Dear Sir,

My wife and I live in western Colorado, in what most would describe as a quiet little town.  Our community has the highest property crime rate in the state. It has had several murders in the last few years including one police officer, and averages almost one reported child abuse case each day.

Dear Sir,

You state that “Monarch butterflies that make the yearly voyage of more than 2,000 kilometers from Canada to the Mexican state of Michoacan.” It is more, much more.  It is 4,500 kilometers from the U.S.-Canadian border to Morelia, Michoacan.

Perry Montoya

Dear Sir,

Some readers of the article reporting the Mexican bishops’ call for teaching religion in the public schools (September 22-28 issue) might infer that religious belief is necessary to encourage moral and ethical behavior.  Such an inference is unfounded.  Millions of people conduct themselves morally and ethically without any religious belief.  In the words of the American Humanist Association, they are “good without a god.”  Some 60 of them are members of the Lakeside Freethinkers.

Dear Sir,

In your feature article last week, “Cross-border arms trafficking,” you state that “Mexicans (and I assume that applies to foreigners as well) are only permitted to buy weapons of a lower caliber than a .357 Magnum, such as a .380 or .38 Special.”  If I am not mistaken, a .380 or a .38 Special is of higher caliber than a .357 Magnum.  Am I to assume that a .38 is legal, whereas a .357 is not?

Dear Sir,

I’m waiting.  In fact, I’ve been waiting patiently for a couple of weeks now.  Cannot understand the delay as normally, at such news, the press and U.S. State Department are issuing all sorts of notices and warnings. But this time, nothing. Nada.

Dear Sir,

Something terrible has happened to me and, since it could happen to anyone, your readers should be aware of it.  I have a bank account with Bank of America.  They have an arrangement with Santander whereby I can use their ATMs without cost or exchange fees.  This sounds like a dream until you lose 432 dollars.  On  June 8, I went to the Santander in Chapala and attempted to withdraw 6,000 pesos to pay my rent.  After my ATM card had been “read,” a message flashed on the machine saying that it was out of order.  I reported this to Santander, but they said that I would need to report this to Bank of America.  I made that report immediately.  I waited ten days, but nothing had been done.  I called B of A again and they reimbursed my money on June 20.  I thought that this issue had been settled.  However, in mid-August, I received a letter from B of A saying that on August 1 they had deducted the money again.  B of A said that Santander had not corroborated my story.  To make matters worse, the statute of limitation on these complaints is 30 days, so due to the delay in getting mail here in Mexico, I had little time to make formal complaints.