property on Diamond Drive, across from the high school. The former ultimately passed on a 6-0 vote and while we must do better in giving reasonable Read More

Op-Ed: Education And Enforcement, Not Bag Ban Will Address Litter Problem

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By Española City Councilor Sam LeDoux
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Rio Grande Foundation President Paul Gessing

The City of Española, at the behest of Mayor John Ramon Vigil, will soon consider adopting a ban on plastic bags like those used at grocery stores. While proponents of such bans typically support them on environmental grounds (cut down on plastic waste etc.) the Mayor seems to believe that banning plastic grocery bags will have a positive impact on the City’s litter problems.

According to the website Plastics Paradox, “A compilation of all of the statistically-based, scientific studies of litter in the U.S. Read More

Chief Justice Thomson: Make An Informed Decision About Judges On The Ballot

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By DAVID K. THOMSON
Chief Justice
New Mexico Supreme Court

Assessing how state court judges perform on the job is difficult, particularly for New Mexico voters in today’s divisive political environment. But information from the state’s Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission (JPEC) can assist New Mexicans in deciding whether to vote “yes” or “no” to retain judges and justices on the general election ballot.

JPEC was established to specifically help voters carry out their role in ensuring competent, professional judges in New Mexico. The commission’s evaluations also provide feedback Read More