Letters to the Editor (Dec. 10)

MRGCD needs to do better

Editor:

Farmers, I’m sure that by now you have all received your tax bill from MRGCD. You might have noticed that our rates went up by 82 cents per acre.

I know what you are thinking: it’s not very much and we shouldn’t be concerned. In real terms is translates to $54,120 out of our pockets and into theirs. I’m sure that Mike Hammond (the chief executive officer and chief engineer for MRGCD) plans to nickel and dime us to death using this trick. He did this after assuring us at the meeting with him this summer that rates would remain the same.

Mike, you lied to us and you should be ashamed for doing so. I thought (David) Gensler’s (water ops division manager for MRGCD) comment, according to Walter Niner, saying he doesn’t care about farmers because his paycheck came from folks in Bernalillo County was bad, but what you did is much worse. Apparently, we are not only fighting the Bureau of Reclamation, developers and lovers of the silvery minnow, we also seem to have enemies from within.

In a Freudian slip, Mike Hammond revealed information to me that I thought was quite interesting. It seems that the increasing rates for farmers, developers in Bernalillo and Valencia counties get reduced fees for subdividing prime farmland along the valley. It seems that now we are helping developers destroy good farmland and put us out of business.

Apparently, MRGCD has adopted a new policy concerning phone calls. It is quite difficult to get a call through because they monitor calls and pick and choose who they will talk to. Ignore and disregard calls and messages and maybe these stupid hick farmers will go away is not a sound policy to adopt.

If you don’t like to take calls and answer questions, maybe you should consider stepping down and we’ll replace you with people who are willing.

This past summer was difficult for most and quite profitable for some. Those people who irrigate pecan trees and corn throughout the valley got all the water they needed and then some. The rest of us not so much. MRGCD shut down irrigation for most on Oct. 12, yet some were irrigating winter wheat for the second time on the last week of October. It makes you wonder about their claims that all got equal opportunity to the water that was available.

It matters who you vote for. We need to elect farmers or people who are sympathetic to farmers to the MRGCD board. At present, it seems people serving are favoring developers and other entities who have worked really hard to put farmers out of business. What better way to do this than by increasing rates and denying water.

Fabian W. Padilla

Tomé
Following the rule of law

Editor:

In the Nov. 5, 2020, VCNB letter to the editor, Terry Mehaffey asked: Who is responsible? (for the COVID-19 deaths) and goes on to indicate that President Trump and Vice President Pence are responsible tor the United States’ deaths.

By comparing the U.S. deaths with other selected countries does nothing to consider the sorrow and impact that each death inflicts on families and friends of those deaths. Put the blame on the correct responsible persons in China and the World Health Organization.

The time line and events from the first case in China to those deaths worldwide are documented in many news sources. The Democrat Party tried to blame Trump for ours here and was somewhat successful by the recent election results. The truth is that if President Trump had done something to help keep the death rate lower than it is, Democrats and the liberal news media would have found a way to criticize him for that; like calling him a dictator.

I don’t need to try convincing Mehaffey that our Creator had a hand in guiding our Founding Fathers in drafting the Declaration of Independence, in creating our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and procedures for creating “a more perfect union” that has stood the test of time. We can be better by following the rule of law.

Luther D. Robertson

Los Lunas