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THE NEW MEXICAN Thursday, April 24, 2014
LOCAL NEWS Prisoner’s wife fights to keep overnight visits Woman threatens to sue to save policy
before a legislative subcommittee that is studying changes to the criminal justice system. She argued that allowing intimate visits between prisoners and their By Milan Simonich loved ones is a humane policy The New Mexican and a smart one. “It increases good behavior,” For the past 22 years, Channah Israel has enjoyed overnight visits said Israel, 56, of Albuquerque. with her imprisoned husband, a Only inmates with spotless convicted murderer. prison records, such as her husband, qualify for conjugal visits, But New Mexico Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel is put- and they are careful to abide by the rules to maintain them, she ting an end to conjugal visits for said. inmates as of May 1. Now Israel says she is contemplating a lawTaking away conjugal visits, suit aimed at stopping him. Israel said, would violate existing state law and her rights under the Israel appeared Wednesday
14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment guarantees equal protection under the law. Marcantel was in the committee hearing at the Capitol when Israel spoke. He said he understood her position but disagreed with her. There is no evidence that overnight visits are helpful in reducing recidivism, and stopping repeat offenses is a priority, Marcantel said. Only about 2 percent of the state’s 6,925 inmates are allowed overnight family visits. Marcantel says he intends to replace the
policy with one in which a far greater number of “family centered activities” will be offered to help inmates prepare for release. “Like it or not, 96 percent of our inmates are going to return to our neighborhoods,” Marcantel said. “Our goals are to do everything we can to reduce recidivism.” But Israel said adding more family visitation programs in prisons could be done without ending conjugal visits for her and others. “Don’t take away something
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Fundraising in governor’s contest takes an ugly turn Webber camp calls Martinez advisers a ‘fraternity of misogynistic thugs,’ digs up McCleskey’s criminal past By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
It’s on. The campaign for governor took a turn for the nasty Wednesday, when Democrat Alan Webber’s campaign emailed a fundraising letter calling Gov. Susana Martinez’s team of advisers a “fraternity of misogynistic thugs” and bringing up old criminal cases involving Martinez’s top political consultant, Jay McCleskey, from the 1990s. The email, signed by Webber’s campaign manager, Neri Holguin, also drew a bead on Martinez’s chief of staff, Keith Gardner, and Human Services Department spokesman Matt Kennicott. “Let me repeat: this is her inner circle — the people she chooses to surround herself with each and every day, who guide her policy and her communications. And of course, her political spin,” Holguin wrote. “She and her band of criminals must be stopped.” McCleskey, who was in his 20s when the incidents took place, declined to respond to the email Wednesday, while Gardner and Kennicott didn’t respond to a request for comment. Martinez’s campaign spokesman, Chris Sanchez, released a statement saying, “On the same day Gov. Martinez launched a positive ad featuring Democratic mayors who have worked in a bipartisan manner to serve the needs of New Mexicans, Alan Webber’s unhinged email and tweet that compared the Dalai Lama to a domestic terrorist proved that he’s an unapologetic extremist who is better-suited to run a hate-filled blog than serve as the state’s chief executive.” The “domestic terrorist” reference points to Mark Rudd, a former member of the radical Weather Underground and a Webber supporter. Rudd, a retired math teacher who taught for 27 years at Central New Mexico Community College, long ago renounced the group and has advocated nonviolence for decades. Still, Martinez’s campaign refers to him as a terrorist and has blasted Webber for having ties to him. On Wednesday, Webber tweeted, “here is photo proof that I’ve met with so-called terrorists.”
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Casey Mallinckrodt, a Museum of New Mexico intern and graduate student from the UCLA Getty Conservation program, restores pinhole cameras from Ben Conrad’s camera suit at the New Mexico Museum of History. The exhibit, Light: Pinhole Photograph, will open Saturday. PHOTOS BY LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
COMING FRIDAY IN PASATIEMPO: TRIPPING THE LIGHT POETIC
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or nearly 30 years, San Lorenzo, N.M., photographers Eric Renner and Nancy Spencer collected examples of pinhole photography. By the time they donated the Pinhole Resource Collection to the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives in 2012, there were 6,000 photographs by 500 photographers from 36 countries. Nearly 225 of those photographs and 40 cameras from the collection are featured in Poetics of Light: Pinhole Photography, an exhibition opening Sunday at the New Mexico History Museum in downtown Santa Fe.
By Robert Nott The New Mexican
stopped on the roadside and got out of the vehicle at the officer’s command. As the woman struggled with the officer, Farrell’s teenage son came out of a passenger-side door and walked around the minivan to push DeTavis away from his mother. The officer can be seen on video drawing his Taser as the young man ran in front of his mother’s parked vehicle and, after a brief standoff, jumped back in the minivan. Other officers arrived at the scene as Farrell, her son and his siblings locked themselves in the vehicle. At one point, DeTavis drew his truncheon and repeatedly swung at a passenger-side window to shatter the glass before Farrell drove away. Two officers then drew their firearms. Officer Elias Montoya fired three rounds at
U.S. News & World Reports listed two Santa Fe charter schools — The Academy for Technology and the Classics and Monte del Sol Charter School — as two of the best high schools in New Mexico. ATC also was ranked No. 91 among all the charter schools in the United States. U.S. News & World Reports worked with the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C., to review data from more than 31,000 public high schools in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That figure was cut back to 19,411 schools that have a large enough senior class enrollment and adequate data from 2011-12 for analysis. The report focuses on college readiness data: how many students take Advanced Placement tests, how many pass those tests and the school’s Standards Based Assessment results. The report — which can be found at www.usnews. com/rankings — ranks best high schools, charter schools and colleges, and assigns the top schools with gold, silver and bronze designations. Based on the data, the top-ranked school in New Mexico is the state-chartered Albuquerque Institute for Mathematics and Science. South Valley Academy in Albuquerque, also a charter, placed second; Los Alamos High School placed third; ATC fourth; and La Cueva High School in Albuquerque fifth. Susan Lumley, principal of ATC, which has about 360 students in grades 7-12, said this is the fourth time the school has ranked in the report’s top 10 in the state during the past five years. She said seeing the school ranked against other top high schools in the nation “shows the level of rigor of commitment that we require of our students and our teachers.” Abbie Casias, academic dean for ATC, said the fact that three out of the top five high schools in the state are charter schools may suggest charters have more autonomy and flexibility to meet students’ needs. Jim Ledyard, head learner at Monte del Sol, which serves about 370 students, echoed that thought, saying the news is an affirmation of commitment on the part of students, parents and teachers at the school. Albuquerque Institute for Mathematics and Science Principal Katy Sandoval said this is the first time the 9-year-old school, which serves about 360 students in grades 6-12, met the criteria to be included in the U.S. News report. She said among other measures, the school implemented a teacher evaluation system and created a strict policy against social promotion for students who are not proficient years before the state Public Education Department pushed for these initiatives.
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ABOVE: A photograph from Ben Conrad’s pinhole camera suit at the New Mexico Museum of History. LEFT: Conrad’s pinhole camera suit will be on display during the exhibit.
The New Mexican
Charges dropped against teen in minivan chase By Andrew Oxford The Taos News
TAOS — Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped charges against a teenage boy who scuffled with a New Mexico State Police officer during an Oct. 28 traffic stop outside Taos in what his attorney characterized as an effort to defend his mother, who police say had been pulled over for speeding. The Tennessee teenager, then 14, was charged with a felony count of battery on a peace officer. The Taos News does not identify juveniles involved in criminal cases. The charge was dropped after the youth participated in a restorative justice circle with prosecutors Wednesday afternoon, according to court records. State police officers involved in the incident also were invited but declined to attend, according to the teenager’s lawyer, John Day.
Monte del Sol, ATC rank among best high schools in New Mexico
Oriana Ferrell’s 14-year-old son gets out of the vehicle and approaches Officer DeTavis as his mother tries to avoid restraint and get back in the van. STILLS FROM COURTESY VIDEO
Video footage of the incident shows Officer Tony DeTavis struggling with the boy’s mother, Oriana Farrell, as she returned to the driver’s seat of her minivan after speaking with the patrolman behind the vehicle. Farrell
had been stopped on N.M. 518 near Talpa, and prosecutors allege she drove away from the officer as he returned to his vehicle during a conversation about her citation. After a brief pursuit, the Tennessee woman
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