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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE NEWSLETTER #134
November 1, 2002
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Dear Subscriber:

On Tuesday we will go to the polls and select the best
salesperson running in several county and state races.

I can imagine 200 years ago, when our country was just a pup,
that selecting a person for elective office was much simpler.

The candidate would ride up on his horse, help you pitch a
little hay while he told you what office he was running for and
why he thought you should vote for him, and then he would jump
on his horse and gallop away because there were a lot more farms
to visit and hay to pitch and arms to twist.

We probably elected more of the right people back then. To win
an election, you (and your horse) had to work hard.

Normally it was the dance of decision between the candidate and
the voter with no middle man. Now there are election
strategists and pollsters and media consultants. There are
dozens of people between you, the voter, and the person running
for election. You're never sure if the speech you're hearing
from the candidate is from the candidate or the candidate's
speech writer (more than likely the latter).

Here are some of the dynamics of a political campaign that may
be of interest to you as you go to the polls next week.

If a candidate spends all his time and energy (and finances)
saying bad things about their opponent, it likely means that
they can't think of anything good to say about themselves.
When both candidates in the same race are saying bad things
about one another, vote for the oldest one. Maybe they won't
be around as long.

Don't vote for someone because they kiss babies. Contrary to
what you might think, nobody likes to kiss babies other than
their own. You'll never see a candidate kiss a baby unless
there's a camera around.

If you get the chance, check out the candidate's shoes.
Candidates spend a lot of time on their feet. If they're not
wearing comfortable shoes, you know their smile is fake and
unworthy of your trust.

A red light should go off if a candidate tells you they are
going to save you money. There has never been a politician
in the history of the world that has saved people money. If a
politician says they are going to spend your money, they're
being honest, but don't vote for them. You can carry honesty
too far.

Be wary of a candidate that calls their opponent "my opponent."
If they can't remember their opponent's name, they're
compromised from the neck up.

Don't trust a candidate that is in the habit of flashing the
"V for victory" sign. Remember, one less finger and they're
telling you how they really feel about you.

If your candidate loses, count your blessings. You can vent
your frustrations for 4 years, which is good for your blood
pressure.

Don Vanlandingham
Cloudcroft.com

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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
2. SPECIAL -- PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
3. VILLAGE NEWS
4. INSIDE THE SHOP -- ASPEN REALTY ASSOCIATES
5. CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- THE WEATHER STATION
6. Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
7. COMING EVENTS
8. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
9. CONTACT INFORMATION
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LOOKING AT THE WEATHER
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A very pleasant week. Mostly sunshine with overnight rain.

Highs in the low-50s. Lows around 30.
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SPECIAL -- PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE
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Many readers have asked about the structure recently built over
Highway 82 between Cloudcroft and Alamogordo. Kit Richards has
kindly provided a photo of this structure, which is a pedestrian
bridge for the hiking trail from Cloudcroft.

http://www.cloudcroft.com/photos/bridge.jpg

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VILLAGE NEWS
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Polling place for Tuesday's elections is the community center
next to the village office on Burro Avenue.
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INSIDE THE SHOP -- ASPEN REALTY ASSOCIATES
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The chief goal of Aspen Realty Associates is customer
satisfaction. We believe that our dedicated service will provide
you with the confidence and peace of mind that comes with
knowing you made the right decision in the selection of a
Realtor to represent you. Please call, or stop in and see us
regarding your real estate needs at our convenient location at
the east end of the Village on Hwy 82.

For more information, click on Aspen Realty Associates link on
the Cloudcroft.com Real Estate page:

http://www.cloudcroft.com/real.htm

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CLOUDCROFT ONLINE SPOTLIGHT -- THE WEATHER STATION
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Coming soon to Cloudcroft.com...a complete up-to-the-minute
weather monitor which will furnish residents and others with the
most up-to-date weather information available anywhere. If you
haven't already, bookmark Cloudcroft.com on your computer.
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Q AND A -- BECAUSE CLOUDCROFT ONLINE READERS WANT TO KNOW
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Q - If we get bored, where is the nearest movie theater to
Cloudcroft?

A - It's in Alamogordo (17 miles away). They have first-run
movies and 4 screens. Located in the White Sands Mall on White
Sands Blvd.
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COMING EVENTS
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October 26 -- Cloudcroft Bears at home against Mescalero
(football).

October 26 -- Harvestfest. Pumpkin carving, hay rides.

October 26 -- Zoo BOO for grades 1 thru 5. Alameda Park Zoo
in Alamogordo. 1-4pm.

October 26 -- Lake Lucero tour. White Sands National
Monument. 9am.

October 31 -- Trick or Treat. Costume contest. Burro Avenue.
5-7pm.

November 1 -- Cloudcroft Bears at Hagerman (football).

November 2-3 -- 14th Annual Antique and Collectable Show.
Civic Center. Alamogordo.

November 9-10 -- Christmas Craft Show. Civic Center.
Alamogordo.

November 23 -- Santa Town at Zenith Park. 5pm-7pm.

November 23 -- Cloudcroft Chamber of Commerce annual banquet.
Lodge Pavilion.

November 24 - Community Thanksgiving Service, First Baptist
Church. 7pm. Everyone is welcome.

December 7 -- Santa Town at Zenith Park.

December 14 -- Santa Town at Zenith Park.

December 15 -- Community Christmas Cantata, 4pm. at Cloudcroft
United Methodist Church

December 21 -- Santa Town at Zenith Park.

December 24 - Christmas Eve Candlelight Service, 7pm. at Cloudcroft
United Methodist Church

December 31 -- New Year's Eve torch light parade at Ski
Cloudcroft.

Cloudcroft Art Society meets the second Sunday of each month,
2-4pm, in the Old Red Brick School House. The Society will be
having an Art Sale and Show Oct. 26 (10am-5pm) and Oct. 26 (11am-5pm)
at the Old Red Brick School House. Call (505) 682-2494 for more
information.

Mountain Garden Club meets every third Monday of each month.
Call (505) 682-2910 for more information.

Senior Van from Timberon to Alamogordo leaves the Timberon
Lodge promptly at 8:30 every Tuesday morning.

Free Vitals Clinic. Cloudcroft Senior Citizens Center, every
Wednesday. High Rolls Senior Citizens Center, first Thursday
of each month.

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For an online calendar of area events, click the Events Calendar
link in the left column of our home page:

http://www.cloudcroft.com/index.html

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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Dear Newsletter:

I just want to thank you for the tribute to Torpedo 4. You are
certainly right that they are all heroes. Many times when in
convoy and in dawn alert General quarters, we would be able to
see aircraft taking off from the escort carriers. Sometimes on
reconnaissance, others to attack enemy ships, or to protect the
convoy. I am a WWII veteran, and I must admit, my eyes teared
as I read your article.

The drone of American aircraft engines overhead was reassuring
to say the least.

During the invasion Iwo Jima, my ship, USS ZEILIN, APA - 3, was
lying to (still in water but not anchored). We began to hear
the drone of aircraft engines. And they were getting louder.
After about ten minutes they began to come into view. It was a
flight of over 300 B-29s headed for Japan. Those guys were
heroes too.

Thanks again for the article and link to the pictures.

Reginald W. Duncan

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Dear Newsletter:

I was just a little to young to be a part of the Second World
War, in the service, but just old enough to serve my hitch in
the army in the Korean war.

Still most all my heroes were the men and women who served in
WW2, and still are. What a great story and so well told about
these heroes of their time. I had to stop and wait for my eyes
to un-blur a couple of times while reading it. I still get a
feeling of patriotism and want to personally thank men like
the group you were privileged to accompany during their reunion.

I too recently returned from a reunion of my old infantry
company. We get together every two years. This year's was held
in Tulsa, Oklahoma. You mentioned the outpouring of gratitude
toward the Vets, by most all who came in contact with them.
Even though we served in a much different time and battle, we
too were thanked by everyone who we came in contact with, even
our tour bus driver. This wasn't always so, but the feeling of
patriotism that's sweeping the country seems to be contagious
and does feel especially good to think we had such a small part
in preserving freedom, compared to our WW2 brothers. And yes,
it's hard to hold back the tears when that kind of love is
given.

Dick Trone
Carlsbad, NM

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Dear Newsletter:

Just got back from a cruise about an hour ago and after calling
my children to let them know I had returned, my next move was
to check the e-mail to read the latest newsletter.

Your story about your father-in-law's reunion with his WWII
friends moved me to tears. My friends and I were just a few
years too young to be involved, but we were so proud of family
members and friends who served in the armed services.

Living in San Antonio, we were surrounded by Army and Air Corps
bases and frequently had young soldiers and airmen as guests in
our homes. My mother was in the Finance Office at Ft. Sam
Houston before the war, and transferred to Ft. Huachuca, Arizona
in September before the war broke out.

I was placed in a boarding school in Tucson in the foothills of
the Santa Catalina Mountains, not far from Marana and Davis
Monthan Fields. Sometimes late, late at night we would awaken
to find that troops on maneuvers were in our courtyard. It was
very exciting. There were always planes aloft and we'd try to
identify them from the posters we all collected and tacked to
our walls. And on holidays when I went to Huachuca, I would be
awakened at dawn by the chanting of the troops as they wound
down through the post on their way into the desert. I'll never
forget the feeling that gripped the nation during that terrible
war -- the fear, the pride, the determination that in spite of
everything, we would prevail. 

Dr. Tom Hatfield, Dean of the Division of Continuing Education
at The University of Texas at Austin, who is my boss and an
authority on WWII, frequently leads a tour which begins in
England and follows the route of the Allied invasion of
Normandy, through France, Belgium, and into Germany. I was
fortunate be on one of those tours a few years ago. Most of us
were of an age to remember the events of that invasion clearly
and three of the gentlemen had fought their way through Europe.
We trudged the battlefields, drove through the hedgerows,
visited the cemeteries. It was a trip I shall never forget. 

The Dean is intent on keeping alive the memory of those years
and the men who fought those battles and has helped establish
a program called "The Normandy Scholars". It provides both UT
students and students from Normandy the opportunity to study
WWII both at here and in France.

It won't be long before there are none of us left who even
remember those years, much less participated in that war. We
hope the Normandy Scholars will continue to teach others about
it and about the bravery and honor of those who served.

Sandy Woods
UT Austin

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Dear Newsletter:

Thanks for a wonderful newsletter. I like your style of writing.

We have just returned from a wonderful summer in Cloudcroft. I
am never ready to leave...there just seems to be a magic about
the place. This was our fourth summer with the wonderful folks
at Chalet Camper Village and we hope to make number five next
year.

We made Artesia our home before moving to hot and humid
Mississippi and have just always loved Cloudcroft and would
like to make it our year-round home.

Thanks for keeping us abreast of the happenings "in your neck
of the woods".

James & Ruth Holt
Decatur, MS

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Dear Newsletter:

I always enjoy reading the newsletter and have received a lot
information from it. So, keep up the good work!

I don't know if the clearing and thinning of trees by the Forest
Service has run off a lot of wildlife, but when we were out
there the first two weeks of October, I saw very few deer and
no bears. My neighbor did see a herd of elk (about 15) one
night, but he, too, has not seen any bear. Have they gone into
"hibernation" already?

A friend of mine here in Abilene is interested in camp sites.
We have a home in Cloud Country West and have not used any
camping facilities in and around Cloudcroft, so I could not
recommend any. If you would be so kind as to send information
about suitable camp sites for families, I would greatly
appreciate it.

We will be back this winter to enjoy some of the snow (I hope
we get a lot this year since we got so little last year!). If
you see any bears, send them out to Cloud Country West.

Sincerely,
Dene Atkinson
Abilene, TX and Cloudcroft, NM

[Most of the Forest Service camp sites are closed for the
winter, but there are several sites in the mountains that are
not designated by the Forest Service that are great places to
camp. They do not include federal facilities, but they are
nice places nevertheless, especially if your friend has all
the appropriate camping gear to make his family comfortable.

Upper Carr Canyon campsite is open year round (six miles from
the turn-off on NM-130 toward Sunspot). -- Don]

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Dear Newsletter:

I've been reading with much pleasure your online newsletters
for a couple months now, ever since I got interested in the
idea of possibly moving to Cloudcroft. I've never even been
there, but when I discovered Cloudcroft on the www while
searching for places in the general vicinity of Ruidoso (I had
met someone from there who said it was a beautiful area), I
thought that your little community sounded like it might be
just the place for me.

I have been intending to get down there ever since and I keep
abreast of the weather reports you provide to see both how much
longer I have before winter sets in with a vengeance and whether
I think I could survive such winters at 9200 feet. I live in
Boulder, CO now but am a transplant from southern California,
and it has been a task just to acclimatize myself to the mile
high city.

So it was a delight today to open the travel section of the
Denver Post and come across a story about your allegedly haunted
historic Lodge at Cloudcroft. Now I have yet another great
reason for getting down there, having always wanted to encounter
a ghost. And it sounds like your lodge would be a wonderfully
cozy place to spend a couple days exploring the vicinity. I
would love to know if you or any of your readers have met up
with Rebecca's spirit.

Hope to meet you soon,
Sylvia Rognstad

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