Front Page  news  state

Friday, October 31, 2008

Around New Mexico



      Journal and Wire Reports
    Bars Stand To Lose Liquor Licenses
    The Library, Sauce and Graham's Central Station are among the businesses that could lose their liquor licenses if found guilty of charges filed Thursday.
    The three bars, along with a Circle K at 6300 Central, have all been charged by the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department under the state's three strikes rule. The two-year-old rule states that any bar or liquor store found guilty of serving alcohol to a minor or intoxicated person three or more times in one year must have their licenses revoked.
    A third-party hearing officer will hear arguments from the licensing department and the establishments to determine whether they are guilty.
    Graham's Central Station leads the list of citations, with 10 for sales to intoxicated people and two citations for selling two drinks at a time. Sauce has racked up six citations, The Library has five and the Circle K has four.
    Licensing department spokeswoman Teala Kail said a schedule has not been set for the hearings.
    Hillerman May Get Name on School
    An Albuquerque school board member said this week he'd like to see the new middle school under construction near Volcano Vista High named after author Tony Hillerman.
    Hillerman, an award-winning novelist, died Sunday in Albuquerque. He was also a journalist and a journalism teacher at the University of New Mexico.
    Robert Lucero, who represents the West Side, said he has the support of at least one community activist — Laura Horton, president of the Ventana Ranch Neighborhood Association and vice president of the West Side Coalition of Neighborhood Associations.
    Horton said she plans to seek support for the idea and submit a petition to the school board.
    The board must approve school names, which are usually picked after a monthslong process that includes comments from the school principal, district, residents and students, Lucero said.
    But, because of Hillerman's death, "we should do something now," he said.
    Rio Rancho, NMED Settle Pond Dispute
    The city of Rio Rancho and the New Mexico Environment Department have settled a legal dispute over who should clean up ponds at Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club.
    The dispute arose after the department linked waterfowl deaths at Chamisa Hills to treated wastewater the golf course receives through a permit issued to the city.
    Under the settlement announced Thursday, the two sides have agreed to halt legal action pending the results of groundwater tests at the golf course. The city has agreed to install two wells to monitor signs of groundwater contamination from ponds at the golf course. The wells must be installed within six months.
    The city has estimated the cost of the wells at $106,000. Sandoval County Commissioner Dave Bency has agreed to help secure funding to pay for the wells, according to a city news release.
    If samples from the test wells show no contamination, the Environment Department will terminate the city's wastewater permit and issue a new permit to the golf club.
    If tests show groundwater contamination and the source of the contamination is linked to discharges from the golf course, the Environment Department and the city will try to negotiate an abatement plan.
    Bent Arrested After No-Show at Hearing
    LAS VEGAS, N.M. — Union County sheriff's deputies arrested cult leader Wayne Bent at his northern New Mexico compound Wednesday afternoon after a judge here issued a bench warrant because Bent failed to appear at a court hearing.
    Bent faces charges for improper sexual contact with two teenage girls at his Strong City compound northwest of Clayton. Bent has contended that the touching was nonsexual and a "healing" measure.
    Bent and his followers have been fasting to protest the charges and his pending trial. Bent told the Journal in a recent interview that he has not eaten since Oct. 16 and was planning to go completely without water beginning today. All his followers are also fasting, Bent has said.
    "We don't anticipate any future beyond Oct. 31," said Jeff Bent, Wayne Bent's son, in a telephone interview from the compound Thursday. "His (Wayne Bent's) thinking is there will be no trial." After tonight, the group is expecting God to "deliver" them "free from earthly claims," Jeff Bent said.
    Wayne Bent was a no-show at Thursday's motions hearing in Las Vegas. Judge Gerald E. Baca had specifically asked Bent to appear for the hearing in person, after Bent recently promised to stop cooperating with court proceedings.
    Baca ordered that Bent be taken to a Union County medical center where he was to be both physically and psychologically evaluated before going to jail.
    T or C Commissioner Recall Vote March 6
    TRUTH or CONSEQUENCES — The Truth or Consequences City Commission this week scheduled a recall election targeting Commissioner Jerry Stagner, a local banker, for March 6.
    Local residents targeted Stagner for recall after he declined to withdraw from participating or voting during August public hearings on a controversial development proposal, the 7,000-acre Hot Springs Motorplex.
    Critics said Stagner should not have voted on the annexation of land targeted for development, or on zoning changes requested by the developer, because he had publicly supported the project and because developers flew him to Florida in 2007 to review their plans and background.
    Stagner's critics needed to collect the signatures of 235 registered voters to force a recall election, and the city clerk certified they had turned in 333 valid signatures.
    Stagner has been in office since March 2006 and his term ends in 2010.
    Small-Plane Crash Cause Investigated
    CLAYTON — Investigators with the Federal Aviation Administration and the Union County Sheriff's Office spent Thursday in a remote area combing through the wreckage of a small plane.
    Authorities are trying to determine what caused the plane to crash Wednesday evening, killing the pilot.
    Union County authorities have not released any information on the pilot or the plane's flight plan.
    The crash site is located in a mountainous area about 20 miles outside of Clayton. After spending all day at the site Thursday, a dispatcher at the Sheriff's Office said investigators planned to resume their work this morning.
    Denzel Washington To Film Around N.M.
    SANTA FE — A movie featuring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman will be filmed around New Mexico next year.
    Gov. Bill Richardson's office announced Thursday that the action-thriller "The Book of Eli" will be filmed from February through May in Alamogordo, Carrizozo, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. About 250 local crews members will be hired for the production.
    "The Book of Eli" takes place in the not-too-distant future across the wasteland of what was once America. Washington, who plays a lone warrior named Eli, must fight to bring society knowledge that could be the key to its redemption.
    Albert and Allen Hughes will direct the film. Washington is one of the producers.
    Gray Wolf To Be Let Loose in Gila Forest
    BEAVERHEAD — A Mexican gray wolf removed from the wild as a pup is being turned loose next week in the Gila National Forest.
    The release of male wolf No. 922 is intended to increase the wolf population in the Gila. The Interagency Field Team hopes the wolf will also help them locate female wolves in the forest.
    Collared wolves such as No. 922 can lead biologists to other wolves that have never been collared.
    Marty Frentzel of the state Game and Fish Department in Santa Fe said it's one of the ways the team determines if there are uncollared wolves or wolves with nonfunctioning collars.
    The wolf was born in New Mexico in 2005. Frentzel said he was removed from the wild as a pup when his parents were removed for depredation.
    Men Abandon Suit Over Cruces Logo
    LAS CRUCES — Two men have given up their fight to remove crosses from Las Cruces' logo after appellate judges rejected a request to rehear their lawsuit against the city, whose name means "the crosses" in Spanish.
    Paul Weinbaum said he and co-plaintiff Martin Boyd decided not to pursue further action because of the cost and a U.S. Supreme Court he views as conservative.
    Weinbaum, who is Jewish, and Boyd, an atheist, have argued that the crosses on the logo violate the constitutional separation of church and state. The city and the Las Cruces school district use logos that include three crosses.
    The city and the schools argued that the crosses on the logos were intended as a secular symbol rooted in the city's history.
    In September, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver affirmed a lower court ruling that dismissed the men's lawsuit against the city. The judges also rejected another lawsuit by Weinbaum against Las Cruces Public Schools. The appellate court last Friday denied the men's request to reconsider, leaving the U.S. Supreme Court as their only option.