The big chill as a learning experience A4 Thursday, February 24, 2011
OPINION
HAL RHODES UPON REFLECTION
HAL
At the height of the bitter cold that left tens of thousands of New Mexicans without heat in their homes and workplaces last month, the Village of Taos sent out a plaintive news release updating the gravity of the situation. “With temperatures again dropping, and communications from Taos’ community constituents becoming ever more urgent,” the release said, “Taoseños are advised to take care of themselves ...” Translated: Folks, you’re on your own. A historic storm had brought much of the state to its knees. It was the kind of emergency for which preparedness is essential in the name of public safety and health. Yet key players in last month’s emergency were clearly ill-prepared. True, all of the obvious public officials did all the obvious
EDITORIAL
RHODES
UPON REFLECTION
things officialdom does in emergencies. The governor dispatched National Guardsmen hither and yon. State and local police did roundthe-clock duty. Schools, universities and government buildings closed to conserve what natural gas there was, and in due course technicians, utility workers and volunteer plumbers fanned out to reignite pilot lights. But given the time, effort and money, public and private, the brains and planning, devoted to preparing for emergencies in this country, the specter of consigning well over 30,000 natural gas con-
Roswell Daily Record
sumers to days on end in frozen homes was inexcusable. New Mexicans are entitled to expect more of their emergency response capabilities. And since it is evident that key players with responsibilities for developing those capabilities were anything but ahead of the curve this time around, the least they can do is learn the lessons of a bad experience. So what do we know today about preparing for emergencies of this sort that we didn’t know before that near-week long natural gas shutdown? Two things stand in bold relief. First is the obvious conclusion that the New Mexico Gas Co. was woefully unprepared. We can’t control the weather, but we can prepare for the worst of it. Yet what we have gotten from gas company officials are tales of rolling blackout in Texas, laments about the severity of the cold and reports on the unusually high
demand for natural gas. It doesn’t wash. What the gas folks’ “explanations” for the breakdown in service come down to is nothing more than restatements of the problems with which they were demonstrably unprepared to cope. Left unexplained is why they had no contingency plans in place ready to kick in when the inevitable spate of severely cold temperatures descended upon this enchanted land. Or, duh, why they couldn’t anticipate the high demand for their product when temperatures plunged. Not least of the questions yet to be convincingly addressed by gas company folks is why they risked their obligation to get natural gas to New Mexico homes when it was most needed by relying on a delivery system plainly vulnerable to blackouts at such times? What we have here is no plan at all. Equally vexing is how state agencies mandated to regulate
New Mexico’s utilities in the public interest never got around to requiring credible emergency response plans of the gas company. In 1998 New Mexico voters approved constitutional revisions creating a single major state regulatory agency called the Public Regulation Commission. It is potentially the most powerful state regulatory agency in the nation. Yet today it is best known to many New Mexicans for unseemly controversies, variations on themes of nepotism and tawdry scandals. The PRC needs to get a grip. Surely its members are capable of embracing their constitutional responsibilities by requiring viable emergency preparedness plans of the utilities they regulate, plans protecting the public interest they are sworn to safeguard. Nor is it mindless idealism to expect nothing less. © New Mexico News Services 2011
Gadhafi’s number may be up
One of the world’s more wretched dictators, Moammar Gadhafi of Libya, appeared to be losing his grip on power after more than 41 years. A British diplomat said Monday that Gadhafi had fled his strife-torn nation and was headed to Venezuela. A spokesman for the regime of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denied the report. As in Egypt and Tunisia, which bookend Libya, the social media site Facebook played a key role, allowing protesters to list grievances against the regime and coordinate efforts. Gadhafi railed against the use of Facebook and arrested several Internet activists. It didn’t seem to matter. The only way to stop Facebook and other Internet services now is to shut down the Internet entirely, which would mean crippling his country’s entire economy; or using sophisticated censorship techniques that even the tech-savvy government of China has difficulty imposing. As lovers of liberty, we’re especially cheered how Facebook, a Silicon Valley company started by some college kids in 2004, continues to be a catalyst for those around the world who yearn to breathe free. Gadhafi was a particularly nasty dictator. Seizing power in a 1969 military coup against King Idris, Gadhafi declared Libya a socialist republic and branded himself the new “Che Guevara of the age.” Guevara helped Fidel Castro impose tyranny on Cuba through mass executions, then fomented revolution in Latin America. Gadhafi also ethnically cleansed Libya’s Italian minority. Gadhafi during the Cold War was a leader of the global “nonaligned movement,” along with Yugoslav dictator Josip Broz Tito, which attempted to guide itself between the free world and the communist world. And Gadhafi reportedly sponsored terrorist attacks, including the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the 1986 bombing of a disco in West Berlin that killed three American soldiers and the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people. There are differences between the Libyan revolution and those in Tunis and Egypt, Christopher Preble told us; he’s director of foreign policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. A major distinction is that, whereas the U.S. had close ties to Mubarak in Egypt and Ben Ali in Tunisia, it had no such ties to Gadhafi. “Another consideration is: What comes after Gadhafi?” Mr. Preble asked. “It’s a bit silly, even irresponsible, to speculate on what comes next. The best thing the United States can do is not get involved. The less the U.S. government is seen involved in these protests, the better. You don’t want the Libyan regime to use foreign influence as an excuse for a crackdown.” Across the region, the possible rise of radical clerical regimes is a danger, as happened in Iran in 1979. But there are differences, too. In 1979, the Soviet Union still existed, fomenting terror and tyranny across the world; the types of Islam differ across the region; and any new regimes will face online scrutiny by their own people. Despite the dangers, this is a time of hope. Guest Editorial The Orange County Register DEAR DR. GOTT: What is tur f toe? Does this happen just to athletes or can anyone get it? How is it treated? One of the football players from the Indianapolis Colts had this condition, and I am curious as to just what it is. Thank you for the information. DEAR READER: Simply put, turf toe is the overextension of the big toe. When this occurs, there is pain at the bottom of the toe and damage to the ligaments in the area that connects the big toe to the foot. The purpose of ligaments in this area is to prevent excessive movement and allow proper range of joint motion. There are essentially three types of injury, ranging from mild to severe. The first
Don’t leave New Mexicans out in the cold STEVE PEARCE U.S. CONGRESSMAN
Earlier this month, New Mexicans faced subzero temperatures, snow, and ice across the state. Along with the freezing cold and rolling electricity blackouts, thousands of families were left without natural gas. Now, as heat is restored and lights come back on, it is the time for answers. We pay for natural gas so that we can cook and heat our homes, and we rely on those services. Consumers cannot just switch providers as with other products — public service companies have a respon-
Doonesbury
ASK DR. GOTT UNITED MEDIA SYNDICATE
involves stretching of the ligaments and joint; the second involves a partial tear; and the third and most severe is a complete tear. In the past, the condition was rather uncommon; however, with the use of artificial turf becoming so popular on football, soccer and rugby fields, the incidence of injury has increased. Runners also
sibility to deliver in any circumstances. While there are reasonable explanations, there is no acceptable justification for the failure to deliver natural gas service to the people of New Mexico during the recent winter weather. First and foremost, New Mexicans must be made whole. I commend those few companies that have taken the leadership to establish compensation funds. However, others have yet to publicly show that they understand the impact that losing natural gas service had on so many New Mexicans. I hope they will rethink their position. It is time for answers. We
subject their toes to similar issues when they lean forward and push off from a starting line at the beginning of a race. When a shoe sticks to the fake grass, the body lunges forward, a foot jams to the front of a cleated shoe, and the toe can extend beyond its normal range. One incident can cause tur f toe, but numerous injuries multiply the probability of damage. Symptoms include localized pain, swelling and restricted movement. Mild conditions may produce minimal damage to the toe. More severe cases will result in damage of the area of bone beneath the surface of the joint, to the cartilage or to both. These are the injuries that can be observed
have already begun to understand what happened — what some have called “a perfect storm.” In Texas, the adverse weather conditions disrupted dozens of power generating units, causing rolling blackouts. Gas processing plants were left without power, wellheads and lines froze, and demand skyrocketed. As a result, even though we had gas in volume, we did not have the pressure needed to get it into homes. But even once we answer the questions of “why,” the more pressing question is “how” — how can we avoid this sort of crisis in the future? Were rolling blackouts
on X-ray. Treatment involves the use of ice, tape or bandage to restrict movement, and pain relief through NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs). Contrast baths of cold then hot water can be successful when used during early stages of the injury. With treatment, the injury commonly heals in three to four weeks. DEAR DR. GOTT: I am 60 years old. I have noticed an increasingly foul body odor. Truly, it is embarrassing. My skin seems to have an almost rotting, sewer-like odor. This is not vaginal but a distressing internal and external odor. I smell like something is rotting See GOTT, Page A5
the best approach, or should power have been maintained in the areas that run our gas lines? Are we too reliant on energy from outside New Mexico? If our electricity came from other sources, could this have been avoided? I am pleased to see my colleagues in the New Mexico congressional delegation seeking answers at the U.S. Senate field hearing in Albuquerque on Monday. We will inevitably face another storm of these proportions, and when we do, we must be prepared. New Mexicans don’t ask for much; we just don’t want to be left out in the cold.
25 YEARS AGO
Feb. 24, 1986 • Staff Sgt. Thomas K. Bradley, son of Edna Bradley of Roswell, has been decorated with his second Army Commendation Medal in ceremonies at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colo. Bradley received his first award in 1981 and has also received three Good Conduct medals since joining the Army in 1976. He is a graduate of Roswell High School. He is currently assigned to the Personnel Control Facility at Fort Carson. • Terry Buckner, a senior at Goddard High School, has been named the Office Education Association Student of the Week in the Roswell Independent School District. Buckner, daughter of Teresa Buckner, began work in September at Walgreens where she cashiers, answers the phone and helps with inventory.