Opinion

Thank you for sharing the partnership information about the West Las Vegas High School Website Design Class, NMDOH, Mora and Guadalupe County Health Councils with Mr. Don Pace.

The article Mr. Pace wrote gave the community a clear picture of the students’ ability and willingness to provide services to the two health councils by creating their websites. Your efforts in expressing the interest in this partnership were greatly appreciated.

SANTA FE — In many ways, the inaugurations of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton bear striking resemblances. Obama is a cool dude, delivering a message of hope. Clinton was a cool dude delivering a message from Hope, Ark., his birthplace.

My wife, Jeanette, and I attended Clinton’s first inaugural in 1993. Jeanette worked for First Lady Alice King so we had the opportunity to purchase VIP tickets to many events. We figured it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Look in the slums, the blighted areas of our urban centers, or in our prisons, where people of color are represented in disproportionate numbers, and you can see that racial discrimination is still an ugly reality in America.

Then, look at the White House, where, come Wednesday morning, Barack Obama and his family rise to a new day in American governance, and you can see that we’ve made progress.

Martin Luther King would be proud.

Early this morning, the Mall in Washington D.C. began filling up in anticipation of a great event. Historic, yes, but all inaugurations are. This one carries special meaning because it’s a dream come true.

The economic meltdown is monopolizing the nation’s attention, and critical issues such as climate change have been pushed to the sidelines. It is critical, however, that substantive climate change legislation be passed quickly, certainly within the 2009 calendar year.

While policy makers justifiably are concerned about our dire fiscal predicament, delaying climate change legislation is shortsighted.  Solving climate change and revitalizing the American economy go hand in hand. In no way are they mutually exclusive.

School Board elections are just around the corner and I would encourage the people of Mora County to keep Robert Romero on the board. Being on a school board is serious business. It is by no means a popularity contest.

I feel his decisions have been led by his convictions, and our convictions are the only thing we can offer. Robert is a veteran, and anyone who has been a in the military knows that being organized and assertive is of importance. His dad and granddad Pat were also veterans, as was I.

Recently, the state of New Mexico’s Children, Youth and Families Department, Protective Services held its annual Foster Children’s Christmas Party. We would like to express our appreciation to all the business and individuals who made monetary gift or other type of donation to ensure that our foster children were given the opportunity to enjoy the Christmas holiday.

It is with your generosity that once again our Christmas party was a great success.

A. Audra Salas

County Office Manager and Staff

HELP FROM A VETERAN MANAGER. County Manager Les Montoya has offered to help the city get through its current period of instability. That’s good news, especially since the city is without a manager and three department heads.

Montoya was city manager throughout much of the 1990s and has served as county manager for the last decade, building a great track record. Any assistance he can provide the city government will benefit the community as a whole.

Shuck and jive: Everybody happy? Change, in your pocket! War, war, war and more. New wars. Same old, same old. Ah, but we’ve finally got it all figured out: Progressive, liberal politics plus science, plus (the new god) technology; add a kick of neo-con to ensure the world that we, the USA, mean business! Who has their military in multiple nations, wars, and who knows what, while our ports and borders are porous sieves (not the leakage of Mexican workers; they are the false target of America’s hypocrisy). We meddle in everybody’s business but our own.