Asking Santa to be good to me and others

Dear Santa,

Let me begin by saying what a pleasure it is to make contact with you again, after so many years. I’ve got a lot to ask of you this year, and I thought I’d make those wishes known to you through the media reach of the Portales News-Tribune, rather than overwork your mail clerks.

I want to ask for a few things for myself, some things for the good people of Portales and Clovis and even some gifts for people I don’t know — for what is better than to give to those who expect nothing from you?

Please give the citizens of Portales more freedoms like the restaurant beer and wine license issue voters recently passed, and the good sense to know that each of these freedoms come with a responsibility.

Please give the students at Portales schools the knowledge they need to succeed in whatever post-educational field they enter, and also give both the students and the administration whatever they need to meet and satisfy whatever standards legislation puts upon them.

Please give us a way to eliminate potholes in the city, tumbleweeds in the country and rainy days for when I want to wash my car.

Please give the San Francisco 49ers enough salary cap room to have a chance to be competitive in 2005.

Please be kind to Latrell Sprewell, a guard for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and give him a better ability to communicate. That way, he won’t say, “I need to feed my family” when he really means to say, “Regardless of the salary a person makes, they would surely object to taking a 33 percent pay cut, which is what my employer is asking me to do.” If you can’t give him that, though, at least send him some coupons to help him pay for groceries.

Please give Colin Quinn another show — you know, for me and the six other people who watched, “Tough Crowd.”

Please give each and every troop overseas — whether from New Mexico or not — a safe trip home and peace across the world so they won’t have to return.

Please give me the communication skills I need to understand, and to be understood. Please give me the ability to know what’s the right thing to do, and the strength to do it each time. Please give me a year full of days where I can open the newspaper and find no mistakes whatsoever.

I have other things that I want for other people, but this isn’t the venue to ask for them. I hope that you can grant me this simple list, but I’d also accept a 60-inch high definition television.

I’ll try to pick up some milk and cookies for you Friday, or I can take you out for some chicken wings. Get back to me — you know how to reach me.

Thanks again,

Kevin

Kevin Wilson is the managing editor of the Portales News-Tribune. He can be reached at 356-4481, ext. 33 or by e-mail:

[email protected]