Opinion

My dad, who lived almost 95 years and who passed away in 1998, might have believed that he and his own father invented the Spanish language. The few times I watched him become passionate about an issue often dealt with the language he so loved, usually a lament about the deterioration and especially adulteration of Spanish.

Let me explain:

For seven months, the Optic has been trying to give you the side of interim Las Vegas City Attorney Carlos Quiñones. But he has refused to answer our calls or e-mails. Last week, he finally spoke out publicly — on a local radio station.

Let’s give you some background: This fall, the attorney general determined that the city had violated the Inspection of Public Records Act by not giving to the Optic e-mails between the mayor and City Council members. When the Optic challenged him on this issue months ago, he replied, “you’re full of s---.”

I am a new citizen of Las Vegas. I have now been here for 2-1/2 years. When I was a visitor we stayed at the KOA south of town. We had two neighbors, both seeking a new place to put down their roots. One found a lovely restored 1880s railroad home and the other found a beautiful spot on Sheridan Road, overlooking the valley and the mountains across the way.

New Mexicans can no longer depend on only elected officials to fix our state budget issues. We, as the people who elect them, need to make ourselves heard. The bickering which often occurs in state government inhibits results and must stop.  Energies need to be focused on working on solutions without concern for who receives the credit (or blame) for decisions that must be made.

As one with entirely too much time on my hands, I concocted a series of unusual movie, book and TV titles, usually with a letter or two altered to create an entirely different scenario.

I received three e-mails from readers, Steve and Yolanda Jensen from Springer, Richard Lindeborg from Las Vegas, and Ben Trujillo, who lives in Albuquerque.

The Las Vegas City Council has accepted a proposed new city charter from the Charter Commission, but the council may make some changes to the document before it’s submitted to voters, likely in the March 2 municipal election. The existing charter, which is essentially the city’s constitution, has been in force for nearly four decades and needs updating.

The commission performed well in its duty in come up with a better charter. The members decided to keep what works and change what doesn’t.

Among the high points of the new document:

Social Security is an immensely popular program. After all, we as Americans believe that everyone should have an economically secure retirement.

But sometimes we need to curtail this program’s spending so as to ensure its survival for future generations.

To their credit, President Reagan and his Democratic rivals got together during the 1980s to take steps to keep the Social Security fund solvent. They increased payroll taxes to make that happen — not a politically palatable choice but absolutely essential.

It has come to our attention that Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons is proposing to trade the Aspen Hill portion of Unit 48 to the Stanley Ranch and The UU-Bar Express Ranch in exchange for some unusable and undesirable parcels of land. This is his third attempt at compromising the sportsmen and women of Northern New Mexico in exchange for favor among the ranching population.

We’ve lost yet another significant member of our community. On Monday, Oct. 19, Steve Flores passed away. Thankfully, he was at home with his family, where he wanted to be.

Steve was founder and president of the Northern New Mexico Hispano Coalition. He was a founding and active member of the San Miguel County Detention Center Citizen Advisory Committee. Steve’s advocacy work on behalf of those unjustly treated by the system was invaluable.