December 22 – Donald Trump is no one to imitate. But if a convicted felon can regain the presidency within four years, even Santa Fe politicians should be skilled enough to resurrect the shattered Soldiers’ Monument within five years.
All they have to do is control their ego and put an end to the madness of bowing to lawbreakers.
State District Judge Matthew Wilson has given the politicians a face-saving opportunity to do just that after their four years of clumsy, clumsy and foolish spending on the monument.
Wilson ruled last week that Mayor Alan Webber violated the state’s historic preservation law by unilaterally trying to remove the obelisk and hiding its remains in a drab brown box. The judge said one option to remedy the violations is for the city to rebuild the Soldiers’ Monument on the Plaza within six months.
That’s the right thing to do. The territorial legislature appropriated $1,500 for post-Civil War grave enclosures and the soldier’s memorial. A territorial committee placed the obelisk on the Plaza in 1868. It belongs there, a marker of national significance in the heart of the city.
Webber and the eight city council members would be doing a fool’s errand by challenging Wilson’s ruling. An appeal would be a lawyer’s dream, but a blow to taxpayers.
The city would throw away another $500,000 or so on outside counsel just to risk failure in another court battle with Union Protectiva de Santa Fe. The Spanish Fraternal Organization sued Webber and the city in hopes of restoring the monument on the Plaza.
Before the lawsuit, the city wasted about $265,000 on consultants overseeing community meetings over whether the Soldiers’ Monument or another object should grace the Plaza. That exercise wasted time and money.
And the foolish chatter from council members and Webber about moving the monument to the Santa Fe National Cemetery must end. The city does not own the obelisk and therefore cannot give it away. The monument was transferred from the territorial government to the legislature after New Mexico became a state in 1912.
No popular government legally decided that the monument should be moved or destroyed.
Rather, a few vocal organizations convinced Webber to single-handedly order the monument’s removal from the Plaza in the summer of 2020. Webber’s attempt to move the obelisk failed, but lawbreakers were emboldened in October.
A group of yahoos, many from out of town, destroyed the obelisk. Most had no idea to realize that it was a tribute to Union soldiers in New Mexico who helped free 4 million slaves.
If the Confederates had reached the major shipping ports on the Pacific coast, black people could have remained in chains for another hundred years. The civil war could have splintered the country forever.
History is a spectacle of events: great, terrible and tragic. The Soldiers’ Monument was an example of these extremes.
Three panels at the base of the obelisk recognized Union soldiers who died to help win the Civil War. A fourth panel was dedicated to soldiers who had died in battles with ‘savage’ Indians.
A man with a chisel scratched out the word ‘wild’ in 1974. A few vocal critics continued to call for the obelisk’s destruction, calling it racist. More and more voices spoke out against the cleansing of what the West looked like in the 19th century.
“Proposals to remove the obelisk appear to be based on a desire to rewrite history and remove the more shameful parts,” one aspiring politician wrote in 2000.
The author was Peter Wirth, a lawyer and history buff. Wirth’s plea for the preservation of the Soldiers’ Monument was not politically correct in certain circles. But his outspoken stance made sense to most people. Wirth, a liberal Democrat from Santa Fe, is now Senate majority leader.
Vandals ruled the Plaza in 2020 only because Santa Fe police commanders allowed them to. A huge contingent of police officers was assembled to counter violent protesters. The brass ordered them all to resign.
With no police presence to stop the violence, only eight of the lawbreakers were identified and charged with fourth-degree crimes. District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies treated them kindly.
She threw out seven in a secret mediation session, a decision that further upset residents as a mob got its way. The misdemeanor charge was dismissed after they paid fines and completed community service.
The eighth suspect pleaded guilty to a crime. He received a deferred sentence and was not allowed to serve any prison time.
Because law enforcement at all levels has been lenient with the vandals, some residents believe the Soldiers’ Monument should not be rebuilt. They reason that criminals could attack the obelisk again and face no retaliation.
Accepting that position means that the extortionists and intimidators win.
If Webber and city council members claim they believe in the rule of law, they have to prove it. They have nothing to fear but damage to their egos as the Soldiers’ Monument rises from the dust.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.
