NMSU Aggies

Congratulations, Aggie Basketball!

Before the Hawaii tournament, NMSU swept UTEP and UNM, and beat Illinois in Chicago. 

Hawaii was a revelation. First a dramatic one-point win over Davidson, a theoretically superior team. Swarming defense had the national TV commentators raving that Davidson averages 8.8 turnovers per game, but had turned it over ten times in the first half. With eleven seconds left, down one,, Jemerrio Jones leapt toward the hoop to push home a teammate's missed shot. Then he dove to knock the ball away from a Davidson player. The inbounds play left Davidson's star shooting from several feet beyond the three-point line. He missed.

Next, Miami, undefeated and ranked 6^th. From the prestigious Atlantic Coast Conference. (The Aggies, not even ranked among the top 100 college teams, win their conference most years.) We hoped NMSU wouldn't get embarrassed. Anyone who claims to have predicted an Aggie victory is lying. Early, Miami led 13-6 and appeared on course for a big win. But the Aggies got ahead and maintained a small lead. Miami came within a point of NMSU twice in the last two minutes, but the Aggies kept their poise and won! 

Pausing to savor that moment, let's note that this is a fast-moving team sport and these Aggies haven't played together that long and had to learn new ways under coach Chris Jans. Top scorer Zach Lofton, is also new, a graduate student from elsewhere who had a year of eligibility left. Point guard A.J. Harris was out all last year. Las Cruces native Johnny McCants is a redshirt freshman playing his first NCAA games. They also hail from several countries – and many of them lack height. 

They're still improving. As they play together more, they'll develop that sixth sense of what each teammate can and will do in each moment. 

They're not the Golden State Warriors – whom I'd call poetry in motion if that phrase hadn't been used in a sappy pop song from my youth. But in their team play, which looks relatively unselfish, they're getting there. Like the Warriors, they appear to have bought into what Coach is selling – and into the concept, easy to say but sometimes hard to remember under pressure, that the team comes first. (They also seem to block a lot of shots, as the Warriors have done this year; but I haven't looked up stats.)

In the Final in Hawaii they played a great game against USC, another major conference team. They entered the final minute tied, but couldn't pull it out. If they had, it'd be one of the big college basketball stories of the 2017 season. It would also have enhanced what these games have done for them.

If NMSU wins its conference tournament, the guys seeding the NCAA Tournament might give the Aggies a competitive first-round matchup. And the Aggies might just be battle-hardened, unselfish, and quick enough to take advantage. (Hawaii moved them into the top-100 at 79 in one ranking system.)

These gifts can keep on giving. High school hoopsters who'd never heard of NMSU watched those games. They saw a gutsy, fun team playing the right way. The kind of team they could imagine making even stronger by joining it – a good team, but one on which they could earn playing time.

Maybe they were impressed. We are.

Here's wishing the team – and you – a Happy New Year!

                                                   -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 30 December, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website. A spoken version will air on KRWG Wednesday and Saturday and on KTAL-LP 101.5 FM on Thursday morning.]

[It was a good weekend for NSMU sports.  I wrote the column before getting to watch the Aggies' football team win (in O.T.) its first bowl game since 1960 -- before most parents of current Aggie football players were born.  I've never met coach Doug Martin; but I did wonder about the wisdom of NMSU administrators letting the guy hang without a contract extension into recruiting period.  

That is, I can't say how good a coach he is.  Haven't worked with him.  But one basic fact is that it'd be tough for any coach to make NMSU a good team.  Facilities and funding aren't what they might be, what they probably have to be for reasonable success.  We're also a little off-the-beaten-track -- and we're not often on TV.  Further, when you're a kid who can play ball, the key variable in deciding where to go isn't geography, loyalty, or the weather.  It's the coaching staff.  They'll be making all the decisions that affect your life for perhaps four years, from the food on the training table to the offensive or defensive scheme the team will run, which may or may not fit your personal strengths.  Even though you know everything, being 17 or so, they ware the mentors who will (or won't) get you onto a solid path toward maximizing your skills and success.  They're the ones who'll recruit you and look you in the eye and promise you a fair shot at playing team as a freshman or that the "open competition" for your position next year will really be "open."  If they can't even promise to BE there next year, how can you buy into whatever they promise about their plans?   Martin shouldn't have been left hanging so long. (Whether or not that has affected this year's recruiting class I can't say.  He was, after all, extended, just a little tardily.)]

Now the Aggies finish the season 7-6 -- their first winning season in many years.

As I recall, they're still without a conference.  It'll be tough to make next year "successful," partly for off-the-field reasons like that.]

[A friend commented on Facebook regarding the bowl game, "Where are the faculty raises from the football program?"  A serious columnist might have confronted the familiar question of whether or not, and on what terms, a football team should be attached to a university.  We're long past the initial amateurism, where some college gentlemen sought to excel on the playing fields as well as in scholarship.   For most in the rotation on the basketball team, this is a minor league from which they hope to make it to the NBA -- and most do make it to pro leagues somewhere in the world.  Most football players dream of the NFL.  They're awarded scholarships to strengthen the team, not for they're scholarship.  The University makes a business decision that spending a bundle on football pays off indirectly, either in putting the NMSU name out there or in enhancing alumni loyalty (and giving).  Wishing the Aggies well and enjoying their success doesn't mean I buy into the wisdom of that business decision, or signal how I'd spend the money if I were in Hadley Hall.  Sorry if I'm inconsistent, Lucas.  But I am.  Nor am I particularly embarrassed about it.]

 

Christmas 2017

“It's your Christmas column, don't forget,” my wife says as I retreat into my cave under a deadline.

But I'd drafted a (truly profound!) column on sexual harassment; and I've already written one warmhearted column this month.

So . . . a Christmas wish-list:

• For the New Mexico Democratic Party, a Congressional candidate who combines all the fine qualities of the current candidates, with perhaps just a bit more experience;
• For the Republican Party, a mechanism that will bleep out the word “Trump” in all newscasts between now and November 6, 2018! And maybe wipes out the words “taxes,” “healthcare,” “Russia,” and “Jerusalem” – at least after the Christmas season's heavy use of that last one;
• For Bob Endlich, a poster-sized enlargement of the photograph I saw this morning of a flooded mosque in Jakarta that used to be some distance from the sea;
• For Randy Harris, an app that remindis us, every time we use an electronic device, “Can't we just talk to each other, folks?”;
• For the guy who reappears on Facebook every few months, always under a new name, posting tediously obscene insults of progressives, women, and me, . . . a life; and
• For KTAL-LP (101.5 FM) and KRWG, generous and sustained financial support!

The Christmas idea of accentuating giving, is obviously excellent. It's inspired a lot of good. It's also inspired great films, such as “It's a Wonderful Life!” 

The words attributed to Jesus are well worth listening to all year. I'm sure He's unspeakably disappointed when people shout angry and exclusionary words at whole groups of other human beings in His name. I've read the Bible, and recall Jesus expressing love, not hatred; urging us to avoid prejudice and do the best we can by the less fortunate; and observing that it was awfully difficult for a rich man to reach the Kingdom of Heaven.

I particularly like the part about not judging, lest ye be judged. I remind myself of it often, though not often enough. Aside from the general idea that none of us is perfect (or could cast the first stone) and that we should look inward for faults, it reminds me that most everyone who does “evil” (or wrongly opposes us) has private crosses to bear, private wells of pain, which may explain though not justify their words and actions. That seems worth remembering, particularly as we all get more and more easily riled up over politics. 

So, as long as Christmas sells cars, candy, and clothing, may I use it too?

Let's each take a deep breath next time we feel insulted by someone's remarks on Facebook or at the County Commission. Next time someone cuts me off at an intersection, can I just recall the stupid mistakes I've made that could have done harm? Even if we can't live the pure life of Jesus or the Buddha, let's at least remember that we're all connected in a troubled and vulnerable world that needs more understanding, not more hollering. Can we recognize that the guy outside the gas station asking for spare change is not having fun? 

Being truly present, and mindful, is our best gift of the season, to ourselves and others.

But, now that the love of my life is out of the room, . . . “Bah, humbug!”

                                          -30-

[The column above appeared this morning, Sunday, 24 December 2017, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air Wednesday and Saturday on KRWG and Thursday on KTAL-LP, 101.5 FM.]

[Anyway, Feliz Navidad! / Merry Christmas! or Happy Holidays!  or whatever phrase works to wish you well -- and Happy New Year.  Thanks for reading these.]

Leaves and Lives . . .

As suddenly as the leaves on the ash out front turned bright yellow, the tree was bare. Half the leaves fluttered to the ground in one powerful gust.

In 1950 an Ohio college girl stands in line in the dininghall. Her eyes meet those of a student behind the counter slinging hash. Countless pairs of eyes are meeting on hundreds of campuses; but these two will find in each other a rare mixture of goodness and laughter, mischievousness and social conscience. They will love each other for fifty-seven years. They will travel the 50 states and to many countries. They will retain that mix of humor and caring, share it with generations of students, and instill the same in two kids and five grandkids. 

She will lose words, but not her joy in life. After the words flee, she will still play the French horn in a group. As she sinks deeper into confusion, she will fear things – unless she's holding his hand. In his mid-eighties, he will still be a fiery rabblerouser, loved by students but not by those in charge. When she dies, family and friends will celebrate her life with many moving tales of her. A friend will play the French horn.

Another leaf falls: a lawman I first meet at the farmers' market in police blues. I photograph him talking with children, their huge eyes on his motorcycle. They bask in his smile. He laughs easily, but has his demons. We vote for him for county sheriff. Planning to run again, he's riding his motorcycle down a quiet street when a meth-crazed couple fleeing the cops crash though a fence and end his life.

A sudden gust and he's gone. Much mourned.

Playing chess at International Delights, I meet a retired Vegas card dealer and ex-Marine. He finally finds his true love, but too soon Death takes her. Over the years, his body deteriorates, then his mind. We no longer play chess when we meet. I lose hope that he'll stop smoking. He borrows money, but is fanatical about repaying me the day he promised to. He remains a feisty, forceful, fun character. When he can no longer afford a car, he walks to ID. When he can't do that, he buys a tricycle. Lung disease finally stops him at 75.

Even as we mourn, the fallen leaves remind us to savor each moment – for that moment may be all we have. And to do what we can that seems good, for no reward beyond the doing. Or because we're a free and generous people. When those leading the country are bent on poisoning everything, it feels good to resist with grace and compassion, if we can. 

Just as the browning leaves out front don't disappear, but (if left to do their job) become nourishment for the soil, plants, and insects, maybe inside each of us our grief feeds impulses, even determination, to do better and be better. 

Maybe at each small fork in the road, Connie, J.R., Pete, Lalo, and whoever we care about who left us this season, will inspire us to pause and pick up that hitchhiker trying to get home for Christmas, let that car into the line of traffic, laugh at a brother-in-law's bad jokes, or do what we feel we should do but sometimes don't. 

Those leaves were so bright! I can still see them, in my mind.

                                           -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, December 17, 2017, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, as well as on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air on KRWG Wednesday and Saturday, and on KTAL 101.5 FM on Thursday.]

[By the way, if you happened to know Pete Miraglia, there will be an informal memorial gathering 28December 2-4 p.m. at International Delights, his favorite place to drink coffee and play chess.  If you frequented ID and didn't know him, he was often sitting outside, smoking cigarettes and either playing chess or having a lively conversation with whomever.]

J.R. Stewart

[at the Farmers' Market, 10Sept2011] 

Another Sad Case at DASO

Imagine you're a young cadet in the Doña Ana Sheriff's Office Academy. 

 

You're an army reservist, having made it through basic training. You're being consistently called lazy. You're the only cadet being told to suck your thumb and asked to repeat various tasks after completing them. “Why me?” you wonder.

You are the only black cadet. 

 

On June 5, after an incident, you tell the instructor, Frank Kaiser, that you feel you're being discriminated against because you're African-American. The County's strong anti-discrimination policies require Kaiser to report your allegation immediately to H.R. for independent investigation. Instead, he sends you home and tells you to go see Undersheriff Ken Roberts the next morning.

Roberts asks why you made your claim, then interrupts and tells you that you're history. Gone. He says all your fellow cadets want you gone, and that Sheriff Vigil has approved the termination. You wonder how he talked to so many people so fast. Maybe you wonder if having a DASO officer “investigate” your complaint about a DASO officer is entirely fair. 

 

The above is from legal pleadings in Johnson v. Doña Ana County. Plaintiff is Tederick Johnson. His lawyer is Ben Furth. (Furth is an experienced employment lawyer who also represents Julia Brown against the County.)

Here we go again. 

 

I'd love not to be writing about another dumb move by Vigil and Roberts. I'd love not to be wondering how much we will pay for this one. Obviously I'd also like to learn some day that this was not motivated by racism. I want to believe we're better than that.

Johnson may have been a lousy cadet. Maybe he deserved to be canned, though apparently DASO didn't plan to terminate him on June 4, then did immediately after he alleged discrimination. Suddenly DASO concluded he wasn't deputy material. Officially he was fired for insubordination, which the Complaint calls “pretextual” – a cover story for racism. The County will likely claim Johnson cried racism to avoid or delay being fired. 

 

Whatever the facts, it was not Roberts's province to investigate them. Even if there was no racism, Roberts's conduct seems arrogant and imprudent. 

 

Once someone raises allegations of racism, sexual harassment, or retaliation, the matter must be handled by someone as neutral as possible – for the sake of both the organization and the individual. The County fired Johnson before investigating his complaint. (The County admits the firing occurred June 6 and that Johnson's supervisor reported the EEOC complaint June 6. The County claims it started the investigation before firing Johnson, but admits it finished investigating afterward.

Both Kaiser and Roberts were required to: (a) report the allegation immediately to HR; and (b) request that the employee fill out an internal EEO complaint, or fill one out for him. Failure to do so would subject Kaiser and Roberts to disciplinary action.

I called County Counsel Nelson Goodin, who said no one would comment on the pending litigation. 

 

I've no idea whether Johnson should or shouldn't be a deputy; but Roberts seems to have ignored mandatory procedures he must have been familiar with. Whether the reason was laziness, arrogance, prejudice, or to cover up questionable conduct by Kaiser, Roberts's mistake is likely to cost us more money. (A friend asked after the Slevin case why the County couldn't go after the employee whose conduct cost us so much. We can't.)

When will DASO learn to follow the law?

                                                    -30-

[This column appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News this morning, Sunday, 10 December 2017, and also on the newspaper's website and KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air on KRWG Wednesday and Saturday and on KTAL on Thursday.]

[I've little to add to the column, except that the immediate response has been some positive comments from insiders.  People in the know are concerned about DASO, and say the Vigil-Roberts regime has done real damage to the department.  It's unfortunate.  I think Kiki Vigil meant well would have liked to do a bang-up job running and improving DASO.  He hasn't.  I'm not expert in law-enforcement matters, but I'm hearing that morale and response times are down; and a lot of officers who seemed pretty capable are gone, something I wrote a few columns about quite awhile ago.]   

[I should reiterate that I'm not presuming to decide whether or not racism was the basic reason for Mr. Johnson's firing.  That'll be up to a jury, if the case doesn't get settled first.  However, I don't understand, and will be interested to see the explanation offered at trial, why DASO had to act so precipitously.  What would we have lost, except a few extra days or a couple of weeks of continued pay to this cadet, by responding appropriately?  Any schoolkid would know that having Roberts send a crony along to interview all the other cadets could not be a fair inquiry and couldn't help but muddy the waters for any independent investigator later.   You send a cadet packing -- justifiably or not -- and then send an officer around to tell the cadets about the controversy and ask who's side they're on, the terminated cadet's side or the side of the instructor who could get another cadet or two terminated, uhh, gee whiz.   That's why we have procedures in place.   If -- as I expect the County to argue -- this guy was under-performing and tried to fend off termination by alleging discrimination, then recognize he might find a lawyer and handle his case by the book.  Why react as Roberts did and help the guy make his case against you? 
The unseemly rush to get Mr. Johnson off the payroll seems particularly odd when I keep hearing that Vigil and Roberts have had an experienced officer on administrative leave for many months.] 
 

Respect

County Commission Chair Isabella Solis has suggested diminishing public comment at commission meetings and called for more respect for commissioners. These issues are both topical and interrelated. We citizens are commissioners' “bosses”. Is there irony in advocating respect for bosses but telling yours they take too much time? 

Solis wants to eliminate the general comment period – not public comment on specific agenda items. She reportedly says general public comment takes too much time.

I sympathize. Some commission meetings have been marathons. I get impatient when someone spends three minutes on Agenda 21 or how George Soros is responsible for violence in Ferguson.

But general public input on county business is important. We're a democracy. It's essential that people be heard – and know they're being heard. We need more ways people can engage with local government, not fewer. 

Solis also reportedly wants county employees to respect her because she's the boss. I understand that too. I've seen people express their differences with commissioners very vividly. Before Ms. Solis's election, I watched DASO deputies show more extreme disgust with the commissioners than anything I've seen directed at her. 

Courtesy and respect are related qualities, but distinct. We should speak and behave courteously to each other – particularly in political settings, where we're often discussing issues on which we have strong and honest disagreements. That applies to citizens, commissioners, and employees. I try to express political differences directly but collegially – although I sometimes fail.

Sounds trite, but true respect must be earned. My respect for Ms. Solis rests on conversations we've had, not on her title. 

I've never respected anyone simply because of his or her position. First-grade teacher, law school professor, or millionaire client. Particularly bosses. 

We've all had bosses who want it done their way and do not tolerate questions or new ideas. There are urgent situations when that may be necessary. But as a daily attitude, in academia or in law, journalism, or business, it's counterproductive.

When I started as a lawyer, some partners ordered everyone around and didn't tolerate questions or suggestions. Others welcomed questions and suggestions from new lawyers. They listened, and either explained why I was wrong or adopted the suggestion. I learned from them. I also respected them, and they me.

The dictatorial mode of supervision often masks insecurity about the supervisor's own knowledge and competence. Welcoming – and not merely tolerating – challenging questions can be a sign that “the boss” has a healthy confidence in what s/he is doing. Law, business, medicine, and county government present difficult questions. No one's perfect, Welcoming others' ideas maximizes the boss's chance to reach the wisest solution. 

Insisting on respect is kind of like insisting on love. You can't force either. The insistence proclaims that love or respect is missing; but it's highly unlikely to create or revive what's missing.

If Solis means to call for courtesy, I respectfully second that. Like oil, courtesy can prevent undue friction and damage when things get moving fast. Life's too short for unnecessary frustrations. Discourtesy invites more of the same, deepening everyone's frustration.

Strident partisanship surrounds us – just when we have many hard truths to face, and need our neighbors' help. 

Respectfully: the Commission should keep public comment, perhaps add more ways for meaningful public comment; but commenters should express ideas and facts, not personal attacks. We're all trying. I think Solis is. We can do this.

                                                               -30-

[The above column appeared this morning, Sunday, 3 December 2017, in the Las Cruces Sun-News, and also on the newspaper's website and on KRWG's website.  A spoken version will air on KRWG Radio Wednesday and Saturday, and on KTAL (101.5 FM) on Thursday.]