Transit District Benefits All
Rio Arriba County Commissioners are in line with the sentiments and logic expressed by Santa Fe City Councilor Miguel Chavez in his editorial in the Journal North on Sunday, June 29, especially with regard to keeping the faith with joint cooperation and action as a region. We deeply respect and appreciate his frankness and courage with regard to his comments about the issues.   (Sunday, July 06, 2008)

Using Less Oil Has Benefits
There is only one thing we can do to deal with high gas prices at this point: Use less oil. It's that simple. You may not like that. You may want to “shoot the messenger.” You may not want to believe it but it is true. The United States hit its peak oil production around 1970. That means in every subsequent year, we produce less and less oil. More importantly, the world is at, or rapidly approaching, peak oil production. That fact can't be changed. You can drill until our scenic landscapes are wastelands. You can remove every regulation to protect wildlife and human health on the books. Nothing is going to change the fact that oil is a fossil fuel and there is only so much of it in the ground. We will never be able to make any more of it but with more and more people on the planet, the worldwide per capita consumption of oil is increasing rapidly. Anyone who tries to tell you anything different is trying to get something from you. It may be a vote; it maybe your support or at least non-opposition to a nasty new facility like a refinery or an oil well; and it may just be to get you to be quiet and do nothing.   (Sunday, July 06, 2008)

Editor's Notebook
A few months ago, both the Taos and Santa Fe municipal councils were considering measures to tax or ban plastic shopping bags. Both councils backed off, although the measures weren't voted down — the Taos Town Council tabled a bag ban proposal in May, and a month earlier, the Santa Fe City Council sent a “bag tax” proposal back to city staff for more study. Theoretically, both measures could be resurrected.   (Sunday, July 06, 2008)

Letters to the Editor
St. Vincent Lacks Customer Service I appreciate the opportunity to relate my experiences with the billing department at St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.   (Sunday, July 06, 2008)

Make Healthy Activities Easy
Santafesinos — just like everybody else in the country — are too fat, don't necessarily eat right and don't get enough exercise. That wouldn't be news, except that a city Healthy Lifestyles Task Force has just come up with a list of a dozen things city government could do to encourage us along a better path.   (Sunday, July 06, 2008)

Who Qualifies as 'Native'?
I'm in the tiny town of Moiese on the Flathead Reservation near the National Bison Range. Cloud shadows pass over the nearest hills, traveling in rolling dark patches that look like some kind of herd animals themselves. I slow to a stop on a gravel road between nowhere and nowhere and get out of the truck.   (Wednesday, July 02, 2008)

Rental Law 'Exemption' Poses Many Problems
An age and a lot of agony went into the creation of Santa Fe's new vacation rental law, which was supposed to limit not only the total number of short-term rentals in the city's residential neighborhoods, but also better regulate what had become, in effect, a huge bootleg economy. (Before the ordinance, which took effect a few months ago, rentals of fewer than 30 days were illegal in residential areas, but the ban was not enforced.)   (Wednesday, July 02, 2008)

Fox's Future May Include Lawsuit
Fox's Future May Include Lawsuit The consistently inappropriate Fox network is on a big attack, trying to portray Obama as foreign, suspicious and Muslim-raised, hinting at a connection with terrorists. How is this even close to fair or good journalistic reporting? Then came the repetitious remarks about the “terror fist jab” with Michelle, followed up with the racist and sexist slam referring to her as “Obama's baby mama.”   (Wednesday, July 02, 2008)

Letters to the Editor
Oil and Gas Bring Benefits to StateOil and natural gas drilling and production operations in New Mexico provide thousands of jobs and add $2.83 billion in tax revenue to the state coffers every year.   (Sunday, June 29, 2008)

We Need Transit District
A critical matter is up for action before the Santa Fe County Commission and the Santa Fe City Council: whether the county will continue to participate in the North Central Regional Transit District with the other counties and tribal entities in northern New Mexico. If the county continues its commitment with NCRTD, it will approve putting the question on the ballot for a public vote in November. The ballot measure would ask voters to approve a gross receipts tax increase of one-eighth of one percent, or 12.5 cents per $100 purchased, to enhance transportation services in northern New Mexico.   (Sunday, June 29, 2008)