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CCIAJune 8, 2025Sound-OffThis op-ed was originally published in the Las Cruces Bulletin, 6 June 2025. At odds with oath of office Sarah Smith The right to petition is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, N.M. State Constitution, and Las Cruces City Charter.  As part of the Bill of Rights, petitioning is one of the most basic rights that the government is sworn to uphold and protect, thereby providing an avenue by which people can request that the government address concerns and grievances. Our City Councilors and Mayor vowed to uphold the constitution and City charter when they took their oaths of office, yet their recent vote against the Realize Las Cruces petition is at odds with these vows.  Realize Las Cruces, an ordinance approved by City Council in February, is a sweeping policy change that overhauls the longstanding zoning code, removing single family residential zoning across much of the City and instead allowing high-density apartments and some businesses into existing neighborhoods. Per the City Charter, people are allowed to petition to have ordinances placed on the ballot for a vote by the public. To that end, I organized a petition drive to put Realize Las Cruces on the ballot so that the people would have a chance to vote on whether to allow such comprehensive changes to their neighborhoods. Per the City Charter, we were required to collect 3,240 signatures. From the beginning, the City made the petition process as difficult as possible. They would not allow us to collect signatures electronically. They would not allow petition volunteers to use electronic copies of the 400-page ordinance, so instead all volunteers were required to carry bulky printed copies of the ordinance. That was over 30,000 pages to be printed at a cost of over $1,000.  Of our initial 30-day deadline, the City burned up a week of our time with delays in providing the petition form and providing false information about who was allowed to collect signatures. The City Attorneys finally acknowledged their error, yet they refused to give us back that week of time even though the City was at complete fault for delaying the petition and giving false information. Later, the City refused to provide timely answers to questions about signature collection dates during the allowed petition amendment process, and then they threw out over 1,200 signatures without even checking them on the voter rolls just because of the dates on which they were collected.  Hundreds of other signatures were unjustly thrown out by the City, as well. For instance, some people had a hard time writing due to being elderly or having shaky hands.  In those instances, they signed the petition and then the volunteers filled in the address and printed name. These signatures were all thrown out by the City.  Some others signed the petition with their nickname (such as Bill instead of William, Gilbert instead of Gilberto, Fran instead of Francis, or Tim instead of Timothy). In each case, the voter could still clearly be identified in the voter roll by the remaining information provided, but the Clerk still invalidated those signatures. All of these people would be allowed to vote at the polls, yet their signatures were not counted as valid on the petition. Overall, more than 1,500 people have been disenfranchised by having their signatures unjustly invalidated.  We tried to follow the City’s processes, but they provided us with unclear instructions, false information, and a continually moving target. We collected 4,671 signatures, yet the City threw out over 1/3 of our signatures without due process and then ruled that our petition was insufficient. Those oaths to uphold the Constitution by Mayor Enriquez and Councilors Bencomo, Corran, Flores, Graham, and McClure look to be devoid of meaning now.  Sarah Smith is co-leader of the New Mexico Freedoms Alliance (non-partisan statewide grassroots coalition) and vice chair of the Coalition of Conservatives in Action in Las Cruces. She is also a homeschooling mother of two teens, natural healthcare practitioner, and former NASA aerospace engineer. [...] Read more...
rob woodMarch 29, 2025Sound-OffHi All,I have been thinking about this Department of Eduction fiasco with some historical context. What is concerning is that on the PISA international testing scale the U.S. is 23rd in the world. Of course this does not mean a Sputnik moment where all focus of education turns toward just doubling down on established practices of engineering (which later hindered further movement of education into the computer and data/information processing age) but it does mean that “Houston we have a problem” and local independent thought is not going to solve it as it did on Apollo 11.I feel this WIKI coverage of the Department’s purposes and history brings some of the pros and cons into the light. I fear we will throw out the baby with the bathwater if not careful. At all levels we as a society must be asking, relative to the student futures; “What is the purpose of school?”. That answer should be a vision statement for all departments of education. Here is a tip that it should not be; “That all go on to college” even though that has been the college led mantra that leaves the majority of our students unprepared for the actual realities of post education work and now holding $1.7 trillion in debt obligations. A serious ball and chain perpetuated by middle and high schools that teach to the college admissions test.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_EducationWe need a national assessment and research agency but not one as all encompassing as we have. I just hope someone is considering the bigger challenge at a national level. There is nothing in the Constitution referencing education just as there is nothing referencing which side of the road we drive on. I am sure the Department of Transportation is probably worse in wastefulness than the Dept. of Ed but we are all glad it’s not just left up to the local and state governments to decide left or right even though looking forward most consideration of education is being done by driving into the future while looking in the rear view mirror.I came across this in Jenny Anderson’s “The Disengaged Teen” and felt it highlighted something very important that a federal level office can do research wise and offer such research back to the States and local school districts in hopes that they might see reason to change their methods of practice. Our educational systems obviously have no  idea how to fail, pause, reflect and then make the changes necessary. Doubling down on what brought them to this point (19th century methods and content) is not an answer.  (I suggest a 1939 coverage of taht found in “The Saber Tooth Curriculum” by Peddiwell.) Rob Wood [...] Read more...
Sarah SmithJanuary 15, 2025Sound-OffThis column was originally published at https://www.lascrucesbulletin.com/stories/legislature-must-reform-competency-and-direct-treatment,103706 on 8 January 2025. Sarah SmithGuest columnist Our communities are paying the price for our broken criminal justice system, which is failing those with mental health problems and/or drug addiction. Shortly, the 2025 legislative session will be underway in Santa Fe. Like many others, I’m wondering whether our legislators will take action to fix the situation. Here in Las Cruces, repeat offenders are responsible for innumerable crimes. Many repeat offenders are deemed incompetent to stand trial, so they are just released back onto the streets where they commit crime after crime after crime. For instance, from a public records request, one of the top repeat offenders in Las Cruces has over 120 charges for aggravated assault, drug dealing (meth), battery, trespassing, shoplifting and more. Another top repeat offender has been charged 95+ times, with offenses including criminal trespass, possession of illegal drugs, assault, property damage, indecent exposure, shoplifting, battery on a peace officer and unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon. These are just a couple of examples, but there are dozens more. Twenty-eight of the top 40, or 70 percent, of the top repeat offenders in Las Cruces are homeless, given that Mesilla Valley Community of Hope is listed as their place of residence. I can drive around downtown and see several repeat offenders on the streets on any given day. Meanwhile, families and businesses in Las Cruces are suffering the consequences. Businesses and homes are being vandalized, windows are being broken, property is being taken and vehicles are being stolen. Homeless people are camping out at businesses and homes, approaching people asking for money, scaring children, threatening people and leaving trash and feces all around. Drugged out people are wandering the streets, harassing people and leaving dangerous needles lying around where children can find them. My own two teens have often ridden the city bus to a class in downtown Las Cruces. They’ve witnessed men behaving erratically, drug dealing in broad daylight and two vagrants outside their classroom window smoking crack or meth in the middle of the afternoon in full view of children as young as nine years old. Like many mothers, I am concerned for my children’s safety, especially in downtown Las Cruces, parking lots and city parks. People are being harmed while trying to live peacefully and responsibly, such as Rosa Ortega, who was brutally attacked by a homeless person in broad daylight while walking to the grocery store. Another example is a yoga teacher in downtown Las Cruces, who was attacked with rocks thrown at her car and threatened with being raped and killed. Less than a year ago, LCPD Officer Jonah Hernandez was murdered while responding to a trespassing call, leaving behind his wife and two young children. It is not compassionate to allow people to continue destroying their own lives and health with drugs; and it is the duty of government to ensure that these people are not allowed to continue destroying our community. The New Mexico Legislature must enact laws to allow “incompetent” offenders to be directed into treatment, for the good of all. Currently, part of the problem is that the state’s definition for mental disorders does not include substance abuse disorder. This makes it very difficult to direct those who are addicted to drugs into the stabilizing treatment they need. Furthermore, the current assisted outpatient treatment model is not enough. AOT is voluntary and, while it can work well for some offenders, it’s clearly not working for the top repeat offenders, many of whom are violent and unstable. Much as we’d like to wish it wasn’t necessary, there must be a mechanism for involuntary commitment and treatment of those who are deemed incompetent. The upcoming legislative session is a prime opportunity for change. Both Democratic and Republican legislators need to stop politicizing the issues and find common ground so that our communities and our state can survive. Safety across our state should be a top priority for our legislators, but it remains to be seen whether they will actually take any meaningful action. Sarah Smith is coleader of the New Mexico Freedoms Alliance and vice chair of the Coalition of Conservatives in Action in Las Cruces. [...] Read more...
rob woodJanuary 2, 2025Sound-OffWe are standing at the juncture of a possible whole new Age of Enlightenment but we must choose the right path. AI is not going back into the bottle and as we drag our feet and wait for some outside force to bring order to it the bad actors are doubling down on its use. Enlightenment only happens when a population chooses to gain far more applicable factual knowledge than the preceding generations. The ones that fail to do so are left to the whims of those that do. Unless we change how we educate our future generations who hope to prosper by playing by the rules, their hopes and dreams will be snuffed by those who did not due to the foot dragging of our institutions of education combined with an entrenched populist backward thinking mindset. They become victims of our desire to not upset the applecart so as to retain the status quo purely because we have gotten comfortable with it.  There is so much food for thought in Sal Khan’s (Khan Academy) recent book, “Brave New Words” that I think it was rewritten since I first read it last month. I will embark on a third reading in conjunction with a reread of both Steven Pinker’s 2018 book “Enlightenment Now” to gain hope and Victor Davis Hansen’s “The Dying Citizen” to confront reality because unless we start connecting the dots and acting on those connections our children and their children will lead lives of not so quiet desperation.  Driving into the future with a major focus on what is in the rear view mirror only leads to disaster. Knowledge is power but only if applied. Rob Wood [...] Read more...
CCIAOctober 23, 2024Sound-Offhttps://www.lascrucesbulletin.com/stories/this-is-not-the-time-for-las-cruces-to-raise-grt,96894 This is not the time for Las Cruces to raise GRT Posted Friday, October 18, 2024 2:48 pmSarah SmithGuest columnist On Las Cruces’ voting ballot right now, the city council is asking us to increase the gross receipts tax. Our GRT is already significantly higher than Albuquerque’s. The proposed increase would make our taxes higher than Santa Fe, Ruidoso, Sunland Park and elsewhere. This a really bad time to increase taxes. Many families are struggling to make ends meet due to the higher cost of living over the last few years, including higher prices for gas, housing, food, and clothing. The city’s budget has increased by over 40 percent since 2019, yet they are still asking us for more money? City flyers say higher taxes “will provide increased public safety and improvements to city streets and parks.” These promises are disingenuous, given that the mayor and city council have refused to limit what the money can be used for in any meaningful way. The ballot text could have ensured that the funds wuld actually be used for public safety, streets and parks, but city council did not do this. Instead, the ballot text includes open-ended wording which would allow the money to be used for essentially any capital improvement project that the city council wants. These taxes taken from the families of Las Cruces could very easily get diverted into things that the people never would have agreed to fund, such as hygiene stations for the homeless (which were proposed by city council last year) or no-sobriety-required homeless housing (like the Desert Hope homeless housing project on the corner of Foster and Pecos, which has devastated the surrounding neighborhood with drugs, crime and violence).  The mayor and city council also could have built in a sunset date on the tax increase, to make sure it does not become a forever tax. But they refused to do this. By state law, the city council already has the power to increase taxes by a smaller amount anytime they want to, without the public voting on it. They are waiting to see how we vote on this tax increase before deciding whether to go ahead and impose their own tax increase. If we vote to increase taxes, city council may see that as a green light to impose an additional tax increase. I don’t think this is the right time to take more money from the families of Las Cruces. And with three city council positions up for election next year combined with a mayor who has no veto power, they can’t make any guarantees on what the money will be used for. I’ll be voting against the tax increase. Sarah Smith is Vice Chair of the Coalition of Conservatives in Action in Las Cruces and she co-leads the New Mexico Freedoms Alliance. [...] Read more...
BethSeptember 16, 2024Sound-OffDear Editor: Thank you for such a thorough covering of the Sept 12 public meeting on the shopping cart enforcement plan. With all the outrage that has eaten up hours of City Council time it is a pretty pathetic statement when only 6 people show up.  It appears, at least to me, that since the heaviest penalties and costs weigh on the businesses that offer shopping carts for their customers convenience they are no longer the victims of a city soft on petty crimes but have now become the criminals. All those new costs will be added into the stores pricing so the honest consumer pays for them in the name of ridding our city, not of the homeless, but of the eye sore of them using shopping cars laden with their belongings. It does absolutely nothing with regards to the despondent state of those using them as they now appear to have wagons. Who is paying for that upgrade? Where can I get one?As far as those prosecuted for possessing an apparently stolen cart the article states that municipal court is all of a sudden going to get tough on this crime and force people into treatment programs which the cost of will be another burden on the public since most of those on the streets are not financially capable of paying a fine. Inn essence this makes the taxpayer complicit in the crime and thus pay the fine in their taxes as the success rate of forced treatment without long term mandated continual overview is extremely low.Unless the City and its complaining citizens quit focusing on appeasing poverty and turns to focusing on prosperity generating economic development we will continue down this bottomless rabbit hole as is shown by the failure of all poverty eradication programs that billions of dollars have been wasted on over the decades.Rob Wood 575-635-0803 3427 Chimney Rock Rd 88011 [...] Read more...
rob woodAugust 22, 2024Sound-OffAll Children Are Dreamersand then they’re sent to schoolSince all children have grand dreams how about offering two books early on in their education, “The Richest Man in Babylon” by Clason, and “How to Be Rich” by J. Paul Getty. Yes, adults should read them also since they were denied this information in their education.I really encourage all to get a copy either in book form or for free online of John Taylor Gattos “Weapons of Mass Instruction”. Gatto taught from the late 60s into the 90s middle school in high end and low end public schools in NYC and finally in dismay resigned saying he no longer could do this to children. His resignation letter was published in the WSJ. I drove my grandson to school today. He is now a senior at a top performing 20 year old Charter school in San Diego. Here he is after over 11 years of school and he makes the comment to me that it is so discouraging to him that he was left behind throughout the years. I explained that it was not his fault, it is by design of a failed institution that leads to some premise that there is some standard of average it teaches to. I also suggest “The End of Average” by Todd Rose.In 1991 New York State Teacher of the Year, John Taylor Gatto, sent his resignation letter to the Wall Street Journal I quit, I think I’ve taught public school for 26 years, but I just can’t do it anymore. For years I asked the local school board and superintendent to let me teach a curriculum that doesn’t hurt kids, but they had other fish to fry. So, I’m going to quit, I think. I’ve come slowly to understand what it is I really teach: A curriculum of confusion, class position, arbitrary justice, vulgarity, rudeness, disrespect for privacy, indifference to quality, and utter dependency. I teach how to fit into a world I don’t want to live in. I just can’t do it anymore. I can’t train children to wait to be told what to do; I can’t train people to drop what they are doing when a bell sounds; I can’t persuade children to feel some justice in their class placement when there isn’t any, and I can’t persuade children to believe teachers have valuable secrets they can acquire by becoming our disciples. That isn’t true. Government schooling is the most radical adventure in history. It kills the family by monopolizing the best times of childhood and by teaching disrespect for home and parents. An exaggeration? Hardly. Parents aren’t meant to participate in our form of schooling, rhetoric to the contrary. My orders as schoolteacher are to make children fit an animal training system, not to help each find his or her personal path. The whole blueprint of school procedure is Egyptian, not Greek or Roman. It grows from the faith that human value is a scarce thing, represented symbolically by the narrow peak of a pyramid. That idea passed into American history through the Puritans. It found its “scientific” presentation in the bell curve, along which talent supposedly apportions itself by some Iron Law of biology. It’s a religious idea and school is its church. New York City hires me to be a priest. I offer rituals to keep heresy at bay. I provide documentation to justify the heavenly pyramid. Socrates foresaw that if teaching became a formal profession something like this would happen. Professional interest is best served by making what is easy to do seem hard; by subordinating laity to priesthood. School has become too vital a jobs project, contract-giver and protector of the social order to allow itself to be “re-formed.” It has political allies to guard its marches. That’s why reforms come and go-without changing much. Even reformers can’t imagine school much different. David learns to read at age four; Rachel, at age nine: In normal development, when both are 13, you can’t tell which one learned first — the five-year spread means nothing at all. But in school I will label Rachel “learning disabled” and slow David down a bit, too. For a paycheck, I adjust David to depend on me to tell him when to go and stop. He won’t outgrow that dependency. I identify Rachel as discount merchandise, “special education.” After a few months she’ll be locked into her place forever. In 26 years of teaching rich kids and poor, I almost never met a “learning disabled” child; hardly ever met a “gifted and talented” one, either. Like all school categories, these are sacred myths, created by the human imagination. They derive from questionable values we never examine because they preserve the temple of schooling. That’s the secret behind short-answer tests, bells, uniform time blocks, age grading, standardization, and all the rest of the school religion punishing our nation. There isn’t a right way to become educated; there are as many ways as fingerprints. We don’t need state-certified teachers to make education happen–that probably guarantees it won’t. How much more evidence is necessary? Good schools don’t need more money or a longer year; they need real free-market choices, variety that speaks to every need and runs risks. We don’t need a national curriculum, or national testing either. Both initiatives arise from ignorance of how people learn, or deliberate indifference to it. I can’t teach this way any longer. If you hear of a job where I don’t have to hurt kids to make a living, let me know. Come fall I’ll be looking for work, I think. John Taylor Gatto, The Wall Street Journal July 25th, 1991. Rob Wood [...] Read more...
Jody KincaidAugust 19, 2024Sound-OffCCIA members, we are here because we want to resist the incremental deterioration of our society and the concomitant destruction of our way of life here in America. Juan has invited a speaker on two occasions that touched on the subject of the incorporation of our government, effectively setting aside the Constitution and substituting a non Constitutional entity. As a means of reversing this action, researchers have found that the original Constitutional Republic was never actually closed down or destroyed, but was simply unoccupied. Lincoln essentially declared martial law after the South walked out of Congress without  adjourning the session. The government was unoccupied, not ended. The Republic for the United States of America is a movement that is reoccupying the vacated seats and establishing a Constitutional Republic as it was originally intended. When the corporation fails, patriotic citizens will be able to re-establish the Republic that our Founding Fathers by having a real government ready to take the reins. Juan has posted the link to a Rumble video by Lt Col Sandy Miarecki PhD going into detail regarding this subject. We should all watch this and consider if you want to participate in this project. At this time it doesn’t involve time or effort to sign up and register as a supporter of the Constitution. Please watch this presentation and share it with anyone who might be interested.    Thanks to all of you- Jody Kincaid  [...] Read more...
CCIAApril 21, 2024Education / Knowledge BoxDear Las Cruces area parents, Many parents are unaware of some important issues and policies affecting students in Las Cruces schools including: New state laws that allow children of any age to access abortion and transgender healthcare without parental consent or notification (Reference: HB7 Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Care) o  These laws also impose fines of $5,000 on school nurses or teachers who do not facilitate access to this healthcare Transgender affirmation in Las Cruces schools (Reference: LCPS Regulation JBD – Gender Inclusive Schools) o  Biologically-male transgender students are allowed to use girls’ bathrooms and locker rooms o  Transgender students are allowed to participate in sports in their chosen gender identity, thereby potentially displacing girls by requiring them to compete with biological boys who are naturally stronger and faster o  “Comfort closets” at several schools are being used by students to change their gender appearance at school Age-inappropriate sexually explicit books in school libraries o  Adult “erotic romance” books are listed in LCPS middle and high school library catalogs o  Such books contain graphic descriptions of sex acts, anal sex, and bondage, including illegal sex acts between adults and minors o  Three examples are Jack of Hearts and Other Parts book in Mayfield High School library. Push book at Organ Mountain High School, and Court of Silver Flames book listed in Sierra Middle School and 3 high school libraries We have a working group of concerned citizens and parents who are working to increase parent awareness of these issues and push for improvements in LCPS policies.  Three questions for you: 1.  Would you be interested in attending a parents’ forum where you can learn more about these issues in LCPS? If so, which of the following are best for availability?  Weekday evening or Saturday afternoonCurrent semester, summer, or next semester 2.  Do you want to receive updates about these issues? 3.  Are you potentially interested in getting involved in these efforts?  Thanks for your time. Feel free to share this with other parents who may be interested. Please let me know if you want to be removed from this email list.  Sincerely,Sarah Smith Las Cruces, NM [...] Read more...

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