Mission group cleans Caverns
APPEARING IN the Albuquerque Journal on Jan. 2 was an article titled “Busy lint pickers brighten, preserve Carlsbad Caverns.” The article went on to explain the massive accumulation of human cells, hair, and bits of clothing and fibers that come from the thousands of visitors that walk the trails of the caverns each year. These particles gather together forming lint. This lint, when combined with the natural moisture from the caves, has the potential of dissolving the many formations that line the pathways. At the end of the article, a plea was made for volunteers to become “lint pickers.”
The Youth at Second Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque heard the plea! Taking on the role of lint pickers for their annual Mission Trip, the group of 12 teenagers and eight adults made the trek to Carlsbad, where they went through a short training and were given special gear that included a lighted helmet, gloves, brushes and a (zipper plastic) bag. The group hiked down into the caverns and proceeded, in two days, to collect 22 ounces of lint! That might not sound like much, but when you try to weigh lint coming out of your clothes dryer, imagine 1½ pounds of the light and feathery stuff!
Thank you Albuquerque Journal for your assistance in teaming us up with a quality mission trip! FRANCIS AND SUSIE CHANG Youth Coordinators, Second Presbyterian Church Albuquerque that they were in to get ahead of me!
Also, apparently turn signals on cars are an option which has now become unnecessary because I see only about .01 percent of drivers indicate that they are going to make a turn, ever.
It’s my best guess, luck and defensive driving that have saved me so far from being in an accident that is caused by another driver who is disobeying the law. I live in a rural part of New Mexico where the posted speed limit on our road is 25 miles per hour. However, every day, every morning, every afternoon, every night, there are people who are driving over 50 mph and who don’t care about the posted speed “limit” where I live.
After numerous telephone calls and complaints to our local police department, nothing has ever been done to alleviate this problem or to try to catch these speeders who don’t care how fast they drive, or how much they are breaking the law, or how much they are endangering the lives of other innocent drivers, pedestrians who walk up and down the road, bicyclists or people riding their horses or walking their dogs.
We might as well remove all stop signs, speed limit signs and stop lights until something is done to fix this growing problem, which is apparently not a concern to anyone until people start getting killed by these inconsiderate drivers! JUDITH BOWMAN Corrales