Grants student takes top honors in essay contest

Winner of the 2005 Gerald Crawford First Amendment essay contest, Randy Head, mingles with the runner up Stephen Bergin and Bergin's sister, Laura, before the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government dinner and ceremony. The event took place at the Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque. [Photo by Daniel Zollinger/Independent]

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

ALBUQUERQUE — A Grants High School senior, honored by the state-wide Foundation for Open Government, observed both major party attorney general candidates concentrate on their campaign themes in Saturday night's debate.

Randy Head, who has not decided yet which college to attend, received a plaque and $500 check from the Foundation for his writing of "Freedom's Fall" as the top essay in the Gerald Crawford First Amendment Essay Contest, open to all New Mexico high school students. Stephen Berg of St. Pius in Albuquerque won the $150 second prize.

Head said after the question and answer debate between Jim Bibb (Republican) and Gary King (Democrat), "It is good to see that both of them have the same positive impression on open government."

Added the son of Mark and Beth Head, who were present along with his brother and grandparents at the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel, "It would be interesting to count the number of times King said 'experience' and Bibb said 'fight corruption.' They did make their campaign points very well and both are very qualified."

The Milan resident also said, "I thought very favorably of what Mr. Bibb said about eminent domain. They are both qualified and raised excellent points."

Put check on power
In accepting the award, he thanked everyone for supporting the organization "because it means a lot. I really believe when someone has power there should be a check on that power ... for open and free government."

Head's essay elaborated on the anonymous quote, "The sheep do not care who the shepherd is, so long as they are well fed."

He wrote, "It's astonishingly depressing that this quote summarizes the state of politics in America. Our system of government was built upon a system of values, the very core of which was the freedom of speech." He then turned to the USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act.

Head wrote, "Section 215 of the bill gives FBI officials the right to investigate U.S. citizens based on their participation in activities protected by the First Amendment, prohibits anyone served with a section 215 order from disclosing the fact to anyone else, and does not require notification at any time of the person being monitored. The fact that a government agency has these powers is a cause for concern."

Although these new powers are to use on suspected terrorists and foreign agents, " ... the bill doesn't include any way to protect common people. The FBI only has to think you are involved in a plot that is a threat to national security to violate your First and Fourth Amendment rights," he wrote.

How do we know?
Then he asked, "How do we know this is helping national security? The answer given by supporters of the act is: Just take our word for it."

Head pointed out the First Amendment "does not protect all speech, and never has."

He also highlighted that within seven years of the ratification of the Bill of Rights the Congress adopted the Alien and Sedition Acts, which made it a crime to speak out against the government, and in World War I, it passed the Espionage Act.

"These clear violations of our most basic freedom must be what the administration is citing," he concluded. However, he admits, the current act isn't nearly as extreme, adding that most Americans agree the government should monitor terrorism suspects.

"The problem is," he continued, "most Americans don't care about the Patriot Act, or for that matter any facet of our government."

Head said the act itself, "as it stands," doesn't concern him so much as "the indifference of the American people about government issues, even those that stem from the potential violation of our basic freedoms." The latter "concerns me greatly."

People power
He finished his essay by writing about what he believes is the most important part of the government system set up by the Founding Fathers " ... hinged on the people acting as a check on the power of the government as a whole. Unfortunately, the people have abandoned this obligation in favor of the comfort of doing what is easy. In my experience, only very rarely is the easy thing to do the right thing to do."

In addition to the two youth awards and the debate, moderated by Barry Massey of The Associated Press Santa Fe Bureau, five people were honored with William S. Dixon First Amendment Freedom Awards.

They were State Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, La Cueva High School journalism teacher Pat Graff, attorney Martin R. Esquivel of the Narvaez Law Firm, Lea County State Bank (Hobbs) CED Samuel S. Spencer Jr. and Carlsbad Current-Argus publisher Rockford "Rocky" Hayes who won a major case showing that the city had to make public the names of all applicants for city manager.

The Independent was one of 10 silver sponsors for the awards dinner, attended by about 175 people.

To contact reporter Jim Maniaci in Grants, telephone 285-6184 or (505) 870-7775 (cellular).