Letters to the editor

Accountability
To Editor:

There are two items that I have intended to address, but solutions don’t come easy; it takes money, and it takes the community to change.

First: As you come into the Ganado community, the original home of Hornets, a 40 mph speed limit sign is posted, but the driving, the local community, we don’t deem to get it, we treat Highway 264, as if it’s I-40 (sedans, pick-ups, 18 wheelers, etc) or we drive like we’re crazy. We also tend to make our own side roads, when we drive along side the paved road within the right of way. Where is the Department of Public Safety? School is already upon us, the DPS needs to patrol and start issuing traffic citations, day and night, 24/7.

Second: KDLO has an issue that the school board needs to act on, promotion day, who gets to address during a commencement. Yes, it’s both valedictorian and a salutatorian. The question, is it going to be an old timer, that has attended school since K-8, or will it be a transfer student who is outstanding elsewhere, but because of too much computation has decided to be a valedictorian at KDLO?

Steven Kee
Ganado

Lemuel S. Harvey,
Albuquerque

Kudos to the Gallup city manager and mayor
To Editor:

I just want to give a big thank you to Mr. Herrera, city manager and Mr. Mendoza, mayor, for effectively cutting 559 sq. feet of living space from my home when the city sewage came flowing into my house on July 22. Imagine my surprise!

 I want to thank you for doing a fine job in maintaining the city’s sewer lines and wastewater treatment plant. Heck, if you run out of space at the waste treatment plant you can just dump it in my home any time. I will watch it for you.

Now that I can’t use my beautiful living room to watch TV or take a nap on my sofa on a rainy Saturday afternoon, or after a long day of studying, I have lots of time on my hands.

I don’t even have to do the laundry anymore; I hate doing laundry anyway. And you have saved me a ton of time having to vacuum, since the flooring is gone, not to mention the walls, doors, bathroom vanity, and I have a great view of the crawl space under my house. I didn’t know that the dirt under there is brown. It’s the same color as the sewer water.

That hole in the floor of my bathroom, the one that the toilet used to be over, do you think that if it stays unused the P-trap will dry out and then that odor will match the odor in my living room? Also, I will never have to use my alarm clock again because when the city employee came to take care of the sewage problem, he didn’t put the manhole cover back properly. Now when cars drive over it, it makes a loud clanking noise. I am sure in time I will get used to it and finally fall asleep.

If I deduct one-third off my property taxes based on my smaller living space that my home has now, could you still afford to put a roof on the building at Red Rock Park?

Probably not, however a little thing called priorities always creeps into the equation. Do you think that I can afford to just have my house gutted and rebuilt because you decide that there are other projects that you would rather do than maintain city sewage lines and treatment plants? I recall you stating that “we can’t just raise peoples property taxes, they are strapped enough already”, and I do recall getting a property assessment a month ago raising my taxes substantially. Is that increase going to fix the sewage problems? I have my doubts as your priorities for this city are certainly not what they ought to be.

Finally, I want to thank you for your lack of concern. No apology, no “gee, we’re sorry that a third of your house is gone.” I don’t think that I would act that way if I held an elected position, but then again I am not you, and my priorities would be vastly different.

Sharon Brown
Gallup