A6 Thursday, September 29, 2011 Block
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should be impeached. Nichols said she was preparing a letter of resignation for Block, but the plea agreement calls for him to resign within 10 days. Block also will pay restitution, undergo drug treatment and has agreed never to seek public office again. He faces up to 4 1/2 years behind bars, but he likely will avoid serving time in prison if he meets requirements of the treatment program.
GENERAL Block, an Espanola Democrat, was elected in 2008 to represent PRC District 3, which includes Santa Fe and much of north-central and northeastern New Mexico. The job pays $90,000 a year. The five-member commission regulates utilities, telecommunications and insurance. Republican Gov. Susana Martinez will appoint a replacement for Block to serve the remainder of his term through next year, when the PRC position is up for election. Scott Darnell, a spokesman for the governor, said Martinez was pleased that Block is leaving office and she
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“We’ve been trying one and half years to sell this house, but the market is not good,” Rhodes said. “If we could keep (the livestock) we wouldn’t move.” Before the neighbor’s complaint, Rhodes said she was unaware of the technicality that made her livestock illegal. “Everyone around us had animals,” she said. The Roswell City Council first considered Rhodes’ dilemma in 2007 and decided then to give her a five-year grace period to get rid of her horses and goats. She has since then sold her goats. A few weeks ago, another complaint was brought to the city about Rhodes — she had acquired at least two more horses. “Two weeks ago, Animal Control came over and said, ‘these weren’t the original horses,’” she said. Rhodes said a family member bought the new horses so
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asked Judge Charles C. Currier if she could treat Peña as a hostile witness. Peña repeated that she was frightened when Foster kept banging on the door. She took her 3-year-old child and left the house. “I didn’t see nothing. I heard shots, maybe one or two.” Roswell Police Officer Jeff Gazik, the first officer on the scene, relayed what he found when he arrived at West Walnut, “There was a woman (Rodriguez) crying and screaming and the victim slumped over the passenger side of the vehicle, with a pool of blood under his head.” Gazik testified that he encountered Herrera behind 202 S. Delaware Ave., which Herrera indicated was his home. “We heard a commotion and found a man in the alley. He appeared to be walking away. He was wearing blue jeans ... a tan jacket, and no shoes,” Gazick said Herrera had blood on his hands and on his jacket. “When I patted him down I found a live round of ammunition in his pocket. ... and a wireless monitor to a surveillance camera that would allow him to view his yard (at 1104 W. Walnut) remotely.” Defense Attorney Jesse Cosby brought out dispatch lists where it was noted that Gazick had been sent to two separate locations that night for threat calls. Gazik stated the second complaintant named Foster as the person who had called. Andrew Gross of Roswell Animal Services testified about containing two dogs in a portable pen when he found a magazine of ammunition in Herrera’s yard. Gross helped to move a dog house away from the residence where they located a door to a crawl space in which a rifle had been concealed. The primary TSU technician at the scene, Laverne Amir, gave an overview of what was done to preserve evidence. She told defense that she had arrived after Emergency Services left. Cosby informed her that five emergency personnel had been there and he wondered what she had done to preserve
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and Families Development. CYFD gave the board $156,000 for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. This year the grant is helping to fund five programs: the Girls Circle Program at Chaves County CASA, the Intensive Youth Advocacy Program at Chaves County CASA, the First Offenders Program and the Wings for L.I.F.E. program. The latter two programs deal with juveniles referred by the Juvenile Probation and Parole Office. The 160-question survey, created by the Search Institute and administered by Jane Batson, dean of the Eastern New Mexico University Division of Health, asked students about their external and internal assets. It highlighted essential areas of young people’s lives such as their support system, family and otherwise, their feelings toward their own empowerment, and their perceived boundaries and expectations at home, in school and
Roswell Daily Record
will appoint a replacement “who will serve with integrity and represent the people of New Mexico well on the PRC.” Block was indicted in 2009 on felony charges for violating state election laws. He paid fines in 2008 to the secretary of state for lying on a campaign finance disclosure report and making improper expenditures of public campaign money. His father, former PRC member Jerome Block Sr., also was indicted for election law violations for helping his son during the campaign but those charges will be dismissed because of the son’s guilty pleas.
RAID DEFENDANTS LISTED
Lance could work with them and see which, if any, she could use. Rhodes said Lance is at an age when she must try out different horses until she finds the one that suits her best. “She’s had three horses, but she’s little,” Rhodes said of Lance. “She’s a beginning rider and it takes time. … (The horses) were never meant to stay the whole time.” Rhodes and Lance did settle on a horse — a 3-year-old gelding named Maximum Dollar. At the moment, Maximum Dollar is at a friend’s house in Artesia. Lance also has a pony named Buddy to care for, in addition to two other horses. “She feeds them, she waters them,” Rhodes said. “To me, (having horses) is teaching her responsibility.” In turn, Rhodes said the horses “love (Lance) to death.” For now, Rhodes hopes she can sell her home before May 2012, which is when the city’s grace period is up and she will be forced to get rid of all her livestock. v.kahin@roswell-record.com footprint evidence. He noted, “That means seven different people had been wandering around.” During her preliminary investigation of the van, Amir said Detective Kim Northcutt located a projectile near the gas pedal on the driver’s side of the vehicle. Cosby wanted to know where she found the iPod that Rodriguez was listening to during the time when Foster was talking to Herrera. Amir said the iPod was located inside the glove box. Cosby asked, “Was there any evidence that my client had been in the yard? Amir replied, “Besides the rounds of ammunition, the magazine, the gun and the chain, no.” Patrol Sergeant Ty Sharpe confirmed both Gazik’s and Amir’s testimony about finding Herrera and searching the Delaware-Avenue yard. “He (Herrera) said he was walking the dogs, but he had no dogs,” commented Sharpe. When asked by the officers where he lived, Herrera pointed at a house. “At that time, a woman walked out of the house. We asked her if she knew him, and she said she’d never seen him before in her life,” Sharpe said. “We asked her if we could search the yard and that’s when we found the 45-caliber handgun stuck in a bucket.” Detective Jeff Prince of TSU conducted the search warrant of Herrera’s person, including fingerprinting, obtaining DNA evidence and GSR (gunshot residue). Cosby argued that GSR was no longer considered valid by most federal laboratories. Dr. Ross Reichard came in from Albuquerque to report on the autopsy findings. He said the bullet entered the left side of Foster’s back, passed through the ribs, through the lungs, the carotid artery (which feeds blood from the heart to the neck and the head) through the spine and out the right side of Foster’s face. He also gave the results of the toxicology report, which indicated a blood alcohol content of .18, along with the presence of marijuana and methamphetamine. Cosby inquired about the effects of methamphetamines on behavior and personality. Reichert declined to comment, saying only that the effects varied depending upon the individual.
among peers. Once CSB receives the results from the study, reports, developed by the Search Institute, will be given to the Roswell Independent School District, the community and other youth agencies in an effort to work jointly, while covering different areas, to strengthen the programs for youth development in the community. “We (CSB) developed a strategic plan and one of our efforts was to try and include the school district and evaluate some of the programs that we have in place right now so we can build a stronger collaboration among all the agencies that work together, without duplicating services,” Andrade said, adding, “We can really go out there and have an effect on the crime rates and juvenile delinquency recidivism. And keep these kids from repeatedly going through the system. So really that’s what our efforts are.” CSB’s underlying goal is to find alternatives to incarcerating troubled youths. Andrade said there is a definite cost savings in finding these alternatives. It costs $105 per day to keep
youths in a secure detention facility. Avoiding this option can lead to savings from $400,000 to $600,000 a year, Andrade said. The board also strives to define the different factors that result in a higher number of minorities being put into the system. “One of the things we try to address in our efforts are the disproportionate minority contact, the number of minority youth that are involved in the juvenile justice system as opposed to Anglo-children,” said Andrade. “What are the influencing factors that causes minorities to have higher numbers reflected in juvenile justice system?” CSB meets every month and has been highlighted by the state for its efforts. “They see us as one of the stronger continuums in the state,” Andrade said. The board is also working with the Chaves County program, of which Andrade is coordinator, to develop programs that address juvenile delinquency and underage drinking, in pursuit of finding other areas affecting youths that CSB can address. j.bergman@roswell-record.com
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