November 8, 2018 600 AM
Dear editor, I think many of us in the area have been distracted lately by shootings, elections, racism, immigration, and more. So here is some information that may have slipped past many folks: Waste Control Specialists has reactivated its license application to dump high-level nuclear waste at its Andrews location, as well as an additional location in New Mexico. The waste will be transferred by rail, and each car will contain the equivalent of the nuclear material that was dropped on Nagasaki at the close of World War II. This information comes from the website nocuclearwasteaqui.org. Please take a look. The deadline to comment to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is November 19th. I am no expert, but I am “woke” enough to know that Far West Texas is seismically active, especially since fracking has come into existence. Also, there are new and more significant sinkholes forming in the area. And in this age of terrorism, I am sure the rail routes will vary daily and go through many communities are not equipped to deal with nuclear disasters, or even small leaks. These factors present grave dangers to the residents and the environment here. I think most people who live in this area are concerned about the environment and our children’s future. Please join me in sending your comments to the NRC as soon as possible, and please tell others. Sincerely,
C. Crumpton Alpine
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Dear editor, Re: Lady Liberty’s commitment US troops were recently deployed at the main El Paso pedestrian bridge from Mexico awaiting a caravan of displaced persons farther than 1,000 miles away. To the President this group of Latin Americans is a moat’s length from storming southern gates with disease and criminals! To Boomers it is an unsettling echo of Cold War Berlin images. The power of East Germany stood between anyone risking all for a breath of freedom. Machine guns, landmines and razor wire were fearsome challenges. We remember people clinging to window ledges adjacent to a fortified Berlin Wall, dropping into the West and an iconic photo of a soldier defecting, running for his life. Then, America was the gold standard to people seeking freedom. Today, people still need to apply for international, legally recognized asylum having fled conditions not of their making. Once, they were the many of our own family journey stories, refugees guided by Lady Liberty’s welcoming Light. The engraved invitation on the base of the Statue of Liberty declares: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Our destiny is written in the manner we honor Lady Liberty’s commitment today. Is it going to be the President’s inhumane “Zero Tolerance” policy enforcing cruelty as a hate-filled message drawn upon his notion of ‘unacceptable people’? At his rallies “dog whistles” are tuned for White Nationalist racist ears. Supporters scream familiar chants often of violence against the president’s targets. He has turned cherished values asunder pandering to the worst in us. Is that the American gold standard? If so, shame on us! Good people are sick about it!
Rev. Barry Abraham Zavah Alpine
