What a privilege to attend Isaac Jaramillo's funeral at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. The sanctuary was filled in every single seat, a tribute to the way Isaac lived his life. He touched so many people in all his walks of life. How sad that he left us so early.

Then, afterward, I was touched to see the long procession of cars that moved through downtown on the way to the cemetery. As I was walking back to my car, I heard someone on the street say, "Wow! Look at all the cars! This must have been someone important in this town. Maybe a politician?" It felt so good that someone as kind and humble and caring as Isaac could be recognized this way by so many in the community. Maybe we are the City Different!


Occupy hypocrisy

As an employee of the Old House, I was appalled by the methods that Occupy protesters chose to disrupt the recent ALEC dinner. Despite residing firmly on the left side of the political spectrum, I can only describe their reckless actions as counterproductive to their cause. Yet the most troubling aspect of the evening has gone unreported in the news.

Before their disruption, the protesters ran up a significant tab at the bar. The hotel ultimately wrote off this bill after the protesters were removed from the premises. Per hotel policy, no gratuity was added to the check, leaving their waitress empty-handed. It's no secret that service-industry employees are not members of the 1 percent. The hypocrisy of those protesting for wealth equality, denying one of their own -- a single mother waiting tables -- a part of her income for the evening, should not go unnoticed. I hope those involved show some courage by returning to provide their server with the gratuity she deserves.


Defies definition

The definition for illegal immigrant is an entrant who is not lawful; a person who comes to become a permanent resident.

Most of our lawmakers meet Webster's second definition of blind: "lacking in judgment or understanding," as is evident in our lawmakers' refusal to face the facts on the driver's license debate. It's time for a change in the merry Roundhouse.


Pets and vets

There's a wonderful organization based in Rio Rancho and supported by another nonprofit group in Santa Fe: Paws and Stripes and the Trauma Resource Institute, respectively.

Paws and Stripes was founded two years ago by Jim Stanek, who spent three tours with the Army in the Middle East, and his wife, Lindsey. Jim was badly wounded and traumatized during his last tour in Iraq, and the couple decided that a service dog would be helpful to him. They wanted to have their young Catahoula leopard dog mix trained as a service dog.

Such training is expensive. So, the couple decided to create the nonprofit Paws and Stripes, with the caveat that every dog trained in the program must come from a local shelter.

Paws and Stripes pays the $2,000 for training, and veterans work directly with the trainers, who use a modality created by the Trauma Resource Institute, which promotes innovative models to enable individuals to cope with trauma.