Dear friend,

Happy New Year! I hope 2010 will be a time of prosperity, good health, and new opportunities for all New Mexicans!

Over 4,500 Ballot Signatures

Thank you for your hard work on our campaign. As we begin the new year, I am pleased that we have collected more than 4,500 petition signatures for the June 1 primary — double the number of signatures required.

From Raton to Deming and Farmington to Clovis, the petition support has been tremendous. Thank you for all your help as we approach the June 1 Democratic Primary.

White Peak Land Exchange Update

This swap should be stopped. New Mexico stands to lose valuable public lands and much more if this swap goes through.

I continue to voice my strong concerns about this proposed exchange. Transparency and public involvement have been lacking from the very beginning.

The N.M. Attorney General’s Office has found “significant defects” in land appraisals performed for the proposed swap of the White Peak area in northeastern New Mexico.

The appraisal process needs to be scrutinized very closely. Why trade away extremely valuable commercial land for grazing land and in the process, cut off access to one of our most beautiful and wildlife-rich pieces of trust land?

This proposed swap would give away more than 14,000 acres of valuable public hunting lands for about 9,600 private acres, including 41 state trust acres in Mesa del Sol in Albuquerque and land between Arroyo Seco and Pojoaque. See my comments in this Albuquerque Journal article, “AG Wants Hold on Land Swap.”

This proposed deal — which has outraged hunters, environmentalists and open-government advocates — might be closing this week.

Ace & Echo Have Retired

I am happy to see that Ace and Echo, two important members of our law enforcement canine drug-detecting team who have worked at the Southern New Mexico Correctional Facility are being retired.

The plight of German shepherds Ace and Echo caught the public’s attention after news broke that the N.M. Corrections Department required that they stop going home with their handlers and be left alone in kennels at the prison when not on duty.

This was an extremely bad policy and had a serious negative impact on the physical and mental well being of these intelligent working dogs.

As a veterinarian, I want to offer special thanks to Animal Protection of New Mexico, Gov. Richardson, Lt. Gov. Denish, and everyone who called or wrote to change this seriously flawed policy.

Ray Powell, MS, DVM