Letters to the Editor

7 Days, January 17:

Poor Judgment

Your incriminating publishing of … "Student tied to school shooting letter won't be returning to school any time soon" is an ignorant, grossly uninformed statement regarding my son, Julian Carter. The writer of such idiocy needs to be informed of the situation before attempting to publish an incriminating, judgmental comment on an innocent minor as was written.

My husband, Robb Rael, was planning to advertise his business in your paper, but after this horrific comment you published he will have nothing to do with the SF Reporter.
Shame on you.

Jill K Rael
Santa Fe

Bonus Thoughts:  On MLK Day

Tell it on the Rotunda

It was a wonderful surprise to see the Capitol Rotunda overflowing with so many people honoring MLK Jr. I had imagined a much smaller crowd, where I might have had a chance to share observations, like some of the memories below.

Coretta Scott (King) was my elementary schoolteacher: We all liked her because she let us listen to the Cleveland Indians quest for a World Series instead of doing our schoolwork. But I liked her especially because of the beautiful songs she taught us, and her attractiveness. She was my first girlfriend, but due to the 10-year age discrepancy there was little hope for me: She ran off with Martin!
In retrospect, I hear many of these songs embedded in Martin's oratory, for example in an amalgam of speeches one might hear "I might not get there with you … but one day from the top of the mountain people will sing: freedom, freedom, thank God almighty, freedom at last!" Within this I would hear her favorite "Go Tell It on the Mountain." And by saying, "I might not get there with you," I believe he knew he would be killed.

He and Coretta came our family's house in Ohio in 1964. His presence was electric. What an amazing person!

Darrell Dawson
Santa Fe

Cover, January 17: “Making it Go ‘Boom’”

Frickin’ Frackin’

Over 60 percent of New Mexico receives water from the Rio Grande Watershed and the lovely green river corridor of the Rio Chama is its largest tributary.

At the same time that the Rio Chama Watershed is moving toward renewable energy … we are battling yet another oil and gas lease sale that includes parcels that are well within the western boundaries of our watershed. The pivot to the new energy economy cannot come soon enough as we see the oil and gas sacrifice zone, known as the San Juan Basin, creep ever eastward. Hydro-fracking the meager shale resources in the Rio Chama Watershed has proven irresistible to an industry that seems willing to risk the health of one of the state's major water resources.

An unprecedented 120 formal letters of protest were submitted to the BLM regarding this lease sale within the Greater Chaco, a region that includes a portion of the Rio Chama Watershed and that houses the largest collection of ancient Puebloan sites in existence at Chaco. Like other environmental groups in New Mexico we will continue the fight to protect our communities and the land and water that sustain us.

Barbara Turner
Rio Arriba Concerned Citizens