Letters to editor for August 16, 2008

Indian School: Bad history buried

None | The New Mexican

8/16/2008 - 8/16/08

I have read with great interest the recent articles concerning the Santa Fe Indian School. The current demolition should be applauded and considered a celebration. The "Indian School" concept as presented by the federal government at the time was truly the genocidal treatment of the Native American populations across the nation.

As far as the historical perspective of the architecture controversy, this aspect of the Santa Fe Indian School was previously destroyed, by then-so-called architectural revivalist John Gaw Meem in the 1930s, as were many historical buildings and properties at the time, including New Mexico's State Capitol Building.

Patricio C. Larragoite, DDS
Santa Fe

Out of place

Regarding "Soft launch, big draw," the Aug. 13 article about the opening of Buffalo Thunder Resort gaming complex: I agree with José Baca; the Buffalo Thunder Resort is obscene. It looks like a nuclear power or a waste treatment plant. What the heck is this thing doing in Northern New Mexico just down the road from two other casinos? All the money spent there might have been better spent starting a solar or wind energy farm. Now that's something we can all benefit from.

Margrit Samos
Santa Fe

Beyond fry bread

Nanci Fruman's Aug. 14 letter, "Insensitive and silly," regarding the cartoon Without Reservations is typical of the non-Native American who moves to Santa Fe to live amongst the Indians, yet never takes the time to learn and understand their history and culture. To better appreciate the humor of Without Reservations, she might want to consider re-tooling her funny bone by attending a few classes on Native American history and culture at the Institute of American Indian Arts, a four-year institution of higher learning. Hopefully Ms. Fruman will come to understand that Without Reservations is a clever reminder that New Mexico's Native American population isn't just about art, jewelry, and fry bread.

Rich Sánchez
Santa Fe

Curb ORVs

Thanks for the articles describing the increasing problem with Off Road Vehicles on our public lands. Amigos Bravos, Friends of the Wild Rivers, a state-wide river conservation organization, has been working for years to mitigate the impacts of ORVs on the Upper Red River in the Carson National Forest.

As an organization dedicated to protecting clean water in New Mexico, we have grave concerns about the water quality impacts of ORVs in our headwater streams. Disturbance from ORVs can cause serious problems to rivers and streams, including turbidity and sedimentation, both of which impact fish populations.

The U.S. Forest Service is currently developing plans to manage escalating ORV use. Amigos Bravos urges all members of the public to urge the Forest Service to adopt reasonable controls of Off Road Vehicles so that the Forests that we all love are protected for hiking, fishing, hunting and wildlife habitat.

Rachel Conn
Amigos Bravos
Friends of the Wild Rivers
Taos

Report biased

Regarding "Travel Management Plan: Disparate trail lovers on quest for common ground" (Aug. 13):

Ms. Matlock's writings on the Travel Management Plan are consistently biased in favor of Off Road Vehicle users, and just as consistently inaccurate. They are, in essence, editorials. Rather than quoting qualified experts she takes the word of ORV supporters that there's little conflict between user groups in Colorado and Utah, when the exact opposite is the truth, as has been widely reported in numerous publications.

Locally, the Jemez portion of the Santa Fe National Forest has been irreparably negatively impacted by ORVers. According to the United States Forest Service, ORV users represent less than 4 percent of all Santa Fe National Forest visitors, yet they're responsible for more than 95 percent of the irreparable resource damage. Why does Ms. Matlock fail to include this in her reporting?

Jon Asher
Glorieta

South side station

Try imagining the following changes to the west corners of Zia Road at St. Francis Drive: 240 residential units, 330,000 square feet of office space, 70,000 square feet of neighborhood retail and the Zia Station for the Rail Runner Express commuter train.

This high-density development will naturally bring innumerable additional vehicles to this already crowded intersection. Massive traffic congestion would probably be the norm, especially during the school year. Merritt Brown LLC will require rezoning of this property in order to accomplish the above.

Perhaps the powers that consider zoning changes will respect our south side desire for quality of life and deny the rezoning request except for the train station. Enough is enough.

Bernie Blough
Santa Fe

A new planet?

With reference to Mr. Elias Quintana's Aug. 8 letter, "Support drilling; it's 'right' thing to do": I think I want to live on the same planet he does.

His planet apparently has magic oil-drilling methods. He reports that "hundreds of thousands" of wells have been drilled and yet "regarding environmental risk to the aquifer, it doesn't exist... only a few (pre-1980) have caused a problem."

Yet in the New Mexico on my planet, the state Oil Conservation Division Web site indicates that as of 2005, there were already some 4,500 spillage events. And according to the OCD, nearly 800 of those "are known to have ground water that has been contaminated from leaks, spills, and releases of oil field wastes or products."

If the tickets weren't so expensive, I'd like to go visit Mr. Quintana's miracle planet.

Doug Stewart
Santa Fe