Letters to Editor

I am writing this as a heartbroken and hopeful member of our Grant County community.

I have been riding my bike in Grant County for 39 years. I have watched the sun rise and set over the Gila from the saddle of my bike. This land has always asked us to slow down and pay attention — not because it is dangerous, but because it is alive.

For over 40 years, cyclists have been woven into the life of Silver City. These are not strangers. They are your doctors, your teachers, your veterans, your neighbors. They are my friends. And one by one, I have watched them get hurt — bikes destroyed, bodies broken, and spirits carrying wounds that don't show up on an x-ray. PTSD is real, and it follows people home long after the road has been cleared.

Dear Editor:

I'd like to acknowledge a mistake I made in my recent letter to the editor about Vituity, the new emergency room staffing contractor at GRMC.

When looking at the Better Business Bureau web site, I only looked at the first page of complaints, failing to notice there were additional complaints. I stated the company had fifteen complaints to date when, in fact, the number is 139.

Even with the increase, I remain skeptical that Vituity business practices are particularly suspect, but want to correct my mistake.

Tim Matthes
Silver City

Dear Editor:

I followed the suggestion of the letter writer who said he found alarming information on the organization GRMC is partnering with for ER services, and visited the Better Business Bureau web site re complaints against that company, Vituity.

I found fifteen complaints, almost exclusively concerning billing disputes thus far in 2026.

I googled for more information about Vituity and found they have 8000 clinicians serving 14.5 million patients. So, they probably send out fee invoices in the multi-millions every year.

I read an article in the Community News section of the Grant County Beat announcing the formation of a partnership that has been formed between Gila Regional Medical Center and Vituity. Vituity is a physician-owned and physician-led medical partnership that will provide staffing for the emergency department at GRMC. My first thought was that this sounded like a great plan in light of the shortage of medical care providers in New Mexico.

I decided to learn a bit about Vituity so I launched an on-line search. I learned a bit about the company, mostly from proprietary sites. It all looked very good. To see if there might be a dark side, I typed "Vituity customer reviews and complaints." What I discovered on the Better Business Bureau site was exceedingly alarming to me. Rather than re-hashing the numerous complaints detailed, I urge anyone who is interested to perform the same search that I did.

William H. Musser

Silver City NM

Dear Grant County,
This week, America celebrates an extraordinary milestone: 250 years of freedom.

For two and a half centuries, our nation has stood as a beacon of liberty, opportunity, and self-government. While our history has never been perfect, it has been shaped by generations of Americans who believed that freedom was worth protecting and passing on to their children.

Here in New Mexico, those same principles still matter.

Any country welcoming Muslim immigrants, as NYC Mayor Mamdani wants us to do, should realize that these Muslims see themselves as immigrating "in the way of Allah." Verse 4:100 in the Koran has this message from Allah: "He who immigrates in the way of Allah will find in the earth enough room for refuge and plentiful resources."

The renowned Islamic scholar Sayyid Mawdudi (1903 - 1979), elaborated on this verse with a warning to those Muslims: "It should be understood clearly that it is only permissible for a (Muslim) to live under the dominance of an un-Islamic system on one of the following conditions. First, that the believer strives to put an end to the hegemony of the un-Islamic system and to have it replaced by the Islamic system of life —. Second, that he stays in a land where an un-Islamic system prevails because of his inability to depart from that land, but he is utterly unhappy at living under such a system."

Dear Editor:

The book by Tom Brokaw, The Greatest Generation has been sitting on my shelf for a long time. I decided, in light of our 250th year celebrations, it is time to read it. The inscription inside shows it was given on Mother's Day 1999 to my Mom by one of my older sisters. Both my sisters were born during the War and I am here only because my Dad returned safely home after the War. I have been told that he was at Omaha Beach on day 2. He made it home but died young at age 47 when I was 9, so I never got to talk to him about his experiences.

Mary Alice Murphy, I would like to thank you again for researching, interviewing and documenting our local Veterans in your book God's Umbrella. Maybe it is time to reread this wonderful book and honor our local heroes (and support our Allingham-Golding American Legion Post #18).

Dear Editor,

This is in response to Lynda Schub's recent comments about Representative Luis Terrazas and Senate Bills 17 and 18.

Ms. Schub suggested that opposing SB 18-the "Clear Horizons Act" – means not caring about clean air. That's an oversimplification and simply not true. The bill would have required industries to cut emissions to levels that would significantly raise costs across agriculture, energy, manufacturing, and transportation. For many of us already struggling with expenses, that matters. I would like to know where Mr. Turrieta stands on this? Would he support a bill like this which would have affected his constituents in a negative way?