At 2:53am,

we awoke suddenly to what sounded like machine gun fire strafing our backyard. Instead, it was the Albuquerque Police Department’s

helicopter coming in very low over our house before circling back again and again. This is the helicopter that cost the city millions

because it was supposed to be extra quiet. In fact, it is much louder than any other copter in a city with a lot of copters (Abq has 3,

Bernalillo has 2 or 3, TV stations have 2, Fed has god-knows-how-many).

Keep in mind, this is not UNMH Lifeguard. This is the

police swooping in in the middle of the night terrorizing sleeping citizens. Why? Was there a slowdown in traffic on the Interstate? It

doesn’t matter. If you ask the cops, every second they are in the air, they are saving lives. The truth is they are pissing away money

and disturbing the peace every second they are in the air.

After 10 dreadful minutes, the copter drifted on, looking for some

other place to kill time. And a few blocks away, another citizen was jarred out of his bed. mjh