Thursday, July 23, 2009

OPINION: Letters to the Editor

False Ideas Abound On Cockfighting

To the Editor:

Thanks to all the people who have supported me for the letters I have written. First of all, state Sen. Mary Jane Garcia claims cockfighting came from Asia. She is right about that, but she failed to mention that cockfighting was as much a Hispanic tradition as an Asian tradition.
The Spaniards’ rule in the Phillipines was more than 400 years, and the Filipinos and Spaniards were well aware of the sport of cockfighting. The Spaniards took this to all the states in our country, also. It is a lie that cockfighting is not a Hispanic tradition. As I mentioned in my last letter, the gamecock was almost our national bird.
Look at the endangered species list and the bald eagle is on that list. The well-funded Humane Society wants the gamecock on the endangered list too.
They say we are all drunks and show our kids how to gamble. They must be blind, with all the casinos in our state. Under the New Mexico lottery rules and casino rules, any amount of money under $1,200 you have no obligation to report. So who cashes in more on tax-free money – casino gamblers who play every day or cockfighters?
The actual act of cockfighting is small compared to the raising and feeding of roosters. Feeding roosters means spending money. A person with 50 roosters buys 10 sacks of food a month, on the average price for a bag of feed at $14, for $140. That is $1,680 a year to feed 50 roosters.
Animal rights people should give gamecock breeders a gold medal for their dedicated effort and care of poultry. Raising game roosters is a 365-day-a-year job! All this hard work goes out the window when the Humane Society raids your property and kills all your hard work to raise these creatures.
The Humane Society and Garcia say that we use these roosters for personal gain. They are using all animals for the same purpose. I can guarantee you they have made enough money to support a small country.
The so-called investigator Robyn Gojkovich of the animal task force said on camera we all need to get jobs at Wal-Mart. A part-time job for all us full-time tax-paying gamebreeders wouldn’t cover a fourth of the feed bill working at Wal-Mart full time!
A local couple sent their kids to college running the best gamebreeders’ establishment in the state of New Mexico. Do you think these hard-working honest people who own a farm would work at Wal-Mart? These are honest, hard-working people whom I respect. All the same caliber of people came to their establishment because of respect and being honest.
Cockfighters will never get rich because of the cost to raise roosters. We will hand down to our children honest values and beliefs.
Garcia also says that cockfighting is directly linked to domestic violence and other crimes. I would like to see an honest poll and really see if these crimes have declined now that cockfighting is illegal. The only crime that hasn’t risen is the 10,000 new criminals that have been created by the banning of cockfighting. An illegal activity in this state generates more money and produces a bigger profit than a legal activity. Having new laws creates new taxes we have to pay to enforce these laws.
If we all act now, we can still expose these people for who they really are. Do you honestly think Garcia goes to sleep at night thinking and dreaming of all the rooster she saved? All her dreams are for all of us to keep fighting roosters and get fined to generate more money to prove that cockfighting is wrong. Her expert witness, Darren White, lost his campaign this past election, and I hope he knows the gamebreeders were the difference! Hopefully it will be the difference for Garcia’s election also! Thank you for reading.

Randy Peralta
Lemitar


Church Fiestas
Were Successful


To the Editor:

I would like to give a huge “thank you” to all who supported our annual St. Mary Magdalene Fiestas this past weekend, especially the Magdalena Old Timers Association for our work together and making this weekend a huge success.
We hope to continue the corporation to make it more successful in the future. I would like to thank all who donated, participated and supported, and Father Andy Pavlak for having faith in our community and making this the best fiesta in many years! Look out for more community activities in the future here at St. Mary Magdalene Church, which are all focused on encouraging our participation in our Christian faith.
Regardless of our affiliation, we are all called to serve to better our community and world at large. Thank you again from the mayordomos of St. Mary Magdalene.   

Bryan Baca
Magdalena



Raise For Council A ‘Slap In The Face’

To the Editor:

It’s a sad day when a mayor and some councilors make the choice to give themselves a 50 percent raise in light of what the rest of Socorro is going through.
Times are super-tough, contrary to the rosy picture Ravi tried to paint at Tuesday night’s council meeting. He said the city is doing unbelievably great! Maybe in his neighborhood.
I watched and was quite proud of Councilor MaryAnn Chavez-Lopez and Councilor Peter Romero for placing their constituents and their principles first! No reason in the world would suffice for a 50 percent raise for the mayor and councilors while the very people who count on those same elected officials to lead the way have never in their lifetimes seen more than a 5 percent raise in any job in this city. 
It’s a slap in the face and quite honestly very shabby accounting to dismiss everyone else’s hard times and then take taxpayers money at an unheard of 50 percent and say, “It’s alright, the city is doing wonderfully.“ Well folks, now, so are the mayor and councilors. If you ever hear any of them tell you that they work their fingers to the bone, they are flat out lying to you!
I’ll bet the city employees who qualify for food stamps would have loved to see some of that $44,400 the mayor and certain councilors so arrogantly threw into their little special coffer pot. Why? Everything is peachy for them. They’ve all got full-time jobs – and now – another $1,200 for the councilors and $1,700 for the mayor every month to play around with. Ya’ damn right things are great at city hall!
If there is anyone in Socorro who matched the 50 percent raise the council and mayor just gave themselves – raise your hand! It’s nothing but a bunch of shame-filled elected opportunists who have once again taken advantage of the taxpayers of Socorro because everyone is too busy out there in this God-awful heat trying to find another nickel in the dirt to rub against the one in their pocket, and don’t have time to go to council meetings and raise holy hell! They – we – expect that trust would take care of all of that for us. They’re elected officials. Surely they wouldn’t put it to us after we trusted them enough to place them in what should be an honest and honorable position in the community. You can’t make this up, folks!
One councilor showed his cowardice and voted for the raise “’cause it didn’t matter, he wasn’t running again.” That’s just as horrific as it gets!
I guess in the end, some folks place their greed above their principles, even though principles are right there in front of us and within easy reach – our whole life. I’m 55 and can’t remember being so deeply embarrassed and ashamed of an elected body in my hometown.
Hope all that extra taxpayer money helps the mayor and councilors to be able to go see all the movies they want or take their kids to the zoo whenever they feel like it, maybe buy something extra for their kids just for the heck of it or perhaps take a really nice vacation in the years ahead. I also hope the families and city employees in dire straits understand that not everyone is like those elected officials who forgot that leading by example comes first in their oath –and most of your neighbors really do give a damn about you and your lot in life. To push a 50 percent raise in the face of the people of a community that is quite literally on the edge, and tell them everything is just fine, is unforgivable. Inevitably, those elected officials and their families will sleep quite well, while some city employees and other families’ children won’t be able to sleep because they are hungry.  
This sad, sad “me-first” generation of misguided opportunistic greedy elected officials continues to fester and grow. I’ll continue to pray that every hard-working body in my hometown gets “at least” a 3 percent raise in the coming months. God bless the hurting and less fortunate of Socorro. Your only failing is that you have not been elected to this city’s council. 

Gary R. Jaramillo
Socorro


The Mountain Mail Opinion Page is meant to be a forum for a diverse range of opinions. The Mountain Mail encourages signed letters to the editor or guest columns. Anonymous letters will not be considered for publication.
Please limit the length of letters to 500 words. We reserve the right to edit for content, style and grammar.
Letters will be printed in a first-come, first-served basis, although e-mail submissions may receive higher priority. The deadline is 5 p.m. Tuesday for the following Thursday’s paper.
Readers can send letters to Mailbag, PO Box 1912 Socorro, NM 87801; hand-deliver to the Mountain Mail office in the Adobe Plaza at 413 N. California St.; e-mail to mountainmaileditor@ yahoo.com; or fax to (505) 838-3998.

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