West Las Vegas seeks to move out of rival’s shadow Sports, B-1
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Thursday, August 21, 2014
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Militants foiled U.S. efforts to save Foley Special forces staged a secret raid earlier this summer to rescue journalist and others. PAGE A-5
Hazing leaves Lobos’ season in doubt Incident is latest black eye for the women’s soccer team. SPORTS, B-1
Bishop’s Lodge sold Atlanta hotel firm buys 1920s-era resort and spa. LOCAL NEWS, A-7
Rio Arriba sheriff: U.S. attorney has a ‘vendetta’
Grand jury probes police captain DA seeks Wagner’s payroll records as part of fraud investigation By Daniel J. Chacón The New Mexican
The First Judicial District Attorney’s Office has launched a grand jury investigation into Santa Fe police Capt. Jason Wagner, who resigned in December amid allegations that he had falsified his time card and was rehired earlier this year under a new chief.
public,” City Manager Brian Snyder said. Also on Wednesday, the city released the summary of findings of an outside investigation that Santa Fe’s new police chief, Eric Garcia, ordered before he rehired Wagner in July. The city previously refused to make that investigation public, saying it was protected under the Inspection of Public Records Act because it was a matter of opinion. The city’s denial prompted The New Mexican to file a separate open-records request asking for the factual findings of the investigation.
A prosecutor leading the grand jury issued a subpoena last Thursday ordering the city of Santa Fe to produce payroll records for Wagner and other documents as part of an Jason Wagner investigation into alleged payroll fraud. “We are cooperating fully with the request and reserve the right to comment until the investigation is completed and the results are made
RIO GRANDE GORGE BRIDGE NEW EFFORT TO CURB SUICIDES
Tommy Rodella accuses prosecutor of retaliation, wants charges dropped
The investigation by Santa Febased H & H Private Investigations is among the documents the grand jury requested. The subpoena issued to Snyder requests a copy of the Santa Fe Police Department’s internal investigation into Wagner’s “unauthorized leave/ falsification of time sheets.” It also requests his timesheets from Jan. 1, 2013, until he resigned last December amid allegations that he lied on his time card.
Please see CAPTAIN, Page A-4
Ordinance would halt La Bajada mesa mine Commissioners to mull 12-month moratorium on some developments
By Milan Simonich The New Mexican
By Staci Matlock
Rio Arriba County Sheriff Tommy Rodella claims in a court filing that he was charged with a series of crimes only because he had upset a vindictive federal prosecutor. Rodella, 52, was indicted last week on suspicion of violating the civil rights of a motorist by assaulting the man Tommy with a silver pistol Rodella and then lying about what happened in an arrest report. Rodella’s son, Thomas Rodella Jr., 26, also was indicted in the alleged attack, brought on by road rage. Attorneys for the Rodellas wrote a letter this week to U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez in which they accused him of retaliating against the sheriff for petty, personal reasons. They asked Martinez to dismiss the indictments by Friday or said they would seek payment from the taxpayers if they win acquittals for the Rodellas. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Albuquerque declined Thursday to comment on the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, but she said the case will go forward promptly. The Rodellas’ trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 15. In their letter, defense lawyers
Please see RODELLA, Page A-4
The New Mexican
N
early five years after the the New Mexico Department of Transportation proposed various designs for barriers at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, officials plan to install telephones at the bridge to connect callers with a suicide prevention hotline. Meanwhile, the agency says it will continue to study options for physical barriers such as a net. See Page A-7 for the complete story. Ayres Associates bridge inspectors survey the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge near Taos in September 2013. PHOTOS BY CLYDE MUELLER THE NEW MEXICAN
Ex-LANL worker sentenced in spy case Scientist’s wife gets one year in prison in plot to trade U.S. nuke secrets By Patrick Malone The New Mexican
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
A Tribe Called Red Canadian electronic-music band, 8 p.m., Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, 710 Camino Lejo, Museum Hill, no charge, swaia.org.
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds B-6
The wife of a former scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory was sentenced Wednesday to one year and one day in prison for her role in a plan to share closely held U.S. nuclear secrets with Venezuela. Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 71, of Los Alamos pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to communicate restricted data and making false statements to an FBI agent. U.S. District Judge William Johnson in Albuquerque sentenced her to
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serve three years of supervised probation after her release from federal prison. Under the terms of her plea agreement, Roxby Mascheroni faced up to two years in prison. She worked at LANL as a contract employee for nearly 30 years, until 2010, when she was allowed to retire after nearly a year of paid leave during the criminal investigation of her case. During her allocution Wednesday, Roxby Mascheroni expressed remorse for her role in the crime against her native country, according to her lawyer, Erlinda Johnson of Albuquerque. “Her ancestors fought for this country in World War II and World War I,” Johnson said. “She was deeply ashamed with her involvement.”
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The Santa Fe County Commission appears ready to sidestep a decision on the proposed La Bajada mine a little longer. The commission will vote Tuesday on whether to publish an ordinance that would place a 12-month moratorium on developments with countywide impacts — such as landfills, junkyards, and sand and gravel mining that requires blasting. The ordinance, if adopted by the commission, will apply to new or existing development applications, like the one for a basalt mine on La Bajada mesa that has drawn wide criticism. The county has scheduled a tentative public hearing on the development moratorium at 2 p.m. Sept. 16 at the county offices in Santa Fe. The commission postponed a final decision Aug. 12 on an application by Rockology and Buena Vista Estates to create a 50-acre mining zone on the La Bajada escarpment off Waldo Canyon Road and east of Interstate 25. The companies want to blast and mine basalt from pits on the mesa that would be crushed and used for road construction. The proposed mine set off a firestorm of criticism from hundreds of county residents, a few state legislators and others. More than 600 turned out for a seven-hour public hearing in June. The commission
Please see MINE, Page A-6
Obituaries
Pedro Leonardo ‘Leo’ Mascheroni and wife Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni pleaded guilty to attempting to pass classified nuclear weapons information to Venezuela. Roxby Mascheroni was sentenced Wednesday to a year in federal prison. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
Time Out B-11
Kathleen Ann Marie Blea, Aug. 16 Dr. Patricia Ann McFate, Santa Fe, Aug. 16 Michael J. Repichowski, Aug. 16 PAGE A-10
September 20, 2014
Golf Tournament at Towa Golf Club!
PAGE A-12
165th year, No. 233 Publication No. 596-440
Celebrate The Sixties!
Santa Fe’s Best Party!
Food, Fun, & Entertainment!
T-storm in p.m. High 83, low 57.
Two sections, 24 pages
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