Kathleen Johnson
Editor:
I believe most residents of rural northern NM can agree on two things: We love the beauty that surrounds us, and the number of thefts and burglaries in our communities discourages us.
I am part of a story of burglarized neighbors working together with the Sheriff’s Department, and the bad guys were actually caught. I wish that were the usual outcome, but it’s not.
Given the amount of poverty and drug addiction in our communities, the reasons why people steal, burglaries are not likely to decrease. The number of police officers assigned to protect us is not likely to increase in these economic times, but community members can take a more active role.
We just celebrated the election of a new President who stands for hope and change. Maybe it’s time we bring hope and change to our communities and not just to Washington.
I believe that, working as communities and neighborhoods, we can make it more difficult for the bottom feeders to trash our homes and walk away with our stuff while we’re at work. How do we do this? It starts with neighbors getting together to talk. It begins with our police department actively working with us to put together effective plans, call trees, and notification that thefts are occurring in our areas.
Is anyone else sick of this? It is time we resurrect the call, “Si, se puede”?
I want to thank Lt. Manuel Valdez, Lt. Marco Armijo, Deputy Raymond Romero and CI Wayne Salazar for their work in helping us.
Kathleen Johnson
El Rito