Thank you to everyone who made this year’s Veterans Day celebration so special. We especially want to thank Alberto Villegas, who has been our point of contact on Veterans and Memorial Day celebrations for many years. Alberto always does a great job, as do all members of the Eddy County Patriotic Society, in making sure our veterans receive the recognition they deserve.
There was a last-minute change to the agenda, and J.W. Sutphin, a Vietnam veteran from the Air Force, agreed to be the keynote speaker. J.W. did an outstanding job. He is also the retirement coordinator at the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. We especially enjoyed hearing J.W. talk about what a warm welcome Vietnam veterans received in Carlsbad, as compared to other communities. He also spoke about the many outstanding groups in Carlsbad that serve veterans.
Thanks as well to Grace Rodrigeuz, the Carlsbad Veterans Honor Guard, Joleen Ruiz, Sam Plumlee and Elizabeth Aguilar for being part of the ceremony. It was also an honor to be able to participate in the parade. Of course, we want to give a sincere thank you to members of the Carlsbad High School Band, under the direction of Robert Galindo and Ken Young, for playing a role at this event and many others. We also wish to thank City of Carlsbad employees who work extra hard to make events such as this happen.
Finally, and most importantly, thank you to our veterans and their families, who deserve credit every single day for all that they do. Many members of our community still have family members who are serving overseas. The Veterans Day ceremony and parade are both available to watch on the City of Carlsbad Facebook page, if you were unable to see them.
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A new splash pad in Carlsbad is under construction. This splash pad will be a very special one, however, as it has been specially designed to accommodate children with disabilities. SIMCO, who is the management and operations contractor at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, made a very generous donation that allowed this project to begin, and we will be celebrating a groundbreaking at the location near Friendship Park at 3 p.m. on Thursday. Susan Crockett and Valerie Murrill have also been major supporters of this project, and we also appreciate all of the hard work by Deputy Administrator K.C. Cass. This will be Carlsbad’s third splash pad- there is also one at the sports complex and another one is at the beach area.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway