Gas Prices and George W.

Wake up people - gas prices are a smoke screen! While you are desperately looking to save 40 cents a gallon, Bush is spending your grandchildren's money in Iraq. And he is making his already rich friends even richer. Declaring he will open up US reserves will do absolutely nothing about gas prices, and will affect the futures market. A fact I am sure his cronies took full advantage of, before the announcement was made.

Bush's latest request of $61 billion for Iraq puts the total tally at $210 billion— and climbing by $5 billion a month. Is Iraq worth that? Not to worry, for you and I aren't paying for it. The Bushites are financing their war by borrowing, mostly from central banks in China, Japan, and Europe.

This means your grandchildren will be paying for W's war long after we are dust to dust. Is this the legacy you intend to leave for your grandchildren? Shock and awe are luring us into a deep sleep, and we will wake up stripped to our skivies wondering what the hell happened.

W and Co. have highjacked America, and we better wake up and get her back!!!!!
America, wake up and stand up!!! Now is the time for all sane men and women to come to the aid of their country.

Hurricane Katrina

Can you imagine what it must be like in New Orleans standing in line to get into the stadium? Or in bumper to bumper traffic with a car full of kids trying to get out of the city? If there is a direct hit on New Orleans, this is going to be a horror story to put the TV dramas to shame. As a matter of fact, there was a tv show with a storyline very similar not too long ago. Hurricane hits Gulf Coast, Saudis sell all their oil to China, and US economy goes down in flames. I remember the trailers but did not watch, I'm not crazy about fake disasters. This real disaster could be terrible. I hope the weather and news channels are wrong. And I hope the Saudis don't watch anymore tv than I do.
I can't stop thinking about the elderly people who are scared tonight and the young people who still think they are bullet proof. What will the next few hours be like for them? The storm of a lifetime, the disaster of a lifetime, families with children trying to get away and old people who are sitting alone in their rooms all at the mercy of the weather God.

Bon Fire Collections

I was reading the CA and noticed a notice.
Wood donations needed. Excuse me? A notice in the newspaper?
What happened to going out and scavaging wood for the bonfire? That was just as much fun as the actual bonfire. Do they want people to bring the wood to them? We thought we were doing a community service by cleaning up the town. Sometimes we went a little overboard; I seem to remember some boys getting in trouble for "borrowing" someone's outhouse. But since I don't think there are many of those around any more, that shouldn't be a problem. I hope these high schoolers are not so "uptown" that they have to have new lumber.

Artesia - the City of the Future

Let's see now, Artesia has the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Artesia has a beautiful redesigned downtown. Artesia is getting a $20 million hospital expansion. Oh yes, and ZZ Top is playing for the New Year's celebration in Artesia. Hmmmmm! Let me think, what is going on here? If Carlsbad keeps going the direction we have been, and Artesia keeps heading the direction they are, then Artesia will be the leading city in Eddy Co. by 2010. Probably not, but when things are headed in that direction maybe someone should pay attention. I know they have an open air CAT scan, that our hospital doesn't have. People in Artesia seem to be open to new ideas. What does it take to get Carlsbad headed in that direction?

First of School

You would think the first couple of weeks of my twenty-first year would have been a piece of cake. Well, no. New history books still not in until today. One NM history class, one US history class, and four eighth grade language arts classes. The trouble with being versatile is that you are versatile. While some teachers, especially teachers with this much seniority, get to spend their quality time teaching the same subject all day, I get to broaden my horizons. It reminds me of the book that made me decide I wanted to teach, Up the Down Staircase, the assisstant principal answered every query with, "Let it be a challenge!" They did not refer to him as Admiral Ass. for nothing. Everything is a challenge. Staff was reduced at our school by 5 positions. And I do understand that the district has to meet budget. My gripe is that we have to reinvent the wheel each and every school year.

Soda Pop or Cokes?

Is it soda pop, or do you say coke? My dad always called it soda pop, no matter what the brand name. Today many people call the bubbly refreshment coke, no matter what the brand name. The only time in my early youth I was able to get Dr. Pepper, created in Waco, Texas, was when the family went to visit my Grandmother in Quanah. It was only distributed in a small area then. The bottles were tall, smooth, light green glass with a round red and white label that had 10, 2, and 4, at the appropriate points like a clock. I tried to convince my mother that meant it was ok to enjoy this treat three times a day, to no avail, of course. But my grandmother always had a few on hand when we arrived, and I thought they were just for me.

At summer camp near Kerrville, we had grape NiHi, and a wonderful lemonade sodapop, the name escapes me. The bottles were smaller then, and Coca- cola bottles had the name of the city where they were bottled in raised letters on the bottom. When you finished a coke, you always held it up and looked to see if it was from some far away place. When you were sick - tummy sick, your mom would buy 7-up, and chicken noodle soup. That was about the only time you had soda pop at home. It was a treat to go downtown to the drugstore and have a soda. Another summertime treat was to go to the A & W drive-in and get a rootbeer float in a big frosty glass mug. They even had small mugs for the little people. Those glass mugs weighed a ton and must have really built muscles on the carhops. Today people don't think twice about bringing home a refrigerator full of different kinds of soda pop, but no one calls them that anymore.

Preventing Suicide Among Young People

"Suicide happens when pain becomes greater than the ability to cope with pain." That is a quote from a suicide prevention web-page. I disagree. Suicide happens when you lose the faintest hope that the pain will lessen or go away. Even though you cannot cope with the pain, you usually hang on until that last glimmer of hope is extinguished. You can lose everything and still come out ahead, if you hang on to hope. Gone With the Wind's Scarlet O'Hara in the root garden behind the ruins of Tara still had hope. A Bataan survivor I interviewed told me one difference in those who survived and those who might have been in better shape but didn't make it, was hope. The Biblical Job sitting in his rags amid the ashes of his life held on to hope.
That is the tragedy of teen suicide. They are so young and have so little experience with pain that they can't gauge of the amount of pain a human can take. Human beings are amazingly resilient; we can survive a tremendous amount of pain. The story of the Utah rock climber trapped by a fallen boulder, that amputated his own arm below the elbow and then walked several miles out of a desert canyon, is an example of what humans can take. The mothers that lost children and created an organization against drunken driving (MADD) show how some have coped with the ultimate pain.
Unfortunately, our culture magnifies the lack of experience of youth by shielding young people from stories involving pain. Sometimes we miss the chance to talk about survival, because we don't talk about things that hurt us or others in front of children. We don't want to scare or upset our children, so we often keep knowledge from them that might let them better understand surviving pain. We need to make sure they understand that there is no "happily ever after." We don't want to traumatize our children, but we need to let them know the world is not perfect, and they will without a doubt at different times in their lives experience pain. If they see how their parents and other adults have experienced pain and still survived, then the knowledge will be tangible for them. We don't want to make them sad, but we do want to make them strong. It is important to give them that spark of hope that will not be extinguished.

No Child Left Behind and AYP

We are back to school – August 10 was the first day for teachers. Our calendar year is getting longer and longer. We are ready for a new year and new expectations. No Child Left Behind is at the forefront of the minds of the administration. How do we show Average Yearly Progress again this year? This goal is a dead weight on all public education. The idea behind the idea is great. Then the bean counters got their hands on it. Every district should strive to be better this year than it was last year. That is why most of us are here, but expecting 100% of children to test as proficient in seven years in not logical. Alta Vista, even though all other groups passed, was rated as not meeting AYP because special education students did not meet AYP. That is how it works, if the smallest subgroup in your school fails to meet AYP then the whole school is rated as not meeting AYP. Setting impossible goals, as No Child Left Behind has done, will discourage even the best educators. Using one test to measure progress will have results that were not intended by the legislature. Anyone want to join the pool as to how long it will be until they dump this Act? When test scores become a Golden Idol that we are totally focused on, something is seriously wrong.

Carlsbad Loan Sharks

Check out the NM Attorney General's web page http://www.ago.state.nm.us/divs/cons/loans/cons_loans.htm
She is warning all NM citizens about the predetory lenders in NM. This is a list of the ones in Carlsbad:
Sun Loan Co., a corporation from San Antonio TX
Liberty Finance, a corporation w/ a Carlsbad mailing address
National Mortgage Co., a corporation w/ a Carlsbad mailing address
Security Finance, a sole proprietorship owned by A.R. Briggs Carlsbad address
1st USA Title Loans, owner - Anthony Williams Carlsbad address
Hometown Mortgage Service, owners - Rene & Cecilia Salcedo Carlsbad address
Zia Finance, a division of Security Finance - see above
World Finance, a corporation w/ a Carlsbad mailing address
Check n Go of NM, a corporation from Madison Ohio
Fast Bucks of Carlsbad, NM LLC, a corporation - lists Charles Horton, owner
Home Pro Mortgage, a sole proprietorship owner not listed manager Oscar Caballero
Grumpys Loan Center, corporation w/ Carlsbad address
Associates Financial, no owner listed / primary contact - Mike Sandate
Your Credit, Inc, a corporation w/ Carlsbad address pc - Royal Management
Easy Money of NM, Inc., a corporation w/ a Virginia address pc - David Greenberg
Pecos Valley Mortgage, a sole proprietorship - Tommy Martinez

This is a list of most of the current loan sharks. At least if they are owned by someone from Carlsbad, the money stays in the Carlsbad economy. The ones that are owned by out of state corporations bleed the money from our economy. Carlsbad cannot afford these businesses.

The AG has commercials warning you against these places. If you skip a payment at a payday loan place and don't make it up, all of the rest of your payments just go to interest. You will still owe the same amount in a year. The title loan places can take your car if you miss a payment.

Think - These loans cost more than 750% annual interest. No one can afford to borrow from them. Don't do it. The majority of their clients are on Social Security or minimum wage. They are taking advantage of desperate people who can least afford it.

Illegal Aliens - Prison is not the Answer!

Did you know 28% of the prisoners in federal prisons are non-US citizens? About 27% are Mexican nationals. We need to rethink our immigration law and how we use our prison system. I don't care how many times someone is caught crossing the border; it is stupid to put them in prison. The cost quoted in Senate hearings last year was $628 million of our tax dollars per year to feed and house Mexican Nationals in federal prisons. This is NUTS. Either send them back, or give them a work card. Do not send them to prison. 80% do not stay in the U.S. -- they come to make some money to solve a problem at home. Most return to Mexico voluntarily within a three year period. How many prisons are we going to build? The prison industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the US. Is this a statistic we want the world to remember? Our tax dollars should be used for things that will benefit future generations, education and public infrastructure. Feeding and housing illegal immigrants is a gross waste of taxpayers' money.

I'll be back - Someone, make a comment!

I am leaving for a quick jaunt, but will be back in 2 days. I'm going to do a series of articles about a few of Carlsbad's most interesting people. Stay tuned, assuming anyone is out there. Hey someone --- make a comment to a post. Tell me if you think I'm full of baloney. Let me know what's going on - Heck, correct my spelling or grammar. I know I find a mistake everytime I go back. That is one of the cool things about a blog. You can fix it when it makes you cringe. And if I don't like the comments, I can always erase them. I have the power! Back in two days.

Matt Byers' Show on KCCC Radio AM 9.30

Matt Byers’ Radio Program
12:30 PM the First Wednesday of every month on KCCC 9.30 AM

On Matt’s first program he addressed the issue of teen suicides in Carlsbad. He and his guests, Bob Forrest, Josh Byers, and the infamous Nick Leone and Curtis McKinney from Carlsbad On Line, discussed their past mistakes and foibles. This was an excellent use of airtime, and I hope some teens were able to catch it. If they didn’t and they want to hear what was said, it can be found on http://www.carlsbadonline.com/. I am pleased Nick Jenkins and KCCC gave Matt this air time. Preventing teen suicide is a complicated issue, and Matt has taken it up as a cause. I commend everyone who participated or contributed to this effort.
As a teacher, one thing I find disturbing about junior high students is the amount of adult knowledge they possess, and take for granted. Of course being the old lady that I am, I'm shocked that they talk as openly about sex, about how they feel about their bodies, and how street wise they are. There is a big difference in these students, and the ones I taught in the eighties. I'm fifty-two, really old to them. When I was in junior high a hundred years ago, I didn't know homosexuality existed. As a matter of fact, I was in college before I knew much of anything about gays.
I mention this because it seems part of the problem teenagers have today is having too much information, and not enough knowledge. You might not see the difference, but the kind of knowledge I’m talking about creates a filter (judgment) that helps people decide how information can or should be used. We teach a lot of stuff - that is how they perceive it - as stuff. However, it seems to me, we expect kids to have this filter (judgment), and they don't. Many young people process every event as a major crisis or a major success. They do not seem to be able to operate in the middle range. Maybe home is where they develop judgment, and maybe it isn’t something that can be taught in school. I know this is only part of the problem, and I don’t have a solution. The information is already there and pouring in. My dad would have said, “You can’t put the cat back in the bag.” So as adults who care, we need to try to help young people learn to deal with this flood of information.

Matt’s show was excellent. It was a great way for teens to hear about mistakes other people have made, and lived to laugh about later. We all have made mistakes. My dad also was fond of saying, “You show me a man who never made a mistake, and I’ll bet you that man never did much of anything.” My dad was usually right.

Judge Woods and the NM Supreme Court

The Current Anguish just confused me about the Judge Woods matter. Today's article was titled Update - gee, I guess I missed the first edition. So, this guy (Woods) sentenced offenders to do time for their tickets, and only credited them with $5 a day while other judges were crediting other offenders with $45 dollars a day. For how long, and how many offenders did it affect? The article in the paper sounded like Woods was the victim in this case. Will the offenders be compensated in any manner? And the biggest question, who had the $$$$ and the OOOOO to take a magistrate fine to the State Supreme Court? I would like to shake that person's hand.

Pay Day Loan Sharks are a Cancer in Carlsbad

Carlsbad has 17 small loan companies listed in the 2004 Valor phone book. These are predatory lenders. They take advantage of people who cannot borrow money anywhere else. They do not care if the person might be living on Social Security, or public assistance. They do not care how the person will pay back the loan. The companies that require a car title probably hope they are not paid back. The car title places will reposes a car from persons who have no other transportation. And they sell the cars for more that the amount borrowed.
Payday Loan Sharks are legal in NM. According to a local legitimate banker, a loophole in the NM banking laws allows these "businesses" to charge whatever they can get. Our Attorney General, Patricia Madrid, has a website page warning people about these places. This is the address of her warning http://www.ago.state.nm.us/divs/cons/loans/cons_loans.htm .

Abuses in making and collecting payday loans occur in a variety of ways. Cash-strapped customers are rarely able to repay the entire loan when payday arrives, because they need the new paycheck for current living expenses. Lenders encourage these customers to rollover or refinance one payday loan with another; those who do so pay yet another round of charges and fees and obtain no additional cash in return. If the check is returned for insufficient funds or the loan otherwise goes unpaid, the lender may threaten to involve the criminal justice system, a tactic that is possible only because a check, rather than a mere promissory note, is involved.

Senior citizens and young adults are the most willing victims to this scandal. Some of them know how much interest they are being charged, but because they are desperate they take loans. They hope they will be able to pay back, but probably cannot. Sometimes these people take out a loan at another company to pay off the first loan. They get caught in a vicious circle.

Who are the owners of these businesses in Carlsbad? The only objection I have ever heard was because of the colorful paint job of the company on Church and Canal. These businesses are a cancer on our economy. New Mexico is one of 12 states that have no laws to regulate predatory lending. This needs to be changed.

Carlsbad and the Big Event

There was a meeting at the Civic Center last week of people who would like to organize an Annual Festival for Carlsbad that would combine some of our smaller events. Some of these events seem to be fading. There is the idea that combining smaller events into a Big Event would be a good idea. Too many small events lose the attention of the public. At one time the Combined Art Affair and Car Affair attracted a big crowd. Some of the Big Events we had in the past were very successful, and drew people from out of town to Carlsbad.
A Big Event, even combining small events into a Big Event, takes Community Cooperation and a dedicated group of voluteers. Carlsbad can do this, but everyone will have to work together. And the younger businessmen in town need to take the lead.
Carlsbad has in the past pulled off several different Big Events. I spoke with some of those responsible for the Alfalfafests in the 80s. The Alfalfafests were sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. Although they don’t have exact records of volunteer hours, a person for whom I have the utmost respect estimates that over a 3 or 4 month period, there were approximately 60 volunteers who contributed around 80 hours each. Some spent less time and some more, as with any volunteer event, but it took approximately 1400 man hours to successfully produce each 2 - 3 day event.
One of the things that made the Big Events possible in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, was a group of young businessmen who had been “schooled” in the need to volunteer by groups like the Jay Cees (Junior Chamber of Commerce). The JC Fairs of the 70s and 80s were a training platform for community organizational activism. The once young men of this organization have matured into Carlsbad’s community leaders. They may not be on the front page, but these are people who know how to work behind the scenes and get things done. Some of these “old” Jay Cees are now Sheriff’s Posse members.
The Sheriff's Posse hosts the AJRA Rodeo every summer. The Posse has a membership of approximately 120, of these 60 are active workers, and a core group of 15/20 organizes the majority of the work done. The planning for the next rodeo begins about the time this year's rodeo ends. Most of the core group have been working in the same capacity for several years, and have a mental plan before the event begins. It takes less people to get the job done when they have done the same task for several years.
Now they are bringing a new event to Carlsbad. The Sheriff's Posse will be hosting the 4-H State Rodeo Finals here on Labor Day Weekend. There will be around 300 to 350 people attending from all over the state, and it will be a 3 day event. This will be a major boost to the Carlsbad economy. The Sheriff's Posse needs to be congradulated for their hard work, and dedication. This is a great example of how one organization can benefit the entire community.