OPINION: Talk of the Town

Homeless people do need bathroom access

I agree with the letter writer in the Jan. 18 Sunday Journal: Homeless people do indeed need access to bathrooms.

In fact, everyone needs access to bathrooms. Free public bathrooms — notably rare in this country — are the mark of a civilized society. I applaud those few restaurants and merchants who let all who enter use their bathrooms; and I sympathize with the rest, who prefer to avoid mess, trouble and expense by limiting bathroom use to paying customers.

The availability of clean, handicapped-accessible public bathrooms to everyone would not only mitigate the plight of people forced to live on the street but would also address the common experience of searching the city anxiously for a place to relieve oneself. I can’t think of a better use for tax dollars.

Janet Goldstein

Socorro 

Trump and GOP should provide proof of 'corrupt' NM elections

I read in the Journal that President Trump has said New Mexico elections are “so corrupt it’s incredible." As a voter of either party, this should concern us. Our president has attacked our elections and cast doubt on the results; but how do we know what he says is true? Where is the proof?

Also concerning is that the Republican Party of New Mexico called Trump’s comments “totally valid.” If the Republican Party of New Mexico knows in which way our elections are corrupt, why wouldn’t they provide fact-based proof and make it the business of elected officials to address the problem?

Today I went to the New Mexico government website and followed all the steps one must take to register to vote. I encourage everyone to do the same. If the system can be massively subverted, let’s identify the problem and fix it. We must be ready to hold a free and fair election in November.

President Trump is in the habit of making claims that we are expected to accept as true without proof. As citizens in a democracy, it is our responsibility to challenge such uninformed, misguided leadership. It is neither unpatriotic or disloyal to do so. It’s what smart people do.

Linda Wolcott

Corrales