Dear Editor,

I read with interest, and then horror, the recent Los Alamos Daily Post article summarizing Los Alamos County Council’s response to Councilor David Reagor’s proposed resolution intended to provide encouragement to the governor and state health officials to end the lockdown in our community.

Given that no other councilor was willing to support Mr. Reagor’s resolution, I have some questions that I hope Council will answer for the benefit of every citizen in our community:

(1) Is Council now depending on the governor and various state health officials to make the decisions for what is best for Los Alamos, and will Council not advocate for its own citizenry as part of that process?

(2) Are there any conditions under which Council will start advocating for the recovery of freedoms lost when the governor instituted the mandates and lockdown? If advocacy steps are being taken to restore those basic American freedoms, what are those steps, who is taking them, and what have been the results?

(3) If Council has decided to wait for the governor and outside “experts” to make the decisions about what is best for the citizens of Los Alamos, does Council have any reservations about the governor’s current methodology (the color-coded scheme) which does not include a color corresponding to what was formerly known as “normal life”? What is Council doing to address this deficiency?

(4) Should local citizenry be preparing for permanent mask-wearing, permanent business and school lockdowns, and permanent restrictions on movement and activities? If not, what precisely are the criteria for those mandates to be completely lifted for the citizens of Los Alamos?

To ask these questions is not selfish. To want to know the answers is not unreasonable.  It is the responsibility of the County Council to be proactive in behalf of its citizenry.

Council’s duty does not stop at protecting lives. There is also an obligation to protect livelihoods, as well as the freedoms secured for every American citizen through enormous sacrifice by those who came before us.

What are County Council’s answers to these questions?

LAURA A. CROTZER
Los Alamos