Titanic Post

A letter to the editor of the Alamogordo News

It is difficult for me to get my mind around the present debate on our White Sands National Monument’s being submitted as a World Heritage Site. Being listed as a World Heritage Site appears to me as a win-win situation.

With a World Heritage Site listing, I envision world travelers becoming more aware of our White Sands being a unique piece of geology, traveling to Alamogordo to visit the monument, leaving a good deal of their money here, then moving on. All at no cost to the taxpayer. Yet I hear horror stories of our government losing its sovereignty, the military no longer being allowed to fly over the area, and all sorts of dire events, if we allow WSNM to be listed. A drop in attendance at Carlsbad Caverns (a World Heritage Site) was cited as a reason against listing, ignoring fuel cost as a possible cause for a decline in travel. The loss of a gold mine outside of Yellowstone National Park was another example of what could happen here.

Friday morning, on KSRY-AM’s morning Mike Haymes Show, Mike Haymes (local insurance agent), Karl Anderson (ADN reporter), Phil Runnels (owner of KSRY), and others, had a lively discussion on how listing WSNM as a World Heritage Site would destroy our nation as we know it.

Scheduled on this program was a much anticipated phone call from our State Senator Pete Domenici. Senator Domenici was unhelpful to the cause of the Mike Haymes Show, however. Domenici stated that there was absolutely no danger to the sovereignty of the United States by being listed as a WHS. He also stated that the proposed super-highway from Mexico City to Canada is a myth. The radio panel, for some odd reason , did not seem pleased at this news. They mumbled things about Domenici’s advanced age, political pressures, etc. Many callers were outraged at Domenici’s lack of support in identifying the UN as the devil incarnate.

I tried to call in with my support for Domenici’s words, but could not get through. I would have talked on what I discovered about the relationship between the UNESCO World Heritage Center and nations with listed World Heritage Sites: