Thursday, September 19, 2013 THE NEW MEXICAN
OPINIONS
A-11
The West’s oldest newspaper, founded 1849 Robin M. Martin Owner
COMMENTARY
RIP for gun control action
Robert M. McKinney Owner, 1949-2001 Inez Russell Gomez Editorial Page Editor
Ray Rivera Editor
OUR VIEW
Sidewalk Angels: An idea to cheer
Dana Milbank
The Washington Post
H
W
hy can’t conservatives just take the win on gun rights? On Monday morning, President Barack Obama didn’t even try to use the massacre at the Washington Navy Yard to revive the gun-control debate. He praised the “patriots” who were targeted by the gunman, offered the requisite thoughts and prayers, and, without any overt call for gun restrictions, moved on to Syria, the economic recovery and his budget fight with Republicans. Rather than accept this surrender on gun control, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus accused Obama of a “bizarre response” to the shootings, and House Speaker John Boehner complained the president didn’t “rise above partisanship.” “President Obama delivered only brief condolences for the victims of the shooting at the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., Monday morning, before quickly pivoting to a scheduled attack on Republicans,” protested the conservative Daily Caller. Of course, conservatives would have been even more indignant had Obama used the occasion to talk about gun control, as he did after the Newtown, Conn., massacre. His response was really a tacit acknowledgment that there is no hope of reviving even the modest gun measure that failed in the Senate in April. If 20 slain first-graders didn’t move Congress, the killing of a dozen adults — a depressingly ordinary event in this violence-numb nation — wasn’t about to change the equation. Obama continues to favor gun control, which he reiter-
ated Tuesday when asked by Telemundo in an interview. But the issue, for the foreseeable future, is settled: Gun control is dead. Days earlier in Colorado, voters tossed out two state senators because they had supported laws requiring background checks for gun transfers and limiting the capacity of ammunition clips. That dashed hopes that gun-control advances could be made in the states if not in Washington. Some of Congress’ most fervent gun-control advocates, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., made their ritual pleas for legislation, but they were going through the motions. “God forbid we go on with business as usual and not understand what happened yesterday,” Durbin said on the Senate floor. He then proceeded with business as usual, looking up at the public gallery and debating Republicans on Obamacare. Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., didn’t even go through the motions. He said at a Politico breakfast Tuesday that the recall vote in Colorado “does not bode well for asking people to vote for legislation similar to that which went down in the Senate just a few months ago.”
In the Senate, Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., put out word that he had no intention of reviving the legislation he wrote with Pat Toomey, R-Pa., to keep guns away from the mentally unstable and the violent. When it failed in April, Manchin vowed to reintroduce it. Instead, lawmakers resumed their usual speeches and squabbles over issues big and small: health care, the debt ceiling, energy, abortion, food stamps, the judiciary, Benghazi, school vouchers, Native American gambling and education in the Northern Mariana Islands. The shootings earned, at best, a respectful pause. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, reading from a script at a breakfast Tuesday, offered “thoughts and prayers” as well as “deep condolences” — and then gave a speech on economic conditions. Doug Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, didn’t even mention the shootings at a news conference releasing his latest projections. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid opened the chamber by requesting a moment of silence for the Navy Yard victims but within five minutes was talking about the “hypocritical and mean-spirited” GOP strategy
on health care. “It’s time for Republicans,” he said, “to grow up.” John Thune, R-S.D., had it about right when he said on the Senate floor: “The business of the country goes on, the business of the Senate goes on, but for the families of the victims of that tragedy yesterday, things stand still. And it’s important for all of us, I think, to take a moment and to mourn with them.” Nineteen seconds later, Thune resumed his condemnation of Obama’s economic record. At the White House on Tuesday, The Associated Press’ Julie Pace noted Obama’s subdued response to the shooting and asked if “maybe there’s some sort of numbness among the public since these shootings have happened so frequently.” Another questioner asked if there’s “an exhaustion and an acceptance that this is the new normal.” Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president “doesn’t accept that it’s the new normal.” Maybe not. But the loss of hope for gun control is becoming a durable abnormal. Follow Dana Milbank on Twitter, @Milbank.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Investing in children should be high priority
W
e welcome your editorial on preschool education for the children of New Mexico (“Open up access to preschool,” Sept. 13). Surely our children deserve this opportunity to obtain readiness skills that will benefit their learning. Having worked in the Head Start program in the 1970s, I know how important early childhood education is. One benefit that bears mentioning is the opportunity to identify those children who could have special needs. Early intervention helps the child and is cost-effective. New Mexico should cooperate with the federal government to obtain available monies. Also, we need to consider taking a portion of the Land Grant Permanent Fund to support programs for the health, development and early education of our children.
maintain a job with poor literacy skills. Imagine not being able to read this newspaper. There is a way to help. Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe is a local nonprofit that has been helping adults in our community learn to read and write and speak English for more than 28 years. We train volunteers like you to help adults improve their basic literacy skills or learn English as a second language. We need new volunteers because our wait list of adults who want to change their lives through literacy keeps growing. We have upcoming trainings in late September and early October. If you are interested in helping, please check out our website, www.lvsf.org, or give us a call at 428-1353.
Marion Seymour
literacy coordinator Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe
Santa Fe
Kevan Morshed
Improve literacy
Incorrect botanical
Did you know that 34 percent of adults in Santa Fe County are functionally illiterate, and another 32 percent speak only limited English? Imagine trying to go to a doctor, support your kids in school and
A writer to The New Mexican complained about the proposal to install “Australian pines” to replace the cottonwoods in the parking area serving the South Capitol Complex (“The wrong roots,”
MAllARD FillMORE
Section editor: Inez Russell Gomez, 986-3053, igomez@sfnewmexican.com, Twitter @inezrussell
Sept. 16). The correct botanical name for “Australian pines” is Casuarina equisetifolia, and the tree is neither a true pine (although the leaves resemble pine needles) nor would it ever survive in Santa Fe. The state intended to name Austrian pine, which is totally hardy in Santa Fe. However, as the landscape architect responsible for the original site design back in the mid-1980s, I would suggest shade trees and not any type of pine for a more appropriate replacement. The original trees survived on paving runoff in a design that was totally sustainable until the recent drought years. Craig Campbell
Santa Fe
The full report It has become evident that your publication doesn’t wish to report on the University of New Mexico Lobos football program. For example, on Sept. 14, The “Sports Page” schedule game time, TV/ Radio coverage, coaches report and so forth are nowhere to be found. Why so? Alfonso Moreno
ere’s an idea we hope takes root and spreads — the Sidewalk Angels of Tierra Contenta. The Angels, dreamed up by Bridget Wolf, is a group of Tierra Contenta neighbors determined to spruce up the neighborhood. With help from the city, the residents are going to gather Sunday west of the Southside Branch Library on Purple Sage Road to weed the place. The goal is simple — yet genius. Make sure the sidewalks are clear enough so that people can walk without fear of tripping or getting scratched. More than just cleaning up the place, groups such as the Sidewalk Angels of Tierra Contenta will form community. Neighbors will meet neighbors and become friends. They will watch out for each other’s children, notice suspicious cars and build community. Work starts at 8 a.m. Sunday and will continue through noon. Sidewalks clear, families can walk to the library rather than taking the car. Kids will be able to ride bikes more safely, or scooter without dodging weeds. Elderly people can use walkers. Wolf’s goal — improving the beauty and quality of life in Tierra Contenta — will be realized. It shouldn’t stop in Tierra Contenta. We can see neighborhood groups adopting round-abouts in Bellamah, whether just weeding or perhaps planting gardens. The city of Santa Fe could help with water and manpower, just as it is in Tierra Contenta. Folks around city parks, such as Franklin Miles, could watch out for trash and graffiti. Especially in neighborhoods with pocket parks, those small play areas for kids who live nearby, residents can make a difference in making sure trash is being collected and graffiti is kept at bay. And, of course, it wouldn’t hurt to have a clean up day occasionally where the entire neighborhood can gather. Santa Fe County residents could join with the city along Agua Fría Road, which is in both the city and county. For the big work — cleaning up horrendous weeds — the governments need to get busy. The tall weeds, according to callers to the newspaper, predate the recent rains and are unsightly. That’s too much for volunteers; however, citizens calling to complain about the weeds and mess could light a fire under both city and county governments. This city is a big and sprawling place, with plenty of corners for weeds to grow and trash to gather. It will take all of us — government and private citizens — working together, to keep both city and county looking good. The Sidewalk Angels of Tierra Contenta could lead the way to a cleaner, friendlier Santa Fe.
The past 100 years From The Santa Fe New Mexican: Sept. 19, 1963: Suspected cases of encephalitis or sleeping sickness in humans in the Clovis and Las Cruces areas have been confirmed by laboratory examinations according to the New Mexico Department of Health. All three of the human cases made complete recoveries. More than 40 cases of the disease have been reported in horses. The disease is suspected to be transmitted by mosquitoes. Sept. 19, 1988: R. Lee Aamodt, who farms about half an acre in Pojoaque, was 49 when he was sued by the state engineer. Twenty-two years later, Aamodt, now 71 and retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory, still waits for a final decision on how much water he and other residents of the Nambé-PojoaqueTesuque River Drainage Basin will be allowed to control. Some of the legal questions that led to the original lawsuit, The State of New Mexico vs. Aamodt, have been decided. But several still remain in a case that originally was filed to determine water rights in the area before the San Juan-Chama Diversion Project.
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