New Mexico regulates funeral services, Colorado should too
Re: “Lawmakers unveil bill to fix lax funeral home rules,” March 5 news story
I am a licensed funeral service practitioner in New Mexico, currently serving a second term as a member of the New Mexico Funeral Services Board.
I clearly remember 1983 when the Colorado funeral service regulatory board was disbanded, leaving our industry open to everyone and anyone who wanted to open and own or operate a funeral service establishment in Colorado. I am not one who favors governmental regulation in many forms, but as Colorado sun-setted their funeral board, my colleagues in New Mexico held a strong belief that the education of practitioners and oversight of our industry is important to maintain high ethical and moral standards.
Thankfully, most complaints we receive in New Mexico have less to do with criminal or egregious acts than with poor communication and a lack of patience, caring, and empathy. The labor market in our industry is challenged nationwide, but the high levels of sensitivity and compassion that make a funeral home a caring, reliable, and ethical establishment require education, inspection, and oversight.
The horror of the situation in Colorado Springs sickens me to my core, and my heart goes out to every single family member and dead human body who has not received the care and professional treatment that basic human dignity demands. I suggest it is time for Colorado to rethink the licensing of death care personnel and establishments, to recreate a board that has the authority to set educational requirements, issue professional credentials, conduct criminal background checks and re-establish governmental inspections of death care establishments in Colorado.
Rick Berardinelli, Santa Fe, N.M.
Stop redistributing our TABOR refunds
Re: “Surplus eyed for child tax credits,” Feb. 17 news story
There never has been a TABOR surplus and there never will be. Any amount of revenue collected in excess of the legal limit set in the Colorado Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights is not a surplus.
Instead, this is an overcharge. This amount must be returned to taxpayers. TABOR was never written to be a grand redistribution scheme. I am not surprised Democrats choose to steal this money, but when Republicans play along with this scheme, I am disheartened.
Both parties need to stop celebrating and instead return all excessively collected money now, no questions asked. Matter of fact, per the law, the extra money really should have never been collected in the first place. Stop purposely collecting extra money. This so-called surplus is nothing more than a money-grabbing tax redistribution scheme, pure and simple.
Stop generating a bogus surplus just to spend and/or redistribute it. Stop now. Reduce tax collection rates prior to collecting an overage. Taking part and, worse, celebrating a grand redistribution scheme is pathetic; come on now. Oh, how far we have fallen.
Jeff Gross, Kersey
Like many 80-year-olds, Biden is still capable
Re: “Majority of Biden’s 2020 voters now say he’s too old,” March 4 news story
I am getting very tired of hearing that President Joe Biden is too old to be president.
As an 88-year-old, I know firsthand that some people in their 80s are too old to be president, but I also know that there are 80-year-olds who are not only fully capable but have the added advantage of experience and wisdom.
In a previous Post op-ed, Mark Udall said that “In his first 3 years alone, President Biden has safeguarded 1.5 million acres – a pace that sets him on a trajectory to become the best first-term conservation president in history”.
This is very important to me. When you vote for president you are also voting for his team. Remember the fiasco when Trump was president and his cabinet was a revolving door of people getting fired or replaced? It was a constant stream of gossip and confusion. In Biden’s 3 years I have not heard bad things like that, his cabinet seems to run smoothly and with high moral values under Biden’s leadership.
Marilyn J. Smith, Arvada
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