URL: http://www.abqjournal.com/riorancho/opinion/330477westoped03-30-05.htm

Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Letters to the Editor
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    Dig Deeper To
    Save City Views
    WHEN I MOVED HERE MORE THAN 12 YEARS AGO, it was for several reasons, one of them being the beauty of the surrounding areas easily viewed as one drove through and around town.
    Now, with unbridled development taking place, I find those views rapidly disappearing. What had been a breathtaking vista of the Sandias, as you drive down Coors north toward Montaño, now threatens to be forever hidden by new housing.
    I notice that La Luz development had the decency years ago to excavate so their structures would not do this.
    Don't get me wrong, I make my living in construction. However, I firmly believe that little things like this make Albuquerque a better place to live in, and as such are quality of life issues. How hard would it be for this new development to dig a little deeper, and save
    those views?
    Valerie Wells
    Albuquerque
    Anti-Nuke Activist
    Has 'Tunnel Vision'
    YOUR STORY ABOUT ACTIVIST GREG MELLO, who wants to do away with all nuclear weapon and research facilities in New Mexico, was most instructive. It illustrated the tunnel vision that guides many zealots, and the underlying source of their zealotry. ...
    Mello (says), "A lot of people ... are scared 'spitless' about what is happening in New Mexico." Oh? Upon just what is their fear focused? On our nuclear accident rate? Zero. On the casualties we've sustained as a result of storing weapons? Zero again. Perhaps fetal deformities from fissile exposure? Another zero. Given that they don't live in New Mexico, what are they afraid of? Do we have just a tiny bit of hyperbole here?
    ... Most revealing was Mello's comment about why he quit being a hydrologist to run, at a smaller salary, the nonprofit Los Alamos Study Group. He is quoted as having been "bored" in his old job and, precisely there, we have it.
    It is my observation and belief that being enthusiastically against something, anything, creates an adrenaline rush similar to that (experienced by) race drivers, parachute jumpers, bungee divers and so on. It is enjoyed for the thrill. So are most demonstrations. The "cause" is really a cover. If forgivable among the young and impressionable, it is less so for the 55-year-old Mello.
    I'm sure his motives are clear in his own mind and he knows his "strength is as of the strength of 10" because his heart is pure. But to me it savors of inadequate analysis.
    Ed Pennybacker
    Albuquerque
    Prof's Own History
    Raises Questions
    RE: PROFILE ON ENRIQUE LAMADRID, who changed the name of the University of New Mexico's Chicano Studies Program to Chicano/Hispano/Mexicano Studies
    As a World War II veteran, I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see a conscientious objector heading a UNM department. It's been decades since this country has seen a patriot emerge from this country's universities.
    But it is so laughable to see (Lamadrid's) excuse as "not wanting to fight on behalf of General Motors." I don't remember a great deal of car sales coming out of Vietnam, although I'm inclined to believe that, nowadays, Lamadrid has no problem using any of the products of U.S. business or General Motors.
    Given his history, I don't see what gives him the right to name any department anything. Does his legitimacy come from his dodging paper cuts or hiding under his desk while he taught English and Spanish to the Navajos, while the true heroes of Vietnam sweated in the hot jungles and then had to put up with the guff of an ungrateful nation? ...
    Manuel T. Aragon
    Albuquerque
    Social Security
    Headline Wrong
    (THE JOURNAL) HEADLINE, "TRUSTEES: SOCIAL SECURITY Insolvent in 2041," is incorrect and deceptive. ...
    The story states in its first paragraph that the program will lack cash to pay its obligations beginning in 2017. That is the definition of insolvency in this case, since the special Social Security "bonds" can't be considered cash equivalents or even honest assets.
    It is misleading to state in a headline that an event expected in 12 years won't happen for 41 years. There is too much political misdirection on this issue already without the Journal adding to it.
    John Curtis, CPA
    Albuquerque