Opinion

In case you’re a little slow to emerge from your cave after a long winter’s nap, spring has sprung in Los Alamos. 

Leaves are back on the trees, flowers are blooming and a young man’s thoughts turn to downtown revitalization and sprucing up the look of the town… Huh?

Well, there are things going on that give one a sense of renewed hope and optimism for the future of Los Alamos. 

The current composition of the county council gives the sense that it may be more forward-leaning or a bit more activist in its approach to some of the nagging problems that seem to be holding the town back. 

Valley Meat Company in Roswell has become the focal point for arguments over horse over-population in the same way ants become the focal points of bored boys with magnifying glasses. There’s more heat than light.

In the back-and-forth chatter, I’m hearing a lot of arguments that don’t hold water. And, even if the determined Rick De Los Santos manages to open his plant, it doesn’t solve all of our horse problems. 

The most ironic argument against a slaughterhouse for unwanted horses is that the noble animal is a western icon, a star in the Taming of the West. Somebody needs to read more history. To pioneers, the army and Indian tribes, horses were transportation. When a horse was used up, it was eaten: Meat’s meat.  

The New Mexico State University did what it probably should have done 20 years ago. It named former Governor Garrey Carruthers its president. 

Carruthers left the governor’s office on January 1, 1991 and entered the world of business, primarily as president of Cimarron Health Care. He then went back to NMSU, where he has served a dean of the business school along with various other university jobs. 

I got to know him well as governor, partly because of his openness. Every Monday morning he held a cabinet meeting with his department heads. Every Monday afternoon at 1:30 sharp, he held a press conference to inform the Capitol press corps what the government would be doing. He also answered every question asked. 

Now that the long-debated estate tax rules have finally been settled, let's get real: Despite all the hoopla raised, most people probably would never be impacted whether the lifetime estate tax threshold had stayed at $5.12 million or reverted to $1 million. In the end, it actually went up a bit to $5.25 million for 2013.

Even if your estate will only be a fraction of that amount, it still pays to have a plan for distributing your assets. If your finances are in good shape, there's no reason not to start sharing the wealth while you're still around to enjoy helping others. It also doesn't hurt that you can reap significant tax advantages by distributing a portion of your assets now.

Before you start doling out cash, however, make sure you are on track to fund your own retirement, have adequate health insurance, can pay off your mortgage and are otherwise debt-free. You wouldn't want to deplete your resources and then become a financial burden on others.

If you can check all those boxes, consider these options:

El Paso, Ciudad Juárez and Las Cruces are a region, one entity. The assertion grasps the remarkably obvious. Businesses in southern Doña Ana County and Juárez back up to one another. The Rio Grande, the nominal border between El Paso and Juárez, is often dry, posing little real barrier. Otero County and Alamogordo might be added with El Paso being the closest thing of size.

The region is complicated. Northern New Mexico, commonly clueless about the south, might not understand this. To say the region consists of three states (Chihuahua, Texas and New Mexico) and two countries (Mexico and the United States) oversimplifies. There are counties and municipalities, water districts and basins and who knows what else.

Hardly a day passes without Tim Jennings’ name cropping up in Senate committees or floor discussions: “Sen. Jennings was working on… I was working with Sen. Jennings to…”

The Roswell Democrat was liked and respected, yes, but his absence is a constant reminder to Senate Democrats of the bruising election cycle that took their president. Most certainly, Majority Floor Leader Michael Sanchez, another target of the governor’s blitz, is not willing to forgive and forget.

The spirit of compromise lubricating gears in the House and (maybe) in the Governor’s Office is harder to detect in the Senate, where floor debate on some bills has been pointed and even sarcastic.

In February, Senate Democrats shot down a Republican measure to increase use of state aircraft.

The U.S. tax code grows more complicated every year and currently spans thousands of pages – even government experts can’t agree exactly how long it is. So it’s not surprising that millions of Americans hire professional tax preparers to complete their returns.

Relinquishing the onerous task of calculating your taxes to a professional may save you time and give peace of mind – they know more about tax law than you do, right? 

But remember: You’re still legally responsible for all information on the return. 

So if the preparer makes a mistake or intentionally defrauds the government, you’ll be on the hook for any additional taxes, interest and penalties – even possible prosecution.

The IRS notes that although most tax return preparers are professional, honest and serve their clients well, taxpayers should use the same standards for choosing a preparer as they would for a doctor or lawyer, and be on the lookout for incompetence and criminal activity.

There are several basic types of tax preparers: certified public accountants, IRS-designated enrolled agents, tax attorneys, storefront agents (think H&R Block) and self-employed preparers.

Despite passing the Senate Public Affairs Committee late Tuesday evening after an overwhelmingly positive discussion, Senate Bill 18 to amend the New Mexico Food Act to require the labeling of genetically engineered (GE) food and feed was “deemed lost” after a majority of the Senate, in an extremely rare action, voted on the Senate Floor not to adopt the committee’s report.
Under Senate rules, this stopped the bill in its tracks and cut off any further debate or public input.
“Even though SB 18 is dead this year, it’s clear that New Mexicans want and deserve a label that tells them whether or not their food has been genetically engineered,” said the bill’s author Senator Peter Wirth (D-25 Santa Fe). “I greatly appreciate the Public Affairs Committee’s feedback and discussion around the issue of labeling GE food, as well as Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez’s leadership on this issue.
“GE food labels are a right New Mexican consumers deserve and, while this defeat is a setback, this discussion will continue at the state and national level.”

It was very disturbing to read the Sunday Los Alamos Monitor, front page, above the fold.  You stooped very low to report and describe in detail a crime involving domestic violence.  I believe the news war between the local media has resulted in sleaze journalism.

This incident could have simply been reported in Police Beat.  By naming and describing the victim in such detail the Monitor is guilty of re-victimizing the victim.  

A victim of domestic violence (DV) is most often humiliated and shamed and you most likely made it worse.  

There are usually many incidents of DV before the police are called.