PSA: Help Prevent Wildfires on the Cibola National Forest and Grasslands
Albuquerque, NM. May 23, 2012. Memorial Day weekend marks the start of the summer recreation season. Each year, thousands of people enjoy activities such as hiking, camping, picnicking, OHV driving, when they visit the Cibola National Forest and Grasslands. “We want everyone who comes to the Cibola to enjoy themselves, but we have extremely dry conditions and we need their help to prevent wildfires,” said Susan Millsap, Acting Forest Supervisor.
Currently, none of the Cibola’s six districts have fire restrictions, but hot, windy weather and dry storms are predicted over the next week, which will increase the risk for significant fire activity. “If these conditions persist, then some of our districts may go into fire restrictions in the near future,” said Millsap.
The Southwestern Region is currently at Preparedness Level 3, which means that there are large fires in the region and fire behavior is escalating and of concern to multiple agencies and fire managers.
Most wildfires are human-caused and are started from untended campfires, smoldering cigarettes and sparks from engines. To help prevent wildfires, please:
- Check Fire Restrictions. Before you go, call the Ranger District or the Cibola National Forest and Grasslands Supervisor’s Office to find out if there are any restrictions in place. Current fire restrictions can be found on the Cibola’s website: http://www.fs.usda.gov/cibola/
- Never use Fireworks. All fireworks, including sparklers, are not allowed on National Forests. A small spark at the wrong time could cause a devastating wildfire.
- Make sure campfires are dead out. Extinguish your fire or barbecue one hour before you leave the area. Use lots of water and douse it until you see water floating on the wood/coals and the fire ash is cold to touch. Partially extinguished fires can be fanned by evening winds and re-kindle fires that may take off the next day. Be careful!
Web sites and phone numbers:
- Southwest Coordination Center: http://gacc.nifc.gov/swcc/
- National Interagency Fire Center: www.nifc.gov
- National Incident Information Center: www.fs.fed.us/news/fire
- FireWise: www.firewise.org
- Regional Fire Restrictions Hotline: 1.877.864.6985
Ruth Sutton, Public Affairs Officer
Cibola National Forest & Grasslands
2113 Osuna NE; Albuquerque, NM 87113
Phone: 505.346.3894
Cell: 505.331.3075
PSA: Junior Zookeepers Day Camp Schedule
Received from Karen Mahalick, Edgewood Town Administrator
THE TOWN OF EDGEWOOD
and
WILDLIFE WEST NATURE PARK
are
SPONSORING A JUNIOR ZOOKEEPERS DAY CAMP
WHEN: Session – June 4th through 8lh
Session – June 25th through 29th WFIERE: Wildlife West Nature Park
TIME: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Ages 7 through 15 at $25.00 per student, only 30 students per session. Sign up now as the sessions are filling up fast. Snacks and water provided. On the last day, enjoy a family barbecue, receive a certificate.
Learn details of basic animal care, gain knowledge about New Mexico’s wildlife and natural resources. Watch a live raptor presentation. Participate in various activities, projects, and environmental games.
For more information, please contact Roger Alink, Founder at 281-7655
Edgewood Considers Relinquishing Section 32 Open Space Back To State Land Office
(Editor’s note: We recommend that the Town Council hold on to this property for at least another year, and make a good faith effort to resolve the access issue.)
From Roger Holden:
Note item 10. E. on the Town of Edgewood meeting agenda for May 2nd at 6:30 at the Community Center.
10. MATTERS FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR/PLANNER.
A. Right of Way for Paving Projects.
B. Wastewater Report.
C. Selection Committee for RFP Evaluations.
D. Public Hearing – Adoption of Emergency Ordinance Declaring Hazardous Fire Conditions and Fire Hazards.
E. Relinquishing Section 32 back to State Land Office.
see attached map for location
Voice your concern by emailing your councilors and/or attending and signing up to speak at the meeting tomorrow night.
Sherry Abraham
John Abrams
Chuck Ring
Rita-Loy Simmons
Remember, this is 695 acres of land with trails. Granted, access has always been a concern however, this acreage along with the adjacent 80 acres of BLM land and 165 acres of City of Albuquerque Open Space makes a total of 940 acres of Open Space for hiking, biking and horseback riding which is adjacent and accessable from the SASS (Single Action Shooters Society) Founders Ranch.
This is a resourse that once relinquished, may not be available again. The lease is $1,500 per year.
Please voice your concern.
Thank you,
Roger Holden
East Mountain Representative Smith Reveals Sordid ALEC Past
by John Weckerle
Our readers know that, given our relative disinclination toward hyperbole, the word “sordid” is not one we make a habit of using. In fact, until now, we have never used it – and as of now, we can say we have used it only twice, both in the same article, but never seriously.
In response to our first ALEC and Us article on New Mexico legislators involved with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and a follow-up inquiry, State Representative Jim Smith provided a prompt (last Monday) response disclosing his sinister past with ALEC – or, more accurately, the lack thereof. Mr. Smith indicated that his involvement with the organization was limited attendance at an ALEC-sponsored dinner in Santa Fe, at which many lawmakers from both sides of the aisle were present. The dinner was interrupted by the Occupy movement, and Mr. Smith recalled that “a couple of members spoke briefly about being pro-business” but no legislative agenda was discussed.
Mr. Smith indicated: “Although I do attend a lot of meetings sponsored by various groups, I don’t actually join many, if any, of them.” This sounds like good policy for a legislator, and we’re glad to see it operative in this situation.
State Senator Sue Wilson-Beffort, to whom we sent essentially the same e-mail message as Mr. Smith, has not yet replied. If a response is not forthcoming soon, then perhaps research will substitute. We’ll keep our readers posted.
PSA: Unite Against the War on Women Rally – April 28th, 2012
Editor’s note: We received this while we were preparing the first of our articles on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which included a discussion of legislation affecting women in Wisconsin. From the standpoint of timing, we considered it a significant coincidence.
Albuquerque, NM, April 5, 2012: Local Pre-Law Student and, Model Teddie Rivers, and the Women’s Resource Center join the Unite Against The War on Women campaign. They are organizing on campus to gather support for The National Women’s March on April 28th 2012 at the Round House in Santa Fe, N.M.
Unite Against the War on Women is an effort to educate local citizens, as well as our Local, State, and Government leaders on the astonishing legislation and rhetoric taking place in our House of Representatives, the media, and many of the States across our country attacking women’s rights, from healthcare access and reproductive rights, to voting rights and human rights.
Ms. Rivers and other National Women’s March coordinators will be tabling events on the UNM Campus on Thursday, April 19; Tuesday, April 24; and Thursday, April 26 from 11AM – 1PM to answer questions and educate the public about the April 28th March.
Local coordinators will be meeting at the Rail Runner Station in downtown Albuquerque at 8:15AM on April 28th before march and commuting to Santa Fe via the Rail Runner, and are asking as many people possible attending the march to board the train to Santa Fe.
Rally will be held on April 28, 2012 from 10AM – 2PM at The Round House in Santa Fe, N.M. The rally is expected to draw a crowd of 2,000 New Mexican women declaring: “Enough is Enough.
Unite Against the War on Women Mission Statement:
Help defend women’s right and pursuit of equality. Join Americans all across the United States on April 28th, 2012, as we come together as one to tell members of Congress in Washington DC and legislators in all 50 states. “Enough is enough!”
All Americans have the right to make decisions about their own bodies, including contraception, without interference from government, business or religious institutions.
Everyone is invited to join, plan, and rally as we unite to demand that every person be granted equal opportunities, equal right, and equal representation.
Contact:
Teddie Rivers
UNM Campus Organizer
teddie@unm.edu
ALEC And Us – IRS Complaint And Lobbying Issues
Editor’s note: In our previous ALEC And Us article, we called upon New Mexico legislators in general and our own District legislators – Sue Wilson-Beffort and Jim Smith – to disclose and clarify the nature and extent of their involvement, if any, with the American Legislative Exchange Council. We followed up with an e-mail to Ms. Wilson-Beffort and Mr. Smith on Friday. We have not yet received a response, but let’s remember it’s the weekend and the e-mail went out on Friday. We hope to hear from them soon.
by John Weckerle
The New York Times has run an article expanding on the activities of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), including its lobbying, and also its status as a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization. An NPR article also casts doubt upon the organization’s charity status. Both articles note that a watchdog agency, Common Cause, has filed a complaint with the IRS alleging that ALEC has abused its tax-exempt status. The NPR article provides some analysis indicating that precedent suggests ALEC may be on the wrong side of the law in this regard.
The Times article characterizes ALEC as a “stealth business lobbyist.” Of particular interest to us in this regard is whether the group’s activities in New Mexico may have violated New Mexico laws governing lobbying. A quick look over the list of registered lobbyists in New Mexico does not reveal any indication that ALEC has any registered lobbyists. It is unclear which legislators may have received input from ALEC’s members, whether those members were registered as lobbyists in the state, and to what extent individual New Mexico legislators may have received campaign contributions from ALEC members. While we have not completed a detailed analysis of information available through FollowTheMoney.org, a preliminary review suggests connections among the various ALEC members.
ALEC And Us
by John Weckerle
We recently published an article on the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case, in part a response to a Sandia Tea Party article on the subject. We urged our readers – and everybody else, although we’re not sure how they’d know we were urging without reading – to refrain from speculating on the degree to which race was a factor in the tragedy until the facts are in. We repeat that request, and want our readers to understand that our interest in mentioning the case is associated with Florida’s now-infamous “Stand Your Ground” law. It is not the merits of this law, but its origins that interest us today. Multiple sources have linked the law to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a consortium of conservative state legislators and corporate interests. Put simply, this “consortium” drafts legislation for enactment at the State level, and its members then bring that legislation forward in their individual State legislative bodies. The range of legislative subjects is incredibly broad, and the legislation typically focuses on advancing conservative approaches but especially corporate interests.
In response to the Martin/Zimmerman tragedy, a number of corporate/nonprofit entities – Kraft, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Intuit, and the Gates Foundation – were reported to have pulled out of the organization. You might, and should, question why they were there in the first place. We question whether some of them left at all: as of 7:30 MDT today, the organization’s web site continues to list Derek Crawford of Kraft Foods as one of its Private Enterprise Board members. With the recent announcement that ALEC is discontinuing its efforts associated with gun laws and other “non economic” causes came a few articles (a random one here) reporting that ALEC will no longer promote “social policy,” we saw a few articles suggesting that ALEC was doing the National Rifle Association’s bidding. On the other hand, a few news outlets did some reporting casting some doubt with respect to the question as to who was errand boy to whom (one here). Leaving aside that question, we’ll simply note that ALEC, an organization of which we’ve been aware for years, found itself back in the slightly dim area next to the spotlight. The entire ALEC issue had received less attention than one might have expected – but then again, those corporate sponsors do buy television, radio, and TV time.
As a result of the attention, ALEC issued a statement that they were discontinuing their “non-economic” efforts. We move on to another subject associated with ALEC, albeit one that has received even less attention in the popular press, that is certainly economic in nature: the recent and relatively quiet repeal of a law in Wisconsin requiring equal pay for women. As our readers know, we do tend to want to go for “mainstream” news sources where we can, but these seem so far down on the search indices on this subject that we have our choice of linking to a Huffington Post article or Monday’s Daily Show coverage – and while we are providing a link to the latter, and we think it’s worth watching, we’d like some of our more family-oriented readers to know that there’s a bit of raunch toward the end of the latter story. Of these two sources, only the Daily Show short brings forward the role of Wisconsin legislator ALEC member Glenn Grothman – and again, since some of our readers are perhaps not interested in some of the imagery that might be found in that video, we’ll summarize to the extent that Mr. Grothman is on record as saying that making money is perhaps more important to men than women because young men may want to be breadwinners some day (New York Daily News article here). We invite our readers to weigh in on that position… According to the Daily News article, other pieces of legislation of interest to women included one “barring abortion coverage through health insurance exchanges” and another “mandating doctors to consult privately with women seeking abortions.”
With all the renewed attention on ALEC, we started wondering just who in the New Mexico legislature might be involved – because, quite frankly, having New Mexico laws written by a consortium of business interests and predominantly out-of-state legislators does not sit any better with us than it probably does with most New Mexicans. The ALEC site doesn’t list all the members, but we found the following list in a Sourcewatch article:
House of Representatives
- Rep. Paul Bandy (R-3), ALEC State Chairman[20] and Guest at the December 2010 International Relations Task Force meeting[27]
- Rep. Jimmie Hall (R-28)[21][109] and Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
- Rep. William Gray (R-54), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Alternate
- Rep. Nathaniel Quentin Gentry (R-30), ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Alternate
- Rep. Rick L. Little (R-53), ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Member
- Rep. Alonzo Baldonado (R-8), ALEC Education Task Force Member
- Rep. Dennis Roch (R-67), ALEC Education Task Force Member
- Rep. Paul Bandy (R-3), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
- Rep. Nora Espinoza (R-59), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member
- Rep. Larry A. Larranaga (R-27), ALEC International Relations Task Force Member
- Rep. William R. Rehm (R-31), ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member
- Rep. Anna M. Crook (R-64)[18], ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member
- Rep. James R.J. Strickler (R-2), ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member
- Rep. Thomas A. Anderson (R-29), ALEC Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force Member
- Rep. Dennis J. Kintigh (R-57), ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Member
Senate
- Sen. Sander Rue (R-23),[110]Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member
- Sen. George K. Munoz (D-4), ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Member
- Sen. William E. Sharer (R-1)[18], ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Member
- Sen. Mark L. Boitano (R-18), ALEC Education Task Force Member
- Sen. Vernon Asbill (R-34), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
- Sen. Sue Beffort (R-19), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member
- Sen. William H. Payne (R-20), ALEC State Chairman[20] and International Relations Task Force and Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
- Sen. Rod Adair (R-33), ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Member
- Former Sen. Kent L. Cravens (R-21) (resigned September 2011 to become lobbyist for [[New Mexico Oil and Gas Association[111]), former ALEC State Chairman,[112] and Public Safety and Elections Task Force member
Now, that’s 21 legislators, not counting former Senator Kent Cravens, who apparently experienced the ALEC version of the Rapture – all but one of them Republicans. What we found most interesting was that our locality is quite well represented among the ALEC ranks. Senator Sue Wilson-Beffort, of Senate District 19 is prominently listed, as are ALEC State Chairman Senator William Payne of District 20, Senator Mark Boitano of Albuquerque’s District 18, Senator Sander Rue of “just across the river” District 23, and Senator Rod Adair of District 33, just to our south. On the House side we have Jimmie Hall, Nathaniel Quentin, Larry Larranaga, and Bill Rehm of Albuquerque; Thomas Anderson of western Bernalillo County; District 8’s Alonzo Baldonado; and another neighbor to the south, Dennis Kintigh.
We are asking our readers to alert these people to the existence of this article, and we are inviting them to provide us with a disclosure of their involvement with ALEC and a list of bills that they have introduced or supported that are or were supported by ALEC or based on its model bills. We are also, quite bluntly, asking that every New Mexico legislator with any ties to ALEC sever them immediately and henceforth serve their State’s interests and not those of other entities. We especially direct this request to our own Senator, Sue Wilson-Beffort -and to be fair, to our Representative Jim Smith, whose name we are very glad not to see on the list. We suggest that all our readers contact their Senators and Representatives, and demand to know whether they are a part of the ALEC network or supporting its initiatives. Let’s keep the running of New Mexico to those who live here.
A few related links:
- Source Watch – American Legislative Exchange Council
- NPR – Who Writes Our Laws?
- WCVB TV Boston – NRA, ALEC Team Up For Causes Beyond Gun Laws
- WFIE TV – ALEC Stops Pushing “Stand Your Ground” Laws
- Crooks and Liars: Gates Foundation Announces It Will Withdraw Funding From ALEC
- Sarah Kennedy: Our Resident Smart Aleck Talks About ALEC
Start Your Own!
Update: Upon further examination, we find there are a few small green beans on the bush bean plants.
by John Weckerle
With the hoop house repair nearly complete (all that remains is to reattach the door and the bird netting), we find ourselves eagerly awaiting some warmer weather for planting, even if it’s just cool weather crops. To get a head start on the growing season, we bought a couple of inexpensive shop lights for starting plants. Shown here are several varieties of bush beans (Maxibel, Contender, and Blue Lake), mustard and collard greens, broccoli, and oregano. The white window box in the back contains basil, dill, and cilantro. Not yet under the lights because they haven’t sprouted yet are this year’s tomatoes. As we mentioned previously, we’re going with Romas plus four heirloom varieties. A total of 18 starter pots have been primed with three seeds each, and we hope to see sprouting within a week or two.
Our early seed starting efforts are yielding results.
The beans have done very well – they’re already beginning to flower – but the greens are having a tough time. For some reason, they have been repeatedly attacked by aphids. We’ve knocked these back a couple of times, but they showed up again recently. We’ll keep fighting them but we’re looking forward to hardening the plants off and getting them in the ground.
Last year’s kale has already started putting out leaves (one plant actually stayed active all winter, and we’re nearly ready for kale and white bean stew). The carrots we didn’t harvest in the fall have also started sending up greens, and early taste tests have been positive. On the herb front, the tarragon and parsley have begun leafing out, and the sage stayed awake through the winter. Additions to the herb bed this year will include basil, dill, cilantro, chives, and maybe a few others. We’ll take another run at rosemary, although we don’t think we’ll put it in the herb bed given that it does tend to get pretty big and makes a nice stand-alone shrub.
Swift Blog Veterans For Old, Debunked Stories
by John Weckerle
We find ourselves, as always, in bewildered awe at the jaw-dropping oddness we see out the in the flatter parts of the political bell curve. We refer once again to a Sandia Tea Party article, this one titled “A Slap in The Face By FLOTUS” (this refers to the First Lady of the United States, currently Michelle Obama. We’re getting just a bit tired of the constant appending of “OTUS” onto just about everything; then again, we got sick of the “you-name-it-gate” thing a long time ago). In this missive, the Sandia Tea Party leadership makes mention (of course, with no links) to an article which was first purported to have a photograph of Ms. Obama holding hands with Bernadine Dohrn, wife of Bill Ayers. Readers may recall mention of Mr. Ayers – a leader (along with Ms. Dohrn) of the Weather Underground Organization, or Weathermen, an extreme radical left organization of the 1960s and 1970s – during the 2008 Presidential campaign. Mr. Obama was, at that time purported to be “palling around with terrorists.” The photograph in question (but not provided) is supposedly evidence linking the Obamas to Ms. Dohrn and Mr. Ayers.
The Sandia Tea Party leadership corrects itself (after, apparently, having been corrected by somebody else), stating: “I have been corrected. The hand clutch is with Terresa Heinz Kerry.” Now, at that point, most people would have at least gotten suspicious and done a little research into what they were writing about – or at least changed the title, given that Ms. Obama had apparently not held hands with Ms. Dohrn. Instead, the Sandia Tea Party provides a link to a Freedomworks article (surprised?) titled “Charles Manson and Three Degrees of Separation” by Jack Lloyd Rowlinson. This is, according to the Sandia Tea Party, “an excellent account by Jack Lloyd Rowlinson, of politicians and their pussy-footing around with folks longing to overthrow our form of government using the most violent methods possible … warping our young people’s minds in progressive colleges and slaying our first level protectors at every opportunity.” Leaving aside the rather hyperbolic/paranoid tone of this particular piece of prose, the Freedomworks article demonstrates nothing described in the Sandia Tea Party article. It is a rather rambling discussion of Charles Manson’s purported pre-murder relationships and a short history of the Weather Underground’s activities, followed by an assertion that the Obamas maintain a relationship with Mr. Ayres and Ms. Dohrn “to this day.”
Now, we’re not going to waste a single word defending Mr. Ayers or Ms. Dohrn and their past activities. Not one. What are going to do is point out that the supposed relationship between Mr. Obama and Mr. Ayers was subjected to rather intense scrutiny back in 2008, and the entire “controversy” was shown to be politically generated bunk. We refer not to the partisan blogsphere of which the author of the Sandia Tea Party is so clearly fond, but to articles by the master debunkers at Snopes.com (here) and the renowned Factcheck.org (here).
Now, we know that the falsehood factories may have lost a little of their production capacity in recent months, but this particular product didn’t gain much all that much traction the first time around and recycling it seems a bit odd, especially given that the recycling’s being done by FreedomWorks. We’re a little surprised to see FreedomWorks – with money from Koch Industries and other major corporate sponsors – wasting its resources on rehashing old and discredited attacks. With their resources, shouldn’t they be able to do better?
Unfortunately, we’re far less surprised to see the Sandia Tea Party picking this sort of thing up and passing it along.
Job Openings at the NM Long-Term Services Department
by John Weckerle
Checking in on our friends at Mountainair Announcements, we find that the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department has vacancies for three positions: two in Albuquerque and one in Santa Fe. For more information, including position descriptions, instructions for applying, and contacts, see the Mountainair Announcements article.
PSA: Red Flag Warnings
by John Weckerle
The East Mountain Interagency Fire Protection Association has issued an advisory on how to assist fire protection agencies in preventing wildfire during red flag warnings.
How do we know when a red flag warning is in effect? Well, there are a number of ways, but we’ve set up a customized weather page at www.weather.gov. To get started, input your city and state in the “Local Forecast by City, State” box near the top left. When the new page opens, you can use the map to zero in on your location. We used the satellite view to pinpoint New Mexico Central headquarters. Then just bookmark the page and you’re set. You can access location-specific weather advisories, forecasts, hourly weather graphs, and much more.
A Rare Point Of Agreement – And The Usual Disagreement
by John Weckerle
We have, perhaps typically, kept silent on the issue of the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman debacle. Looking over an April 10 article on the Sandia Tea Party site, however, we find ourselves in a rare state of agreement with a single point in the article, that the media – and, quite frankly, the blogsphere – have behaved digracefully in the coverage of this tragedy to date. In a rush to sensationalize the situation and exploit societal tensions, the media, as well as the multitude of pundicrats who are even less accountable than the “professional” journalists, portrayed the issue in such a manner as to incite anger and divisiveness. That people from all parts of the political spectrum reacted strongly is no surprise, although we should continue to hope that people on all sides of the issues will eventually adopt a reasonably skeptical attitude toward early media and blog coverage of – well – just about anything.
Now, we’ve listened to the uncut version of Mr. Zimmerman’s 911 call, and we’ve reviewed the list of prior 911 calls made by Mr. Zimmerman. What we do know is this: that Mr. Martin was walking around in a neighborhood in the rain, and that was considered “suspicious” by Mr. Zimmerman. At least to us, Mr. Zimmerman’s voice seemed very nervous on the call. The Sandia Tea Party’s official internet spokesman is correct that NBC edited the 911 tape in a way that might increase a listener’s perception of George Zimmerman as a racist – although he does fail to mention that Fox News and the New York Times, among many, had reported that an NBC producer had been fired over the incident three days before the Sandia Tea Party article was posted. From the 911 recording, we know that the dispatcher indicated that Mr. Zimmerman should not follow Mr. Martin, that Mr. Zimmerman agreed, and that Mr. Zimmerman then followed Mr. Martin. A confrontation of some sort ensured, and Mr. Martin lost his life. What we do not know, after trying to filter the facts out of the coverage, is why this happened. We have often made the case here that the best judgment comes of examination of facts, and given that actually very few of those have been, and continue to be, available to any of us, it remains premature to speculate on the degree to which race and racial issues contributed to the horrible events that led to the end of Mr. Martin’s life at the age of seventeen. We encourage our readers, and pretty much everybody else, to reserve judgment until such time as a reasonable set of facts is available.
What we would like our readers – and, again, pretty much everybody else – to consider is this: how have we, as a nation and a society, come to such a pass that the simple act of walking around in the rain (a long-time pastime of your editor’s, by the way) is “suspicious behavior?” What has brought us to the point where one person has the right to demand, perhaps even forcefully, an accounting from another citizen as to the nature of his business as he walks down the street? At what point did we become so suspicious of each other, so angry at each other, that such an event should come to pass? And let us not forget that a young man’s life is cut off, and a family is mourning, for reasons we cannot yet fathom. All we can be sure of is this: those reasons will never, ever be good.
Lest our readers think that we agree entirely with the Sandia Tea Party spokesman, we will point out that there is much in the article with which we disagree. Providing a litany of horrible crimes perpetrated by African American criminals as an unnecessary demonstration of media bias toward African Americans is nothing short of contemptible given the situation. These horrific cases have nothing in common with the Martin/Zimmerman case – but the fact that the Sandia Tea Party chooses to sign on to such a comparison speaks volumes regarding the character and biases of the organization, its members, and those who attend its events for the purpose of political expediency.
We’re getting tired of the nastiness. It’s time for those of us who are willing to work together to stop giving the fringe – on either side of the carpet – center stage. “Liberal” and “conservative” are not endpoints on a line; they are points on a continuum, and we think they are points that have more in common than many people realize, regardless of the irreconcilable differences that the people at the extreme ends of the bell curve may have with one another. As a nation, we’re not accomplishing much by yelling at each other. There will always be those among us who insist on the yelling, but as for the rest of us, we could do better with a serious talk here and there. Perhaps if we talked more and shouted less, we’d get closer to living in a nation in which we can all walk down the street, wearing whatever clothes we see fit, in whatever weather we see fit, and not be viewed with fear or suspicion. We’re a long way from that now, for a very complex set of reasons, but if we try, we can get there some day. Rather than focusing on our differences, and listening to those who seek to gain by driving us apart, perhaps we should consider working to come together and move forward.
PSA: Public Meeting On Changes To Bernalillo County Fire Code
by John Weckerle
The Bernalillo County Fire Marshal will hold a public meeting next Thursday, April 19, to discuss proposed changes and amendments to the Bernalillo County Fire Code. The meeting will be held from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Bernalillo County Fire Department Administrative Offices at 6840 Second Street NW in Albuquerque.
PSA: Drawing System To Be Used For Issuing Wood Permits On Sandia Ranger District
Received from Karen Takai, Sandia Ranger District
TIJERAS, NM – March 30, 2012 – Due to the high demand, the Sandia Ranger District will be offering a one-time random drawing system, as we have over the last few years, to be used for issuing firewood cutting permits in the Sandia Mountains. Individuals will have an opportunity to submit their name and phone number by visiting, calling or faxing the information to the Sandia Ranger District
ON May 1, 2012 from 7:30am – 4:00pm.
(Before or after this date will not be excepted).
The Sandia Ranger District office address is 11776 Hwy 337, Tijeras, NM.
Phone: 505-281-3304 ext 0
Fax: 505-281-1176
Sandia Fuelwood Drawing Basic Information
- Submit your information, Name & Phone Number, on May 1, 2012 from 7:30am-4:00pm at the Sandia RD office.
- You Can: Call, Fax or Stop In with the information (see above for contact numbers)
- By entering the Fuelwood Drawing there is no guarantee to be drawn.
- Only 1 entry per household.
- If drawn: 2 cord limit @ $10/cord.
- Permit is activated on the day you are called. You have 14 days to remove the wood. NO EXTENSIONS
- Fuelwood will be green, cut down in very long pieces, but not bucked up.
- If individuals who applied during the initial drawing fail to respond when contacted additional names will be drawn. We recommend you use a phone number that you can be reached at all times.
- You will NOT be called again.
For more information contact the Sandia Ranger District 505-281-3304.
Grow Your Own – They Call The Wind Mariah, But Right Now We Just Might Have Another Name In Mind
by John Weckerle
Here we go again... Note: the door was not yet attached.
The recent storm that graciously dropped 8 to 10 inches of snow and a bit of rain apparently dropped something else – the hoop house at Bed 5, again. We followed some of the recommendations of Senior Structural Engineering Correspondent Wilson and reinforced the uprights, revised the hoop/end frame attachment scheme, and were confident that we could get the cool weather vegetables in. Unfortunately, both we and our subject matter expert failed to realize that the strain would now be transferred to the corners of the bed, which were unfortunately not up to the task. Are we doomed?
Well, possibly, but not with respect to the garden. At the recommendation of Senior Disaster Recovery Correspondent Wilson (we all wear multiple hats around here), we’ve purchased two large L-brackets for each end of the board, and we’ll put it back together using those and some lag screws. We’ll also drive some rebar into the ground in front of and behind the horizontal board to help minimize any flexing that may result from wind load on the front. We hope to get this done soon, as the various bush beans we started under lights are beginning to flower.
At this point, it seems almost pointless to cover the structure with plastic for the Spring season, so we’ll start out with cool weather plantings – collard and mustard greens, various bush beans, kale, spinach, snow peas, and broccoli to start. In the meantime, we’ll get our tomatoes a-sprouting. We’ve decided to go with Romas for sauce and several heirloom varieties this year: Mortgage Lifter, Black Krim, Black Cherry, and Brandywine. We’ll have the structure ready to receive plastic in advance of the fall season, into which we hope to extend our growing efforts long enough to reap a few tomatoes – and then of course it’ll be time for cool-weather crops again.