ABQJOURNAL NORTH: Around Northern New Mexico

Friday, July 25, 2008

Around Northern New Mexico

      Journal Staff Reports
    Archaeologists Hold Lectures on Egypt
    Four leading Egyptian archaeologists will be in Santa Fe next week to give a lecture and meet with Mayor David Coss.
    The visitors will give a public lecture, "An Introduction to Egyptian Civilization and the Golden Age," at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Forum Theater at the College of Santa Fe. The lecture will cover new archaeological discoveries in the Valley of Kings and the Valley of the Workers.
    The four archaeologists are Mohamed El Bialy, general director of antiquities at Aswan and Nubia; Tarik Hassan, chief Inspector of Abusir; Moustaga Waziry, director at the Valley of Kings; and El Sayed Yousef, site director at Taposiris Magna.
    Monday afternoon, the Egyptian contingent will visit with Coss. The group is visiting the area under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program.
    State OKs County's Land Sale for Studio
    The New Mexico State Board of Finance on Tuesday approved Santa Fe County's plans to sell a 65-acre site south of town for the planned Santa Fe Studios for $2.6 million.
    The County Commission approved the land deal in June as part of an economic development deal that requires the film studio to provide 500,000 hours of above-minimum-wage work over six years. The county will pay for infrastructure improvements for the site off N.M. 14 near the state penitentiary.
    Fatal Hit and Run Tips Don't Pan Out
    The Santa Fe police apparently have hit another dead end in the search for the driver in a June 16 hit-and-run accident in which 45-year-old Monica Romero was killed on Airport Road.
    According to an officer's statement used to obtain a search warrant filed in state District Court, police received a Crime Stoppers tip July 8 about a white 2006 Chevy Malibu owned by a man "believed to have been in the vicinity of the area the night of the accident."
    The owner reported the car stolen to the Espa�ola police on June 21, five days after Romero was killed. Espa�ola officers found the car and it had damage to the right front fender, according to the officer's statement.
    The statement says the investigating officer believed the owner reported the car stolen to "hide and/or destroy evidence" in the June 16 hit-and-run crash.
    But a police spokesman said Thursday that the lead didn't pan out and that the Malibu owner is no longer considered a suspect. The damage to the car, after examination, was not consistent with the fatal June crash, the spokesman said.
    Soon after the crash, officers also checked out a burned car that met the description of the car that killed Romero, but it turned out there was no evidence linking it to the fatal accident.