First, there was Republican Heather Wilson suggesting Pearce opposes Cannon Air Force Base. And now Democrat Tom Udall seems to be claiming Pearce is in favor of price gouging at the gas pump.

I’m certain there are plenty of reasons to oppose Pearce’s election. But does anybody really believe he doesn’t support Cannon or that he is saying “no,” to working families looking for leadership in solving energy issues?

Seems to me those ridiculous allegations serve only to damage the credibility of Pearce’s opponents.

1. “I think that arrows should be painted on the roundabout (Llano and Norris) which show which direction cars should be going. It seems that very few people know how to drive it. I know there are signs, however, unless someone just stops and studies the sign, and unless they really pay attention, many people don’t know the correct way to drive the round about.”

2. “It seems Clovis should consider putting in sidewalks on the main streets (e.g. 21st, 14th, Llano and Prince). I think more people would walk. However, it is just not safe to walk (especially with children) on these roads. There are some sidewalks, but nothing continuous. With gas prices the way they are, I think more people would consider walking if we had sidewalks. I know I would!”

3. “Why doesn’t Clovis turn Main Street into a fun tourist attraction, say using the ’50s as an idea? If the slum lords would lower the rent prices, more people would be able to open business and stay open on Main Street. A few indoor/outdoor cafes with ’50s music, live bands or musak, you know — just go all out with the Norman Petty Studio idea. …”

I’ll always remember him for his baseball-football routine.

Baseball players, he said, make errors.

Football players pay a penalty.

Baseball games are played on a diamond or in a park.

Football games are played on a gridiron, sometimes called War Memorial Stadium or Soldier Field.

Baseball has the seventh-inning stretch.

Football has the two-minute warning.

Football is concerned with downs. What down is it?

Baseball is concerned with ups. Who’s up?

In football you wear a helmet.

In baseball, you wear a cap.

In football, the field general marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing an aerial assault with a sustained ground attack.

In baseball, the object of the game is to go home and be safe.

Thanks for the laughs, Mr. Carlin.

New York scientists recently found traces of 100-year-old copper wire buried 10 yards beneath the Earth’s surface. They came to the conclusion that their New York ancestors had a telephone network more than 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone, California scientists dug to a depth of 20 yards. Soon, the media reported, “California archaeologists have found traces of 200-year-old copper wire and concluded their ancestors had an advanced high-tech communications network 100 years before the New Yorkers.”

Now for the latest news:

After digging 30 yards in a cow pasture near Dora, Lorenzo the Cable Guy — a self-taught archaeologist and huge Eastern New Mexico University Greyhound fan — reported he found absolutely nothing.

Lorenzo has therefore concluded that 300 years ago … New Mexico had already gone wireless.

The successful candidate will oversee our lifestyles coverage, event calendars and reader-generated content in print and online.

Fundamental Internet and grammar skills are required and accuracy will be essential.

Grouchy people need not apply.

Hours will be mostly 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, but some nighttime and weekend work will be required.

The pay range will be $8 to $9.50 an hour, depending on qualifications.

Send a resume, complete with references and a cover letter outlining your interest in helping readers interact with our news products to:

 david_stevens at link.freedom.com

Most of the time, public officials say and do things in the public spotlight and their words and actions are then fair game for public criticism.

Most of the time, public officials get to read letters to the editor criticizing their work at the same time everyone else reads the letters. Then they can respond with their own letter if they want and their response will be published under the same guidelines that apply to everyone else, as space allows.

But the issue that will be addressed on Friday is not routine.

A teacher in Roswell is unhappy with comments she says were made by Clovis schools Superintendent Rhonda Seidenwurm at a meeting involving educators and lawmakers last month in Roswell.

I don’t believe the meeting attracted any news coverage and so I don’t have any simple way to know the context of a specific quote attributed to Seidenwurm.

The Clovis superintendent does not deny she used the words attributed to her by Jennifer Railsback, a Roswell school teacher who formerly worked in Clovis.

But Seidenwurm says Railsback misinterpreted her comments.

I won’t pick a side in this dispute, but will allow the superintendent to defend herself at the same time she’s criticized.

After that, everybody else can weigh in as usual.

Here’s what they say:

“Dear Clovis News Journal:

“I am offended by the content of the CBS program ‘Swingtown.’ The offensive content clearly violates our local community standards and does not reflect your license obligation ‘to serve the public interest.’

“I urge you to refuse to air future episodes of ‘Swingtown.’

“I also ask you to place a copy of my complaint in your files according to FCC regulations.”

I’m sorry to report the Clovis News Journal does not have the authority to order CBS to do anything. But I have filed all of the complaints.

And if any of the e-mail senders are interested, I have a suggestion for resolving the issue:

Don’t watch the show.

Check out what happened at McKinney High School near Dallas:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gwaZXgufy7CZVVi3lt7zwxdj9rFgD90NT8280

We needed to have that talk.

But somewhere in the middle of the anger and the tears and the soul saving of the past week, I think we’ve missed the real point of this story:

Student journalists have First Amendment rights, too.

Everybody I know has an opinion on whether the school annual should have a “relationship” section (sounds boring to me), whether gay students should be included if there is such a section (obviously, yes, if they want to be) and whether the Bible has the answers (yes and no, depending on where you look).

But nobody seems concerned that young journalists trying to reflect student life are in danger of being silenced by government as a result of all this commotion. (See my last blog entry.)

Equality and religious freedom are both important. But take away freedom of the press, and it’s only a matter of time before equality and religious freedom will disappear as well.

If she had known in advance?

“What I would have done was to make sure those four young ladies depicted in the pictures had really thought about whether they wanted to do that. If they’d said yes, then that was their decision,” she said.

The topic will be front and center at Tuesday night’s school board meeting when parents, students, religious leaders and gay-rights advocates are welcome to participate in a public forum.

Judging from the 150-plus comments left on our Web site about this topic, I’m guessing the board room will be full.

* * *

Seidenwurm is clearly unhappy that the yearbook’s faculty advisor, Carol Singletary, did not warn her about the photos prior to publication. Seidenwurm believes school administrators should have talked with the students to make sure they understood the spotlight would shine on them once the yearbook was published.

“Common sense did not happen here,” Seidenwurm said. “Common sense was not afforded to those kids and their parents.”

Now, Seidenwurm said, one of the four students is having reservations about the photos. As a result, Seidenwurm says she wants to change school policy so that administrators “would be alerted if there was something that might be damaging to the people we’re writing about.”

* * *

Singletary has said the yearbook is a student publication, students make the decisions and students did not violate any school policies. And that’s why administrators were not alerted to the issue prior to publication.

A reporter tried to talk to Singletary on Monday about Seidenwurm’s comments, but Singletary declined to answer questions. (I hope she will call or e-mail when she reads this.)

Here’s what I think:

Seidenwurm is right that the four young adults who characterized themselves as lesbians needed to be encouraged to think long and hard about the potential fallout from the photo spread before agreeing to participate.

Seidenwurm is wrong about school administrators taking a role in that process. That’s what Singletary is for.

* * *

The policy in place now, according to the superintendent, keeps school administrators “out of the loop,” regarding content in student publications. Oversight rests with the teacher who advises the journalists.

Students fought for the policy several years ago when they claimed school administrators would not allow them to publish anything critical of school administrators.

I have all the respect in the world for Seidenwurm, and the privacy issues she’s concerned about in this case are valid. But she’s wrong about needing a policy change regarding oversight of student publications.

The relationship between administrators and student publication advisors is what needs to change.

* * *

Here’s what I mean:

Administrators should select student publication advisors whose judgment they trust. Then they should encourage those advisors to ask for help when they’re not sure about something. And that help doesn’t have to come from school administrators who don’t necessarily know anything about First Amendment or privacy laws anyway. Other professional journalists or attorneys who specialize in media law would seem more qualified than school administrators to offer advice about quality journalism.

As for the student-publication advisors, they need to trust administrators will not try to prevent students from publishing content just because it could be considered controversial. Seidenwurm should have been alerted to the gay yearbook photos in advance so she could have effectively defended them to the students’ critics.

* * *

Clovis Municipal Schools doesn’t need a new student-publication policy. It needs to build trust between students, faculty and administrators.

I think the staff of the Clovis High School Plainsman acted responsibly and professionally when they reflected real life in their pages this year.

The adults in charge are the ones who have a lot to learn from mistakes that were made.