Maybe it is not too late to stop the county courthouse being built. There is no good reason to have a courthouse in the middle of town, other than an old historical perspective, or to cater to attorneys who may have offices nearby. The reduced parking caused by the contamination found will negatively impact the area, which is full of restaurants, shops and a great place for family and tourist activities. The added costs to build the parking underground are driving up the cost of construction. This is a poor use of tax dollars. The city is right to sue.

Put the county courthouse someplace else, not downtown, so that there will be adequate parking for jurors, attorneys, judges and court staff, and for other court business.



We are pouting because we can't throw a high-priced birthday party. We are pondering spending nearly $200,000 to parade a posy-decked phony skunk through Pasadena. Meanwhile programs that help our most vulnerable people are being cut, and businesses don't want a homeless shelter near them. We all need to scream another "p" word — priority.



Regarding "Former CSF official charged with DWI" (Oct. 27: You were cruel to publish the police photo of Katherin Chase, who is accused of a hit-and-run, drunken driving incident, and then call attention to it with huge, bold heavy headlines. You had already published her accident in the police reports. I do not know her but have empathy for her, given your mean National Enquirer-type of so-called "reporting."



I urge residents of Santa Fe to call the City Hall office that manages the condition of our streets, if they see potholes that are large and dangerous. I saw three such potholes on Calle Mejia near the Lodge hotel on Oct. 29. I called the office of roadways and drains, streets division, at 955-6631. I was told that the crew would be out to fix the potholes soon, and sure enough, within four hours they were repaired!

There are horrible potholes which will be a real problem along St. Francis Drive, Cerrillos Road and through lots of neighborhoods. I am hoping other citizens will report them as I did.



Perhaps the current administration is looking at health care from the wrong perspective. Why fix something that isn't broken? As a matter of fact, the private, for-profit, insurance system in place now works so well that it ought to be expanded.

Every family in the United States ought to pay $400 to $600 a month for police protection. And another $400 to $600 a month for fire protection. And another $400 to $600 dollars a month for military protection against foreign invaders. We don't need these services on a day-to-day basis, so the government shouldn't provide them, and our tax dollars shouldn't be used to provide them to everyone equally. Isn't it some sort of crime that the government decides who gets these services and who doesn't?



I'm confused. The U.S. Congress wants to replace those greedy private insurance companies that spend 90 percent of every dollar they take in with the United States government, which spends 105 percent of every dollar it takes in.

I'm sure there's a plan here — somewhere. Help!


Nearly 100 years ago, Teddy Roosevelt called for national health insurance in America, as later did Harry Truman and Bill Clinton. Even Richard Nixon wanted all employers to offer private insurance under strict government regulation. The late Sen. Ted Kennedy called universal health care "the cause of my life."

Is it a moral imperative? An issue of justice? Of equal rights? Why do we balk at paying a bit extra so that everybody is insured? As Michael Moore asks in his documentary Sicko — who are we? Well, we are the only advanced country in the world without something resembling universal health insurance. The time may be now to change that at long last, but only if we keep calling on our Congress and president to get with it and get it into law.




All I want for Christmas is a real public option for all. Even if we already have health insurance, everyone should be able to pick a public option for affordable health care.



The disastrous Patriot Act was rushed through Congress with little regard for Americans' privacy rights and civil liberties. Now Congress will be facing a Patriot Act vote as three provisions are set to expire this year. There are bills in both the House and Senate awaiting votes, and the House bill is the superior.

Our best chance to amend the Patriot Act is in the USA Patriot Act Amendments Act. It's not a perfect bill, but it makes necessary changes to protect our civil liberties and privacy. The Senate should follow the House's example, and all of Congress should make the USA Patriot Act Amendments a priority.



Hal Wingo's Oct. 27's letter, "Un-Christian soldiers," illuminates most non-Christians' objections to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's attitude toward federal participation in "traditional" displays of the cross, but doesn't proceed to the judicial consequence

Gregory Rodríguez's Oct. 22 commentary, "The cross is a symbol that transcends theology," contains the following quote from Scalia: "I don't think you can leap from that (there is never a cross on the tombstone of a Jew) to the conclusion that the only dead that the cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that's an outrageous conclusion."

There is no "leap"; the conclusion is obvious to all but totally nonempathetic Christians. The label "outrageous" is aggressive rhetoric trying to outshout reason. Clearly, Scalia's religious prejudice renders him unfit to sit in judgment as the court considers the case Salazar v. Buono; it also prevents him from doing the right thing — recusing himself.



I'm writing to express my unhappiness about the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra contract dispute.

I was an orchestra player many decades ago, when it was the rule that management and players were adversaries, and musicians were treated like dirt. I thought those days were over, but it seems that NMSO wants to restore the tyranny of the past.

The musicians dedicate their lives to music. When called upon, they are always ready to perform; that's their job. On the other hand, management's job is to secure the solvency and well-being of the orchestra, and in that they have failed. They are the ones who should be sacrificing, not the players.

Their demands for more sacrifices by the musicians, who already are absurdly underpaid, is outrageous. If they can not find a way to provide them with fair compensation, NMSO should admit failure.



Finally, Santa Fe County District 1 is blessed with a worthy candidate in Paul White. Following his tireless volunteer efforts and contributions to our community effectively exhausts me.

Imagine for a moment these selfless acts transferred into an elected position? Let's elect a first-string quarterback for a change.



This is to thank the kind gentleman who saw my car keys in the door lock of my Subaru and took them into the Fed Ex/Kinkos where I was waiting for work to be finished.

What a possible catastrophe for me! Thanks again to this honest person.