Burning the (Roman) candle at both ends A4 Thursday, July 7, 2011
OPINION
New Mexico didn’t just become an arid state, and drought isn’t exactly new here. So how did we manage to strip everyone from local fire chiefs to the governor of the authority to ban fireworks? In the past 10 years, lawmakers made three attempts to reform fireworks laws and one to liberalize them. Guess which succeeded? In 2007, SB 267, by Sen. James Taylor, pretty much made the sky the limit for fireworks. The bill, signed into law, permits everything from rockets to fire crackers, fountains to spinners, Roman candles and eight kinds of flying devices. It prohibited just three: stick-type rockets with tubes smaller than five-eighths inches by 3.5 inches, fireworks with sounds other than a whistle, devices with a charge of more than 130 milligrams of explosive composition per report. Worse, the law prohibited local governments from passing ordi-
EDITORIAL
SHERRY ROBINSON
ALL SHE WROTE
nances to regulate and ban any permissible fireworks except aerial devices and ground audible devices. In 2005, SB 841, by Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson, would have allowed local governments to regulate fireworks more stringently than the state, including prohibition of fireworks allowed by the state. During severe droughts, local governments could have banned fireworks or limited them to paved or barren areas or places with readily accessible water. It died in committee. In 2004, SB 173, by Sen. Dede
Feldman, would have banned fireworks sales in riverside cottonwood forests. It also tried to provide steps for local governments to ban fireworks during droughts and give the governor authority to temporarily ban fireworks and impose other restrictions. Feldman said recently that the fireworks lobbyist made such a dramatic presentation the bill died in her own committee. Every summer all the legislators get a bag of free fireworks. In 2003, HB 454, by Rep. Manuel Herrera, would have allowed local governments to ban or restrict the sale or use of fireworks and limit times that fireworks could be sold. SB 204, a similar measure that year by Sen. Richard Martinez, also allowed local governments to ban fireworks on wild lands. Both died in committee. So there you have it. Meanwhile, we read anxiously about new fires
Roswell Daily Record
reported in the paper. We now learn that the Donaldson Fire in Lincoln County is eligible for fire management help from FEMA. Before you start with the FEMA jokes, remember that before Katrina the agency was actually pretty ef ficient and hopefully has learned a few things since then. The fires are dreadful enough without thinking about people who’ve been driven from their homes a second or third time. There’s another fire victim here — the tourism industry. If I might mention an up side, it’s the generosity we see at times like this. Never mind the heat and smoke, people open up their hearts, their homes — and their bar ns. One of the more interesting developments is the website helplosalamos.com. Late last week, there were 81 offers of housing in Santa Fe and 104 outside of Santa Fe. The most interesting gestures were the
animal lovers: 31 posts from people who will happily take in dogs, cats, horses, exotic birds, goats, rabbits and reptiles. A woman in Portales offered space for eight horses and two people. A Taos woman was willing to transport and care for exotic birds. From Alamogordo was an offer to meet people in Socorro and care for their dogs. A number of people with horse paddocks were willing to provide feed. And in Estancia residents would take large and small livestock and even provide their trailers for hauling. I’m sure these same folks would extend a hand to those displaced from other fires. This summer, when your state legislators are out hobnobbing at picnics and ball games, thank them for their hard work. And then ask them to get real about fireworks legislation. © New Mexico News Services 2011
War in Libya
It’s becoming more obvious by the day that Americans don’t like the war President Barack Obama started against Libya and want our participation to end. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly against supporting the war. But the House also voted against cutting off funds for the war. So there was a contradiction. As we have pointed out, the Libya war violates both the Constitution, which mandates a declaration of war by the full U.S. Congress for hostilities to even begin, and the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires that Congress must approve a war within 60 days of its initiation. Yet the votes on Libya do have some significance. “It’s quite clear that the House has no stomach for this,” said Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute. “But they hate cutting off money while we’re in there.” He added that the House doesn’t have anybody that really likes the war. Which is unlike the Senate, where Rep. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are major war hawks. Bandow said that the House is a more telling echo of the sentiments of the American people. “These are the most electionminded people because they’re all up for election next year,” whereas only one-third of the Senate is up for election. Sen. McCain won re-election last year; Sen. Graham doesn’t face an election until 2014. Bandow also pointed out that, although Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is “a garden-variety strongman,” early propaganda against him by Libyan insurgents has not been borne out, in particular allegations of mass rapes. The Independent, a British newspaper, reported June 24: “An investigation by Amnesty International has failed to find evidence for these humanrights violations and in many cases has discredited or cast doubt on them. It also found indications that on several occasions the rebels in Benghazi appeared to have knowingly made false claims or manufactured evidence.” Another aspect is that the International Criminal Court just issued an arrest warrant for Gadhafi for such alleged crimes. Bandow said that this misguided action “works at cross purposes” with attempts to end the war by getting the dictator to go into exile. The indictment means he would immediately be arrested once he left Libya, and so, instead, will fight on to the bitter end instead of negotiating peace. And as far as toppling tyranny goes, the United States has done nothing about the dictatorship in Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet is harbored. The regime has arrested and sentenced pro-democracy protesters to life in prison. The Libya war never has made sense. President Obama should end it immediately. Even though Congress won’t cut off funds, American voters will include the war in their calculations of whether to re-elect the president next year. Guest Editorial The New Bern Sun Journal DEAR DR. GOTT: My most recent lab work, from October of last year, indicated a sudden increase in my platelet count to 446 as compared to 369 in December of 2009. My monocytes increased from 7 to 10 during that same 10-month period. The doctor said not to be concerned, but after reading your article “Low Platelet Count Concerns Reader,” I am concerned! I’m a 55-yearold African-American female. I have been a diabetic since 1998. Should I seek further testing? DEAR READER: A platelet count measures how many platelets you have in your blood. Their purpose is to help blood to clot. The nor-
Can we keep our republic alive? “What form of government have you given us?” a lady is said to have asked Benjamin Franklin as he left Independence Hall on Sept. 17, 1787 — that other great day in American history, when the constitution was promulgated if not yet ratified. “A republic, madam, if you can keep it,” Franklin is said to have replied. A republic: What is that? And how do we keep it? Over the long Independence Day weekend, I re-read Tom Holland’s “Rubicon” — a history of the fall of the Roman Republic.
Doonesbury
ASK DR. GOTT UNITED MEDIA SYNDICATE
mal range is between 150 and 450 per microliter of blood and can vary slightly between different laboratories. An abnormally low count can be an indication of hemolytic anemia, leukemia, and some forms of cancer, inflammation and infections. The count can also be low because of receiving a large
MAGGIE
GALLAGHER COLUMNIST
More than any history of the period I have read, Holland’s narrative illuminates Friedrich Hayek’s great truth that we all, even the most practical hard-headed realist among us, are prisoners of dead thinkers. The Roman Republic, like
blood transfusion or because of specific medications. High counts might be a normal lab variant or be an indication of polycythemia vera, anemia and several other causes. Your count is not out of the nor mal range, so if your physician has indicated there is no concern and he or she knows your medical history, I would put my trust in that fact and proceed accordingly. Monocytes are white blood cells with a single nucleus; they help keep the immune system intact. They make up 1 to 3 percent of the total white blood cells in the body. Modifications can be an indication of changes in a person’s health. Generally speaking, a low count is a
any republic, any nation, is simply an idea in the heads of people. An idea that is strong enough to influence people’s ideals, how they strive to achieve them and, as important, what they are not willing to do to achieve them. All our institutions are made up of air — of symbols, dreams, stories, mere nothings created by poets, dreamers, intellectuals, novelists and speechwriters, and fashioned into enduring modes of living by the airiest of bonds: the bonds of meaning in the heads of living human beings. Why is it, Holland thinks to
good sign, while a high count could indicate a potential problem. The normal range of monocytes is between 0 and 10 percent. Without knowing your total white blood count, referred to as WBCs, I can only surmise this count is within a normal range. A difficult experience for a physician is when results are shared with a patient who may not completely understand that slight abnormalities may result from totally benign situations. I am not at all implying you shouldn’t receive a copy, nor am I indicating you shouldn’t question modifications. I am simply See GOTT, Page A5
ask, that most Americans never stop to wonder: Why on a continent the ancient Romans never even knew existed there stands a new Senate, upon another Capitol Hill? Like our founding fathers, we have much to learn from Rome: how to achieve a republic that lasts for 400 years —and then how in the space of a generation or two, to lose it. Holland points out the great world-conquering warriors of the Roman Empire were
25 YEARS AGO
See GALLAGHER, Page A5
July 7, 1986 • Lori Throckmorton of Roswell has been named to the spring 1986 semester dean’s list at Southwestern Assemblies of God College. Throckmorton, 19, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Throckmorton of Roswell, will be a junior Christian education major this fall. She is a 1984 graduate of Goddard High School. She made a 3.5 grade point average for the semester. • Patricia L. Perkowski of Roswell has been named to the spring 1986 semester President’s Honor Roll (3.3 to 4.0) at Rice University. Perkowski, 21, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James R. Perkowski of Roswell, is a 1983 graduate of Roswell High School. • Airman K.S. Allensworth, son of Ronald C. Allensworth of Roswell and Sandra J. Allensworth of Hagerman, graduated recently from Air Force basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. He is a 1983 graduate of Hagerman High School.