Oil and gas a bridge to cleaner energy
WE ARE experiencing the disastrous effects of climate change due in part by greenhouse emissions. I am doing what I can to reduce my carbon footprint by using public transportation. For example: As an avid skier, I take the Rail Runner to Santa Fe and get picked up by a shuttle with regular runs to the Santa Fe Ski Basin. My driving is reduced by about 160 miles. However, I cannot afford an electric vehicle on my retirement income. Also, EV vehicles and the energy grid required needs further development to be accessible to the masses. Other exciting clean energy sources are in the works as well.
In the meantime, we must rely on oil and gas extraction to power our vehicles and heat our homes. The Biden administration must not interfere with oil and gas leasing on federal land. Oil and gas leasing on federal lands needs to be restored to previous higher levels in order to maintain our energy independence, keep gas prices down, and support our allies in maintaining sanctions against Russian aggression.
Steve Epstein, Albuquerque
NM leaders on the right track
I MOVED here in 2000 and New Mexico was hardly in the news. Now we are being recognized nationally for keeping democracy alive.
Our state’s governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, members of Congress, courts, local, state representatives’ organizations, and citizens are engaged in numerous policies that are being recognized. We were the first to remove and ban a Jan. 6 participant, Couy Griffin, serving as a local commissioner from holding a public office (and) having a secretary of state, Maggie Toulouse Oliver, and the legislators passing voting rights bills making it easier to vote.
Our attorney general, Raúl Torrez, (is) enforcing laws to protect our citizens from local ordinances banning LBQ and abortion health care. We are working toward becoming a model for other states in protecting citizens from environmental hazards, public health, climate resiliency, and energy costs.
Donna Thiersch, Santa Fe
NM should have wildlife, not ‘game’
I’VE OCCASIONALLY gone hunting and fishing and have owned guns. I realize that some sportsmen rely on fish and big game for much of the food they put on their tables. But I do not believe fish and wildlife exist primarily for the sport of killing them.
That, however, seems to be the focus of the N.M. Department of Game and Fish. It exists to manage fish and wildlife so there will be plenty of animals for sportsmen to kill. Even the word “game” suggests every wild animal in New Mexico is potentially a target. Big game, small animals, and birds are “managed” so there will be enough for someone to “harvest,” that is, kill them. I suspect that if the Lesser Prairie Chicken numbers recover in sufficient quantity, there will be a hunting season for them as well… Surely there are more New Mexicans who enjoy viewing, identifying and photographing living wild animals than there are people who want to kill them. Yet the department still has “Game” in its title…
I strongly suggest (the department)’s name be changed to the New Mexico Department of Wildlife to reflect the great value of living animals and the diverse ways New Mexicans appreciate them.
Rev. Donald Neidigk, Albuquerque
Let’s all try to be more like Mr. Pettes
I DON’T always read all obits, but on Feb. 17 a very long one caught my eye. It shared the life story of one Grover Lee Pettes, a Black man (who was) born in and lived under the Jim Crow laws in Las Cruces. … Having myself been born and lived my early life as a white person in a small East Texas town, I know exactly what Jim Crow laws looked like and even from a very early age thought they were reprehensible.
Pettes had an amazing life, raising children, opening and running successful businesses, working for equality, winning national awards, and most of all being what it really means to call yourself a Christian. He was a member of Bethel Second Baptist Church where he served as a deacon for 74 years. He was president of the Community Cemetery in Las Cruces where he made certain Blacks in the town had a place to bury their loved ones. I want to honor his life and memory, encourage more of us to follow his example, send condolences to his family for their great loss, and most importantly encourage more of us to be “Mr. Pettes” in our very challenged community. I encourage everyone reading this to check the Journal archives and read for yourself the life story of Mr. Pettes. And, to those “macho” guys out there for whom every perceived slight results in pulling out their guns and destroying lives, this is what a real man looks like. May you think about that and consider being more like him…
Marti Wolf, Albuquerque
Santa Fe erasing Civil War heroes
NEW MEXICO’S Soldiers Monument responses clearly demonstrate Santa Fe elected officials’ ignorance of America’s foundations, civic and social traditions, N.M.’s historic populations, centuries of successes and progress. Seemingly leaders seek our submissiveness to authority and to the cult-like groups “representatives” advocate for. … Destroying and replacing monuments, allowing confusion and racial division, so to insert a new narrative. Rewarded are those claiming victimhood in America, so a department of equity and inclusion will be created
Our history and we are being preyed upon by ignorant representatives agreeing to destroy our symbols of American successes, who focus upon past struggles and errors to eliminate traditions, celebrations and positive symbols of our past as a way forward. The great contributions of our N.M. Civil War heroes are being disallowed, diminished, vilified and erased in the guise for equity, but at the expense of our historic heroes and our remarkable history.
S. Pauline Anaya, Santa Fe
Impairment cause of pedestrian deaths
THE FACT a number of pedestrians are being injured and killed comes as no surprise to anyone who drives on Albuquerque streets.
My wife and I live in SE Albuquerque and use Central between Tramway and Wyoming daily. On nearly every trip we see someone in the middle of the block walking across four lanes of traffic. Most appear to be homeless and likely alcohol- or drug-impaired.
Even when using designated crosswalks and lights they sometimes don’t pay attention to traffic. Recently, I nearly hit a man at Tramway and Central who walked in front of me as I was turning left on the left-turn arrow.
Nothing will change until the city gets serious about cleaning up the area and recognizes the root of the problem is mental illness, drug addiction and alcohol abuse. Until then, the areas have to be patrolled and laws enforced. Inspect what you expect.
John Flynn, Albuquerque
Help foreign doctors relocate to NM, US
FOR ALMOST 16 years, I had the great opportunity to advocate and assist individuals/families resettling in our state —among them, at least two dozen were MDs and scores more other medical professionals. At this time, only two of the MDs I knew personally managed to re-establish their practice of medicine in New Mexico. I would say that the lack of minimum assistance or investment by the federal government, state government, our major health care providers or our UNM School of Medicine is the fault.
I spoke to a dean of the UNM School of Medicine, executives at health care providers, various state and federal politicians and their staffs and directly to the N.M. Medical Board at one of their meetings. I explained that … Those we label undesirable and refugees include qualified professionals, including doctors. However, the U.S. resettlement program does not offer assistance to relocated medical professionals. Instead, it counts its amount of support in months. Doctors, nurses, etc., are not elevated for their professional competencies. Competent individuals are not assisted with focused financial support to use their skills and knowledge in our health care settings. A somewhat dated statistic from the time, but it is significant that Florida is supposedly home to over 2,400 Cuban doctors that migrated here through asylum offered by the federal government and weren’t given assistance to practice medicine by our society. Really! The goal was just decades of disruption of Cuba’s foreign aid throughout Latin America Perhaps N.M. politicians and media could ban “refugees” and use less dehumanizing terms as descriptors…. If such professionals had been vetted for competency and skill and then given focused assistance to transition into their professions here, it would not solve our shortages of medicinal professionals. Still, it would have certainly bolstered the qualitative and quantitative statistics.
Jim Gannon, Rio Rancho
Illustrator captured prehistoric fashion
MY COMPLIMENTS to the illustrator for “Setting the Record Straight” (Life in New Mexico, Feb. 26, 2023) on the apparel style of the on-the-go Neolithic mom. She chooses a cool, sleeveless, boat-neck shift, a casual look for her mid-day summer jaunt to the mud-spa with the kids. The four-button shoulder detail adds a touch of interest to this timeless design, and the above-the knee hemline won’t get caught in those pesky prickly pears.
Undaunted by wilderness, her elegantly minimalist footwear is accented by delicate ankle straps which scream “insouciance” as she carries her youngest with both arms over rugged Southwestern terrain. And they’re so easy to untie when it’s time to get her tired feet into that oozing, soothing mud!
Her long cut is flipped behind the left shoulder to complement this practical ensemble, for a style which has endured for 23,000 years.
Dave McBride, Albuquerque
Editor’s note: The illustration was courtesy of “The Children’s Hour”
Wax made me lose 80% of my hearing
MOST RECENTLY I experienced two of the most frightening days of my life. Out of nowhere I suddenly became deaf. Of course I panicked and didn’t know what to do at that moment.
Eighty percent of my hearing was gone. Suddenly, my whole world crashed and frightened me to no end.
After a few moments, I regained my senses and thoughts and decided to immediately contact an ear nose and throat (ENT) doctor… I was advised to contact an audiologist and be seen for further examination which I did. The audiologist discovered that both of my ears were filled with wax beyond belief and that my eardrums were completely blocked.
Upon removing all of the wax, my hearing returned 100%.
I had never experienced this at any time of my life. It was the most unnerving and scariest thing. Not being able to hear any sounds around me or talk to anyone without hearing a response was chilling.
I am writing this letter to share my experience to help anyone who may be in a similar position with diminished or no hearing…. If this ever happens to you, don’t wait, take action immediately.
Get the help you need and contact an audiologist or ear, nose and throat specialist who will test your hearing and determine if it is a sudden hearing loss or years of wax buildup. Don’t ignore it; it can only get worse.
Mike Santullo, Albuquerque
