Editorials

By David Hampton

 The New Mexico Environment Department is currently inviting public input on a new “heat” regulation. You can comment on the project at the NMED website through May 30, 2025: EIB 25-11 (R) - Proposed New Regulation, 11.5.7 NMAC - Heat Illness and Injury Prevention. 

Among the provisions contained in the proposed regulation is the requirement that employers must conduct time consuming heat exposure assessments when the heat index meets or exceeds just 80°F. 

It goes without saying that 80 degrees is a common temperature for nearly any New Mexican to work outside in for half the year or more. And that doesn’t include those working indoors at grills and other kitchen environments. It is also common for construction sites to not have functioning HVAC systems until they are nearly open.

By Ruben Leyva

The train carried many Apaches east, but not all of them went. Some stayed behind in the rocks, canyons, and wind, where memory and spirit still moved. The story of the Gila Apache, known administratively as the Chihene Nde Nation, is one such tale. Their continued presence in their ancestral homelands affirms survival, but not without cost.

One enduring form of exclusion facing the Gila Apache is the ongoing denial of authenticity—a kind of erasure rooted not in their absence but in the dominance of a single Chiricahua narrative and a widespread lack of public knowledge about those who have continued their culture in secrecy, fearing deportation.
Though ancestrally tied to the Chiricahua Apache prisoners of war taken to Florida, Alabama, and Oklahoma, the Gila Apache have remained in their ancestral territory, hidden yet resilient. They are a politically distinct people whose culture was never extinguished, only overlooked—hidden in plain sight.

[Editor's Note: The editor removed this content as  it violated the Beat's policy of not posting editorials and letters to the editor without attribution.

Similar content can be found at the letter previously sent and signed by practitioners to the Hidalgo Medical Services Board. It can be read at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/editorials/editorial/letter-of-no-confidence-to-hms-board-of-directors ]

May 3, 2025

Hidalgo Medical Services Board
530 De Moss St
Lordsburg, NM 88045

Subject: No Confidence in Leadership

Dear Hidalgo Medical Services Board of Directors,

On behalf of concerned practitioners in the community and past practitioners employed by Hidalgo Medical Services (HMS), we write to formally express our deep concern regarding the ongoing instability within HMS and to declare no confidence in its current senior leadership, specifically its CEO.

ALBUQUERQUE, May 2, 2025—The Republican Party of New Mexico (RPNM) warned that Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s line-item veto, which removed legislative oversight, would open the door for taxpayer dollars to be used for providing healthcare to illegal immigrants—and it looks like that’s exactly what she planned to do. 

On Thursday, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the Lujan Grisham administration was on the verge of approving a $1.7 million contract as part of a $56 million Healthcare Coverage Expansion Program that included coverage for "undocumented immigrants" funded by state tax dollars. 

By Ruben Leyva

During the 2023-2024 academic year, I was fortunate to assist Navajo/Diné scholar Tiffany Lee, PhD, with the Indigenous Immersion Language Study. Indigenous-language immersion (ILI) schooling promotes language revitalization, academic and holistic well-being, and cultural identity as a form of sustainable self-determination. This experience inspired me to conduct historical research in linguistic and cultural studies and archaeology as part of my ethnohistory. I now seek to uncover the meaning and historical context behind ancestral Gila Apache names recorded in colonial archives—an act of cultural recovery grounded in ethnohistorical and linguistic research.

On July 22, 1777, Spanish military leader Hugo de O'Conor reported the self-identifiers for three groups of Gila Apache in his dispatch to Spanish Commandant General Teodoro de Croix. O'Conor wrote, "Los Apaches que consternan las Provincias de Sonora y Nueva Vizcaya son conocido por los nombres Chiricagui, Gileños, Mimbreno… Los tres primeros en lengua Apache se llaman Sigilandé, Setozende, Chiquende,…" Let's examine Sigilandé and its possible meaning.

By Paul Gessing

New Mexico's Legislature adjourned last month, and not a moment too soon. That's because the party that controls our state government spent most of the legislative session pushing misguided policies that expand the size of government, increase spending, fail to reduce tax burdens, and add red tape to our economy. Our leaders need to address the root causes of these problems by shrinking government.

Look no further than the housing market. Policy advisers to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham report that in the past eight years, the average home price in New Mexico has gone up 70%, and the median rent costs have increased 60%.

That's unsustainable for working families.

[Editor's Note: This comes out of Great Britain, so some of the terms and items talked about may not be familiar to you, but the overall relevance of the article is that women need to be careful about dating apps. The research, however, does come out of the U.S., too.]

Research reveals risk of predators grooming women to access their children

Calls for stronger regulation of matchmaking apps used by 381 million people as report reveals men who have sexually offended against children use dating apps daily 

•Single mums risk as two thirds of men who have offended use dating sites

• Offenders four times more likely to use dating sites than other men 

• Most dating apps have inadequate identity checks for users

• Report urges ID checks and AI tools to detect predatory behavior.

Women looking for love online are being warned of a sinister side to dating apps, with new evidence that abusers may try to groom them to gain access to their children. 

Academic research by the Childlight Global Child Safety Institute, based on a survey of about 5,000 men in the US, UK and Australia, finds men who sexually offend against children are nearly four times more likely to use dating sites than non-offenders. 

The data institute, hosted by the University of Edinburgh and University of New South Wales, found nearly two thirds (66%) of men who sexually offended against children used dating platforms – and over one in five (22%) used them daily. 

The report, Swipe Wrong, is part of a broader investigation into the multi-billion-dollar industry of child sexual exploitation and abuse, which financially benefits perpetrators, organised crime and even mainstream companies.

While Childlight warns that sexual exploitation and abuse of children has become a pandemic, affecting over 300 million every year, it says education, legislation and technological measures can help prevent it. 

It has even uncovered digital clues left behind by abusers that could help law enforcement catch more offenders and safeguard more children.

Its findings represent the latest evidence of the dangers of dating site misuse by people who sexually offend against children, with single mothers at particular risk. 

It follows a separate recent survey by the Australian Institute of Criminology that found 12% of dating apps users received requests to facilitate child sexual exploitation and abuse – most often related to their own children. 

Recent high-profile cases have emerged in the States while one Scottish lorry driver, Paul Stewart, was jailed for three and a half years last December for manipulating single mothers via dating apps to gain access to their children for sexual abuse. 

A court in Dundee, Scotland heard how he formed relationships with women he met online so he could abuse and photograph their children and send the images to a network of paedophiles. The court heard he abused one young girl during a sleepover with her friend and took indecent images of an 11-month-old baby to share on the dark web.

Around 381 million people use dating apps like Tinder, according to Statista. 

Report co-author Professor Michael Salter, director of the Childlight East Asia and Pacific Hub at University of New South Wales, said: “Our findings provide clear evidence that dating apps lack adequate child protection measures, and loopholes are exploited by abusers to target single parents and their children.”  

The survey of 5,000 men found 11.5% admitted having sexual feelings towards children, while 11% confessed to sexual offences against minors.  

Most dating sites do not require new users to provide evidence of their identity. Salter recommends user verification processes, like mandatory ID checks, and tools to detect predatory behaviours like grooming language or suspicious messaging patterns. 

“There’s no reason why the robust user identification methods we have in other industries, such as banking and gambling, should not also have to be adopted by dating app platforms,” he said. “Similarly, there are a range of AI tools and systems that can flag problematic words and conversations that can and should be used.”

Childlight’s research also reveals that mainstream companies are among those benefiting from, and perpetuating, a multi-billion-dollar global trade in the technology-facilitated sexual exploitation and abuse of children (CSEA). They include payment transfer firms and social media platforms where illegal child sexual abuse images are present and where abuse-related traffic can increase advertising revenues.

Debi Fry, Childlight’s Global Director of Data and Professor of International Child Protection Research at University of Edinburgh, said: “Child sexual exploitation and abuse is a global public health emergency that requires emergency measures but it’s preventable. We must mobilise globally, focusing not just on reactive law enforcement but on prevention strategies tackling underlying determinants of abuse — including financial and technological ecosystems sustaining it.” 

Childlight’s report shares many new insights into perpetrator behaviour online. It found offenders may appear trustworthy, as they are more likely to have a child in their house, work with children, and have a higher education level. 

However, researchers also uncovered telltale clues that could act as red flags for financial institutions and police. These include that men who have committed sexual offences against children engage more frequently in certain online activities, like online shopping, dating and gaming. They are also more likely to own and use cryptocurrency and to buy sexual content online.

https://childlight.org/uploads/audio/ProfFryDatingActions.m4a 

https://childlight.org/uploads/audio/ProfFryDatingfull.m4a 

https://childlight.org/uploads/audio/ProfFryDatingKeyFindings.m4a 

https://childlight.org/uploads/audio/ProfFryDatingShort.m4a 

https://childlight.org/uploads/audio/ProfFryDatingWhoIsResponsible.m4a 

Statistical explanation by Childlight

In our findings, we report that nearly two-thirds of men who say they have committed sexual offences against children use dating platforms, compared to 31% of other men who have not offended. At first glance, this might seem like those who have offended are about twice as likely to use dating apps. But in fact, they are around four times more likely to do so.

This is because we are not just comparing percentages – we are looking at odds, which is a common and more accurate way to measure likelihood in research like this. To explain simply:

• The percentage tells us how many people in each group use dating apps.The odds tell us how likely someone is to be in one group compared to another, based on their behaviour – in this case, using dating platforms.

• So while 64% vs. 31% looks like “just over double,” the odds tell us that the difference in likelihood is actually much greater – about four times higher. This gives a clearer picture of how strongly linked the behaviour is with offending.

Childlight is a global child safety data institute, hosted by the University of Edinburgh and University of New South Wales and established by Human Dignity Foundation. It utilises academic research expertise to better understand the nature and prevalence of child sexual exploitation and abuse to help inform policy responses to tackling it. Its purpose is to safeguard children across the world from sexual exploitation and abuse. Its vision is to have child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) recognised as a global health issue that can be prevented and treated. Its mission is to use the power of data to drive sustainable, co-ordinated action to safeguard children across the world; improve CSEA data, quality, integrity and reproducibility; and be recognised as the leading independent authority for global CSEA data. Childlight also draws on decades of law enforcement experience at a senior level. Its multi-disciplinary approach ensures not only the production of high-quality data insights but enables Childlight to help authorities around the world turn data into action to pinpoint and arrest perpetrators and safeguard children. 

https://www.childlight.org