Thanks to softball tourney, students will get scholarships

Editor:

Recently, the 30th annual Julie Sandoval Memorial Women’s Softball Tournament was held in Los Lunas. It was a resounding success, thanks to the various local agencies and individual sponsors. As the result of the tourney, Los Lunas and Belen High graduates in the 2003 year will receive post-high school scholarships. We hope to continue to have this tourney in years to come.

Thanks to the Village of Los Lunas for use of the fields. A very special thanks to Herman Garcia from the Parks and Recreation Department for keeping the playing fields in tip-top condition. He did a great job.

Also receiving special gratitude for their support of the tournament were Mike and Pauline Padilla; Torres, Garde, Attorneys at Law; Country Inn, Alfred Archuleta; Delfido R. Conroy, Attorney at Law; Apodaca Services Inc.; Two Minute Warning, Charles and Leona Apodaca; Pete’s Carpet Appliances and Furniture Sales Inc., Pete Gallegos; AABC Rentals, Adolfo and Bernadette Martinez; Tibo Chavez Jr., Attorney at Law; Complete Insur-ance, Lorraine Torres; A-J’s Restau-rant, Manuel Garcia; Carolyn Baca Insurance Agency; Pedro Rael, Attor-ney at Law; Joe and Nancy Gonzales, Century 21 Realty; Guggino’s Inc., Larry and Patty Guggino; Auge’s Dodge Chrysler Jeep Sales and Robert Auge.

Also Carla Chavez, Victoria Flores, Eliseo “Sheo” Trujillo, Jim West, Harvey Diaz, the Wildcats, Buckland Pharmacy, T-VI, Get-a-Grip, A-Team, friends and the champions of the 30th annual Julie Sandoval Memorial Tournament, Bring It.

Frank A. Gurule

Tournament director

Youth Development Inc.

David Valenzuela

Assistant tournament director

Los Lunas

Build west treatment plant

Editor:

Within the past 20 years, the Village of Los Lunas has more than tripled its population, yet it seems that there is no end to its growth and expansion. Unfor-tunately, this growth also has brought expensive pressures and demanding impositions which, thus far, our able counselors have handled with superb ability and know-how.

Our top staff manages the village’s financial workings with precise knowledge, and the different departments and every individual employee work in a unity that indeed makes Los Lunas what, some time ago, a newspaper reporter referred to as a “Jewel on the Rio Grande.”

However, because of this basically predictable and continuous growth, I strongly feel that our village council should rethink its plans for expanding the wastewater treatment plant. A new wastewater facility on the west side of the freeway should be given serious consideration because of the following reasons.

In the early ’80s, the present plant was a state-of-the-art facility yet, in a few years, its capacity had to be doubled. On top of that, the sludge problem had to be addressed and chlorine removal equipment installed. The cost was several million dollars.

Once again, expansion of the plant is needed, this time requiring acquisition of private farmland and installation of other expensive chemical-removing equipment before the environmental agencies will allow any discharge of wastewater into the river.

The area north of Los Cerritos is only halfway completed and, with the continuous locating of big business chains here, it is only a matter of time before the 2,200-acre Huning ranch begins to become a reality.

The inadequate sewer lines and lift stations handling this tremendous amount of sewage through the Carson Park area present a potentially disastrous health problem if those lines fail and also an unimaginable expense to replace lines and correct the damage. Something of this nature would paralyze the entire village.

The time factor and the expense involved not only in the purchase of the Jarratt land and defending the promised lawsuits, but the possibility of losing and the ugly portrayal given the village by those opposed to the Jarratt land condemnation is, in my opinion, not worthy of a town whose clean growth image has been praised both on a state and national basis.

It would seem that expanding the present plant would amount to nothing more than a Band-Aid, temporary solution that will most certainly require bigger expansion in a few years. One must consider, too, the possibility of an eventual prohibition of wastewater discharge into the river.

The west side of the village has the land where construction of a new plant can take place. Land developers who are, in essence, the main impactors could and should be made to bear a portion of the expense. All financial resources being planned for the present plant could be concentrated on a new facility. The wetland concept, though inappropriate in the middle of Los Lunas, could well be a success there. A golf course is proposed for the Huning ranch subdivision. What better way could a developer find to solve the irrigation problem? The present plant could continue to serve the downtown and the Y areas. Let us bear one fact in mind; as time goes by, the cost of things never stops spiraling and, in Los Lunas, expansion can only be to the west and perhaps south along the hill.

I have written these comments without any intention of contradicting our governing body nor to side with any group opposing the proposed treatment plant expansion, but mainly to present a different viewpoint, which I think is timely and worth exploring.

Henry Perea

Los Lunas

Thank you for your prayers

Editor:

I was recently in an accident which left me with a broken neck. I was in the hospital for one week and, during that time, I was told that hundreds, if not thousands, of people, whether individuals or through churches, were praying for my recovery.

I returned for a doctor’s visit six weeks after leaving the hospital. The doctors said my recovery was impressive, and I have suffered no damage to my nervous system and should be completely recovered and back to normal in an additional six weeks.

I believe my recovery is due to my faith in God and all the prayers which were answered by God. The reason for my writing this letter is that my family and I would like to express our sincere appreciation to all the people and organizations who were praying for me. Thanks once again!

Chris Sichler

San Antonio, N.M.

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