Letters to the editor: Holiday fireworks ignite outrage

I would like to thank the rocket scientist who bought or allowed his children to buy fireworks for their New Year’s celebration.

On Friday evening, a beautiful evergreen was destroyed and trees and houses in the 1600 block of Fairway Terrace were threatened by a fire caused by someone shooting off firecrackers.

Flames fed by strong wind reached the bottom branches of an oak tree and cinders flew down the whole block.

It was only by the quick action of our neighbor, who came to tell us and then began to put out the fire (until the fire department arrived) who saved our homes from destruction.

In light of the dry weather and winds and fires in Floyd recently and the current fires around the region, one would think that reasonable people would not engage in activities that endanger the neighborhood.

The evergreen bush measured more than 10 feet long by 10 feet high and required the fire department to put it out. It was beautiful and enhanced our home.

Happy New Year.

Charlotte Farkas

Clovis

Postal workers keep holiday mail moving

The U.S. Postal Service has always received quite a lot of criticism, mostly undeserved.

The media reported that the postal service would handle 90 billion items of mail over the 2005 holidays. Well, I don’t see how they do it. Everyone likes to have a day or two off during the holidays, but for the postal service to deliver, and they do, the employees must have to forego days off themselves.

Huge kudos to the U.S. Postal Service.

Harold Burris

Clovis

Veterans of earlier wars being forgotten

This is a letter of remembrance of the wounded and the 2,165-plus men and women who have given their lives in the Iraqi war. I grieve for them and their families.

In remembrance of the 406,000 men and women who died and the thousands who were wounded in World War II, I grieve for them and their families.

In remembrance of the wounded and the 55,000 men and women who gave their lives during the Korean War, I grieve for them and their families.

In remembrance of the thousands wounded and the 109,000 men and women who gave their lives in the Vietnam era, I grieve for them and their families.

There has been so much publicity in the various news media about the Iraqi war that it overshadows the fact that there have been many other wars. The veterans from these other wars are probably not the Greatest Generation any more and are now probably the lost generation.

There was so little acknowledgment from the news media about Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day. I think it was a disservice to the 5 million living World War II veterans and we are losing them at the rate of 1,800 a day. I think the public should pause, reflect and remember.

I will close with this quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “We, born to freedom and believing in freedom, are willing to fight to maintain freedom. We, and all others who believe as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.”

Joe Blair

Portales