Mea Culpa: An Open Letter

so here it is........... our first entry into the blog....... converse away everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I recognize the dogs. They're mine. I'm so embarrassed. There's no arguing with Video Justice.

The big one, who is the star of the movie, has had the run of the Montoya Ranch for over seven years (nearly her entire life). The smaller one is only a year old -- one of our two Navajo rescues -- and she's in training to take over the alpha role in this dangerous, marauding pack. The film is hard evidence of these dogs menacing innocent homeowners.

No matter how many times I've told them, my dogs just won't understand the importance of civilization and progress here in Santa Fe County. I've tried to explain to them that their "ancestral" hunting grounds are now a gated community, but the stupid animals just won't change their ways. Please assure all of my neighbors that these bad creatures will be severely punished. They'll be imprisoned for life.

The fence is being constructed now.

I've been noticing by the evolving tenor of your newsletter that we are being overrun by these domestic pests. Seems nearly everybody has lost control of the animals they have chosen to import into our neighborhoods. Why so many lost animals? Easy. Not enough fences. Not enough control!

I want to apologize to the entire community for my irresponsible behavior up to this point: not fencing my dogs and not keeping them on a leash at all times when they are outside the fence. Lord! They have probably even been defecating on lawns! What in the world was I thinking when I moved here to 21 acres on Goldmine Road? This is certainly no way to run an upscale community!

I'm mending my ways. We recently visited Los Alamos: what a wholesome and clean little town, young couples with lots of little scrubbed children, all wearing athletic shoes, a green grass park and a little pond... why it was like... well, Pleasantville! I'm rounding up all my cowboy boots for a trip to the second-hand store. I'm reconsidering my position on gun ownership. Maybe we all should just demand a Sheriff's substation at the foot of Goldmine Road so we can have some law enforcement here. And that reference in the road name to mining... is that really good for our property values? Maybe we should take a cue from the renaming of Cyanide Loop to Wagon Wheel Trail?

Annie, I saw the piece in your letter this morning on getting new signs out on the Turquoise Trail. I'm so glad that the effective political activism of our community is getting us official recognition as being a residential area from here to our beloved home, Santa Fe. I look forward to those new 30 MPH signs and, finally, civilized traffic. Do you think we could get our mailing addresses changed to Santa Fe? That would improve our property values, and we'd be able to take advantage of those wonderful city services! If we can't be annexed to Santa Fe, we surely should get incorporated here, and organize ourselves, so we can get some control. We need strict zoning that forbids manufactured homes and trailers in our fine neighborhood; actually, all of those "alternative" structures. We certainly need animal control enforcement (why, I constantly find HORSE APPLES by my fence!). Actually, I'd like to run for Dog Catcher.

We're not children anymore. We're going to have to learn to live responsibly. After all, there are certain obligations that go with the privilege of being Santa Feans (even if, for now, we are only Santa Fe Countians).

Yours for a better community,


Doug Wesley

PS Do you think it might be possible to get an ordinance that requires all horses off their own property to wear those bags under their tails, so I don't have to clean up after them all the time? And, in any case, we should restrict all horse riding to public roads and only when guided by a licensed, insured, bonded equestrian operator, who can be punished if rules aren't followed!

By the way, I saw a bumper sticker down at the post office that said, "Bad Roads Make Good Neighbors." What do you think that means?