Letters to the editor April 24

Politics stall health-care reform

| The New Mexican

4/24/2008 - 4/24/08

The governor and a number of legislators put health-care reform and access for all people living in New Mexico at the top of their agendas for the 2008 Legislative session.

Now I read that the governor's Medicaid director announced that the Human Services Department will curtail enrollment among the 50,000 New Mexican children who are eligible but not receiving Medicaid, and among the 210,000 lower income adults who are eligible for the State Coverage Initiative that would help them get affordable health insurance.

Enormous effort has been going into getting eligible children enrolled, and the SCI program in the last few months finally got off the ground. More than half of the more than 400,000 uninsured people in our state are eligible for one of these or other public programs. What can be done to put aside political squabbling and get moving on this critical problem?

Lydia Pendley
Santa Fe

Define 'farmers'
Want your tax dollars spent on commodity payments to millionaire agribusinesses, or to reduce poverty and hunger among the needy in New Mexico and the rest of the country? Both the Food Stamp Program and the Commodities Payment Program are part of the Farm Bill now before Congress.

Benefit restrictions prevent millions of families from getting adequate nutrition because the stamps don't last for the month. Meanwhile wealthy "farmers" continue receiving large taxpayer-funded commodity payments.

As the final version of the Farm Bill is negotiated, please urge your members of Congress to support a new Farm Bill that first, increases support for food stamps and The Emergency Food Assistance Program at the level of $11.5 billion over 10 years; and second, includes meaningful commodity payment reform to correct an unjust system and generate savings that can be used to pay for nutrition and rural development improvements for real family farmers.

Dee Gamble
Santa Fe

Not ready for OHVs
New Mexicans have unmatched access to wild nature, but special interests threaten this access. Is it unreasonable to ask that a minority of forest users not jeopardize our air and water and disturb access for the majority? The Santa Fe National Forest has the highest density of roads of any in the Southwest: more than 8,000 miles, at least 1,000 unauthorized, built by lawless off-roaders.

Managing the growing threat of off-road vehicles is not an attempt to limit access. It is the health of our wildlife, wild places, and traditional recreational and cultural uses that are endangered. Just 10 to 50 miles of roads are maintained annually on the Santa Fe National Forest, with only three law enforcement officers patrolling 2,500 square miles!

The Forest Service needs a larger maintenance and enforcement budget. In the meantime, close some of these motorized roads.

Bryan Bird
WildEarth Guardians
Santa Fe


No matter how well you manipulate words and numbers, you can't hide the destruction being caused by dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles. Not only are they making a mess of our public lands, they're stealing the quiet of the woods.

As a trail-work volunteer with my local Forest Service district, I have seen the maintenance work off-roaders like to brag about, and I am not impressed. Traditional methods of trail maintenance do not stand up to the damage they cause. There is quite a difference between a 175-pound hiker walking six miles versus a 200-pound machine with knobby tires and a 175-pound rider traveling 75 miles.

It would take an army working full time to fix the damage caused by off-roaders in just one summer.

People should have the opportunity to show their kids a world without the ravages of off-road abuse.

Kevin Stillman
Jemez Springs

Noble, but illegal
Regarding "City digs in on affordable housing as builders ratchet up opposition" (April 18): Mayor David Coss was out of line when he accused homebuilders of declaring war on affordable housing.

Homebuilders and developers all agree that affordable housing is a much needed and noble cause. They support a fair, just and legal program that does not require them to bear the entire burden of the benefits. The entire community should carry the burden.

Coss said, "It's time once again to stand up for working people." Homebuilders and developers are working people. The city and county affordable housing programs violate these working people's Fifth and 14th amendment rights by confiscating, without compensation, 30 percent of a landowner's land as a condition of receiving a permit to develop that land. This not only smacks of extortion, it violates the very fundamental rights that so many fought and died to protect.

This land grab by city and county politicos must not be tolerated. A federal lawsuit is essential to protect our rights.

Joe Miller
Lamy

Campaign litter
Here we go again! It's campaign time and our fair city is literally strewn with illegally placed campaign signs. Don't these candidates ever learn or respect the community?!

On the corner up from my house — Camino Carlos Rey and Rodeo Road — there are three signs each for Don Wiviott and for Mark Martínez — all of which are on public access property.

I pledge that I will not vote for any candidate whose signs I see on public property; I don't care how qualified he or she may be.

This happens during every campaign. Why? It's the responsibility of each candidate to see that her/his helpers do not do this. The generic definition of these is "lawn signs." How is it that so few are seen on lawns and so many on sidewalks, lamp posts, etc.? Please stop it.

Richard Block
Santa Fe