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WIPP taking more waste from Washington

Michael Smith
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WIPP taking more waste from Washington

Adrian Hedden
Artesia Daily Press
achedden@currentargus.com

More nuclear waste is being sent from a federal national lab in the state of Washington to the underground repository near Carlsbad.

The U.S. Department of Energy said 130 large waste containers were recently exhumed from two underground storage sites at the federal Hanford Site in the southern region of Washington.

The containers, containing transuranic (TRU) nuclear waste, stand about 19 feet tall and weigh about 50 tons, according to a report from the energy department’s Office of Environmental Management.

They were sent to an offsite location, read the report, to be repackaged into smaller containers and shipped to southeast New Mexico for burial at WIPP.

At WIPP, the energy department disposes of the TRU waste, which is clothing materials, equipment and other debris irradiated during nuclear activities.

The waste is buried at WIPP in a salt deposit about 2,000 feet underground. The salt gradually collapses on the waste, burying the refuse and blocking radiation from escaping.

Scott Green, manager of the department’s Hanford Field Office, said the removal and packaging of the waste was completed “with no incidents.”

“This project not only reduces risk but meets a significant regulatory milestone,” Green said.

The tank removal was required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Washington’s Department of Ecology through a 2018 agreement with the Department of Energy.

Known as the “Tri-Party Agreement” the deal required removal of all containers from outside storage areas at Hanford by Sept. 30, 2026.

The Tri-Party Agreement, officially called the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order, was signed by the three entities in 1989. It required all tank waste at Hanford be disposed of within 40 years – 2029.

“These milestones represent the actions necessary to ensure acceptable progress toward Hanford Site compliance,” read the agreement. “The goal of these milestones is to achieve timely and appropriate cleanup of the Hanford Site.”

Most of the exhumed containers include material such as metal, glass, and fiberglass-reinforced plywood irradiated during Hanford’s nuclear weapons production activities, read the report.

Removing the 130 containers and preparing them for disposal took about six years, according to Andy Drom, project director at Central Plateau Cleanup Company, the contractor hired by the federal government to oversee the Hanford Site.

“The success of this work is testimony to what can be achieved by working together to meet the challenges of our critical cleanup mission head-on,” Drom said.

Idaho also has waste removal agreement

WIPP took in about 572 shipments from Hanford since the repository opened in 1999, representing about 4% of the 14,687 shipments the facility has received as of Dec. 13, according to Department of Energy records.

The majority of WIPP’s waste – 7,767 shipments or 53% of the total – was sent from Idaho National Laboratory.

That facility was prioritized for WIPP under a 1995 settlement agreement between the federal government and the state of Idaho.

The agreement allowed the federal government to store some spent nuclear fuel in Idaho, and in exchange “expedite the treatment and permanent removal of waste” from the state.

All TRU waste was required to be removed by 2018, a deadline not met due to a three-year (2014-2017) shutdown of WIPP’s primary operations after a disposal drum ruptured and contaminated parts of the underground, according to a 2019 report from the Leadership in Nuclear Energy Commission.

Both agreements were criticized by New Mexico Environment Department Cabinet Secretary James Kenney, who said the deals were signed without input from WIPP’s host state.

He said this had the effect of “deprioritizing” New Mexico for nuclear waste cleanup, despite its acceptance of the risk associated with such work.

In 2023, the energy department signed a 10-year renewal of its operating permit with the state of New Mexico. The permit, overseen by Kenney’s environment department, included a clause requiring waste from Los Alamos National Laboratory to be prioritized.

Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

Opinion: Addictions undercut everything that makes America great

Michael Smith
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Opinion: Addictions undercut everything that makes America great

Mary Sanchez

Nothing President Donald Trump is pushing in his war on drugs would have saved Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner.

The murdered cinema couple’s loving efforts to help their son overcome addiction wouldn’t have benefited from any of Trump’s most ballyhooed efforts.

The president wants another failed war on drugs. Treatment for addiction, accessible mental health therapies, and funding for research aren’t top on the Trump agenda – they might barely make that agenda at all.

Instead, the White House is deploying shock and awe tactics, most of it self-serving to the He-Man persona the president craves.

Trump fancies himself a ruthless and all-powerful commander of the high seas, blowing up drug-ferrying boats, killing all aboard and even circling back to annihilate survivors. He is justifying these immoral acts by branding drug pushers “foreign terrorists.”

Trump’s latest salvo twists international law to label fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.

Recall that WMDs didn’t exist in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. And WMDs are not what is driving addiction rates in America.

Trump speaks as if Americans are being tied down and forced to shoot up heroin, snort and cook cocaine into crack, and consume opioids at the hands of nefarious foreign terrorists.

The truth is much more basic.

The monsters are within – literally, within the U.S. population.

Overdoses are down from years past, but still an estimated 81,700 Americans died in 2024, a decrease from more than 108,600 in the previous year. (Trump consistently overstates those deaths, inaccurately doubling and tripling the numbers.)

The illicit U.S. drug market has long been stable and incredibly profitable. The draw for the drug pushers and international cartels will remain until there is less U.S. demand – it’s as simple as that.

At his core, Trump understands this. He’s a businessman. He knows market forces are involved in transactions, even illicit ones, and therefore need to be part of the solution. He also has personal insight to tap.

A much younger Trump learned about addiction early with the painful loss of his brother Fred Trump Jr. to a life stewed in alcoholism.

He watched his once vibrant, handsome older brother transform into a shell, dying at 43.

Apparently, that familial pain is too deeply burrowed into Trump’s consciousness to influence policy, or decorum now.

Trump unloaded yet another inappropriate social media tirade after the Reiners were brutally murdered, allegedly by their son Nick Reiner.

The president blamed the victims. He was offended by Rob Reiner’s political activism, much of it against the policies, tone, and approach of the Trump administration.

First-degree murder charges have been filed against Reiner’s son and he deserves a fair defense and complete psychiatric evaluation. But so far the evidence is compelling that he slayed his parents in a rage.

The 32-year-old’s stints in rehab, homelessness, as well as periods of sobriety are heavily documented, captured even in a movie he helped to write and produce with his father in 2015, Being Charlie.

Strip the Reiners of their Brentwood address. Set aside the vault of cinematic classics they produced, and the gruesome brutality of how they died. What remains is very familiar to Americans, including Trump.

This is a family struggling to help one member, who, at times, resisted or simply couldn’t get sober. Their wealth, unlimited access to treatment, and years of loving attention couldn’t bring their son to sustained sobriety and stability.

Trump’s brother died in a different era, when we understood addiction and recovery far less, including the links to mental health disorders and self-medicating cycles of usage. At that time, we also didn’t understand much about how the support of others who’ve also managed to regain their sobriety can be best utilized.

Untwisting where addiction begins and a mental health disorder exists is work for psychiatric experts, scientists studying the receptors of the brain, chemical imbalances, and a swirl of genetics, environment, and individual factors.

Attention to the international drug trade and routes is warranted, along with continued oversight of opioid manufacturers, some of which have exacerbated dependency to chase profits.

The administration doesn’t tend to underscore the meetings, but there are on-going diplomatic conversations to bilaterally curb the illegal drug trade, especially fentanyl. Mexico is a great example of such collaboration.

Instead, the American public is fed heavy doses of bravado, the methods of bluster and attack that Trump has mastered. Meanwhile, families, some famous, most not, continue to be ripped apart by addiction.

Readers can reach Mary Sanchez at msanchezcolumn@gmail.com and follow her on Twitter @msanchezcolumn.

Opinion: Can the Dark Ages return?

Michael Smith
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Opinion: Can the Dark Ages return?

Victor Davis Hanson

Western civilization arose in the 8th century B.C. Greece. Some 1,500 city-states emerged from a murky, illiterate 400-year-old Dark Age. That chaos followed the utter collapse of the palatial culture of Mycenaean Greece.

But what reemerged were constitutional government, rationalism, liberty, freedom of expression, self-critique, and free markets — what we know now as the foundation of a unique Western civilization.

The Roman Republic inherited and enhanced the Greek model.

For a millennium, the Republic and subsequent Empire spread Western culture, eventually to be inseparable from Christianity.

From the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf and from the Rhine and Danube to the Sahara, there were a million square miles of safety, prosperity, progress, and science — until the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD.

What followed was a second European Dark Age, roughly from 500 to 1000 AD.

Populations declined. Cities eroded. Roman roads, aqueducts, and laws crumbled.

In place of the old Roman provinces arose tribal chieftains and fiefdoms.

Whereas once Roman law had protected even rural people in remote areas, during the Dark Ages, walls and stone were the only means of keeping safe.

Finally, at the end of the 11th century, the old values and know-how of the complex world of Graeco-Roman civilization gradually reemerged.

The slow rebirth was later energized by the humanists and scientists of the Renaissance, Reformation, and eventually the 200-year European Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Contemporary Americans do not believe that our current civilization could self-destruct a third time in the West, followed by an impoverished and brutal Dark Age.

But what caused these prior returns to tribalism and loss of science, technology, and the rule of law?

Historians cite several causes of societal collapse — and today they are hauntingly familiar.

Like people, societies age. Complacency sets in.

The hard work and sacrifice that built the West also creates wealth and leisure. Such affluence is taken for granted by later generations. What created success is eventually ignored — or even mocked.

Expenditures and consumption outpace income, production, and investment.

Child-rearing, traditional values, strong defense, love of country, religiosity, meritocracy, and empirical education fade away.

The middle class of autonomous citizens disappear. Society bifurcates between a few lords and many peasants.

Tribalism — the pre-civilizational bonds based on race, religion, or shared appearance — re-emerge.

National government fragments into regional and ethnic enclaves.

Borders disappear. Mass migrations are unchecked. The age-old bane of antisemitism reappears.

The currency inflates, losing its value and confidence. General crassness in behavior, speech, dress, and ethics replaces prior norms.

Transportation, communications, and infrastructure all decline.

The end is near when the necessary medicine is seen as worse than the disease.

Such was life around 450 AD in Western Europe.

The contemporary West might raise similar red flags.

Fertility has dived well below 2.0 in almost every Western country.

Public debt is nearing unsustainable levels. The dollar and euro have lost much of their purchasing power.

It is more common in universities to damn than honor the gifts of the Western intellectual past.

Yet, the reading and analytical skills of average Westerners, and Americans in particular, steadily decline.

Can the general population even operate or comprehend the ever-more sophisticated machines and infrastructure that an elite group of engineers and scientists create?

The citizen loses confidence in an often corrupt elite, who neither will protect their nations’ borders nor spend sufficient money on collective defense.

The cures are scorned.

Do we dare address spiraling deficits, unsustainable debt, and corrupt bureaucracies and entitlements?

Even mention of reform is smeared as “greedy,” “racist,” “cruel,” or even “fascist” and “Nazi.”

In our times, relativism replaces absolute values in the eerie replay of the latter Roman Empire.

Critical legal theory claims crimes are not really crimes.

Critical race theory postulates that all of society is guilty of insidious bias, demanding reparations in cash and preferences in admission and hiring.

Salad-bowl tribalism replaces assimilation, acculturation, and integration of the old melting pot.

Despite a far wealthier, far more leisured, and far more scientific contemporary America, was it safer to walk in New York or take the subway in 1960 than now?

Are high school students better at math now or 70 years ago?

Are movies and television more entertaining and ennobling in 1940 or now?

Are nuclear, two-parent families the norm currently or in 1955?

We are blessed to live longer and healthier lives than ever — even as the larger society around us seems to teeter.

Yet, the West historically is uniquely self-introspective and self-critical.

Reform and Renaissance historically are more common than descents back into the Dark Ages.

But the medicine for decline requires unity, honesty, courage, and action — virtues now in short supply on social media, amid popular culture, and among the political class.

Victor Davis Hanson is a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness. He is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author of “The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won,” from Basic Books.

WIPP subcontractor marks 50 years in business

Adrian Hedden
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WIPP subcontractor marks 50 years in business

Staff reports

Los Alamos Technical Associates, a federally hired subcontractor that supports regulatory and environmental compliance activities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, marks 50 years in operations next year.

The company, hired in 2023 by primary WIPP subcontractor Salado Isolation Mining Contractors, was founded in 1976 in Albuquerque and holds contracts with other federal facilities throughout the state, including at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

At WIPP, the Energy Department disposes of transuranic nuclear waste (TRU), which is clothing materials, equipment and other debris irradiated during nuclear activities.

The waste is buried at WIPP in a salt deposit about 2,000 feet underground. The salt gradually collapses on the waste, burying the refuse and blocking radiation from escaping.

Beginning in January 1976, the company provided nuclear plant planning, design, construction, and startup support at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Over time, LATA expanded to serve multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of State.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, the company diversified beyond breeder reactor programs into nuclear waste management, weapons facilities, fossil energy and environmental services, supporting sites such as Los Alamos, Sandia, Rocky Flats, Hanford, Oak Ridge, and Idaho.

In the 2000s, LATA further broadened its capabilities to include information technology, security, classified services, and international customs and border control projects, while continuing to achieve major environmental remediation and waste management wins across DOE, EPA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Air Force and Navy.

“Our 50th anniversary is both a milestone and a responsibility,” said Robin Beard, president and CEO. “We are proud of the legacy built by those who came before us, and we remain committed to carrying that legacy forward by protecting the future through innovation, adaptability, and the strength of our people.”

Looking ahead, LATA is plans to continue supporting the next era of national priorities, including the renewed focus on clean energy, advanced nuclear technologies, and energy security, officials said.

LATA’s success over the past half century has been made possible by dedicated employees who value teamwork, safety, and service, and by long standing client relationships built on trust and performance, Beard said.

As the company looks ahead, it remains focused on building “a clean and sustainable future, leveraging multidisciplinary expertise and an adaptable workforce to meet emerging challenges,” read a company news release.

About LATA

Los Alamos Technical Associates is an environmental and engineering SBA-certified Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) providing technical solutions that protect people and natural resources.

LATA supports federal clients nationwide in solving complex environmental challenges from project management, instrumentation & controls, engineering, environmental remediation, nuclear services, demolition, hazardous materials, sampling & analysis, and waste management. To learn more about LATA, please visit www.lata.com.

Duke Rodriguez announces campaign for governor of NM

Adrian Hedden
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Duke Rodriguez announces campaign for governor of NM

Silver City Daily Press

Duke Rodriguez has announced his candidacy for governor of New Mexico, launching a campaign centered on experienced leadership, practical solutions and putting people first.

Rodriguez is a longtime New Mexico entrepreneur, health care executive, and former Cabinet secretary who helped reform the state’s Medicaid system. Running as a Republican, he will compete in the 2026 Republican primary.

“I grew up here, built my career here, and raised my family here,” Rodriguez said. “I know what it means to work in the fields and to work your way up.

My roots are in New Mexico — and so is my future. I’m running because New Mexico is not a poor state. It’s a poorly run state — and families feel that failure every day.” Rodriguez has spent his career fixing complex systems rather than talking about them. He rose to chief operating officer of Lovelace Health System, where he managed what was then the largest health care system in the state. He later served as secretary of the Human Services Department under Gov. Gary Johnson, helping design and reform New Mexico’s Medicaid Salud program.

More recently, he built Ultra Health into the state’s largest medical cannabis company — creating jobs, navigating regulation, and delivering care to patients across New Mexico.

“I’ve led health care systems, reformed Medicaid, and managed large, complex budgets,” Rodriguez said. “I understand the difference between promises and performance. New Mexico doesn’t need more slogans. It needs leadership that knows how systems actually work.”

Rodriguez said his campaign will be grounded in straight talk — even when it’s uncomfortable.

“I respect voters enough to tell them the truth,” he said. “You may not agree with everything I say, but I will never insult you with a kind lie. That’s how you fix pensions, health care, education, and public safety — with facts, discipline and accountability.”

As governor, Rodriguez said he will focus on restoring trust and results in state government; strengthening health care access and affordability; improving educational outcomes; addressing public safety and homelessness; and confronting long-ignored fiscal challenges, including New Mexico’s underfunded pension systems.

“This race shouldn’t be about labels or symbolism,” Rodriguez said. “It should be about who has actually run large systems, fixed real problems, and delivered results. New Mexicans don’t need another story. They need solutions.”

Rodriguez emphasized that winning statewide will require expanding the coalition beyond traditional party lines. “If doing things the same way worked, Republicans would have won the Governor’s Office by now,” he said. “This campaign is about expanding the tent — independents, working families, and people who feel ignored by both parties. Responsibility and results shouldn’t be partisan.”

Speaking directly to voters, Rodriguez added: “Over the next year, I’ll travel the state, listen carefully, and have honest conversations about what’s broken — and how we fix it. I’m not asking for blind loyalty or blind donations. I’m asking you to run with me — to put people first, tell the truth, and make life in New Mexico better, not bitter.”

For more information, visit RunWithDuke.com or follow the campaign on social media: Facebook: @RunWithDuke; Instagram: @DukeforNM; X (formerly Twitter): @ DukeForNM.

The New Year, together

Adrian Hedden
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The New Year, together

David Grousnick

As we start a New Year together, allow me to share a few adult viewpoints about New Years Eve:

“Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.” Bill Vaughan

“Every man regards his own life as the New Year’s Eve of time.” Jean Paul

“I had a terrible fight with my wife on New Year’s Eve. She called me a procrastinator. So, I finished addressing the Christmas cards and left.” Robert Orben

One week a Sunday school teacher had just finished telling her class the Christmas story, how Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem and how Jesus was born in a stable and laid in a manger.

After telling the story the teacher asked, “Who do you think the most important woman in the Bible is?”

Of course, the teacher was expecting one of the kids to say, “Mary.”

But instead, a little boy raised his hand and said, “Eve.”

So, the teacher asked him why he thought Eve was the most important woman in the Bible.

And the little boy replied, “Well, they named two days of the year after Eve. You know, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.”

Any way you look at it, a New Year is upon us!

In his covenant prayer, which he offered every year at midnight on New Year’s Eve, John Wesley prayed, “I am no longer my own but Thine, put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt, put me to doing, put me to suffering, let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.”

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we’d do well to pray with Wesley and be reminded that we’re not free to follow the dictates of our own sinful nature. We’re free to surrender our wills to the will of God and to submit ourselves to the authority of Jesus Christ.

We prepare for Christmas during the Advent season by repenting. Repenting in the Biblical sense is more than having a change of heart or a feeling of regret. It is more than a New Year’s Eve resolution. Repentance is a turning away and a turning back. A turning away from sin and a turning back to God.

Bishop Joe Pennel of the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church once attended a Christmas worship service in Bethlehem at a place called Shepherd’s Field.

As he heard the songs of the season, he thought to himself and later wrote: “I did not look to God and say: See how virtuous I am. I did not utter: God, pat me on the back for all of the good things I have done. I did not pretend by saying: God, look at all my accomplishments, aren’t you proud of me? Indeed, I found myself asking God to forgive me of my sins.

“That is how it works. The more we turn away from Christ the more enslaved we become to the power of sin. The more we turn to Christ, the more free we become from the bondage of sin. Turning toward Christ enables us to repent.”

Someone once said half-jokingly: If we are not careful, John the Baptist’s message in Matthew 3:1-12 can take all of the fun out of Christmas. I disagree. I think that it is John’s message that puts joy into Christmas and great potential in to a New Year. For it is his message that calls us not to the way that Christmas and New Years are, but that the way Christmas and New Years ought to be. Christmas and New Years ought to be free from guilt and self-absorption. For that to occur there must be repentance.

Experience the joy and potential of the New Year with us this Sunday. Worship is at 10:30 and we are located at 11th and Bullock, across the street from Zia Elementary School.

Opinion: The real reason for the season

Adrian Hedden
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Opinion: The real reason for the season

Trip Jennings

Ah, Christmas — a time for family, gift giving, and a sense of well-being sweetened by the binging of holiday movies and carols.

I’ve been a fan since childhood.

However, amid the festivities and pageantry let us not forget the reason for the season: The birth of Jesus.

It is a significant event in the Christian liturgical calendar, second perhaps only to Easter, the celebration of Jesus’ defeat over death.

The meaning of the birth of Jesus has evolved for me over the years.

As a child and teen, I interpreted Jesus’ appearance in human history as a sacred ritual that pointed to God’s act of self-sacrifice in becoming human to save the world, as well as each of us, from eternal damnation. The arrival of Jesus, in effect, signaled the ushering in of the kingdom of God. Jesus, after all, is called Emmanuel in the Bible — which means God is with us.

My interpretation was individualistic and personal. No surprise considering, I grew up in a religious tradition, Southern Baptist, that emphasized individual salvation at the expense of the more communal aspects that have marked the Christian tradition in different times and places around the globe.

These days, I am no longer consumed by a concern for my own eternal well-being. And I no longer view Jesus as merely a spiritual avatar.

When questions turn to heaven, hell and eternity, I often find myself these days veering close to the words uttered by a character in Nobel laureate Jon Fosse’s seven-part novel, Septology.

“… all of that is like an unknown darkness, we come from an unknown darkness and we return to an unknown darkness, that’s how it is, there’s nothing more to say about that, and as for whether a person was something in the darkness before being born, and whether they turn into something there after they die, no one can say anything or know anything about that, so for him all that’s possible is wonder, he doesn’t have any answers …”

I am OK with the mystery and the wonder it evokes.

As for Jesus ushering in the kingdom of God, I live by a more earthy interpretation these days — one that I have arrived at after three years in seminary spent studying the Bible, theology and philosophy, a lifetime of reading and decades as a journalist.

It is that God needs our help in ushering in the Kingdom of God here on Earth, not just in some afterlife. It is not just some novel interpretation I happened upon all by myself. It is a firmly established theological interpretation that has permeated various versions of Christianity around the globe for centuries.

You can find echoes of it in places familiar to all of us who grew up in or around the Christian tradition.

In the traditional Christmas song, Good King Wenceslas, which tells the tale of a monarch who looks out on the world and sees a “poor man” on a snowy day who has no home. The sight moves the monarch to deliver wine and food and pine logs for burning to the man.

As the author of the carol’s lyrics notes:

“… Christian men, be sure, while God’s gifts possessing,

“You who now will bless the poor shall yourselves find blessing.”

For people who know the Bible, that lyric itself echoes the 25th chapter of Matthew, in which Jesus tells the parable of the Sheep and Goats and what is expected of those who follow him.

“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who will receive good things from my Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began. I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’

“Then those who are righteous will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’

Heck, you can even find echoes of this theological interpretation in pop culture. Here I’m thinking of Kendrick Lamar’s song, How Much a Dollar Cost from his 2015 album, To Pimp a Butterfly. In it, a vagrant asks the protagonist for a dollar. When the narrator says no, the vagrant reveals that he is God,

“Know the truth, it’ll set you free

“You’re lookin’ at the Messiah, the son of Jehovah, the higher power

“The choir that spoke the word, the Holy Spirit

“The nerve of Nazareth, and I’ll tell you just how much a dollar cost

“The price of having a spot in Heaven, embrace your loss—I am God”

Ultimately, what these parables, hymns and pop cultural artifacts point to is the Golden Rule, Jesus’ command to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus does not condense the good news of the gospel to an eternity safe from the fires of hell because you verbally confessed your belief in him as your personal savior. He is demanding you live a life of serving others.

It is not an easy path. Nor is it always fun.

Let me be real here: I often suck at trying to live out Jesus’ vision. But it grounds my life with a deep sense of meaning, along with a sense of joy when we celebrate the birth of Jesus every year and the world he calls us to create together.

Merry Christmas!

Since 2005, Trip has covered politics and state government for the Albuquerque Journal, The New Mexico Independent and the Santa Fe New Mexican. In 2012, he co-founded New Mexico In Depth, a nonpartisan, nonprofit media outlet that produces investigative, data-rich stories with an eye on solutions that can be a catalyst for change.

The Artesia swim team celebrates Christmas together before the break

Adrian Hedden
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The Artesia swim team celebrates Christmas together before the break

JT Keith

Artesia Daily Press

jtkeith@elritomedia.com

The Artesia swim team held its annual Christmas party at the Administration Building on Thursday, Dec. 18. The team cooked hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the usual fixings as the parents grilled. The event concluded at 8:30 p.m. after starting at 6:30 p.m. The swimmers and coaches wore pajamas and, after eating, played games before exchanging gifts.

Artesia swim coach Andrea Ciro, who is in her 13th year, said, “Every year we have a Christmas party, and the Administration Building is where we hold it.” “I think it is a really good thing to get the kids together, and this time we asked the parents to come and join us, because they don’t have time to socialize with each other other than at a swim meet.

Maintenance issues at the Carlsbad High School swimming pool forced the Carlsbad High School Invitational to be moved to the Artesia swimming pool. The team finished in third place overall, and the boys placed second with a full roster.

“We have had a great season,” Artesia swim coach Adrea Ciro said. “We have a young team, and we have been swimming fast with a lot of best times. We have been in the top three at many of our meets, so I am really excited and feel like we are getting on a roll. We are getting those state times down there to state cuts, so it is exciting.”

Aidan Ciro took first place in the 50 freestyle and in the 100 backstroke. Joziah Murdoch placed third in the 100 Butterfly and second place in the 500 Freestyle. Chaz Rogers placed second in the 200 freestyle and seventh in the 100 butterfly. Alec Ciro placed 10th in the 50 Freestyle and fourth in the 100 Backstroke.

Kaleb Barquero took eighth place in the 100 freestyle and seventh place in the 100 backstroke, Bryce Walton placed sixth in the 100 freestyle and eighth in the 100 breaststroke. Deacon Simons placed fourth in the 200 individual medley and ninth in the 100 freestyle.

Johanna Padilla placed fifth in the 200 freestyle and took first place in the 100 backstroke. Morgan Fisher placed fifth in the 500 freestyle and third in the 100 breaststroke. Anikah Wisen placed third in the 200 Freestyle and third in the 100 freestyle.

Carly DeHoyos placed seventh in the 50 freestyle and fifth in the 100 freestyle. London Acosta placed sixth in the 50 freestyle and seventh in the 100 backstroke. Zoe Gomez placed 11th in the 200 freestyle and 16th in the 100 backstroke. Ella Thomas placed 18th in the 100 freestyle and 15th in the 100 backstroke.

Both boys’ relays qualified for the State Championships with a third-place finish in the 200 Medley Relay, then overtook the competition with a first-place finish in the 200 Freestyle Relay. The girls’ relays took third place in the 200 Medley Relay and held on for a second-place finish in the 200 Freestyle Relay.

Ciro said she is not sure what to expect from her team in the second half of the season as it prepares to go to the Albuquerque Invitational in January.

“I feel like when our kids put their minds to it, anything can happen,” Ciro said. “We should have a top one or two relays with the boys and girls going into the state meet. We have superb breaststroke swimmers, and with Aiden (Ciro) in the sprint freestyles and butterflies, and Joziah (Murdoch).” I feel like all our young kids will be up in the top eight, and that is going to help us.”

jtkeith can be reached at 575-420-0061, or on X@JTKEITH1.

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

Adrian Hedden
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Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

Back story provided by the Public Domain Review

In 1897, Dr. Philip O’Hanlon, a coroner’s assistant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was asked a question by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia, which many a parent has been asked before: whether Santa Claus really exists. O’Hanlon deferred. He suggested Virginia wrote asking the question to one of New York’s most prominent newspapers at the time, The Sun, assuring her that “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.”

The response to Virginia’s letter by one of the paper’s editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, remains the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language and found itself the subject of books, a film and television series. In his response Church goes beyond a simple “yes of course” to explore the philosophical issues behind Virginia’s request to tell her “the truth” and in the process lampoon a certain skepticism which he had found rife in American society since the suffering of the Civil War. His message in short – there is a reality beyond the visible.

Dear Editor: I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun it’s so.”

Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

The town that breathes football

Adrian Hedden
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The town that breathes football

Mia Aragon

Special to the Artesia Daily Press

There are games you watch, and then there are games that stay with you long after the crowd clears and the stadium lights cool off.

The Class 5A 2025 state championship on Nov. 29 was the second kind because it was more than just a game. It was a reminder of why Artesia football feels like home, no matter how far I’ve gone or how much I’ve grown.

Coming back to Artesia to cover the Bulldogs playing Roswell in the title game felt different this time. I wasn’t just another fan in the stands or a student racing to the stadium to get a seat in the student section. I was on the sidelines, camera in hand, watching the team I grew up with chasing a title against the rival.

Artesia football has been part of my story for as long as I can remember. My grandpa Roy Lawson won two state championships with the Bulldogs in 1974 and 1975. As I grew up, Friday nights revolved around football. It didn’t matter who we were playing, the town showed up.

When I was in high school, I traveled to watch Artesia play even when I didn’t have a specific player to cheer for. I saw three state championship games during those years, including titles my junior and senior seasons in 2022-23, and I remember the excitement that poured onto the field when the clock hit zero.

This championship felt both familiar and completely different.

This year was the third straight Roswell and Artesia met for a title. Artesia won in 2023. Roswell answered in 2024. This was the tiebreaker. I’ve seen championship games in the Bulldog Bowl my whole life, but I’ve never felt a swing of emotion quite like this one. Maybe it’s because I’m older now. Maybe it’s because I work in media and I watch sports differently. Or maybe it’s because this year, I actually saw people give up.

With four minutes left, Artesia trailed Roswell 24–11. I watched fans start to leave early, entire rows emptying as if the outcome was already decided. Standing on the sidelines, feeling the energy of the players who hadn’t quit, the contrast was jarring. I kept thinking, how can people walk away from a team built on comebacks?

Then came the blocked field goal. Then came the fourth-down conversions, six of them. Then, with 24 seconds left, came the 9-yard fade from Derrick Warren to Jack Byers that flipped the stadium from quiet frustration to full-body chills. The Bulldogs won 25–24 and claimed their 33rd state title, the second-most in U.S. history.

But what stayed with me wasn’t just the comeback. It was the feeling.

That adrenaline on the sideline, the urgency, the hope, the raw emotion is what made me realize why sports journalism feels right. I didn’t grow up dreaming of this career, but taking a class opened my eyes to what sports can reveal about people and places. Capturing moments like this, telling stories that matter to communities, feels meaningful in a way I didn’t expect.

That feeling followed me off the field, where the moment that truly stuck with me came from a fan I interviewed, a mom whose son plays for Artesia. In just a few words, she put into perspective everything I had been trying to understand.

“When you come to this town, the traditions, football is a culture,” Trini Herrera told me. “You know, that’s what our boys do. They come and they play football. It unites our town; it makes our community. That’s what Artesia Bulldog football does.”

Hearing her say that hit differently, because it wasn’t about the comeback anymore. It was about belief. About identity. About what it means to grow up in a place where football isn’t just a sport, it’s the thread that ties everyone together.

I think that’s why this win meant so much to me. More often than I’d care to admit, I’ve felt like the one losing late in a game. I’ve felt behind, overwhelmed, tempted to walk away when things weren’t going my way. But this comeback, this unbelievable comeback felt like a reminder that momentum might change at any second.

Some teams bring home championships in football.

The Bulldogs teach us how to be champions in life.

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