Letters to the Editor
People connect through the Peace Corps
When I lived overseas, a nun stopped me on a street corner to ask what I was doing there. After a brief conversation she said, “If everyone did what you are doing, there would be no more war.” Her words have stayed with me, and return to me now as our world faces new crisis.
I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia from 1975-1977. It was during those two years I learned to understand what it means to be a citizen of the world, as I lived and worked in a small village in the West African jungle.
Michael O’Neill’s opinion piece in the Feb. 24 Daily Times reminded us that the United States Peace Corps has been an important part of our foreign service initiative since President John F. Kennedy inspired the first generation of volunteers sixty-one years ago.
Peace Corps seems even more important now, and so I hope my fellow and sister citizens will contact our representatives in Congress to urge them to vote for the Peace Corps Reauthorization Act (HR 1456). We are all citizens of the world. The US Peace Corps helps us make these vital international connections.
Vicki Holmsten
Farmington
Blame it on the PRC
As a three-decade long economic development professional, some of the major benefits I tout when encouraging companies to move or expand companies to New Mexico are our great weather, lack of natural disasters and plentiful and inexpensive electricity. PNM has been a great partner in helping us attract major organizations like Facebook, Netflix and Amazon.
The recent news regarding potential blackouts this and next summer risks killing all the momentum we’ve been achieving in attracting these powerhouses and others we are courting to the Land of Enchantment. These companies need to know they will have reliable electricity, and if that’s not possible, they will move to a state that will provide it.
Reading the news articles that have come out are very upsetting. It seems the blame properly resides squarely on the Public Regulation Commission’s shoulders. Years of poor decisions by this agency means now that the entire state will suffer. I support the Attorney General in his investigation.
I am grateful that with the Governor’s leadership both the Energy Transition Act was enacted, and the PRC commissioners beginning in 2023 will be appointed by the Governor rather than elected.
The PRC’s delays, inaction and bad decision making are negatively impacting utilities and customers throughout the state and that is bad not only for New Mexicans, but it’s also bad for business and potential businesses that are considering moving to New Mexico.
I am tired of seeing New Mexico at the bottom of all the good lists, and at the top of all the bad lists. Public Regulation Commission, I urge you to work with the PRC experts and figure out solutions NOW, including rectifying these PRC failures. Time is truly of the essence. The health and well-being of New Mexicans depend on it, and the future of good jobs and great companies moving here are counting on it.
Ralph Mims
Los Lunas
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