D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
December 2009
Prayers in Palomas
Sectional President Estanislao "Tanis" Garcia of Puerto Palomas de Villa was not corrupt. This is why he was killed, by professionals. Your current article about him (Borderlines, November) borders on the libelous, the racist, and is pure, prejudiced fantasy. The only testimony you provide (ever without hard facts which would stand up in a court of law) supports the fact Mr. Garcia was not corrupt, yet your reporter does all that she can to blow smoke, gossip and create unwarranted suspicion about this good and honest man, whom I knew well, who died for courageously being honest, against the traditional way of doing things. The burden of proof lies with the accuser and she provides none; in this country we are innocent until proven guilty, yet she provides not a scintilla of evidence. This good man now deceased deserves much better.
I went to the burial, by hand, and added my hand to those shoveling by hand the dirt into his grave. The father of Tanis was quietly embracing all who came, and comforting them, with loving peace, strengthening each person there mourning, counseling each one of us who wept, as if we were the close family member and he a minister. He urged us not to vengeance and more violence but to forgiveness and praying to accommodate ourselves to God's will, no matter how painful, how incomprehensible, it may be for us now.
He was the father of Tanis Garcia, and he smiled and spoke softly with each one of us hundreds of mourners, embracing us, each of us from all of the various religions and sects and temples and denominations throughout Palomas, the Catholic Church, the Oveja Perdida, the Luz del Mundo, the Apostolicos, the Baptists, the Pentecostals, the Jehovah Witnesses, etc., each of which was regularly visited by Tanis, who asked for prayers of peace and justice in Palomas, transcending the various faiths as no one else could do, and welcomed by all people of good will as no one else ever was, or will be ever again.
We knew then in his father and his mother who is Tanis Garcia: a good man who wanted the best for his community and for the poor, a man who was not corrupt, but loved each person and wanted the best for all, giving his all courageously to achieve that goal.
Tanis was clean. Viva Tanis Garcia.
Charles J. Scanlon
Columbus
Borderlines columnist Marjorie Lily responds: I think that if anybody reads my
column again they'll realize that the letter-writer seriously misjudges what
I wrote.
Over the Moon
Please pass my compliments on to Nancy Gordon for her fine article, "Hunting the Rabbit in the Moon" (November). I think it ranks with the best nature writing and science writing I've read. And I read a lot.
Harley Shaw
Hillsboro
Deficit Hawk or Dove?
I found Henry Lightcap's entry in the November 2009 issue very interesting — especially the line stating that Ronald Reagan was the last fiscal conservative this country ever elected. Please ask Henry to share his sources with us and refer him to this website — www.zfacts.com/p/318.html — which clearly shows Reagan did more damage to the deficit than any president since Truman. It is this very type of misinformation in the media that causes turmoil in politics today. Please print the truth.
Daniel Kongs
Las Cruces
Snakes and Skunks
Larry Lightner said he thought "any caring pet owner would do the same" when referring to his killing of a harmless gopher snake which he mistook for a rattlesnake (Letters, November). Not true. I am staying with friends who live in the woods north of Silver City. They have two dogs whom they dote on, and I have a cat. This past summer we found two big and beautiful blacktail rattlesnakes cooling under a bush about eight feet from the house. We picked them up with a stick with a hook on the end, put them in a five-gallon bucket with a lid, and carried them far into the forest. This was my first "rattlesnake relocation" in New Mexico, but I have been doing the same thing in Arizona for nearly 30 years. There is always another solution rather than the kneejerk destruction of a living being so common to the ignorant and fearful.
James Brown
Silver City
Editor's note: Not exactly "harmless," the 52-inch bull snake bit one of Larry's dogs. However you decide to deal with rattlers in your midst (or snakes you think are rattlers), dear readers, please do pay attention to the cautions in Larry's original October Ramblin' Outdoors column.
This reminds me of what Edward Abbey said about snakes in Desert Solitaire: "I'm a humanist. I'd rather kill a man than a snake." Snakes DO NOT contribute to global warming.
Bill Melendy
Nevada City, Calif.
Larry Lightner certainly knows how to shake up his readers, pro and con. Not too much to fuss about in his November article (Ramblin' Outdoors). I particularly like his traditional ending to his articles: "keep the sun forever at your back, the wind forever in your face, etc."
After he met his little skunk friend on his daily rounds, I wondered if he might want to reassess the "wind in your face" bit?
Teresa Ali-Olivas
Bayard
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