My Page: Rebecca Powell
BorderWest
No More Costco, No More Sam’s Club
In Montana, Ponderosa Pines framed our view of Flathead Lake. Twelve miles from Kalispell, four from Lakeside, we shopped in bulk, always ready for a snowstorm or armageddon, whichever came first. For five to seven months a year, navigating our mile-long driveway induced swearing and cold sweats. The daunting task of fetching wood in January required donning long underwear, wool socks, a face mask, and two sets of gloves. Fleece was a main staple of my wardrobe. I judged our well-being not by the balance of our bank account, our spiritual enlightenment or the size of our social circle, but by the size of the woodpile and the level of food in the freezer.
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BorderWest
Small Defends Wilderness Proposal
I have watched debates like the Doña Ana County Wilderness debate in churches, school boards, even over the spotted owl and logging. They are much more than debates over policy. People invest their time, energy, money and themselves in the outcome, thus perceived and real attacks have devastating power. Add in the emotional ties to land and the romance of wilderness, and the outcome becomes all-important and all consuming. [more]
BorderWest
People For Preservation of Our Western Heritage Catches Praise
The ranchers I know are an independent lot. They do not form groups, organize, or launch campaigns. They like open spaces, devoid of people. Informing the public on what it takes to ranch or its importance is not on an activity they relish or perform with any regularity. That a group of ranchers with ties to the local business community managed to overcome their natural inclinations to broadcast their message and form a large coalition of supporters may herald a new day in land conservation. [more]
BorderWest
New Mexico Wilderness Alliance Catches Blame
Heath Haussamen at NM Politics reports Senator Pete Domenici's chief of staff, Steve Bell, blames the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA) for causing gridlock surrounding wilderness designations in Doña Ana County. Bell states
"You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that we have absolutely entered gridlock and nothing can happen because there’s too much at stake politically,” Bell said. “… The upshot is, once again, in my judgment, a group has proved a truth of an old saying that I used everyday for the last 36 years in this job: ‘Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Because the Domenici plan was not perfect in their [NMWA] view, they rejected it,” Bell said of the wilderness group. “Then they came up with a proposal they think is perfect, and now they are faced with the prospect of getting nothing.”[more]
BorderWest
Las Cruces Music: A Band of One
He is the vocals, guitar and rhythm section. Oh, and he also provides the lyrics and music: C.W. Ayon, One Man Band. On stage, he thumps out a driving rhythm with his right foot, provides a snare and tamborine with his left, offers up some throaty lyrics, and picks out blues riffs – all at once.
Ayon grew up listening to his mom strum out country and oldies, but he didn’t pick up a guitar of his own until he was in his twenties. On his first venture into the world of music, he was kicked out of his school’s junior high band class, because he couldn’t read music. Years later, he found love at first chord progression. From the start, he knew he wanted to play and sing to a crowd. After reading a dozen books on guitar and spending hundreds of hours listening to Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn, he felt ready to play.
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BorderWest
More Than a Yes or No to Wilderness
The Doña Ana County Wilderness debate rages.
Views on HR 6300 run the gamut from a "common-sense balance" to "an attack on our public lands." Whether you consider HR 6300 a travesty, the best thing since apple pie, or something in between the two, there is a story here, a story worth hearing.
Talks between the ranchers and the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance broke down. Lines were drawn. Suspicions were not overcome. This is usually the end of the story. A faction of the community stands for wilderness -- another faction against. They trade letters in local newspapers
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BorderWest
How Not to Attend a Press Conference
I can catch pieces of the press conference on the news. Someone else can record the words for prosperity. Two years ago, this twenty-five minute interlude of chaos would have qualified as a tragedy. My plan – hearing the Doña Ana County Wilderness Coalition’s reaction to HR 6300 – was thwarted. Today, it is hardly a blip on my emotional radar. This chaos is my life. [more]
BorderWest
Pearce Submits People’s Proposal to the House
HR 6300, a version of the People's Proposal, was submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives by Steve Pearce (R-NM) on June 18, 2008, creating a flurry of activity this weekend on both sides of the Dona Aña County Wilderness Debate.
An email to Doña Ana County Wilderness Coalition supporters announced a press conference and rally against HR 6300. The email says HR 6300,
Eliminates ALL Current Wilderness Protections in the 8 Temporary Wilderness Areas in Dona Ana County, including in the Organ Mountains
Creates a New Process for Selling Off Public Lands in Dona Ana County and A Hand Picked Special Interest Group Committee to Decide How Dona Ana County Grows
Takes Federal Funding Away From the Federal Governments Ability to Maintain and Expand Americas Most Important Natural Lands.
It sounds frightening. Presented like this, I would sign a petition and walk a picket line against HR 6300, however, I have been reading the proposal for what has become HR 6300 for over a month -- there seems to be a misunderstanding. [more]
BorderWest
Real New Mexicans
Jim Sagel writes, "Real New Mexicans never give up trying to transplant junipers. And they always look astonished when it rains."
I am nowhere near a real New Mexican, but when clouds gathered this evening, my first thought wasn't rain, but wind. We haven't seen rain since February and my two-year-old son thinks rain comes from the sprinklers on the lawns of the university. Clouds have a new meaning -- dust storms and tipped over tomato plants -- so we secured the plants and waited for the clouds to pass, never even hoping for rain.
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BorderWest
Overstatements and Mythical Ranchers
The scenario sounds eerily familiar. NMWA presented the Dona Ana County wilderness proposal to local governments, claiming wide-spread support from area ranchers. In reality, the ranchers had no input on the proposal and were unaware that government entities were passing resolutions of support. [more]
