Editor, On June 24 of this year, the First Baptist Church of Los Lunas hired a pest control company to eradicate prairie dogs on its property. The method the company used to kill the animals was legal, but certainly not humane orˇsmart. They were fumigating the burrows with a deadly gas.
Editor, In their letter to the Daily Lobo, students Josh Tybur and Holly Victorson proposed the elimination of UNM's shuttle system. As a student who commutes to UNM from outside Albuquerque, I feel the reasons cited need to be refuted. One of the chief complaints is the inefficiency of the shuttle system.
Editor, It is shocking and disappointing that Richard Berthold's request to teach an Honors seminar was shot down by UNM's terror squad of bureaucracy. I have to say, though, it's not surprising. While no one is willing to provide legitimate answers as to why, UNM student and Chairman of the Reagan Freedom Society of New Mexico Bob Cornelius speculated in the Daily Lobo that the University is a business and Berthold is a liability.
by Samara Alpern Daily Lobo columnist Chocolate has always been associated with sex. Some scientists have suggested that chocolate acts like a drug as well, with both inebriating and positive health effects. Chocolate contains more than 300 chemicals. Plenty more research needs to be done before we have a clear idea about how chocolate works on the body, but a few things have been examined.
Editor, What could be called the second firing of Richard Berthold raises a big problem for the faculty and for peace-loving people across the state. First, no one I know believes Provost Dasenbrock's statement that the rejection has nothing to do with Berthold's outspoken views as they emerged in the tragedy of the Sept.
Editor, I am writing in response to Will Veeder's letter in Monday's Daily Lobo about Bush and his administration's reaction to Hurricane Katrina. First of all, the fact that New Orleans did not receive any federal funding to repair the levees is irrelevant.
Editor, I find it ironic that Ryan Brightbill, founder of the Reagan Freedom Society, feels comfortable defining what constitutes treason. While Berthold's comments regarding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon were, without question, tasteless, asserting that his commentary rises to the level of treason reeks of a neo-McCarthyist if-you're-not-with-us-you're-against-us mentality.
Editor, Despite J.R. Giddens' comments regarding his religious association with Ritchie McKay, any promotion of religion McKay may have committed was welcomed and in the context of a personal conversation. His mother's comment that McKay wants to get Giddens into church and it was mandatory to go to church can be disregarded, since McKay was stupefied by the comment and no one close to the team has made any similar claims.
Editor, My mother-in-law is from a little town northwest of New Orleans, far enough away to have been spared the full brunt of Hurricane Katrina but close enough to witness the masses of people, many of them young children, streaming away without anything to their name.
Editor, I see many people debating the McKay issue, and in Monday's Daily Lobo, I saw several people even defending McKay's actions. I ask these people, or any good Christian who condones this type of behavior - using the basketball court as a pulpit or a coaching position as a preaching position - what would you do if McKay were a Muslim preaching Islam and the word of Allah? What if the Lobo football coach forced Judaism onto the players, forcing them to accept his religion in exchange for time on the field? The problem with religion is everyone thinks their religion is the right one.
Editor, I am amazed to see the sheer ignorance and blatant disregard for the principles upon which this country is founded exhibited by letters to the editor by Ulrike Visser and Lindsay Holloman. Both wrote in to support coach McKay against accusations levied by the ACLU suggesting he uses his position as coach to preach religion to his players.
Editor, Give me a break - why is the ACLU trying to come in and cause problems? Has anyone complained to them? I would see the issue if players were coming up and saying, "Coach McKay is shoving God at us, and I can't play unless I go to church." But they haven't.
Editor, I lived in Albuquerque for 17 years before moving to South Dakota to get my teenage son away from the gangs. I left my heart in the Southwest and still follow up with the news through the Internet. When I read the article about how the ACLU is trying to intervene with Coach Ritchie McKay talking to the players about the Lord, I felt I needed to get involved.
Editor, Recently, bad karma and an English instructor punished me by requiring that I read part of the Daily Lobo each day. This week, a story contained the line, "All of the women could not serve in combat," when it's obvious that what the writer meant - but didn't say - was, "None of the women could serve in combat.
Editor, The ACLU accuses McKay of using his job to spread religion? Well, good for him. It is about time a Christian is willing to stand up for his faith, no matter what the consequences are. I stand behind McKay 110 percent. He knows what it means to truly be a Christian.
Editor, Honestly, is this what we are left to complain about? Ritchie McKay has put up with the microscope since he arrived at the University of New Mexico. Isn't it time to say enough is enough? McKay has been able to do something for the men's basketball program that many die-hard fans thought was long gone.
Editor, Although I realize that no one is to blame for the hurricane, New Orleans could have been better prepared. President Bush took money away from a project that would have improved the levies there to make more money for his tax cut. He hired the college roommate of his campaign adviser from 2000 to head up the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Solutions by The State News
