OPINION: Letters to the Editor, Aug. 13

Are Your Children Ready For School?

To the Editor:

Getting children ready for school is like preparing astronauts for a trip to the space station. There is the clothing, the medical checkups, the backpack and all the equipment, as well as the paperwork. Have you started your countdown for the liftoff?
Like astronauts, our children need to be alert when they arrive at school. Dr. Barry Krakow, an Albuquerque physician and author of the book “Sound Sleep, Sound Mind,” says the six most common sources of energy are oxygen, food, water, caffeine, exercise and sleep. The energy source, when lacking, that causes the greatest incapacity is sleep. Sleep is an energy generator that recharges our mind and body. The one problem that hampers the learning process over which the teacher has absolutely no control is drowsiness or sleep deprivation.
Drowsy students have always been one of the biggest frustrations for teachers, but in recent years, the problem has been exasperated by new digital communication devices. Students staying up late at night texting or talking on cell phones with their friends or surfing the Internet have been robbed of countless hours of needed sleep. Some are watching TV or DVD movies and others playing video games in their rooms after the family is asleep.
In a national survey in 2006, only 20 percent of American teens said they get nine hours of sleep a night. Nearly half sleep less than eight hours on school nights, and 28 percent of high school students reported falling asleep in school at least once a week. Dr. Myrza Perez, a pediatric pulmonologist in Folsom, Calif., said, “We all have this 24-7 lifestyle, and as technologies become more prevalent, the problem just gets worse.”
Sleep deprivation results in irritability, fatigue and anxiety, leading to depression and overeating, to counter the low energy level, often leading to obesity. Those who get the proper hours of sleep have less a need for other medications. They are more alert, optimistic and much more capable to learn new concepts and be more creative.
This is an opportunity for parents to prepare their children for a good and enjoyable learning experience by removing all cell phones, video games, DVDs, personal computers and any other electronic devise after 9 p.m. for high school students and 8 p.m. for all other students. It is not unreasonable to have lights out at 10 p.m. for high school students on school nights. Having a structure that will allow for adequate sleep will greatly aid the physical, mental and emotional development of children and establish good habits for the rest of their lives.
Such a discipline is not only needed by our children, but for adults as well. Many industrial accidents, auto accidents and errors in judgment are caused by sleep deprivation. An analysis of safety records for 2003 to 2006 showed that hundred of pilots, mechanics and air-traffic controllers reported fatigue led them to make mistakes on the job, including six cases where pilots fell asleep in mid flight. Likewise, many medical workers, teachers, engineers, construction workers, and so on, have been hampered by sleep deprivation.
This is an area where parents can contribute greatly to the welfare of their children and the overall welfare of our society. It might be interesting if parents told their children’s teachers they intend to help their children get the proper number of hours of sleep. The teachers could track those students performance and compare it with the rest of the class to see how much difference it makes.
We don’t want our young astronauts to be “spaced out” in the classroom. Life is an exciting trip with many opportunities if you are awake to enjoy it.

Rev. Doug May
Socorro

Sponsors, Volunteers Helped Make Fireworks Show A Success

To the Editor:

EMRTC/New Mexico Tech would like to express our thanks to the many sponsors and volunteers who help produce the annual fireworks show. Every year, we ask for sponsors to donate money to help pay for the rising costs of producing this show. This year we would like to extend our thanks to the following businesses for their contributions.
The city of Socorro, First State Bank, Alliant Technologies, A-1 Quality Redi Mix, Polvadera Mutual Domestic Water Association, Baca’s 24-hour Wrecking Service, Monette Ford, G & J Management Services, Socorro Chamber of Commerce, Don and Rosie Tripp, The Water and Ice Store, the Socorro Electric Cooperative and Jerry A. Armijo, PA.
EMRTC would also like to express thanks to the volunteers who contribute their time to this program. They volunteer to give up their holiday on the Fourth to help set up the show. Socorro is blessed to have a nice fireworks show for such a small town, and it is the sponsors and volunteers who help make that happen.
Thank you,

Kelly McLain
Fireworks Program Manager
EMRTC


Vote In A New City Council In March

To the Editor:

I have to say to the city employees of Socorro how very sad and disgusted the majority of people in Socorro are about the fact that Mayor Ravi Bhasker and councilors Donald Monette, Gordon Hicks, Michael Olguin Jr., Toby Jaramillo, Ernest Pargas and Chuck Zimmerly decided to vote for a 50 percent raise for themselves and future elected officials, and in the same swipe of a pen could only find it in their hearts to scrape up a measly 1 percent raise for those employees who carry the city on their backs each and every day.
Their actions speak volumes as to who is first on their priority list. It’s abundantly clear that the city employees are nowhere near the top of that list. And you should be angry. The majority of people in Socorro are held hostage and really can’t do anything about the thoughtless and heartless act of the mayor and the councilors who have so blatantly said in so many words, “It’s about us and no one else.” While most city employees hover just above the poverty line and other employees that work full-time, 40-hour weeks can’t even make as much as a so-called voluntary mayor or councilor, it just doesn’t seem to bother any of the councilors at all. 
Our country is in a financially strapped situation, and Socorro is at the top of the child poverty line in New Mexico, and these clowns smile and say everything at city hall is just fine while the neighborhoods surrounding city hall starve. Many of those children are city employees’ kids. Yeah, just fine, guys. Shame on you.
There is one way you can remedy this “out-of-control monopoly.” Vote them out in March. These guys are no better than the thugs on Wall Street who picked this country clean and continue to put it to us and laugh in our faces as we swirl down the drain. 
Taking advantage of their positions and taxpayers with a 50 percent raise for themselves and throwing a 1 percent dry bone to the hard-working city employees is a disgrace larger than any other in this country in the last year.
Not one other sitting elected board or council in the United States of America of any size, shape or form has given itself a 50 percent raise since the current recession began. I couldn’t even find one elected board or council in this country that has ever given itself a 50 percent raise. Anywhere! It would seem unthinkable to any elected board or council in this country (except here) to even think of kicking its employees and its local taxpayers right smack in the teeth like that.
Twenty years of out-of-control monopolization of our city is enough. Time to clear these same old “me, myself and I” bums out of office. Not a huevo in the lot. Ravi pulls his handful of strings under the dais, and the hands jump up and a faithful “Aye” rings out.  Hasn’t changed in two decades. Don’t anyone out there think there is nothing you can do. Vote and stop these guys who have long forgotten why they ran for office in the first place. There is a giant majority of people who have to finally find their courage and stand up in March and vote against these imposters.
In closing, I would like to say to the city employees: I’m so sorry this happened, but I hope you all know that I and the majority of taxpayers and your neighbors in this city really do care about you and your families and wish you the very best. Another thing I want to say to you is: as a group you (the city employees) can place people on the council and in the mayor’s office who will really care about your everyday job problems and even build a great real retirement for you and your families by giving you the big raises.
Stop being afraid. The thing Ravi and those councilors who threw you all under the bus are most afraid of is your vote! The city employees can control who sits in city hall every election, but if you all don’t stand as one and say “enough,“ you’ll continue to be treated like second-class citizens by the guys running things now. Stand up and take care of you and your family for once. You are the boss! Vote them out in March! 

Gary Jaramillo
Socorro

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OPINION: Letters to the Editor, Aug. 13