Jan Hus should be remembered

July 6, 1415, was a sad day in the history of the church, when a dedicated pastor in Prague (who was committed to God's Word and sharing it with his people) was condemned by both church and state and burned at the stake as a heretic.

Before he died, he said, "You may cook this "goose" (the meaning of "Hus" in Bohemian), but after me will come a swan!"

A hundred years later Martin Luther (identified as the swan) was set on the path by God to continue what Hus had begun.

Many, both friend and foe, have noted many parallels between the lives of Luther and Hus (i.e., wanting the church to get back to the holy Bible, conducting the Mass in the people's language, offering both bread and wine in the Lord's Supper to the congregation, maintaining that one is saved by faith in Jesus Christ's atoning work and not by one's own works (Ephesians 2: 1-10), and preaching against corruption in the church.)

Both men took a courageous, public, stand for God's truth before both emperor and church.

The main differences between Luther and Hus: Luther had the advantage of the printing press and a prince who offered him protection.

The accounts of these two servants of God are inspiring to all generations, so on July 6 might we remember Jan Hus.

Scott Blazek

Clovis

Random act of kindness will remain in memories

I would like to thank the gentleman and his companions who helped us to fix a minor problem with our car.

We are foreigners visiting our daughter and friends here. This incident occurred when we were on our way to Clovis from Albuquerque on June 27, around 5 p.m., a short distance from the village of Melrose.

We had stopped on the roadside and switched on our hazard lights. His vehicle passed us but after seeing our hazard lights, he turned back and helped us out.

Not only that, his vehicle followed us right into the town and ensured that we reached our destination safely.

Unfortunately, we could not take his name or contact details to thank him properly.

Nevertheless, this random act of kindness will always remain in our memories.

As long as such kind people are around, the USA will continue to receive respect and praise from common folks like us regardless.

Raghbir Singh Panwar

Penang, Malaysia

Cities have obligation to rehabilitate criminals

Why aren't we focusing on rehabilitating a person before he or she becomes a habitual criminal?

Let's don't despair and decide it is pointless without trying.

I believe every city should have obligations. We have to intervene to change and support and have some form of therapy treatment.

I believe it can be successful.

It looks like we are going to have to purchase medical insurance by law, how about purchasing jail and prison insurance?

It's getting very costly to have someone incarcerated. That's why the state doesn't have any extra money to drill water wells between cities to fight wildfires.

Raymond Samora

Fort Sumner