Reports of prisoner abuse getting old

I really hope no bleeding-heart liberals are close by if I have to hear one more thing about the so-called “abuses” of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers, because I will throw up!

So, maybe they were humiliated ... boo hoo! As one subscriber to “Free Republic” so amply stated recently, “At least all our prisoners still have their heads!”

Hey, I have an idea: Why don’t all you people so concerned about these murderers’ safety and comfort take them into your homes and coddle them until their fate is decided? And, by the way, we don’t know how long that will be because we can’t concentrate on completing our mission for dealing with the ludicrous persecution of men and women who went there willingly to put their lives on the line for you. Oh, and you’ll just have to hope they play nice, because I’m sure you don’t have any firearms in your house either!

If the media and the liberals were even half as concerned about reporting the daily evaporation of constitutional rights in this country as they seem to be about the “humiliation” of a few prisoners of war, they’d be far too busy to dwell on something this petty. But, that’s a whole other rant.

— Glenda Bly

Farwell

Richardson not really concerned about fires

Gov. Richardson recently said in regard to the Capitan mountain fire: “There are no safe wildfires. That is why I have always advocated, and will continue to support, a policy of immediate and massive response to kill wildfires before they spread.”

The Capitan fire is not a wildfire; it is a full-blown forest fire that has destroyed one of the more beautiful places in the world, which, ironically, is home to Smokey the Bear.

The governor announced a state of emergency a few weeks ago that would provide support immediately. Nothing happened. We know the air tankers are grounded, but where is the manpower needed to fight this thing? We have 700 firefighters doing what they can with 50,000 acres involved.

The citizens of Capitan called a town meeting with the fire officials recently. I own property in the region. We got the runaround and nothing was resolved.

We also believe the lack of news coverage is suspect. We believe Gov. Richardson is forfeiting our forests as a political tactic to gain leverage in Washington for more federal dollars in the future for the U.S. Forest Service. The destruction of the Capitan mountains are absolutely not worth the cost.

The politicians and media are controlling our future and it should be their duty to serve New Mexico first.

If Gov. Richardson was genuinely interested in New Mexico, and not a national political agenda, he would use the resources necessary to stop this forest fire.

— Roy A. Seay

Clovis

Clovis’ cleanliness needs improvement

It was with great interest that I read about the Clovis Pride Posse in the newspaper. I am glad others see the need to improve the look of Clovis too.

I don’t think weeds need to be 12 inches tall to be unattractive. For instance, I was going down Grand Street and saw the ugly weeds growing at the Patrick Sandoval Park outdoor basketball court.

I’ve also observed that several parks (Potter Park and Chavez Park among them) look rather unattractive with the rusty railing. Does this make for an attractive park for visitors to our part of the state?

I was in Las Cruces last month and was quite impressed with the cleanliness of that city. The parks were so clean and well-kept too. Wouldn’t it be great if Clovis could make that kind of impression on visitors?

— Rhonda Griego Roberts

Clovis