Taking Care of Those Who Take Care of Us

"I live in the town that hosts Cannon Air Force Base. A large portion of the men and women from Cannon were deployed overseas long before we began the war in Iraq. And they stayed overseas as we became involved. We made our men and women overseas our Sweethearts for Valentine's Day! Children wrote letters and made cards, people packed boxes of personal items, cookies were lovingly baked and protectively packed.

We made a CD that was sent to units overseas of a live broadcast where the community came out and expressed their appreciation and support of our deployed men and women. Women read letters, groups sang songs, and children read poems and expressed their heartfelt sentiments for their parents who were overseas."

Pam Atherton is an award-winning journalist and talk show host. Her radio program, A Closer Look, has been on the air since 1997. With a general interest format, the show features guests that include people from the local area as well as national newsmakers. And sometimes it's just the Girlfriends getting together to talk things over.

Some of the nationally known guests on
A Closer Look include Willie Nelson,
"Weird" Al Yancovic, New Mexico Governor
Bill Richardson, Julia Child and
Alan Eisenstock.