Letters to Editor

To the people of Grant County,

I need to speak plainly.

A man in your community — Joshua W. Wells, age 77 — died alone in his wheelchair in his front yard after multiple hospital visits. He died outside, in visible decline, with no one present in his final moments.

I understand that Joshua lived privately. I understand that rural New Mexico has its own boundaries. But silence becomes neglect when someone is struggling and no one steps forward.

I am not asking for excuses. I am asking for recognition — that a man who lived among you deserved more than to die alone in the cold.You may not have known the extent of his decline. You may not have known how many times he was hospitalized. You may not have known how little support he had.

Dear Grant County, Beat editor,

For weeks, Better Together New Mexico has documented how Emerge recruits candidates, trains them, connects them to an influential political network, and helps move them into public office. 

Now we must confront what that political pipeline means for New Mexico.

Emerge New Mexico identifies 118 of its alumni as currently serving in elected or appointed office. Candidate training itself is not the problem. The concern is the governing philosophy repeatedly advanced by many Emerge-trained officials: more mandates, more taxes, more regulation, more government programs, and less freedom for families and businesses to make their own decisions. 

The policies are no longer theoretical.

This is a letter of appreciation for Representative Gabriel Vasquez. He has recently taken action on important issues in our communities, wildfire prevention and protection of water resources.

Recently, Representative Vasquez hiked with community members, and leaders of wildlife and conservation groups, to an area near the Trout Fire burn. He listened to local concerns about cuts to US Forest Service funding. In addition to layoffs and staffing reductions from DOGE, additional cuts are being reviewed by Congress for Fiscal Year 2027. Representative Vasquez is working to protect us locally as a co-sponsor of the Public Lands Workforce Stability Act. The Act protects the jobs of USFS workers, who are our frontline in wildfire prevention.

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.