Today's News

If a Martian landed in a Western county, he wouldn’t ask to see the head of the state police or the county manager. He’d demand to speak to the sheriff.

In the West and throughout the United States, the sheriff is an enduring symbol of power. He runs law enforcement in his county, and he won’t let anyone mess with him, let alone bureaucrats.

It may work that way in some places, but not in most of the counties in northern New Mexico.

Trementina rancher Lawrence Lujan contends he has lost two cows because San Miguel County hasn’t maintained a cattle guard near his property. He wants the county to pay up.

Last year, he wrote a letter to the county detailing the problems with cattle guards in his area. He said dirt builds up underneath them, which makes his cattle believe that they can walk on them. When they do, they get their legs caught, breaking them and making them useless for his ranching operation.

It happened twice on Lujan’s ranch last year, he contends.

A shuffling of principals will affect nearly every school on the east side.

Last week, Las Vegas City Schools Superintendent Rick Romero, who took the helm last summer, announced the first major restructuring of the district in years.

Robertson High School is without a principal after Richard Lopez turned in his resignation last week; the district plans to advertise the position.

Check out the news, read the papers, talk to friends and acquaintances; we are going through hard times.

But is that anything new?  I wonder if scanning “The Book of Job” could give us some insight on the issue.