Daily Lobo new mexico
tuesday
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
September 9, 2014 | Volume 119 | Issue 17
Neal stands atop Mountain West pay grade By Thomas Romero-Salas New Mexico men’s head basketball coach Craig Neal accepted a new six-year contract worth $5.7 million plus incentives, UNM announced Monday morning. The agreement makes Neal the highest-paid coach in the Mountain West Conference after only one year as a head man. The new contract will keep Neal with the program until 2020 and will pay him $950,000 this season, which is $200,000 more than he earned last year. Even prior to his new deal, Neal ranked in the top 50 of Division I men’s basketball coaching salaries, according to last year’s data published by USA Today. “It’s flattering and humbling. We have a lot of great coaches in our conference so we just strive for excellence in everything we do,” he said. “I have to continue to work hard and continue to keep our program at a high level. I really don’t get into those numbers because I don’t have all the other contracts.” The deal also comes with a mirrored buyout clause for $1 million, which comes into effect if UNM terminates Neal before his contract is up or if Neal leaves prior to his contract ending.
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Sergio Jiménez / Daily Lobo / @SXfoto
Men’s basketball head coach Craig Neal gestures to his team during the Lobos’ game against Air Force in March. Neal accepted a new six-year contract worth $5.7 million plus incentives, UNM announced Monday.
Commission puts pot back on ballot Faire Bernalillo County sends marijuana poll to features voters after Albuquerque mayor’s veto DIY efforts By Tomas Lujan
Voters will have their voices heard on marijuana laws this November after all. In a special meeting Monday morning, the Bernalillo County Commission voted 3-2 in favor of allowing an advisory measure to be presented to voters on the upcoming ballot regarding the decriminalization of marijuana. The move comes after Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry vetoed a similar measure that would have gone before city residents. The county’s measure itself does not have the potential to change current marijuana laws, but Commission Chairwoman Debbie O’Malley, who voted in favor of the ballot initiative, said putting the measure before voters is the right thing to do. Voters in Bernalillo County should at least have the opportunity to voice their opinions in a poll that will be taken into consideration by local policy- and lawmakers, O’Malley said. “To put it in very succinct terms, let the people speak,” O’Malley said. “Let’s hear what the people have to say.” If the measure, which seeks to reduce the penalty for possession of marijuana from a criminal charge to a civil infraction with only a $25 fine regardless of prior offenses, is passed by voters, changes to current laws may then be presented to the Albuquerque
City Councilors, who vote on whether to enact the laws. Commissioner Wayne Johnson, who voted in opposition to the initiative, said he doubted the authority of the commission to make a decision on letting the issue go to voters because of the lack of precedent. O’Malley countered that it was ultimately the decision of the Commission to pass these questions on to the voters in a move that would ensure policy was put in the hands of those whom it affects: the voters. UNM law student Caleb Beck attended the meeting as a representative for the UNM chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policies and said he was pleased with the result of the vote. Even though there is much support for decriminalization among voters, Beck was surprised that the measure passed so narrowly, he said. “I thought it was interesting how much certain people are trying to stop these things from going to the ballot,” Beck said. “There seems to be a lot of entrenched opposition. It will be interesting to see where it goes.” The commission called the special meeting following Berry’s Sept. 1 decision to veto five voter initiatives, one of which was the marijuana initiative. Berry said he vetoed the initiatives because he did not want to approve the decriminalization of marijuana
By Jonathan Baca
William Aranda / Daily Lobo / @_WilliamAranda
Bernalillo County Commission Chairwoman Debbie O’Malley, left, listens to Wayne Johnson, right, as he speaks about letting voters decide on decriminalizing an ounce or less of marijuana during a Commission meeting at City Hall on Monday morning. The Commission agreed to attach the question to the November ballot.
or raising taxes in Albuquerque. In a video uploaded to social media, Berry exercised his veto authority on the initiatives because of the last-minute provisions added by the City Council that lacked detail and circumvented state and federal law, he said. “This is a bill that has the potential to raise the taxes on the citizens of Albuquerque without any clear or concise plan as to how those tax resources will be spent,” Berry said. “It also has the potential to decriminalize an illegal drug in our city.” Berry was disheartened to have been put into a position to have to veto an entire bill because he did not agree with certain aspects of it, he said. Per the City Charter, he did not have the ability to veto only
portions of the resolution, and therefore decided to veto it in its entirety, he said. The bill reached Berry after the Albuquerque City Council on Aug. 18 voted 5-4 in favor of allowing the measure to be put on the ballot, following a petition initiated by ProgressNow NM that collected over 16,000 signatures in support of the proposed changes. Santa Fe has already adopted a similar citizen-led ordinance advanced by the same campaign. Possession of small amounts of marijuana will be decriminalized in that city later this year. Tomas Lujan is a freelance writer for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @TomasVLujan.
Build and launch your own rocket, see a medieval siege weapon in action, learn to solder and witness a giant remote-controlled robotic face — all in one weekend. The third annual Albuquerque Mini Maker Faire will be held Sept. 13-14 to showcase regular people from around the state who take pride in building things themselves, event organizer Charel Morris said. The event is a celebration of the growing do-it-yourself movement, where “makers” show off their creations and attendees are invited to get their hands dirty learning new skills and experimenting with new tools, she said. “I realized that with the Maker Faire, if we did it right, people would be excited about finding and reconnecting with that part of themselves that says, ‘yeah, you are creative. You have it within you to make things and do things yourself,’” Morris said. “It reawakens that part of who we are as humans, and I think that’s key.” Nearly 100 makers will have booths dedicated to their unique skills and hobbies, ranging from
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