Letters to the editor May 8

Juanita Street a model for other neighborhoods

| The New Mexican

5/8/2008 - 5/8/08

We should all be thankful that the staff of the city's land use department did the hard work necessary for the rezoning of the Juanita Street neighborhood. They saw the need to help bring zoning into conformance with the standards of the existing neighborhood. Without their help, the rampant development would have been business as usual.

Thanks are due also to councilors of District 1 and the rest of the city councilors, as they saw the need to preserve and protect what is a traditional neighborhood filled with new and old neighbors keeping the values they cherish. Juanita Street is a good example of what can happen if neighbors and planners work together. Ideally, developers also would work with neighborhoods to blend with the as-built environment instead of trying to conquer the neighborhoods with inappropriate development.

Finally, appreciation must be given to the citizens and neighbors who cared enough to get involved with this process and who worked very hard to protect an existing traditional neighborhood and the character it deserves.

Rick A. Martinez
Santa Fe

Missing facts
I commend reporter John Sena for his informative article, "School plans big changes," regarding Santo Niño Regional Catholic School on May 2. However, he failed to mention three very important facts:

• The reason tuition has been raised is to continue to provide the same award-winning education we always have had, with full-time Spanish, art, music, religion and science teachers.

• Our tuition assistance available for next year will be close to $170,000. This comes from our endowment. These funds will be available to the families most impacted by the tuition hike. People who are considering applying should contact Sr. Josephine.

• Enrollment is now in progress. It is not declining. By the time we finish our pre-registration, we have reason to believe our numbers will be near or at the same level we have now (400 students).

As you can see, our school is doing well as it prepares for an exciting future.

Rev. Msgr. Jerome Martinez y Alire
Santa Fe

Insurance to blame
Tyler Taylor, M.D., in his letter of May 2, "Most doctors prescribe national health insurance," is quite incorrect when he says that America needs a national health insurance program. Americans do not need health insurance; we need health care.

Insurers are middlemen who unnecessarily complicate, regulate and interfere in matters that rightfully belong solely between patients and their medical providers.

Joa Dattilo
Santa Fe

Can't prove ID
Pity The New Mexican chose to run an article about the anti-Darwinism film on the front page on May 6. It helps validate the film maker's promotion of Intelligent Design; a hypothesis, not a theory, as stated in the article.

If anywhere, it belonged on the religion page. What do we want our children to learn in school, science or religion? U.S. education has taken a beating from a fundamentalist administration incapable of critical thinking and disrespectful of separation of church and state. As a result, our scientific/technological edge in the world is slipping. A theory is a more or less verified or established explanation accounting for known facts or phenomena. A hypothesis is a conjecture put forth as a possible explanation of phenomena, which serves as a basis of argument or experimentation to reach the truth. Using these American Heritage Science Dictionary definitions, Intelligent Design would be a hypothesis. What sort of experiment could help Intelligent Design reach the truth?

James Mafchir
Santa Fe

One per couple
As our presidential primary process now seems to extend into eternity, we might well reflect on the sentiment attributed to our first president, George Washington, who said that no man (or woman) who campaigns for the office of the president of the United States is worthy of the office.

Times do change!

And, were old George around today, he might well say to Hillary, "One president per couple, please!"

Waite Thompson
Santa Fe

Rave for Ralph
I've known County Commission District 5 candidate Ralph Jaramillo since he was a young man attending community college. We hired him and found him to be bright and congenial. Years later, when he was the chief deputy assessor, I had a problem with the way a document was recorded; he handled it for me personally. Ralph is an approachable person with a servant attitude. Most importantly, he's a man of his word.

Mary and Ralph Vigil
Santa Fe