NM Medal of Honor winner gets sculpture A2 Tuesday, December 27, 2011
/SANTA FE (AP) — The man Santa Fe calls its hometown hero doesn’t get to spend much time here. But Army Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Petry’s smiling face and outstretched hand will permanently greet visitors and residents next year when a statue of the Medal of Honor winner is erected near City Hall. Petry — a 32-year -old who grew up in Santa Fe and who was awarded the honor this year for courage in battle in Afghanistan — made another whirlwind tour of Northern New Mexico recently, including a Dec. 20 appearance at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe, a place where he spent lots of time as a child and where he says he got guidance that led him to a life of service. After he posed for dozens of photos with Santa Claus and spent time showing off his prosthetic hand to kids from the club, Petry made his way to the Pojoaque Pueblo studio of Gov. George Rivera. Rivera, a sculptor known for his larger -than-life
GENERAL
AP Photo
In this July 12 file photo, President Barack Obama shakes the prosthetic hand of U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Leroy Arthur Petry of Santa Fe, N.M., who received the Medal of Honor for his valor in Afghanistan, in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
bronzes of Native Americans in traditional regalia, is thrilled to be working on a piece that represents another kind of warrior. Until Dec. 20, however, Rivera was working only from a series of photographs and videos and from stories told by his longtime friend Larry Petry, the soldier’s father. What he needed to bring the
sculpture to life, Rivera said, was the man himself. “Wow” was the first word out of Leroy Petry’s mouth when he saw the maquette, a tiny version of what will become an 8-foot-tall likeness of him in his Ar my Ranger uniform. “That’s pretty nice,” he said, grinning as he leaned in to inspect the laced-up boots made of clay. “Man,
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look at the detail. I like it.” The project is already a collaboration: Pojoaque Pueblo is paying for the more than 700 pounds of clay required for the final version of the sculpture, along with the cost of casting it in bronze at the Shidoni foundry in Tesuque. Rivera is donating his time with help from Arizonaborn artist Ryan Benally, and the city of Santa Fe will hire a landscape architect and build the base that the final work will stand on. The idea, Rivera said, is to make the work interactive. Petry’s outstretched right hand — a state-of-the art robotic appendage that replaces the hand he lost when he was trying to throw a live grenade away from his fellow Rangers — will be made from polished stainless steel. Although the maquette that Rivera and Benally have been building for two months features Petry standing tall, with his feet together, the sculptors decided after the session to change his stance.
“I’m always half-step,” Petry said, explaining how he approaches each of the thousands of handshakes that have become part of his job as a liaison for returning servicemen and women. “It’s like I’m going to meet someone, I’m getting closer.” Rivera also asked photographers to capture all the details he’ll need to finish the job: the way Petry’s jacket wrinkles across his arm when he reaches for a hand, the precise position of his lapel in relation to the row of insignia on his chest, the rings he wears on his right hand. The expression on his face, however, Rivera will remember. He knew that he needed to make the clay smile look more like the one Petry regularly flashes. “I like the smile that he had when he saw the piece,” Rivera said. “His eyes were wide open.” Petry said it’s overwhelming when he pauses to think about all the recognition he’s received, including the latest plans for the statue in Santa Fe.
“At the same time, it’s pretty neat, especially to give the younger generation a role mode and something that they can look forward to, to know that they can achieve anything,” he said. “If you give everything your best, things just work out and have a way of happening.” People on the streets of Santa Fe are bound to recognize Petry when the sculpture is installed, said area resident Dina Rodriguez. She brought her two grandchildren to the Boys & Girls Club to meet him after hearing about the appearance on the radio. “I wanted (my grandchildren) to be able to meet him and recognize him. I told them who he was and what he had done,” she said. “We, all three of us, thanked him for his service, and we told him that we pray for all the men and women who are serving our country.”
NM ski areas welcome recent wave of winter storms ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A steady stream of December storms has given New Mexico ski resorts some of the best early conditions in the country, and tourism officials are scurrying to make sure that translates into a banner season. “What we are trying to do is get the word out about how great the snow is,” said George Brooks, executive director of Ski New Mexico, which represents the state’s eight downhill and two crosscountry ski areas. Brooks said the association was working with the state Tourism Department to tout the excellent conditions, which had given most New Mexico ski resorts 40-plus-inch bases going into the Christmas
holiday. The state’s ski resorts can generally count on being full for Christmas regardless of how much snow is on the ground. But Brooks said publicity about the storms, as well as the fact that New Mexico resorts are starting the season with better bases than the usually more reliable early season mountains in Colorado and Utah, should translate into bookings that carry over into January and February. “We really needed this,” said Dave Dekema, marketing director for Angel Fire Resort, noting that last year “La Nina kept all the storms north of us and what we were getting was a lot of wind. All those resorts had a fantastic
Taxing online purchases
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A New Mexico lawmaker says one way to help the state pull itself out of a financial hardship is to tax online purchases. This year, $30 billion wasn’t spent in malls, it was spent online. New Mexico Rep. Eleanor Chavez of Bernalillo says some of that is tax money the state is losing out on. Chavez is one of several lawmakers who will be sponsoring legislation this upcoming session that will allow New Mexico to tax online retailers. Chavez told KOAT-TV that online purchases create unfair competition, so what lawmakers really want to do is level the playing field and at the same time help small businesses in the state.
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opening.” Forecasts were for more of the same this year, but so far “we are 100 percent different than where we were sitting a year ago.” Two years ago was one of the best seasons for the industry since 2000-2001, Brooks said. But then the numbers “receded quite a bit. Last year was not a good year.” Adding to this year’s boon, he said, is that many of the storms have carried over to the Texas Panhandle, reminding the key Texas market the snow is falling in New Mexico. Dekema said the phones started ringing after the state got hit with its first big storm Dec. 4 and 5. “We had a huge spike after that,” he said. “And
AP Photo
Early season skiers take to the slopes on Dec. 19 at Angel Fire Resort.
then once again after we opened and people saw what percentage was open
early, and then, with this storm, our phones have been ringing off the hook.”
Angel Fire got a foot in one day early last week with the blizzard that hit much of northeastern New Mexico. Taos Ski Valley has had more than 100 inches of snow this season, and Sandia Peak Ski Area at the edge of Albuquerque is off to a good start so early in the season with a 63inch base. Heading into the holiday weekend, another storm socked much of New Mexico and a few ski areas were again able to reap the benefits. Sandia was the big winner with 17 inches in a 24-hour period. Souther n New Mexico’s Ski Apache had 16 new inches and Parajito Mountain Ski Area near Los Alamos followed with 14.
Couple pays off layaway items for NM families
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A Secret Santa and Mrs. Claus have given a dozen military families in Albuquerque a very special Christmas gift by paying off layaway lists that included toys for children.
Marie Vigil, manager of the Kirtland Air Force Base’s store, told KOAT that a retired military couple who wanted to remain anonymous walked into the base’s stor e over the weekend and paid of f the lists of 12 families.
It’s a practice that has repeated itself across the country in recent weeks. Layaway programs allow customers to select merchandise and let the store hold onto it as they pay it of f slowly over several weeks. The Albuquerque store carries similar items to a department store, including clothing, electronics, childr en’s toys, housewares, cosmetics, luggage and furniture. Each family’s items ranged fr om $200 to $400, and the couple wrote each family a
note thanking t h e m f o r their military service. The notes were simply signed: Santa.
Vi g i l s a i d t h e c o u p l e told her that they don’t have children themselves, so “they wanted to be sur e that military children had a good Christmas.”
Vigil called the families with the good news, and Vigil said that several of them are passing the blessings along by using the money they saved to help others. Some of them
Taos teen arrested for killing his friend on Christmas TAOS (AP) — Taos police say they are holding a 19-year-old man accused of gunning down a friend who he thought was seeing his ex-girlfriend. Police say Charles Suskiewich of Arroyo Hondo drove to the 21-year -old man’s house in Taos early Christmas morning and shot the man multiple times. The vic-
tim’s name has not yet been released.
Police say the suspect and victim are believed to have been friends.
Suskiewich is being held without bond at the Taos County Adult Detention Center on charges of murder, tampering with evidence and possession of a stolen firearm.
also wrote “thank you” notes to the couple in case they ever go back to the store.
On top of paying for the layaway items, Vigil said that the couple walked up and down the aisles of the store and gave out money to families in need.
In all, Vigil estimates that the couple gave away at least $1,500. Vigil said that in her 20 years of retail she’s never seen such generosity.
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