The main physical circumstances of the Rio Grande seem timeless and impersonal. They assume meaning only in terms of people who came to the river.

Council president Brad Winter began the Nov. 21 meeting by presenting engraved Nambé ware platters to departing councilors Miguel Gómez and Tina Cummins. Cummins, who said she would be seeing the other councilors often but wouldn't miss council meetings, left shortly after.

You can bet that the pamphlets and the website information circulated by the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce to prospective residents or business people interested in relocating here don't mention our weapons of mass destruction.

Sitting on the red cushioned bench, the sound of all the people singing filled the room like a thick, warm blanket. At that moment there was nowhere else I would have wanted to be—I was in a perfect state of comfort. The keyboards and the drums accompanied the voices belting out lyrics like, “Lord, do it for me right now.”

Dateline: Scotland—A real estate developer in central Scotland has had to scrap plans for a new housing development thanks to an alleged colony of fairies. Marcus Salter, head of Genesis Properties, says that a small group of villagers in St. Fillans, Perthshire, has protested his development plans, saying they would “harm the fairies.” Troubles began when Salter's company sent a bulldozer crew to begin work on the site just outside the village, overlooking the eastern shore of Loch Earn. Salter told The Times, “A neighbor came over shouting, ’Don't move that rock. You'll kill the fairies.'” Genesis Properties later received a series of phone calls saying their work was disturbing the local fairies. Salter tried to appease the locals by working around the disputed rock, upon which many locals believe ancient Pictish kings were crowned, but villagers continued to complain that the fairies would be “upset” by the work. “I went to a meeting of the community council and the concerns cropped up there,” Salter told reporters. The council was even considering lodging a complaint with the planning authority, likely to be the kiss of death for a housing development in a national park. “I do believe in fairies, but I can't be sure they live under that rock,” Council Chairman Jeannie Fox told The Times. Nonetheless, Fox believes the stone should remain unmolested. “There are a lot of superstitions going about up here and people do believe that things like standing stones and large rocks should never be moved.” Salter's new plans are to center the estate around a small park, in the middle of which will stand the disputed rock. He estimates that the fairy dispute has cost him some $30,000.

[RE: "Letters, "History Lessons," Nov. 17-23] As a volunteer at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, I regret that Conchita Lucero and her league minimize the Pueblo people's suffering at the hands of many Spanish settlers. She is right in saying that Spain had the least oppressive colonial policy among the European powers. Unfavorable comparisons with Anglo colonizers, however, do not absolve men like Oñate. (Citing my pacifistic Quaker ancestors would be equally meaningless.)