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“Go to Sandoval County Web site, click on County Commissioners; you’ll get a picture of the person, a general description of which part of county they serve, and adescription of the boundaries of their districts in such detail, that no one but a surveyor or someone with lots of time on their hands could figure out.  An overlay of their district on a county map would be so much more useful to most people.  What part do these county commissioners whose districts over/under lay the City of Rio Rancho, play in the governing of Rio Rancho?  A couple of recent rants; both involving commissioner Jack Thomas - one he had done something in one city councilors district without telling her.  Another mentioned he was giving money to a different city councilor for things in her district that the residents didn’t want. I’ve heard this same councilor has $80,000 for a beautification wall on Unser.  County or city money?  Who wants the wall? The city could find more beneficial things to spend such funds on.  Are any county commissioners involved in City of Rio Rancho government?” “To the ‘neighbor’ who complained about the shrub (April 27) at 701 Amethyst in Vista Hills. The shrub will be trimmed back because it is due to be trimmed back, not because of your little “rant.” Whoever you are, you know that you have never spoken to me about it. Ever! In the ‘rant,’ you make it sound as if you and the neighbors have been telling me for two months to trim the shrub. The first I heard about it was three days ago because you complained to code enforcement. Instead of complaining to everyone but me, you could have stopped by my house and introduced yourself; maybe we could talk and become ‘real’ neighbors!”

“I have to second the ranter in Sunday’s Observer on bill payments. I, too, do not make online payments to PNM because of their surcharge. As for automatic payments, too many instances have occurred where a creditor has multi-billed a customer and refused to acknowledge that multibilling until months later and considerable documentation proving the multibilling on the part of the consumer. Further, the likelihood is that the creditor will attempt taking payment up to a month early (based upon when they publish their bills) giving them a “time-value-of-money” advantage over the consumer. To accept “automatic” bill payment, creditors will have to agree to demand payment only within one week of the payment due date, and require specific authorization for payment from the consumer before each transaction is allowed to take place.”

“After my neighbor bought his house, he was totally blindsided by having to make payments to SAD 6. There are unscrupulous agents in this town who do not call attention to such things. It seems to me it has to be in the paperwork somewhere. My title insurance points out an old title provision that I cannot mine mercury on my lot The title insurance would be the first place to look.”

“What puzzles me about this 12-year-old who admitted to consensual sex with an older man. Why aren’t her parents being placed in jail or under scrutiny for endangerment of a child? After all, she did go back for a second time, according to the media. Why was she not being more carefully watched by her parents? On the other hand, perhaps this 12-year-old wasn’t a virgin.”

“I am new in Rio Rancho and I understand there is a lot of bigotry and racism here and in Sandoval County. I am told there is a school to learn hate here. I sure want to learn what the benefits are. Where I come from, we were very ignorant of racial issues and don’t understand: Is it a mental disorder or a contagious disease for only certain people? I am half-Latino, half-Latino; also, I am engaged to a very nice Native American girl from a nearby pueblo.”

“Cheryl Ganch and her supporters are elated that they were able to stop the SAD process and save themselves some cash.  I, myself, am happy to hear that our city leaders will not waste anymore of their time and our taxes on such a selfish issue.  I remember when the floods hit and people affected in those areas came out in droves demanding that the city officials do ‘something.’  Well, they did come up with a plan and no one really paid attention to it until a fee was attached to it. People complained that they weren’t ‘heard,’ that the Rio Rancho city government was doing ‘it’ to them. Where were you in the initial phase before the fee? Two incumbent councilors even lost reelection primarily due to this issue. I have followed this issue and no it does not effect me, as I live in a developed area and have already paid these fees. This whole issue was about how can we get out of paying this fee? The idea that the city and the rest of the Rio Rancho community should bare the cost and burden is very selfish thinking. I am disappointed that our city officials gave way to these tantrum tactics and set precedents that will cause many problems for our community. Where is our leadership? Step up to the plate and do what needs to be done, even if it is not popular. When (not if, if you know New Mexico weather), the next flood comes I hope Ms. Ganch and the rest of her supporters are prepared to handle the situation and don’t come crying to the city demanding that they do something about it or I may have to resort to the tantrum tactics.  Enough of our taxes have been wasted on this issue and I would like to see our city officials start addressing issues that effect our whole community.” 

“My wife and I visited our new public art at city hall on Sunday.  We think ‘Chaco Rising’ is very appropriate for our City of Vision as a great sculpture to keep us and future generations looking forward and the reflective design to commemorate the Anasazi people that once occupied this land we call home. Kudos to the artist, Jaymes Dubbing, for the vision we all seem to forget. Our only complaint would have to be not knowing about the unveiling so that we could have shaken the artist’s hand but keeping a low profile in these testy times was probably wise.”

“You used to run pet adoptions, a page for pet adoptions for Watermelon Ranch. I know that a lot of really needy pets got adopted because you were working in concert with WMR. Why don’t you guys do that anymore? There are a lot of pets that need good homes that aren’t getting them anymore because you’re not working together. I would like to see full-page pet ads back. I was very happy to see a picture of a pet that needed adoption from Animal Control of Rio Rancho this week.”