Las Cruces City Councilors convened this past Tuesday, tackling the business of liquor licenses amidst other community concerns. According to the City of Las Cruces, five dispenser liquor licenses previously owned by Brewer Oil Company found a new home with New Mexico Company Operations, LLC. The license transfers are specific for package sales only, indicating a strictly controlled point of sale for alcoholic beverages at multiple Shell station locations across the city.

The transfer process isn't just an administrative hand-off, it necessitates public hearings. Council members sat through five of these on the day, a legal requisite by the New Mexico Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. The approved locations, including Nacho Shell and University Shell, among others, will now operate under the new ownership. But it's not all about license logistics, the council also passed a resolution that urges, the New Mexico legislature, to create a fund designed to mitigate alcohol-related harms.

This particular meeting took precedence on Tuesday, Feb. 4, instead of the usual Monday slot due to Las Cruces Day at the 2025 New Mexico Legislative Session. A nod to pragmatism, this rescheduling ensured participation from City staff and elected officials who were attending the legislative session. It's this kind of detail that reminds constituents that business continues even when council chambers sit empty.

In a turn to less administrative but no less critical city issues, the memory of the unsolved mass shooting in Las Cruces, unhealed after 35 years, looms large. The tragic event remains an open wound that begs the question of how community healing intersects with matters such as controlling liquor sales and addressing alcohol-related harm. These matters, significant as solitary issues, also ripple into broader contexts of city welfare and social responsibility.