Letters to Editor

Dear County Commissioners and Local News Outlets,

My name is Brandi A. McCauley, and I have proudly called 445 McCauley Road in Cliff, New Mexico my home for over forty years. Many families along this road have deep roots here, spanning generations, and we cherish our tight-knit community.

As a child, I recall a county representative visiting our home, clad in a hard hat and safety vest, to inform us that McCauley Road had officially become a county road and would receive proper maintenance. My father later served as a County Road Department employee, operating a blade for many years. Under his diligent care, our road featured well-maintained water turnouts and remained in good condition—even after heavy rainstorms.

Regrettably, the current state of our road is vastly different. Large ditches, oversized berms, and narrowed one-way sections have made travel challenging and unsafe. Sandy Canyon, in particular, urgently requires attention. The rocks placed there have failed to improve conditions and seem to represent a misuse of taxpayer funds. Washboards throughout the area continue to damage vehicles, resulting in costly tire replacements and front-end alignments.

No, Socialism isn't awesome. It's doubtful than any political/economic system would fit the term "awesome," but some are better than others. Just ask the citizens of Social Democracies like Norway, Sweden, etc.

It seems the author of this article needs to learn the difference between Socialism and Communism, two completely different systems. I suggest reading Socialistic Letters by Ernest Lesigne. Though written in 1887, most of it still holds true today. So often, Socialism is mislabled as Communism. Socialism is not Communism, nor is it a precursor to Communism.

John Rokosz
Mimbres

Dear Editor:

In recent months, people in Silver City, Grant County, etc., have been sending mail through our local post office only to discover that their mail is not getting to the intended addresses but simply vanishing from sight. I offer my own personal experience as an example. Since June of this year, I have sent a number of payments to pay bills, along with other mail, all of which are unaccounted for to this day. Not one of them had arrived at the intended destinations, nor have they come back to me for some "undeliverable" reason.

Dear Grant County Beat Editor:

NEW MEXICO'S AI DATA CENTERS NEED A LOCAL BENEFITS TEST

Sen. Martin Heinrich's September 17 push to make large AI data centers pay for the grid upgrades they require puts a concrete New Mexico cost question on the table. That principle is necessary but too narrow: communities should also measure whether AI investment builds durable local skills and economic capacity rather than counting construction spending alone. For Grant County Beat readers, the issue connects directly to the state's AI expansion and to Silver City's own effort to help small businesses use AI productively. I propose a local-benefits test that tracks jobs, transferable skills, small-business gains, and the ability of workers to exercise independent judgment around AI systems.

I am a behavioral scientist and the author of the peer-reviewed book, The Psychology of AI Adoption at Work: From Resistance to Results, published by Georgetown University Press https://press.georgetown.edu/Book/The-Psychology-of-AI-Adoption-at-Work My commentary has appeared regularly in The New York Times, The Guardian, the Toronto Star, and many others https://disasteravoidanceexperts.com/media

New Mexico's debate over AI data centers is moving from abstract promise to concrete costs. On September 17, Sen. Martin Heinrich pushed legislation that would require large electricity users such as AI data centers to pay for the grid facilities needed to connect them rather than shifting those costs to families and small businesses.

That is a useful principle. New Mexico should apply the same discipline to the economic benefits these projects promise.

Editor,
There actually is considerable information available on the proposed Site Layer 1 data center. This proposed project, just 59 miles from Silver City and 30 from Lordsburg would produce 3 times as much air pollution as current local mining operations.The data center could consume approximately 2.3 million cubic feet of natural gas every hour, enough to power 900 local homes for an entire year.
The developer has provided this information on its public notice of the intent to file an application:

Emit 1,292,118 tons per year CO2 - equivalent to 280,000 cars

Emit 1,529 tons per year of other pollutants, including particulates, sulfur dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and ammonia.

They call this "clean burning" natural gas!

A SSW wind would bring this pollution directly to Silver City.

Do we want to breathe this?

John Rokosz

Mimbres

Note: Attachment is from Silver City Daily Press

Dear Editor: 

Dear Mayor and Councilors,

Opportunity to Purchase (OTP) ordinances are vital not only for homeowners in manufactured home lot-lease communities, but also for the towns they are situated in.

We are seeing why this matters right now at La Plata Mobile Manor. After the land beneath residents' homes was sold recently to out-of-state investors, residents faced an immediate 70% lot-rent increase, along with new fees, including $35 per month for each household pet—even pets that never leave the resident's property. For low-income families and retirees living on fixed incomes, this action puts hundreds of people at risk of experiencing homelessness even though their homes might be paid for.

To the Editor:

RE: Southwest Solid Waste Authority

It is difficult to choose where to begin with SWSWA and its relationship with Grant County. Let's begin with what we currently are faced-with: A quasi-county agency which has been mismanaged by incompetents for decades. The financial, facilities and operational issues that are currently in dire need of review/restructuring developed neither overnight nor in a vacuum.

Apparently, no one has provided any oversight for an agency that has unsafe facilities, underpaid employees (some of whom are working in appalling conditions) and aged/faulty equipment - not to reiterate the aforementioned incompetent leadership.

Transport trucks are constantly breaking-down and unavailable. Bins going unemptied for weeks. Arbitrary ridiculous unpublished "Edicts" from whomever is nominally managing the agency at any given time. When calling SWSWA, no one answers, or a "Secretary" answers the phone and provides no insight into any query.

In reply to "LTE thanking Representative Vasquez":

Representative Gabriel Vasquez voted AGAINST the Laken Riley Act. He also did not stand up at the State-of-the-Union Address when President Trump called on all those who support American CITIZENS to stand up.

On that basis alone, I would never, never, ever vote for Gabe Vasquez again.