UP! SPEAK !?!

Speak Up Rules

If you want to gripe, grouse, whine or bellyache about a generic topic, submit your message at www.abqjournal.com/letters/speakup. The same goes if you want to dish out praise or thanks. Either way, you have to do it in 50 words or less. You can’t identify anyone you criticize. Keep it clean. No cursing, please. We don’t need your name, just initials. And it’s cheaper than therapy.

HOW DISAPPOINTING to see our mayor join the demonstrations. I had respect for the mayor until he jumped on the Democrat wagon. Where were you during the Obama administration that had the same policy? How hypocritical. GWT

FOR DESTROYING Central and ruining multiple businesses/lives, one of the head honchos of the ART project was rewarded with a position at the Solid Waste Department, where she continues to make close to six figures. ... Where’s the justice!? OB

(U.S) REP. Michelle Lujan Grisham never rode a “train from Santa Fe to Boston,” as her ad claims, because passenger trains used Lamy, not Santa Fe, due to terrain. She either has a poor memory, or she doesn’t fact check. If she doesn’t know N.M. history/ geography, despite boasting about her family’s living here for generations, does she really understand our state? RB

PLEASE, PLEASE, please cast your votes for candidates who are willing to try to pass meaningful gun control laws. (President) Trump’s “our thoughts & prayers are with you” is not stopping shooters from using humans for target practice. CM

RATHER THAN attending border protests on federal immigration policy, the mayor’s time would be better spent addressing the drunk and homeless epidemic that is costing businesses and taxpayers millions of dollars. DS

THUMBS UP to District Attorney Raúl Torrez and his staff for pursuing justice in the Martens case, instead of just going for an easy conviction to satisfy the public’s blood lust. It makes you wonder how many others have been sent to prison, or worse, on the basis of false confessions that lazy prosecutors didn’t bother to compare with the physical evidence. SW

RE: TRAPP letter of July 1. How did you expect Gov. Susana Martinez to accomplish anything with the Roundhouse full of Democrats to object to everything she wanted to do? It’s time to elect Republicans. After more than 60 years of Democrats in control of everything, making promises and breaking promises, we the people have to wake up and elect a change of guard. GLD

N.M. SEN. John Arthur Smith is 100 percent correct about holding the line on the state’s permanent funds and about “advocates” being the only ones he hears from. I know about that because I served on city boards years ago and learned that advocates are the ones who have a vested interest in whatever they advocate for, that is they will make money if the funding happens. RMW

ENOUGH OF the commercials for governor. Thank goodness for the mute button. I’ve has enough of the “little house on the prairie” and “the long train ride to Boston.” It’s July people, let us enjoy our summer. Give it a rest until after Labor Day. MAL

ANOTHER COUNTRY artist for Freedom 4th? Who is the clown in charge of booking the acts for this event? Maybe some people think that this music represents the 4th but I disagree. The last time I remember good music at Balloon Fiesta Park was Joan Jett years ago and she kicked serious butt. Time to fire someone and get some rock ’n’ roll back on the menu. BTP

IF OUR new mayor spent as much time on fighting crime, as he does on his daily photo-ops, maybe we would see an improvement in the quality of life in Albuquerque. WDL

MLG, YOUR political ad seems very self-serving, so instead of exploiting your sister Kimberly’s tragedy to garner votes for the upcoming gubernatorial election, please give us your stance on the numerous, important issues facing our state. BE

RICHLAND HILLS Park has an ineffective sprinkling system. Large swatches of grass are brown, dirt with weeds, and not getting watered appropriately. Called 311 and Parks and Rec TWICE. Nothing changed. Evidently, Parks and Rec would rather let a neighborhood park deteriorate than do its job. MF

WHO HAS how much money is not the kind of campaign article we need. We need policy and background. Ideas and aspirations. Stop reporting polls, tweets and big bucks articles and give us the information we need to vote intelligently. FW

WHEN PRESIDENT Trump meets with Putin on July 16, gee, what could go wrong? Putin could heap praise on Trump in exchange for gutting NATO, destabilizing the Baltics, recognizing the seizure of Crimia, overthrowing the government of Ukraine and the USA leaving the World Trade Organization. Wow, I feel safe! JS

WE CONSISTENTLY read media articles on how our POTUS is screwing this up and making this or that wrong decision. Why don’t any of these so called “experts” run for office themselves? Maybe because it would be too difficult to execute what these “experts” think is the correct solution? JEH

RE: PRUITT resignation. Causing someone to resign because “the unrelenting attacks on me personally, (and) my family, are unprecedented and have taken a sizable toll on all of us” — Pruitt resignation letter — is just another way that the Left silences any opposition. Their intolerance is anything but Democratic! BB

SOME PEOPLE don’t get it. The CDC wasted taxpayer funds to study an issue that was common knowledge 25 years ago. Since the CDC added “prevention” to its title, it has run duplicative efforts of the NIH and other agencies. Like many other government agencies, the CDC used to do good things and now looks at anything to justify its bloated budget and remain relevant. Ergo, they became self-licking ice cream cones. JEH

CENTRAL AMERICA is predominately Roman Catholic. Gang violence seems to be the root cause of the exodus from these countries. What is the Catholic Church and other churches doing to intervene? Couldn’t the Catholic Church use its influence and vast resources to ameliorate the crisis? Isn’t this what Jesus taught? BYF TOPGOLF: MAYOR, unskilled people need jobs too. A job provides self esteem. It is better than begging on a corner. CB

SO LOCAL senior citizens centers are closing for 40 hours in July for “cleaning” (80 hours a year). Just wondering why our Department of Senior Affairs is allowed this unusual benefit. Shouldn’t our city libraries and other government departments be allowed the same benefit? Do they have better janitors? RH

TOO BAD the federal government saw fit to donate $83 million to ART — maybe — yet can’t get its own agency, AmTrak, to put the funds it was supposed to in track improvements and keep rail service active through all of New Mexico. CT

ONLY IN N.M. can you murder someone in cold blood and be out of jail in two days on an appearance bond. The N.M. motto should be — you do the crime, you get no time in N.M. Is anyone paying attention?!? CH

HAVING JUST ridden the train from Garden City to Albuquerque, I think it’s a shame that AmTrak is proposing to substitute buses for that stretch. Beautiful scenery and better comfort than flying or buses. The state blows tens of millions on the RailRunner yet won’t pay a trifle of that to keep the trains running and the tourists coming. CMT

RE: THE letter-to-theeditor ... that took the Journal to task for being too “liberal.” Please don’t insult your readers with information that disproves their opinions. That might actually lead them to learn something outside of their comfortable right-wing bubble. AP

I OFTEN hear that my alma maters, ENMU-Portales and NMSU-Las Cruces, are winning awards and gaining national recognition. Can we shut UNM down? I rarely see good news about this bloated behemoth. I spent five soulcrushing years working there; it is an inefficient, corrupt bureaucracy with a serious morale problem. LAM

UNM SPORTS, notably football, take money that could be used to support academics — the primary reason UNM exists — and teacher pay. Now it seems there is a major auto theft issue. Does anyone in UNM leadership have common sense? Cut football and use the money to fund these areas. JC

MY ACCOMPLISHED — BA El Ed/SPED; MA SPED — daughter is moving to Denver. She will get a $3,000 salary increase and paid health insurance benefits from her new school district. Albuquerque has sunshine, culture and family; however, Denver has a youthful, prosperous vibe that is very enticing. I don’t blame her. MAF