Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Riverblitz event this past weekend – it was one of the highest participations ever. Organizer Mary Garwood says that 384 participants turned out this year and collected more than 2.5 tons of waste. That’s the second largest participation number since 2016 – the event had 422 people in 2020.
You could see families and groups all across town and to the north and south working to clean up Carlsbad. Volunteers from the college participated, as did several scout troops and numerous businesses. Carlsbad’s river is one of our greatest treasures. As everyone knows, keeping Carlsbad clean is an ongoing process, and there will be more cleanup projects coming up soon.
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News has also been good on the COVID-19 front. According to the state, there were only five new positives reported in Eddy County on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. That’s an incredible downturn as compared to the numbers we were seeing a month ago.
After many discussions, the New Mexico Department of Health has decided to change the hours of the vaccine clinic at the civic center. Beginning next week, clinics will only be held every other Monday, from 9-11 a.m. That means there won’t be a clinic there on the 14th or on the 28th, but there will be one on March 21. We will continue to support providing COVID-19 vaccine and testing options for those who want them, as long as they are still needed.
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Several years ago, Joanna Sieberg, Joe Epstein and Mannie Bemis worked together to bring director Jan Thompson to Carlsbad. Thompson had put together a very informative movie about the Bataan Death March called “Never the Same: The Prisoner of War Experience,” which was narrated by Loretta Swit. Swit originally planned to come to Carlsbad, but had to video in due to the weather.
This week, Thompson is giving in-person testimony to members of the House and Senate Veterans Committees joint hearing for Veterans Service Organizations. In the past, only submitted testimony was allowed. This year’s testimony was approved in recognition of the 80th anniversaries of the fall of Bataan, the Bataan Death March and the fall of the Philippines. This is therefore a historic event for the POW community.
Thompson will provide her statement as president of the American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor Memorial Society. She will be speaking about the importance of making sure we never forget our own history.
You can view the testimony here: https://www.veterans.senate.gov/hearings/legislative-presentation-of-the-american-legion-and-multi-vsos-pva-sva-moaa-gsw-ngaus-taps-mmaa-adbc-ms3-8-22
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway