The Unsaid News from Upstate New Mexico

In today’s homily Taos Friction alludes briefly to the state of community and the issue of hubris or false pride, both specifically and according to the metaphors unpacked from a variety of belief systems. The smoke-filled sky above reminds us of the whirlwinds on the ground below. The omens indicate trouble ahead for our elected and appointed leaders.

Whether you are a believer in the inherited tradition of the west, or some variation of an ancient religion with natural and primordial roots, Buddhism or scientific empiricism and modern business practices, the signs can be easily interpreted. For guidance, I have quoted two verses from the King James Bible; a common text easily referenced by the general reader.

“He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.” –Proverbs 22.8

“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.” Hosea 8.7

In what could be seen as a metaphor for the community (and the nation), the 8th Judicial Court in Taos has announced the cancellation of jury trials at the new “Complex,” due to problems with the phone lines. The move from the old building to the new one is fraught with easily understood challenges. The attempt to rise above the limits of human conversation has come a cropper of tangled wires, electronic and technological imbroglios meant to create long-distance opportunity for complex communication. Hence, the local justice system is on hold.

The empirical data only underscores a prior more human problem: the removal of a judge, whose response to members of Taos Pueblo was judged unjust.

“The rod of his anger shall fail.”

At the Taos Municipal Schools, where some 37 (?) employees were suddenly laid off, the administration has yet to present a budget to the board, a budget justifying the creation of unemployed citizens, many of whom allegedly dealt with the most vulnerable children in the community. On Friday June 3, it became apparent that in addition to a $1.7 million dollar reduction, the board was confronted with the loss of “40 level D” Special Ed students, which meant another estimated $1 million in reimbursed revenue must be subtracted from the projected budget.

Knowledgeable observers suggest these students and the subsequent loss may be a casualty of “gaming the system” or “phantom units” created by administrators, who fiddled the books. The budget meeting at which no business was done and little discussed was remarkable for what neither the Superintendent nor board president told the four board members. Both were served with lawsuits, according to observers. But the plaintiffs and substance of the lawsuits remain a mystery.

The administrators and their supporters in the community “have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”

Now come the OSHA fire and an electrical outage as if to emphasize the bad karma haunting the Kit Carson Coop—not to mention impassioned activists biting at the heels of the Traveling Trustees, their attorneys, and their CEO. Why if the Coop didn’t have bad luck, they would have no luck at all, given their constant missteps.

According to the news, based on Forest Service reports, a tree fell on a power line and started a fire, now being fought by 450 firefighters over nearly a square mile of verdant mountain landscape. Rumor says the errant “tree” was marked for removal by the Coop but the Coop tree trimmers hadn’t gotten round to it. Then, in a separate incident, due to a power outage, a longtime lineman was electrocuted, and may suffer life-threatening limb impairment. While our best wishes go out to the dedicated lineman’s family, we suggest the Trustees and the CEO begin to look in the mirror at their first responsibility: Operating the electrical Coop.

“He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity.”

The trustees and their brain trust have wasted millions of dollars on vain projects. Now they continue to follow a self-destructive moral and material journey in search of redemption–whether in the courts or at the PRC. A little honesty is due, lest activists find more peccadilloes in the paper trail. Confession and remorse are the first steps on the journey to salvation and forgiveness.

For truly the trustees at the Coop like the administrators at CRAB Hall, “have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.”

We don’t know the strangers but they might be the bankers who hold the notes for the tax and ratepayer debt at the Coop, the Schools, and the County Complex. Remember that St. Peter and his duly appointed Council of Cause and Effect make the decisions on whether you shall be admitted to paradise or some “other place,” according to just desserts. Sometimes St. Peter sends the whirlwind or his Boss sends a flood because the people are stiff-necked and will not acknowledge the more subtle signs made mention of previously by human accountants.

As the Constant Gardener has said, “There are no atheists in foxholes. Pray for us.”