Columns

By Rick Kraft

Several years back when I was the New Mexico State Bar President I was speaking to a group of a few hundred lawyers at a conference and I asked the group the question, “How many of you in this room are unethical?” Not a hand went up. Good ... I thought.

It all started with the river. People came to this place because the Gallinas River provided water, and water is life. When the people of this area dug the first ditch, the first acequia, they called it the Acequia Madre, the mother ditch, and that is fitting, because it was through the nurture of the river and the ditches that this community was born.

There is a time when our mother takes care of us, and, as life goes on, there is a time when we must take care of our mother.

For us, as a community, this is that time.

A friend made a habit of collecting and saving Sunday bulletins for Our Lady of Sorrows Sunday church services.

Considering the number of years represented in these bulletins, it’s safe to say she was a faithful church member. Most of the bulletins that she passed on to me date back to the 1960s, and all contain a historical photo on the cover and list a slew of activities: wedding banns, a bingo prize of $230, baptisms and special events. The pastor at that time was the Rev. James T. Burke.

By Yolanda Cruz

As I was reading the “Thumbs” in the April 7 Optic, I read a thumbs down with the statement “perhaps a sign that the system to prevent DWI is not working.”

I would like to address that statement. Prevention is key, it is the number one way that society can deal with any health, public health, or social issue.