A Bit of Democracy?

The County Commission got a redo on rural buses Tuesday – and did what seems the right thing.

Last meeting, dozens who wanted to speak didn't get the chance.

Tuesday turned into a rather wonderful moment. More than three dozen people spoke, including bus-riders speaking Spanish, several elected officials, and dedicated non-profit leaders. None opposed transit. We marveled at the variety of speakers, the power of their words, and the moving human stories. 

A 27-year Anthony resident recalled being pregant and unable to reach doctors in Las Cruces or buy medicine: “This service is very important to me. Please don't take it away!”

A lifelong county resident, Dr. Leti Mora, recalled that as a child in the 1960's she suffered severe eye problems requiring numerous surgeries. She used an old county bus service to reach doctors. Unfortunately, the bus ran just once a day. She and her mother had to spend a whole day in Las Cruces waiting for the return bus. During their long absence, her father suffered a stroke in their home. Had they returned earlier, he might have been saved from such complete paralysis. 

A 97-year-old man thanked the drivers, said “God Bless” everyone, and sweetly called for unity. 

State Senator Jeff Steinborn noted that 39% of our county's children live in poverty, compared to 22% nationwide.

City Councilor Gill Sorg said we needed the buses “for the poor, so they can rise out of poverty.” State Representative Nathan Small said that funding transit “would leave a better legacy,” adding, “If it's not working the way it should, make it better.”

The previous meeting was highly unpleasant. This was less so. Credit the passion of people who were angry they couldn't speak at the last meeting; but credit also the new county commissioners: they listened courteously to a parade of people hoping to preserve the buses. Chair Isobella Solis, disagreed with the speakers, but heard them out. For an hour and forty minutes. 

After lunch Billy Garrett moved to reinsert the transit $350,00 into the preliminary budget. John Vasquez seconded it, but noted he's still not persuaded that the buses are efficient and effective. (He'll give folks a chance to convince him, from 10-11 a.m. daily at the Ledesma Center, at 5745 Ledesma Drive.) Ramon Gonzalez joined them for a 3-2 vote. 

Folks for or against transit should visit Vasquez. All of us should thank Vasquez and Gonzalez for their willingness to be persuaded by their constituents.

The naysayers – Ben Rawson and Solis – advance two basic arguments: that the voters' rejection in 2016 of a tax increase to fund a $10 million bus system tied commissioners' hands, at least ethically; and unspecified mismanagement or inefficiency. If management problems got you defunded, several county departments would be gone already. The Commission should discuss its questions / complaints / suggestions with the transit board, and seek improvement – not blow up the whole thing.

And it's dishonest to claim the 2016 vote controls. If the voters had rejected a special tax to buy DASO $5 million worth of training cars and protective vests, would the commissioners have rejected Tuesday DASO's request for $350,000 for that? No. Nor should they. Many who voted against the tax because of cost might recognize the need to support a more modest system and see how it grows. Even Solis says she's not against public transit.

I'm glad our commission voted to spend $1.75 per person next year – less than the price of a cup of coffee these days – on a really worthy effort. I hope they stick to that.

                                                       -30-

[The above column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, as well as on the newspaper's website the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.]

[This is the announcement on the county's website regarding Mr. Vasquez's daily "Coffee with the Commissioner" sessions.  I'll go one morning this week.]

[Folks concerned about the buses should probably mark 25July on their calendars.  I've no reason to think commissioners will change their minds on this; but it happens.]

Commission Ducks Transit Issue -- Citizens Chant "Shame!"

Tuesday's county commission meeting started with Commission Chair Isabella Solis urging citizens to respect commissioners and ended with citizens chanting “Shame!” 

At issue: should the County provide $350,000 toward continuing bus service throughout the south county?

The transit folks were to make a presentation. The chamber was full of people wanting to speak. Suddenly none of this was permitted.

The Chair asked for a motion. Commissioner Garrett made one. Some thought Commissioner Gonzales, whose district includes many who use the buses, would second. He didn't. Meanwhile Commissioner Vasquez had disappeared – apparently to avoid facing the issue. (He hasn't yet explained.)

An unseconded motion dies. No vote. No discussion. No public comment. Gonzales stayed silent. Vasquez stayed away. Garrett tried to withdraw the motion, to permit discussion. Commissioner Rawson said the commission should move on. 

The room erupted in shouts of “Shame! Shame!” I went to the microphone to urge the commission, if it wanted respect, to extend respect – by letting folks speak. 

Solis is right: we should show commissioners respect – or at least civility. “Civility” and “courtesy” differ from “respect.” Respect is something we feel. I respect the commissioners for taking on a tough job and for hoping to do right. I respect Garrett and Rawson for standing up and defending their positions when asked. When newer commissioners duck questions, I can't respect that. I hope they learn better soon. Meanwhile, we should express our disappointment courteously. Courtesy should be mutual.

I'm appalled that the commissioners simply refused to hear their constituents. Garrett called their conduct “disrespectful, whatever your position.” Some came from the south county, at some inconvenience. Bus dispatcher Leticia Lopez said, “I hear the cries of need every day from people who ride the buses.” She described a lady from Mesquite with two children, whose mother was dying of cancer in Juarez. They take the blue line to Anthony, the purple line to El Paso, then the metro to Mexico. “Before us, she had no way to go even to Anthony.”

Commissioner Gonzalez, these are your people. You coached many of them. You taught them history. You requested their votes as an upstanding man who cared about them and their communities. 

I haven't heard good reasons not to listen to the bus company. Rawson says he opposes the measure because “the voters rejected it.” Voters rejected $10 million to start something – not $350,000 to keep something going, with the state paying more. (Further discussion on today's blog post.) The buses seemed a good idea, seem to be gaining riders, serve a need, and have drawn funding from other sources. Our poorer citizens need transportation – and our rural areas have plenty of poor people.

That doesn't mean the system is perfect! I hear meaningful criticisms and questions, not just from commissioners. But elected commissioners should face this issue like grownups, listening to the arguments, asking appropriate questions, and making reasonable decisions. (They probably should approve the funding but suggest improvements.) 

Whether the bus company and its riders are right or wrong or some of each, sticking our fingers in our ears and running away, as Vasquez and the others did, is not fair or meaningful consideration of an issue. (Vasquez has scheduled three community meetings this week.)

Proponents note that the requested amount is only $1.75 per county resident. I'm delighted to pay $1.75 so that residents of the South County have low-cost transportation to schools, jobs, medical facilities, and family. Friday I sent a check for $17.50. That should cover me -- plus Rawson, Solis, Gonzalez, Vasquez, Enrique Vigil, and four neighbors.

                                                        -30-

[The column above appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 14 May 2017, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website -- and a spoken version airs on KRWG a couple of times on Wednesdays.]

[Further reflections on "respect," and Chairperson Solis's request for it: as I mentioned, I feel we ought all to be civil and courteous to each other as much as we can; but I'd urge the Commission to gather respect by conducting business with more apparent thought, more openness and transparency, and more consideration (and respect) for constituents.   As the Sun-News recently editorialized, government is an open, loud, and sometimes messy business.  Commissioners should not have run from reporters, immediately after sacking Julia Brown a few weeks ago.  They should have faced those reporters, even if fear of a lawsuit would limit what they could say to explain their action.  They should have listened to the citizens who'd come to speak on transit, and to the transit folks, either during initial public comment or when the agenda item came up.  They should have listened both because they might have learned something (as Commissioner Vasquez has said he did when riding the buses and talking to folks, which was a good thing on his part) and because people who've come all that way to speak on an issue that matters to them deserve that respect.  If (as some fellow commissioners believe) Solis had prior knowledge that there'd be no second, she should have permitted such discussion during public comment; if she didn't know, then when the agenda came up and she discovered the fact that these folks would be tricked out of their chance to talk to their commissioners, she could have and should have allowed discussion then.  And Commissioner Rawson should not have encouraged her to move on.  Yeah, it would have cost an hour's time; but that's part of what commissioners get paid for.]

[The column mentions that District 5 Doña Ana County Commissioner John L. Vasquez has scheduled three community meetings to address issues of constituent concerns.  Here's further information:
Meetings are scheduled at 6 p.m. on Monday, May 15, at the Doña Ana Community Resource Center, 5745 Ledesma Drive in Doña Ana; then Tuesday, May 16, at the Radium Springs Community Resource Center, 12060 Lindbeck Road; and finally, Wednesday, May 17, at  the Village of Hatch Community Center, 837 Highway 187 (West Hall Street) in Hatch.
Commissioner Vasquez has invited New Mexico State Sen. Jeff Steinborn and State Representatives Rudy Martinez and Nathan Small to each of the meetings.
Here, he's doing something he should do.  I hope the three are well-attended.]

Did County Commission Do El Paso Electric a Favor?

El Paso Electric made an interesting announcement recently: its plan to request a rate hike in 2018 in southern New Mexico will be delayed.

It's going ahead as planned in El Paso; but not here.

We owe gratitude to Merrie Lee Soules, Positive Energy Solar, Allen Downs, Rocky Bacchus of One Hour Air-Conditioning, and Steve Fischmann; but also to the City of Las Cruces and the County of Doña Ana. All those folks filed as intervenors in EPE's most recent cases; they questioned and rebutted EPE's “facts” with a clarity the PRC wouldn't have managed without them; and EPE apparently doesn't want to see them again real soon.

So when you pay your electric bill each month, thank these folks that it isn't higher.

Sadly, the County Commission moved to make it a little harder for the County to intervene next time around – and there's always a next time with EPE. A publically-traded corporation exists to make a profit. The current system means EPE gets paid off for capital expenditures. So EPE will do its damndest to built new power plants on very flimsy excuses.

Tuesday the Commission passed a resolution under which each time there's a new rate case, it'll require a vote by the commission to intervene. That sounds innocuous enough, and maybe it won't be a problem; but it's odd. These are 4,000-page cases. I'm doubting the commissioners will wade through that.

The general interpretation of Tuesday's action was that it was meant to pull County Manager Julia Brown's chain. The effect is that if EPE's timing is tricky or it can influence a couple of commissioners, our county commission will fall silent when the utility tries to rip us off.

Commissioner Billy Garrett said the intervenors saved county residents $7.5 million recently. He and Brown pointed out that in complex rate cases things change rapidly, and that Tuesday's change could cause the County to miss important deadlines. I completely agree.

Interestingly, when Garrett proposed an amendment, under which the Commission would have been informed in detail every two weeks and could instruct Brown accordingly, Commissioner John Vasquez (who had proposed the resolution) saw the wisdom in that. Three others didn't. Commissioner Ben Rawson then moved Vasquez's original version, which passed 4-1.

The three new commissioners want to send Brown a message – but their chosen method could end up costing us money. One observer said Rawson might be trying to use the anti-Brown sentiment to help tilt the playing field to ease the utility's course. But Rawson, who voted for the 2015 resolution delegating the matter to Brown, said that when he asked about one matter there was confusion among county management about whether or not the County had intervened. Thus he felt the commission should tighten up control.

It seems sad, coming just days after folks at a Progressive Voters Alliance meeting had congratulated some of the intervenors, including the City and County. I hope the commissioners weren't acting in concert with the utility. I wonder if EPE will spend considerable sums to influence the results of local elections here. Electing commissioners and councillors who'd back off this intervention business could be real profitable.

Meanwhile, the Commission also looks poised to let Bowlin's sell fireworks. I hope Vasquez and Isabelle Solis recuse themselves from that vote. They might mean well, but collecting $2,500 in campaign money from Bowlin's, then voting for a dumb measure that would benefit Bowlin's, wouldn't look real good. 

During a local election in a rural county, $2500 is a lot of money. I hope EPE won't be asking what it buys.

                                                 -30-

[The above column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 2 April, 2017, and also on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  KRWG also broadcasts a slightly shortened spoken version twice on Wednesday.]


[With regard to EPE's situation and rate-hike requests, see also Steve Fischmann's recent column
published in the Sun-News several days ago.  Some of the intervenors prepared a summary of issues with El Paso Electric.   This is the summary from February.  As that summary notes,

"EPE is a sophisticated, publicly traded corporation valued at nearly two billion dollars.  It has enormous resources at its disposal and a shareholder expectation that corporate managers will maximize profits. This is what EPE is doing, relentlessly and without shame, in every position it takes throughout the regulatory process."

Maximizing profits is, of course, exactly what a corporation's job is.  So EPE's highly-paid lawyers and press people are doing their job, full-time, to spin stories their way and camouflage or ignore facts that don't fit their version of events.  That's what they are supposed to do.   Meanwhile the PRC is not necessarily a group that will investigate fully and discover the well-hidden holes in EPE's reasoning.  The PRC does have staff; but it's important than when a $2 billion corporation is spending time and resources to make things look one way, we ought to have at least someone to examine the corporation's version of events and point out errors that could save customers money.  We'd sure like the County to continue participating in that effort.]

[With regard to Commissioners Soils and Vasquez and the fireworks issue, I do not mean to cast aspersions.  I'm not accusing them of anything.  I do not contend that they are legally required to recuse themselves.  On the other hand, it doesn't seem unreasonable to ask public servants to go above and beyond the minimum legal requirements with regard to ethics.  I understand we'll never consistently get that level of ethical conduct from folks running for higher office; but we could try to ask it of local office-holders.]

[NOTE: Allen Downs has pointed out that while my column "focuses on County intervention in rate cases, but the point we interveners tried to make at the County Commission meeting is that it is important for the County to be involved in the cases that precede a rate case. It is during these other cases (renewable energy, Energy efficiency, IRP, CCN) where the decisions to spend money are made.  By the time a rate case rolls around most of the spending decisions have been made and the issue being decided is which expenses can be charged to rate payers and which rate group will pay what share of the increase (in the last rate case it was also determined that rate payers should NOT pay some of the expenses EPE was asking for, thus reducing the overall increase amount)."  In other words, the issue is much wider than merely rate cases; and (in my view) the fact that there are a variety of other varieties of cases, some of which may superficially appear insignificant, heightens the importance of allowing for the more flexible procedure in which the County can intervene without a formal commission vote.  County manager must report at each meeting of any intervention-related developments.  Commission retains control, of course.  If the commission disagrees with an intervention, it can vote to withdraw the intervention, limit it to particular aspects of the case, or simply not to file any substantive papers after the notice of intervention.  Much safer.]

County Commission Questions More Frequent ICE Raids

Tuesday's Doña Ana County Commission meeting was startlingly cordial and collegial. 

 

A group of schoolkids was there on a field trip. I hoped the cooperative spirit would survive their departure, and was glad to see that it did. Chairwoman Isabella Solis, looking increasingly comfortable in her new role, praised the other Commissioners; Commissioners differed on some points, but expressed those differences in a cooperative manner; and Billy Garrett and Kiki Vigil even agreed on a couple of things. When Garrett and Undersheriff Ken Roberts discussed a budget issue, they acknowledged that they held opposing views but expressed respect for each other's positions.

Among other business, the Commission considered a resolution, introduced by Commissioner Ramon Gonzalez, expressing distaste toward ramped-up ICE raids on undocumented residents living peaceably among us. (It did not oppose enforcing state laws or arresting criminals.) Resolutions have no legal force. As Solis noted, it was “not telling the Federal Government what to do, but only telling the Federal Government of our concerns.”

Lengthy public input featured a heavy majority favoring the resolution, some eloquently, and some vigorous opposition.

A middle-aged Hispanic woman, who owns a farm near the border described working in the fields with her son “who is also brown,” and being invaded on occasion by border patrol agents asking to see her papers. She said she could understand the fear felt by those without papers. 

 

Others gave moving accounts of fear and suffering by split families and children. Several veterans said the current overeager enforcement of the law wasn't what they'd fought for. Sheriff Vigil read a strong statement that his job was not enforcement of federal law but enforcement of state laws.

 

Opponents tended to express fears of crimes by illegal immigrants, although such crimes represent a tiny percentage of crimes here. (One result of the ICE raids will be increased fear, which will further chill crime victims who fear that reporting crimes could get victims or witnesses deported.) Others apparently missed the fact that the resolution lacked legal force, didn't purport to “nullify” any federal law, and violated neither the U.S. nor the New Mexico Constitution. 

 

The most articulate opponent, a former DASO detective, praised Commissioner Gonzalez for “standing up for something he truly believes in,” and said that while he sympathized with the feelings behind the resolution, he ultimately had to support “my brothers in ICE” and DASO.

On both sides, I heard more than the usual expressions of sympathy or understanding for the opposition speakers. One opponent urged proponents to “sponsor an illegal alien,” helping the person to get a green card. She described a friend doing so for a gardener, who now has green card and a regular job.

The schoolchilden I asked all said they felt “sorry for those people.” 

 

So did the Commission, which approved the resolution 4-1. Commissioner Rawson dissented. 

 

Legally, this resolution means nothing. County commissioners have no authority over federal agents.

But maybe it means a lot. We live in uncertain times. That gentleman in the White House dials up the hate rhetoric frequently. He demonizes newspaper reporters, senators, judges, and even Gold Star Parents who disagree with him. All his life, he's violated the legal rights of blacks and women – and contractors with the gall to seek full payment for their work. He's prepared to run roughshod over the rights of immigrants, Muslims, and women. He may or may not also someday threaten our Constitutional and human rights in even more dangerous and less legal ways. If so, it will be important to stand up and be counted.

Maybe it's important now.

                                                        -30-

[The column above appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 5 March 2017, and also on the newspaper's website and KRWG-TV's website.]

[Later in the day, the Commission decided to appeal an adverse decision in favor of the sheriff's deputies' union.  Apologies for not discussing that here.  Although I recall questioning the decision to appeal in the first place, and am a strong believer that deputies should be paid better, I need to read Judge Arrieta's decision -- and perhaps the written briefs the two sides submitted to him -- before expressing an opinion.]

[On another subject: Thursday evening at 5:30 the Zuhl Library on NMSU will host the annual Sunshine Week panel.  Topic is "The Presidency and the Press -- Will Free Speech Survive," and we'll look at how current Press-Presidency relations compare to the past and what the current situation may suggest about the future. Panel (which I moderate) will include County Attorney Nelson Goodin, Sun-News Opinion Editor Walt Rubel, Journalism professor emeritus Frank Thayer, and Professor David Irvin.  Audience questions are encouraged -- from people of all political views, particularly those who think highly of Donald Trump.  Refreshments will be served. (Well, the flyer says they'll be served.  I think they'll just be on tables, and you'll have to snag them yourself.)]

"If you don't stop disseminating fake news, . . ."

 

Valentines Day at the County Commission

Tuesday's county commission meeting felt like a scene in a reality TV series: tangled plot and subplots, threats and harsh words, naked human emotions on public display.

The obvious tensions between Chairwoman Isabella Solis and County Manager Julia Brown,

and between County Sheriff Kiki Vigil and Commissioner Billy Garrett, reminded me of family quarrels. I recalled my father saying sternly to us, “I don't care who started it, but I'm finishing it.”

Citizens and a few county employees spoke up to defend Ms. Brown from what seemed an effort to fire her, for reasons that seemed vague. Many were angry. Some threatened lawsuits or organized electoral opposition. 

Perhaps it's my advancing age, but I suspect most folks, though influenced by some large or small amount of selfishness and greed, would like to be good and tend to believe they are. When they behave badly, or in a fashion that you or I might abhor, they are usually not trying to be evil. Rather, we all have constructed quite complex and varied prisms through which we view the world. Through these, each of us sees our own conduct as perfectly rational and right.

Watching Tuesday's meeting reminded me of what seems a universal difficulty: being so much ourselves, seeing through our own eyes and emotional filters, we can never quite get a fix on how others perceive us.

I learned that lesson as a young lawyer. A poet, former civil rights worker, and underdog-lover, I couldn't figure out why my secretary was crying after I pointed out a mistake, until I realized (or someone explained) that she saw not the nice kid I felt like but her new, powerful boss. Potential tyrant. My words had caused fear or pain I hadn't intended or imagined.

I should have learned it earlier, when the headmaster, as he expelled me from school, said I lacked compassion. How could that be, I wondered? I was kind and friendly to the workers, though I rebelled against the autocratic masters [teachers] who seemed to misuse their power. I hadn't conceived that, as a mere student, my mischievous words might actually wound adults, who seemed all-powerful. 

Julia Brown seems (and sees herself as) a good person. She believes in justice and fairness, and has worked against discrimination. But she is also the Boss. When she wonders how employees can be afraid to bring some complaint to her, the “her” she's thinking of is the inner Julia, generally trying to do right, while the “her” the employee perceives may seem powerful, sharp-tongued, and closer to supervisors than to the supervised. The employee has heard tales – true, false, or exaggerated – of her treatment of others. The employee may also see her as part of the elite: the folks with advanced degrees, flowing English, and a certain self-assurance that can come across as a sense of entitlement.

Isabella Solis likely feels nervous, being suddenly in a position with unfamiliar rules and procedures but having to act quickly and confidently under a bright spotlight. But most citizens and employees see none of that, only the chairwoman's power. She too wants to do right, I believe.

Billy and Kiki not only can't agree, but can't even conceive of each other as sincere.

During the closed session, my wife and I take refuge in Nessa's. Sitting together in the small café (at Picacho and 2^nd), talking in between bites of Nessa's imaginative and tasty food, and gabbing with James about Valentine's Day and his delight that he and Nessa are to be parents . . . heals us.

                                              -30-

[The above column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 19 February 2017, and also on the newspaper's website (under the perhaps unfortunate title, Empathy for Others Lacking in County Drama) and KRWG-TV's website.

[The Sun-News headline should not be read to say I'm singling out the County.  Lack of understanding or empathy marks most of us in too many situations, personal, and professional; I called it a "universal difficulty"; and it's one of those problems like alcoholism, which we would do well never to claim we've eradicated in ourselves.  In fact, if we all looked in the mirror each morning and said, "I'm a biased person who doesn't try hard enough to understand others and see how they formed their points of view," the world would be a better place -- although as phrased it's too unwieldy a sentence to bother with each morning.  Also sounds too damned preachy for my taste.]

[But while I don't mean at all to single out the County, plenty of people came up to me afterward and said some version of, "Wasn't that disgraceful?"  To some degree they blamed different figures, depending on their own views and allegiances; but I met no one who was pleased by the tone or content of the meeting.  The Sun-News's editorial stance is at "County board should be more deliberate."]      

Fitting the County Commission's UDC Meeting into a Busy Day

I rush from the County Commission UDC meeting to take my 86-year-old friend to the doctor. 

My friend was an NMSU professor here for thirty years. In 1965, he briefly made Cruces famous, when he and some other locals made a low-budget feature film, in days when only Hollywood made features. AP ran a national story on him. Now he shuffles into the doctor's office, unknown.

“Beautiful mountains,” he says, pointing at the Organs. (I could do a column on people's first reactions to the Organs.) He first saw them in newspaper articles NMSU professor Newman Reed sent after NMSU offered him a job. (When Reed started here, Solano still had cattle-gates.) 

Thinking cattle-gates reminds me of the UDC, which so many worked so hard to make the best it could be. Others tried to sabotage it, saying it's imperfect (which, like anything human-made, it is) and should be tabled, left to the next commission. “Left to die,” they mean. If they really meant improvements, then amendments could do that. Why would we want new commissioners to spend hundreds of hours, or make Planning & Zoning and scores of citizens repeat endless hours of hearings, to make unspecified small improvements? 

After the doctor, I take my friend to the bank. From the parking lot on Telshor, I let the western mountains on the horizon catch my eye. I'm glad I returned to live under this vast sky. 

A realtor told the Commission he'd heard a lot of talk about democracy, and that the UDC shouldn't be passed. He didn't really explain what was wrong with it, except that it was “restrictive.” Reasonable restrictions, while they may protect citizens, can be inconvenient for realtors.)

So I said more about democracy. The county worked on this thing for years. I feel like people have been inviting me to UDC meetings since I was about seven years old. There were countless public-input meetings throughout the county. The P&Z held lengthy, detailed meetings – some of which my wife attended, hour after hour, watching the sausage get made. Right up to the end, staff and the P&Z were making recommendations responding to public input. The P&Z made recommendations. The elected Commission acted. Commissioner David Garcia, who always seems painfully earnest about trying to do what's right, ensured that key questions concerning affordable housing and grazing rights were aired, heard from numerous citizens, then cast the deciding vote. Yep, democracy.

I stop for supper at the Co-op, a democratic institution which is celebrating its 40^th year. I'm thinking about time and change and our varied roles over time in a place we call home. Tuesday the huge Commission Chambers were filled today. Forty years ago, when I was a reporter, the commission (just three commissioners then) met in the old courthouse, in a small room with hardly a dozen chairs. No one contemplated a UDC – or a county nearly so populous! Everything east of Tortugas Mountain was desert where we dirt-biked. Retired City Manager Robert Garza was a mischievous kid. Saturday we watched his son help NMSU beat UNM. 

My wife joins me at the Co-op. She talks and laughs with staff, hugs some of them, listens. Earlier she spoke passionately at the Commission meeting. After the UDC passed, she stood talking at length with people who'd opposed it, listening to their arguments, hoping to facilitate better communication between them and County staff.

We all do the best we can. The Commission did its best. We all owe thanks to the departing commissioners, even if we sometimes disagreed with them.

                                                   -30-

[The above column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News today, Sunday, 18 December 206, and on  the newspaper's website, and will appear presently on the KRWG-TV website.]

[I wasn't happy with this column.  Maybe trying to mix things that don't mix so well: a brief account of the County Commission meeting on the Uniform Development Code and a more impressionistic portrait of a day that seemed to feature a couple of things I think about now and then, the varied roles we perform in our community in a given day and the changes in our roles and relationships over long periods of time in a particular place.  The latter fit in with part of what I wanted to say about the UDC, while the former was just something my day seemed to thrust into my thoughts.  (Before dawn I was writing a fictional scene set in 1968, a scene in which one character, listening on radio to the Chicago Convention, concludes that the only way to stop the Viet Nam war would be to start assassinating high public figures; riding to pickleball, I spent 20 minutes counseling a legal client, then spent another ten minutes talking with a second client before I got to play; I enjoyed pickleball; then I listened and even got up a couple of times to speak about the UDC; then I was sort of a caregiver for my friend; then I supped at the Mountain View Co-op, to use up the hour before my KTAL Radio board meeting.)  
Driving my friend around helped make me think about changes over time.  He got here in 1959, I think.  More than a half-century ago.  I arrived 20 years later.  He was a professor, married, with a daughter and soon a son as well.  At 40, he had never camped in the wilderness or ridden a motorcycle, although a few years later those became the focus of his life.  He got divorced.  We rode dirt bikes around outside our small town, and street bikes across the country.  He retired and became a hermit on our land at the southern end of Sierra County, building a modest home himself, for perhaps $5,000, and living out there without electricity or indoor plumbing or paved road for 24 years, until health mandated the move back into town.  Now he no longer drives, or walks very far.  His mind's still sharp, though, and he's still funny.  Friends and former students still enjoy hanging out with him, making a trip with him to the grocery store much more a pleasure than a chore.  Too, he was always an open, generous sort, inspires the same attitude toward him now.
An incident at the Co-op illustrated the change theme too.  An acquaintance joined me briefly.  Thinking about the idea of a column about people's first glimpses of the Organ Mountains, I asked about his.  He recounted a visit here in the early 1990's to his brother.  That reminded me that although I'm not sure I've ever actually met his brother, about 45 years ago we were seeing the same woman (who was actually married to someone else) for a short time.  I thought about how much that all mattered at the time, and about the fact that now I can't recall her name.  
And a community changes over time too.   This one is no longer what it was in many memories; but the populous county we are now, with all sorts of development all over, probably needs a UDC.
At any rate, sometimes a piece of writing can combine a couple of very different elements in a way that sheds a little more light on both.  I don't think I managed that here.  Sorry.]

Let's Listen to Each Other!

Too many people treat politics and government like a football game.

My team is my team no matter what. So what if the tight end attacked a 90-year-old man? They're the 'Niners, man.

Politics oughtta be different. Local politics above all. We're neighbors. But some people see everything in black and white. Or red and blue. 

Someone on Facebook called Julia Brown “the worst county manager ever.” I disagreed. I've criticized her in columns, but she's smart, and I suspect she's hard-working. (I lack enough first-hand information to decide how I'd vote on extending her contract; but with the imminent change of commissioners, a three-year extension doesn't seem wise. An outgoing school board did that with Stan Rounds, which upped the cost to the public when the next board told Rounds to take a hike.)

When I replied that Brown definitely wasn't “the worst county manager ever,” someone said I was in favor of her because we both went to PVA meetings (I usually do. She was there once or twice to announce something.), and that I believed everything Billy Garrett told me.

I like and respect Billy Garrett. He's a smart guy, knows a lot about local government, and works incredibly hard as county commissioner. But I've disagreed with him strongly and publicly. 

Commissioner Ben Rawson's political views differ strongly from mine. I didn't vote for him. I'm appalled by some of what he says, and how he says it, but he appears to listen to his constituents. 

Barack Obama seems a smart and caring fellow with an astonishingly good temperament for the Presidency; but I've disagreed strongly with him on many issues, notably the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and thought he relied too much on Wall Street types for advice on repairing our economy. I like that he's tried to avoid the pitfall of prejudging every foreign-policy situation based on ideology or a personal agenda; but recognize that such an approach can slip into uncertainty and lack of direction.

We're all imperfect. We're human. I try to listen to everyone with an open mind and make up my mind based on evidence. I still get things wrong sometimes.

Of course, some politicians make this hard. Reading Steve Pearce's recent op-ed about Rick Riscoria acting heroically in the World Trade Center fifteen years ago, I thought “I actually agree with Pearce about something!” Unfortunately, he segued into a partisan and misleading rant claiming that Obama created ISIS. Does he really not remember that the Bush administration lied about Iraq to start a war – and Congresspeople on both sides of the aisle, who should have known better, went along happily? I was disappointed, but not surprised, that instead of mourning our dead, Pearce turned a solemn subject into a dishonest bit of self-promotion.

And the temper of the times disfavors thoughtfulness. If you advocate better understanding between police and the communities they serve, you're labeled a cop-hater – even if you have friends in law enforcement and work with law enforcement officers every week. (Count me as one who thought it stupid and tasteless for Hillary to say that Donald's supporters were “deplorables.” Preferring Clinton to Trump doesn't require me to agree with all she says.)

I wish the paper could print this column without my name. Maybe we should read all newspaper columns without knowing who wrote them until we've finished reading. If we read the words, and assess the words, rather than spotting someone's name and going into attack mode, maybe we'd find some middle ground.

Think of it as working together to keep the stadium from falling down on both teams.

                                                          -30-

[The column above appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News and possibly other newspapers this morning, Sunday, 18 September, and on the newspaper's website (where someone has already advised me that I am a pathetic columnist who is destroying the county) as well as KRWG-TV's website.]

[None of the above means I don't plan to vote for Hillary Clinton, don't think Donald Trump poses a unique threat to our democracy, or don't hold to values that tend to emphasize social concerns over pure capitalism, freedom over conformity or repression, as well as candor, openness in government, and the like.  I just get uncomfortable dismissing whole groups of people, or ignoring them.  I actually believe in free speech as central to our democracy, and in free, fair, and open discussion of ideas as a way to get to truths which may not be quite what anyone thought they were before the discussion.] 

[Locally, we cannot afford to let differing political opinions become feuds.  Doesn't mean we shouldn't each fight for what we believe is right.  I sure do.  But why should someone's unappetizing beliefs blind me to the good that person does or the laughs we have in the midst of disagreeing -- or the fact that I may learn something from him or her?  That's why I found the duplicitous municipal recall effort so unfortunate.  It crossed some line between disagreeing on facts and courses and used flat-out lies and vicious tactics.  I feel the same about "attack ads" that try to win election by last-minute false and scurrilous newspaper ads.  But I still can't afford not to take my best shot at civil discourse with the people responsible for those.
I've seen a couple of recent examples of folks from different places on the political spectrum working together: after an employee in the County Clerk's Office committed crimes, Deputy City Clerk Scott Krahling reached out to Russell Allen and other Republicans to participate in a committee to look at procedures in the office and see whether additional safeguards might be usefully implemented; and a similar bipartisan committee has worked on getting out the vote.  Some of my Democratic friends understandably criticized that, but it was probably a sensible move.  In advocating a Detention Center Citizens Advisory Committee, I found that it was championed on the Commission by Billy Garrett, but Allen and other conservatives, who are generally skeptical of governments and in favor of citizens getting a look at things, also favored the creation of the committee.]




 

County Commission Acts on Transit -- Consistently with Voters' Wishes

I've heard complaints that the County Commission has somehow betrayed its constituents by approving funds for mass transit; but whoever's complaining may not understand the county's action or the concept of representative democracy – or doesn't want to understand.

Although many of us have cars, many do not. Poverty, age, illness, or disability prevents them from driving into town, to shop or even for medical appointments. That can be a major problem for folks in rural areas.

Last November, voters rejected a proposal to raise the GRT to provide $10 million annually to fund a special transit district.

Many folks agreed something should be done about transit, but thought $10 million was a lot to ante up when the extent of the problem wasn't fully clear. They voted “No” because they didn't think the buses would get used enough to warrant such an outlay, but they recognized there was a need. Many suggested that a scaled-down service with smaller buses and fewer routes, targeted to meet specific needs, would help show the size and nature of the actual demand.

I heard and read enough statements from people, some old or ill or handicapped, to feel convinced there's a need. At the same time, I had doubts about the scope of the project as proposed. But those were doubts about the size of the market or certain assumptions by the organizers, not about the basic need.

I don't know how fully the organizers polled the business community ahead of time. While businesses would tend to oppose a GRT increase, they should welcome an affordable mechanism that enables more potential customers to get into Las Cruces. They might also have had insights into running the thing in a reasonably businesslike fashion.

Most of the opposition I heard (including a Sun-News editorial) was to the project's scope and total cost, not to the basic idea.

The Commission heard the voters loud and clear, and neither revived the $10 million proposal nor ignored the need for buses. Commissioners approved using $750,000 on a scaled down project. That is, they're spending less than ten per cent of the amount the voters rejected.

Far from ignoring the citizens the County Commission would seem to be listening to all the citizens, those opposed to taxes and those in need of services, and making a reasonable compromise.
Which is an important tool in government.

We live in a representative democracy. Not ancient Athens, where the entire male population of Athens could serve as the jury in Socrates's trial and decide his punishment. Not a Vermont Town Hall, where the entire population of East Pancake can vote on how much to spend on the volunteer fire department.

So we elect representatives who are tasked with studying matters in detail, folks we believe are qualified by some combination of wisdom, experience, political views, personality, intelligence, diligence, etc. to make reasonably sound decisions that generally represent what most of us think, or what most of us would approve if we knew all that our representatives have taken the time to learn. There's no promise that each of us will agree with our representatives' votes on each specific issue.

The Founding Fathers envisioned us electing such representatives based on some combination of prudence, good judgment, smarts, honesty, and loyalty that made them sensible stand-ins for their constituents – not because we agreed with them on a particular issue. Or were of the same Party. The Founders didn't really contemplate these huge political parties.

What the County Commission did seems sensible; it reasonably addresses a known need; and it probably followed the will of a large segment of County voters.

                                                      -30-
[The above column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 6 September and will appear on the KRWG-TV website later today.  The Sun-News headline was "County Commission Listens to All Voters" -- which is fine, and close enough to what I'm saying on this issue in this column, but sounds a little more purely positive than I feel about our county government.   I think we have a basically good set of commissioners who have intelligence and skills, and a lot of diligence, and are working hard to solve an abundance of problems in the best ways for all of us.  They're trying to do the right things, and often do.  At the same time, there are critical problems: the Detention Center; discordance between the County Sheriff and other parts of county management; the problems discussed in my earlier columns regarding the Kim Stewart case -- and probably to be discussed a little further in my next column or the one after.  I have grave doubts about the failure to settle the Kim Stewart case; about another case wending its way toward trial; about the Human Resources Department; and about whether County Manager Julia Brown will fulfill her early promise or is sliding into some of the same patterns and problems her predecessors had, and ultimately toward a messy dismissal.]

Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks National Monument

The clouds were kind to the celebration of our new national monument.

The celebration was at Oñate, outdoors, so the Organs could watch – and provide a stunning backdrop. Organizers set out chairs for 400 people, and were scurrying around adding more chairs when we arrived.

It paid to have a hat; but the clouds not only set off the Organs beautifully, making them more vivid than they'd normally be at 2 p.m., but also sent emissaries to shade us; and there was a pleasant breeze.

Two dozen protesters stood at the entrance. They complained, among other things, that the proclamation ignored public sentiment in Doña Ana County. Since repeated polls (and my own less scientific inquiries) had shown a huge majority of respondents favored the Monument, I wondered about that.

I stopped to ask a couple of protesters: “500 people in there, 25 out here – how can you say there's a big majority against this?” Someone answered, “It only takes one!”

That's a reasonable answer to some questions. In my youth, I was in far lonelier minorities advocating civil rights in the South and opposing the Viet Nam war in the North. I was probably in the minority thinking the Iraq War would turn out as it has.

But to a question about the Monument proposal's popularity, her answer didn't cut it. (The presence of other vehicles behind mine precluded a follow-up question.) I'm not sure what all the protesters' objections were, but: the Monument had the support of a large majority here; and I haven't heard of anything illegal about Obama using the Antiquities Act to get this done, as Presidents at least back to Hoover have done.

The ceremony was predictable, but enjoyable. Much passionate but repetitive thanking of everyone. Well-deserved praise for Obama, Bingaman, J. Paul Taylor, and many others. A few kids running around, oblivious to speeches. Most speakers kept it short. Several spoke well.

Less predictably, but to our great pleasure, Billy Garrett read a Keith Wilson poem, Bone Knowledge. Fine poem – and thematically appropriate, about New Mexico and change.

Like the protesters, I'd have preferred no government involvement. I wish we could keep the Organs pristine, and other parts of the Monument protected, without a bureaucracy. I'll be irritated if I go somewhere I used to go at will and find it closed.

But we aren't such good stewards. Not long ago, our elected representatives let Phillipou build houses higher up in the foothills than they should have. Developers seeking profit or four-wheelers seeking thrills don't always stop and think about protecting nature.

There's a wonderfully green spot just beneath New York State's Croton Dam, beside a powerful spillway, where I was taken to play as a child. Decades later, we took my dying mother there. As I noticed the signs and barriers preventing us from driving down the old road, a young woman advised me, loudly and snidely, “You can't drive down there! It's for pedestrians.” I'd have enjoyed driving the car over her, but those barriers served a purpose. With increased population, continuing to allow folks to drive in there would have trashed the place.

Highlights of the Monument celebration included Friar Vince capping it off by singing a few lines of a song in Spanish; a kid from Tortugas, in native dress, racing around near us; and getting to mill around afterward having talking with folks I don't get to see often, including one I hadn't seen for forty years.

As we drove home we could see rain to the West of us. Later it passed over, sprinkled just enough to create that rain-in-the-desert after-scent, and granting us a great lightning show accompanied by thunder that sent the cat into hiding but brought out a sand-colored toad. (This column will not claim the rain and thunder signified Divine approval of the Monument; but maybe it was Nature tipping her cap to the folks who'd worked so hard on this thing.)

That night we watched a soul-music concert televised from the White House. Enjoying it, and watching the Obamas enjoy it, I wondered if some folks were muttering to themselves about Barbarians taking over the White house.

The next morning we served as witnesses at a wedding. A shy young couple, both serving in the military, taking the plunge – as they could not legally have done in the state where they live.

I'm pessimistic about human greed, climate weirdness, dying oceans, shrinking glaciers, GMO's, and war; but I appreciate: an urbane, good-hearted, capable President; progress toward letting loving same-sex couples express their love in marriage; and some protection for our marvelous Organs.

As I told Friar Vince after the ceremony, I once climbed to the top of the Organs. I realized it was July 4^th when we spotted fireworks over Las Cruces. Grand, I'm sure; but from where I stood, they were a reminder of how insignificant our accomplishments are in the greater scheme of things.

                                                                 -30-
[The column above appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 1 June.  ]
[Wisely or unwisely, the Monument represents the will of a clear majority of Dona Ana county citizens.  Repeated polls showed large majorities.   Both the County Commission and the Las Cruces City Council passed resolutions asking for the monument, unanimously or nearly so; and since those folks were elected by citizens, the resolutions are certainly some further evidence of how people here feel.  The relative turnout at the event discussed above (500 to 25) is worth noting, as is the turnout at an earlier event when the Interior Secretary Sally Jewell visited.  Proponents and opponents urged their allies to be there, and to arrive early.  It was crowded.  Many on both sides, including us, were turned away.  Proponents vastly outnumbered opponents.  By a 4-1 or 5-1 margin, reportedly.  Opponents claimed people were "bussed in."  I did see a few buses, including one I asked the driver about and learned it was folks from El Paso, mostly UTEP, who'd wanted to come; but even assuming there were no opponents from beyond the county's borders, and even if you don't count the supporters who came from outside DAC, proponents significantly outnumbered opponents there too.] 

The Keith Wilson poem Billy read at the gathering was:

Bone Knowledge

There's a quality about New Mexico
a certain sadness, light gathering
about a mountain, the buzz of gnats
over a spot of wet sand in an arroyo.

For years there was nothing here to exploit,
we lived with the grace of poverty about us
in a kind of shining penitence, a forgive
me attitude we had not taken more.

nor given less, we were whole, complete
in the silence of our evenings, the sun
lit extravagance of early mornings, bird
calls that echoed the sun's rising.

The sadness I suppose comes from change,
Heraclitus's river not the same river,
not the same foot, as we became valuable
because of the very space that had protected us.

That hawk, circling the cap rock, though.
How will I explain to him, the changing air?

The poem is from the book Bosque Redondo: The Encircled Grove and is available in the collected edition of Keith's poems. 

County Commission Muffs One

Maybe I should apologize for giving the Board of County Commissioners the benefit of the doubt regarding allegations of misconduct by county managers.

Some of those allegations won a unanimous jury verdict against the County in Granados.  Jurors found the County had created a hostile work environment for Mr. Granados, and ordered us to pay him $250,000 – plus his attorney fees.  This week the County lost its post-trial motions, and must now decide whether or not to appeal.  I’d guess that any appeal would merely delay the payoff and have us paying two sets of attorneys to argue arcane legal points.

It’s unlikely that an appeal would result in overturning the verdict.

Other allegations appear in complaints in several other lawsuits now headed toward trial. Serious findings appear in a 2010 Audit.  Other charges have been made to me privately, sometimes quite credibly.  I wasted substantial time sharing some of that information with the Commissioners on the lunatic hope that they had some sincere interest in doing the right thing.

Actually, I still think they did.

My first reaction to Tuesday’s “Memorandum” urging sainthood for Sue Padilla was that someone has been secretly remaking Invasion of the Body Snatchers here in Doña Ana County.  (Either that or Commissioners were stealing my pain-killers while I recuperated.)  People who had spoken movingly of their hope to do the right thing then signed onto a whitewash.   Did the Commissioners get intimidated or get conned or just figure to leave it for the next county manager to clean up?

I don’t like writing this.  I have tremendous respect for Billy Garrett, and also great affection.   He’s a smart guy with good ideas and the County’s interest at heart; but if you’ll forgive me another silly analogy, he reminds me of the Tarot card that pictures a happy idealist wandering off a cliff.   He may be so intent on dealing with the serious problems and opportunities facing the County that he can’t force himself to look squarely at the internal problems alleged – like a guy so obsessed with getting where he’s going that he forgets to make sure his car has oil.

So what happened?  Maybe someone sold the Commissioners on the idea that the County’s chance of success in the upcoming trials hinges on the appearance that they unanimously believe that the jurors in Granados blew it.  That’s a reasonable position, though I’m not sure it’s the right one.  In effect, the Commission is circling the wagons – despite the cost to internal morale.  This could also hinder clear analysis of settlement possibilities in pending cases.

Their written statement seems to say that the County’s lawyers blew it.  They say that at the Granados trial the bad things said about Interim County Manager Sue Padilla were not rebutted.  Well, lawyers got paid $150 per hour or so to present such rebuttal.  I thought the lawyers tried hard to do so.  Therefore I have some difficulty understanding the Commissioners’ “Memorandum.” on this point.  There was “little testimony offered to dispute the negative characterizations of senior county managers”?  Well, either the lawyers missed it, and should be fired, or there really wasn’t much credible testimony of that sort to be had, in which case the Commission shouldn’t issue a Memorandum impugning the jurors or the court.  And since I didn’t see any Commissioners at trial, except one who testified briefly, how do they know what witnesses did and didn’t say?

The Commission thinks it’s “unfortunate” that there’s a “suspicion that some County managers may be unprofessional and vindictive”?  Well, it is unfortunate.  Trial testimony strongly indicated that such suspicion might be well-founded.  The Commissioners had a chance to do something about it: a truly independent investigation, not one run through the County Counsel’s Office.  They chose instead to rely on a report that some or all of them knew to be tainted and to make a strong statement that the jurors and the complaining former employees (many of whom are not plaintiffs in lawsuits) were all wrong.   Excuse me, but doesn’t the Commission’s conduct guarantee that suspicions will linger?

The Commission is concerned that “a second supposition is that poor employee performance and bad behavior will be tolerated because of the Granados verdict.”  Well, yeah.  The Commission has one employee, Sue Padilla.  Extensive sworn testimony to her poor performance will cost the county more than half a million bucks once it’s all added up; and the Commission is tolerating it.

Writing this column I feel a deep but vague sort of sadness.  Of course I empathize with present and former county employees who, when the Commission responded to Granados with an appearance of openness to face facts, felt unexpected hope things might improve.  Sure, I regret wasting substantial time trying, within the limits of journalistic confidentiality of sources, to share information with the Commission.  Yet neither explains quite why I feel so personally sad.

Above all, I feel sad for the Commissioners.  Barring the Body Snatchers explanation, some of them got conned or intimidated into a statement that ran against what they knew and felt.  That can’t feel good.

And I sympathize.  Commissioners were in a tough position – and getting advice from folks whom trial testimony tended to implicate in the problems they were deciding how to handle.  Me, I think they jumped the wrong way.

                                                           -30-

[The column above appeared this morning -- Sunday, 18 August -- in the Las Cruces Sun-News. Or at least, I'm told it did. I haven't yet seen my copy of the paper this morning.  I know the column appeared because I received a comment: 

"Your column made me cry actually. But, then again, after all they have put me through, I cry easily now. I have worked a lot of places in my lifetime but DAC has some wonderful and very capable employees. I guess what sets them apart to me from my past experience is that most of them "have a heart." You will hear them say things like, "what our constituents would like to see..." I have never heard a word about constituents from the top tier mind you, but definitely from clerks downstairs to the custodians to those filling our potholes. Many of them know who they work for (the constituents) and take pride in that trust placed with them. They don't take it for granted as I have seen in so many government settings in my life. As I have said countless times now, they deserve so much better."

They do.  I think things will improve in the foreseeable future, despite my disappointment with the commission's conduct described in the column.]

Being Here

This week I don’t feel like complaining about the inanities of politicians or the fact that our greed and selfishness is destroying our society and environment.

I’m alive, in Doña Ana County. It’s pleasantly warm – but months away from blistering heat. And there’s a lot more than the weather to love about living here.

Yeah, the light caressing the Organ Mountains, the night silence broken only by occasional howling of coyotes, the vastness of the sky, and the relative emptiness of the streets are all part of it, as is the presence of friends we love.

But there’s more. As we drove home from El Paso the other day, I started wondering: What is it about this place?

With a little time to kill before Chope's opened for supper, we wandered around La Mesa just before sunset, shooting photographs. Met a nice fellow who was restoring a building more than 150 years old; it was where the priest and nuns used to stay before the church was built. His wife was doing the tile work, including mosaic archways and accents.

I can’t prove it, but I feel as if a higher percentage of people here are people who commit themselves wholly to what they do. They have to. If they want something done, they can’t necessarily rely on someone else to do it.

At Chope’s we filled up on the good, spicy food and enjoyed the familiar feel of the place -- and its history. When Cecilia, one of Chope's four daughters, came out to say hello and asked us if we were enjoying our meal, I was thinking about the fact that her grandmother was making enchiladas for farmers, in this very place, in 1915. (When Chope's was remodeled years ago, the family made sure to include a lantern in memory of Chope's mother, who would hang a kerosene lantern when she had food available.) Chope was born in the house – in 1940, I think.

You know people differently in a smaller town. You know them over time, seeing them at different stages of their lives and likely meeting their kids and/or parents, too. In a place like Las Cruces, the people you see today you’ll see again tomorrow, or next week. Maybe that also makes people more honest and open.

The next day we wandered out to Leyendecker to hear about three years of research some NMSU folks have done on hoophouses (a kind of simple, inexpensive greenhouse to facilitate growing vegetables in our winters). A surprising number of people from southern New Mexico had come out to inspect and learn. The material was interesting, but so was the audience. A diverse group of unusual people clinging to odd bits of land around the valley. All seemed highly interested in growing food, growing it right, and learning and sharing what they could about growing year round and with limited resources.

There's an ability – and responsibility – to help shape this place into what a community ought to be. I felt that living here in the mid-1970's. I never felt that way in the other places I've lived.

Afterward we stopped at Habañeros. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much; but inside, the young married couple who run it make you instantly welcome with sincere smiles and a small bowl of "welcome soup." The decor is simple but pleasant, with colorful paintings on the wall, and the food is tasty, fresh, and imaginative. It’s one of the places you don’t notice until you do, and then you put it high on your list to return to.

In a big city, you know pieces of people. You see some people in your office, others on the tennis or basketball court, others in social gatherings, but never all of those people all together. In Las Cruces, you see a lot of the same folks everywhere. The day I started work here as a reporter in 1974, I walked into the city attorney’s office and discovered I’d met him the previous Friday, at the NMSU chess club. When we went to a poetry reading a few weeks ago, one of the four poets was County Commissioner Billy Garrett, and another was Dick Thomas, husband of City Commissioner Sharon Thomas.

The next evening we went to a 50th wedding anniversary. I was moved to marvel, not for the first time, at some couples’ ability to live together a lifetime and still obviously love each other passionately. (We live next to one such couple.) The Anniversary Couple were the Thomases – who’d eloped as youngsters and still love each other.

I took a lot of photographs. I didn’t have time to think much. But later I mused on the wonder of it, the way all these fine folks we've been meeting up with these past few days just happen to be on this particular parcel of the planet, raising children, doing good work, and trying to create a better world – all of this with a certain independent spirit that seems to mark the folks who grow up or find their way here.





I do enjoy the Organ Mountains. There's also a lot more than weather to love about living here.
                                                        -30-
[The foregoing column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News yesterday, Sunday, March 4th.]

The Church in La Mesa -- 1853?

Doorway - La Mesa

P.S.: There is one difference between the column as it appeared in the paper and as it appears above:  somehow in writing it I must have wavered between referring to Dick Thomas as "husband of City Commissioner Sharon Thomas" and saying "Dick Thomas, whose wife is . . ." and mindlessly split the difference, referring to him as her wife and failing to catch that howler in proofing the column.  (Thanks to Reymundo for pointiing it out!)