Mail letters to Letters, Santa Fe Reporter, PO Box 2306, Santa Fe NM 87504, deliver them to 132 E. Marcy St., fax them to 505-988-5348 or e-mail them to editor@sfreporter.com.
De nada
Thanks for publishing that informative letter from Maurice Webster [Letters, Oct. 1: “Know Your Vote”] last week; it cleared up a question I had about the dastardly “Straight Party Option” on the ballot—just voting straight party and not going through the entire ballot means I miss out on a chance to vote for excellent third-party candidates like Rick Lass, the Green Party candidate for Public Regulation Commission this year. Perhaps the straight-party option should be removed permanently from New Mexico ballots if it leads to a confusing and biased ballot that alienates qualified candidates; where’s the democracy in that?
Carl Hansen
Madrid
At the drive-in
I wanted to write in to thank you and your staff organizers for the drive-in showing School of Rock. It was a very sweet family-friendly community event. My boyfriend and I filled up my car with blankets, pillows and a small picnic. We had a great time rocking out with Jack Black. It’s sad that drive-ins are a rare find these days. Growing up in Denver, I would go to the Cinderella City Drive-In with my family. My dad, now deceased, would load up the car with pillows, sleeping bags and plenty of popcorn, while my brothers and I would be decked out in our pajamas, eventually falling asleep before the movie was over. So, this local version of a drive-in was a nice nostalgic reminder of those days and memories of my dad. It was very sweet to see the mom and her young son wrapped up in blankets with a transistor radio on the hood of her car or the family licking ice-cream cones on a warm September night. I loved seeing the effort to adopt those puppies and the Warehouse 21 kids on their skateboards taking the burger orders. It was a very memorable, beautiful night and I hope there will be more next summer. Lastly, as an event organizer, I wanted to give special kudos to Marcia Beverly. She managed the parking, the people and all the issues that did arise with a cheerful and easy-going attitude that I know is hard to have during stressful event-organizing times. But how can one be stressed at the drive-in?
Kathleen Chambers
Santa Fe
Outsiders care
Locals Care was NEVER a locally owned operation [Zane’s World, Oct. 1: “Enter the Center”].
Also, they [Locals Care] ask the merchants to give them all their credit-card machine and bank-account info—they actually know what you’re sending through your machine and take a percentage of it (not to mention the info they have on the customer as a result of the purchase).
Frankly, it’s safer and smarter to give to the charity of your choice—your reward can just be knowing you did. That should be enough.
Kim Martin
The Gilded Page
Santa Fe
VP Debate
Unfortunately, the bar for Thursday’s vice presidential debate was set shockingly low, before the debate had even started. It became obvious that as long as Gov. Palin didn’t run off stage crying, her supporters would consider her performance a victory. Palin’s forced folksy manner, constant dropping of her “g’s” and the painfully pretentious use of words like “doggonit,” were an insult to the intelligence of every person watching the supposed debates. Biden handled himself well, answering questions clearly—expertise that should be expected from candidates at this level of extreme responsibility and power. While on the other side of the stage, Gov. Palin’s performance seemed to be better suited to a particularly cringe-worthy episode of “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” Palin’s first real introduction to the American people was a transparent and offensive display that came off as nothing but rehearsed and insincere platitudes, and an insulting lack of political poise. She exhibited such odd and unprofessional behavior as occasionally winking, using sarcasm and redirecting questions to completely unrelated topics. It showed Palin for what she is: the Republican Party’s need for a young-ish, fundamentalist warm body with female reproductive organs and a charmingly distracting demeanor.
Amanda Carpenter
Santa Fe
Catchin’ some Zs
In one of your recent publications [Outtakes, Sept. 3: “Survey Says”], you stated that a big problem, according to complaints about the [Santa Fe Trails], was that a certain person was falling asleep. The person you were talking about was not a passenger, but a bus driver. Sometimes we have to kick the bus to wake him up, for crying out loud! This same person is seriously aloof and doesn’t stop for passengers. The only thing we haven’t tried is to lie on the street at the bus stop, for fear that he wouldn’t see us there either! Management knows about this but, like the bed bugs at St. Elizabeth’s homeless shelter, it’s all just a joke! Spare us your feeble attempts at management!
Dennis Perea
Santa Fe
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