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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Editor,
A year ago I bought a car at the tianguis in Querètaro with the help of a Mexican man who had had much experience helping foreigners to buy vehicles there. The car had the police sticker displayed in the window. Before paying for the vehicle, I had the car checked out at the Querètaro police. The computer records were checked as was engine number etc. All was in good order.
I paid for the car and brought it to San Miguel where I tried to get the plates. I was sent to the office in Guadalupe and my car was confiscated.
I was told initially I would get the car back after a week. All documents that the officials requested were produced over the next few weeks. After a month, I employed a lawyer. She also found it difficult to cope with appointments being made and cancelled, up to 5 times a day starting at 6am and up to 10pm.
After 9 weeks I had my car returned. In the final moments the official held up all the documents, peered through a magnifying glass and declared that he thought the documents, which had been handled many times by many officials, were false. Fortunately he decided not to pursue this ludicrous thought. The car cost me a lot of money in the end and the paintwork is still stained from the tape used to seal it.
Name withheld upon request
Editor,
Kudos to Michael Whaley and his production of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” The casting was excellent, both the direction and the setting were extraordinary.
The subject matter is difficult, yet a necessary reminder that was and continues to be a reality.
More of this quality of performance and San Miguel’s already shining theater community becomes brilliant!
Marcia Dworkin
Editor,
Computadores Pro Jovenes wishes to publicly thank Wolf Sittler and Charlotte Bell for the Hewlett-Packard Pavillion desktop computer they donated to Computadores Pro Jovenes. The computer will be made available to a needy San Miguel child.
First the computers will be cleaned out and Windows 98 in Spanish will be installed by a volunteer technician. Then it will either be given to a local school or a disabled child who cannot attend school.
Computadores Pro Jovenes would also like to take this opportunity to thank The Michael P. Wein Foundation for its generous and continuing support
Computadores Pro Jovenes recently set up a receiving station in the United States so that donors in the US can easily send used computers down here. If they will ship any used
computers or peripherals to CPJ/SMA Coordinator, Transportes San Miguel, 200 N. Marsalis, Dallas TX 75203, we’ll take it from there. Transportes San Miguel has generously agreed to bring the computers here at no charge. Charles Miller and Edwin Sours are donating their time and expertise to rehabilitate the computers for local kids to use.
For more information or to arrange for local pick-up please call me at 152-2621.
Gordon Jett
Editor,
I was concerned at Jeffrey B Kimmel’s letter about the attack to his van on the way to the airport not only because of his own terrifying experience but also because I have heard of similar attempted ambushes in the past.
Our community requires travel agencies to honestly inform the public of the risk of traveling in their vans to and from Leon airport particularly at night, based on the recent experiences of their drivers. Also a report on this subject to the public from the police would be very helpful.
I cannot overemphasize the seriousness of this matter. If the present situation is allowed to continue it is only a matter of time before drivers and passengers are killed, let alone robbed.
It is the duty of van operators to keep the readers of this newspaper fully informed of what is going on. But for Mr Kimmel’s letter, I am sure we would all still be in the dark about this problem. After all, these kinds of incidents are very bad for the tourist industry.
Tony Forster
Editor,
Imagine my great surprise to read the Aug 17 paper and see my name listed as the author of the article “Actors Lab Asks Where is God?” I neither wrote the article nor know anything about the production or the actors.
I can only assume that the real author of the article is a bit miffed as well.
Joan Strouse
Editor’s Note: I wanted to blame gremlins or cryptic computer errors, since I could find no byline on the article from its email submission to proofreader’s copy. It was a production error that was overlooked in final galleys. Our apologies.
Editor,
So the running of the bulls, also known as the Pamplonada, or more recently the Sanmiguelada has been canceled. What a sad day for not only San Miguel de Allende, but for all of Mexico.
Ostensibly, this has to do with trying to reduce that ever-so-annoying debauchery that takes place during the weekend long festivities. One weekend out of the year. Look at what you get the rest of the time. There is plenty of tranquility to last a lifetime, even with the perpetual fireworks.
Also, the “powers that be” are vying for San Miguel to enter the privileged lexicon of world heritage sites. Whatever that means, it depends on the approval of UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) who apparently disapprove of such an event.
Personally, if I were the mayor, I would tell UNESCO to take a hike. They can either accept San Miguel for the town that it is or go on their merry way.
Debauchery? Mayor Jesus Correa has obviously never heard of Mardi Gras or Super Bowl weekend.
Okay, I am aware that there was a shooting last year.
I am also aware that two women were recently raped and murdered. One of these unfortunate and tragic incidents took place in Parque Juarez. Is the mayor going to close the park?
Mayor Correa’s analogy comparing the running of the bulls with a wayward child is more than a little off base. Does a parent with a wayward child dispose of said child, or do they find a way to deal with the situation?
Why not make a few changes? How about this? Take some tips from Pamplona. Instead of letting the bulls loose in the topsy-turvy fashion it is done these days, route them to the Plaza de los Toros.
There are several routes that would work. Let them out in front of the Ignacio Allende museum and run them east toward San Francisco. They then could gallop down Correo until reaching Recreo when they could then make a straight sprint to the ring.
This could happen a time or two each day over a period of three days with a corrida scheduled for each afternoon. There. Is that so difficult?
By canceling this event, San Miguel de Allende, at least this year, has lost an integral piece of its charm and history.
David Daniel
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