National Words Matter Week

Words are an important part of communicating along with behavior. Words do matter! Here is a case in point.

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National Words Matter Week is March 6 to 12. Why do words matter? Because words can get you in a lot of trouble.

Case in point for me: I recently sued New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) for Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) violations. They didn’t break that law once but many times. Remember IPRA is a law not a “be a nice government agency and don’t hide things.”

One of the things I pointed out in my lawsuit was that the IPRA law states very clearly "you respond within 15 calendar or 15 days." But NMPED thought business days would be just fine. It wasn’t. I know words and business days gives you more days to respond. Now, let’s be real; NMPED couldn’t get their act together to respond in business days either but they did put it in writing, violating the IPRA law.

So we went to a second mediation and it is confidential, but NMPED has to send me a check. If you thought that would be a clear message that NMPED is doing something wrong — you would be wrong. NMPED is still breaking the law. And if you thought NMPED would get their act together to sign off and send me a check and be done with it — you would be wrong again. NMPED is dragging their feet. I may take them back to court and ask, “What is going on?”

Words do matter!

Barbe Awalt


NM Writers Dinner
Doug Preston was the keynote speaker at the 1st NM Writers Dinner in Santa Fe last week. Great speech! Here is a little taste of his speech to give everyone an idea of what it was about:
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Today's Rants: Double Standards . . . Just Saying!
  • Four American mosques have been set on fire in the past seven weeks alone, a figure which has astonished civil rights groups tracking the recent surge in hate crimes against Muslims and other minority communities. Three of the fires have been officially ruled as arson, while the fourth remains under investigation. By comparison, eight mosques were victims of arson in all of 2015. Should this trend continue, 2017 is set to pass 2015 before the end of April. While anti-Muslim hate crimes in particular were already on the rise before Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, the Southern Poverty Law Center has attributed at least some of the high numbers to Trump’s “incendiary rhetoric.” AND EVEN MORE IMPORTANT, our president is being totally silent about all this. Maybe he has some alternative fact that he'd like to share. And this does not even begin to talk about the horrific acts of hate displayed by destroying grave markers in Jewish cemeteries! I though that the President was supposed to be a leader and set the tone as well as example of what this great country was all about. Oh, well…
  • Our president has accused former President Obama of “wire tapping” Trump Tower before the 2016 presidential election. Trump made the claims in a series of tweets, although he offered no evidence to back up his allegations. I guess our president does not understand the law of this country clearly states that presidents cannot order wiretaps. By the way, if wiretaps had been approved, it would mean that there was some evidence warranting the tap. Watch out Trump!
  • Republicans in Congress are such hypocrites; they think the poor don't WANT healthcare because they are lazy and will die anyway. They want to change the health plans for all of us except their own plan which would remain as the "Cadillac" of all plans while we have caps that will not adequately cover average healthcare costs, let alone emergency care.

UPCOMING CALENDAR:
Rio Grande Books
April 8: Gallup Public Library, 9am-5pm "Author Fair"
April 20-22: Arizona-NM Historical Society Conference, Flagstaff, AZ
June 16-18: Sacred Art Market, Gallup Cathedral
July 15: Lavender in the Village, Los Ranchos Agri Center

Henrietta Christmas & Paul Rhetts
April 30: Santa Fe Public Library, 2pm "Basic Genealogy Checklist: 101 Tips & Tactics to Finding Your Family History"
June 24: Treasure House Books, Albuquerque Old Town 1-3pm "Basic Genealogy Checklist: 101 Tips & Tactics to Finding Your Family History"

Loretta Hall
March 18: Santa Fe Public Library, 2pm "New Mexico's Contribution to Space Travel"
April 5: Bear Canyon Senior Center, 10:00-11:30, "NM is a Treasure Trove of Space History"
April 7, 14, 21, 28: LifeLong Learning Institute class, Covenant Presbyterian Church, 9315 Candelaria Rd NE, Albuquerque, 10:00-12:00, "New Mexico's Contributions to Space Travel"
May 3: Bear Canyon Senior Center, 10:00-11:30, "Getting Men to the Moon: Behind-the-Scenes Stories"
July 13: OASIS, 1:00-2:30, "What Sex Differences Mean for Space Travel"

Pat Hodapp
April 23: Collected Works, 2pm "Santa Fe Bucket List"

Sabra Brown Steinsiek
March 11: Reading "The Tale of the Pronghorned Cantaloupe" on Green Knees Radio (KSFR 101.1)

Ross Van Dusen
May 20: Treasure House Books, 1pm "Lyle Got Stuck in a Tree"