Santa Fe New Mexican, Sept. 20, 2014

Page 1

Tournament of Champions draws plenty of competition Sports, B-1

Locally owned and independent

Saturday, September 20, 2014

www.santafenewmexican.com 75¢

Home Depot’s credit card breach worries contractors Some Santa Feans are paying with cash By Robert Nott The New Mexican

Contractor Jasper Vassau has shopped at the Santa Fe Home Depot for years and usually pays with a credit card.

But on Friday, he paid with cash — $53 — for some commercial grade fine sand. He’s wary about paying with a credit card since the revelation that Home Depot’s payment data systems were breached at U.S. and Canadian stores between April and September. Hackers had potential access to 56 million credit cards.

Southern N.M. storms kill 1 man

Vassau doesn’t yet know if he is one of the victims. “It’s an alarming situation,” he said as he loaded his goods into his truck in Home Depot’s parking lot Friday. Three weeks ago, he canceled his cards and ordered new ones. “If this were the old days, it’d

Please see CREDIT, Page A-4

An oilfield worker dies in Southern New Mexico in flooding from a tropical storm and forces scores of residents to flee from their homes. PAGE A-7

Scotland expected to get new powers Contractor Jasper Vassau is wary about buying supplies with a credit card since the revelation that Home Depot’s payment data systems were breached. ROBERT NOTT/THE NEW MEXICAN

Pot question back on county ballots

French President Francois Hollande

said “In no case will there be French troops on the ground: This is only about planes.”

France joins U.S. in fight against ISIS

By Phaedra Haywood The New Mexican

By Jamey Keaten The Associated Press

Please see FRANCE, Page A-5

New Mexico Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara J. Vigil questions attorney Maureen Sanders, who represented Santa Fe and Bernalillo counties, during a hearing Friday on putting an advisory question on the ballot in both counties about decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. PHOTOS BY LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN

High court ruling allows poll on decriminalization By Staci Matlock The New Mexican

A New Mexico Supreme Court panel ruled unanimously Friday that the secretary of state must include advisory questions on general election ballots, clearing the way for Santa Fe County voters to give their opinion in November on whether possession of small amounts of marijuana should be decriminalized. The ruling also puts two advisory questions on the Bernalillo County ballot — one about reducing penalties for marijuana and one that asks if the county should levy a

Santa Fe County Clerk Geraldine Salazar messages her staff after the Supreme Court’s favorable ruling. She said she felt good about the decision.

tax to provide more mental health care. Officials from Santa Fe and Bernalillo counties said they were

happy with the high court’s ruling. “I feel really good about the deci-

Technology expert denied access to his files, sues By Tami Abdollah and Elliot Spagat The Associated Press

San Diego County Deputy Sheriff Ben Chassen monitors license plates of cars in a parking lot Wednesday in San Marcos, Calif. GREGORY BULL/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Calendar A-2

Classifieds B-6

Comics B-12

Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 986-3035

LOS ANGELES — A rapidly expanding digital network that uses cameras mounted to traffic signals and police cruisers captures the movements of millions of vehicles across the U.S., regardless of whether the drivers are being investigated by law enforcement. The license plate scanning systems have multiplied across the U.S. over the last decade, funded largely by

Crosswords B-7, B-11

Lotteries A-2

Homeland Security grants, and judges recently have upheld authorities’ rights to keep details from hundreds of millions of scans a secret from the public. Such decisions come as a patchwork of local laws and regulations govern the use of such technology and the distribution of the information they collect, inflaming civil liberties advocates who see this as the next battleground in the fight over high-tech surveillance. “If I’m not being investigated for a crime, there shouldn’t be a secret police file on me” that details “where I go, where I shop, where I visit,” said

Sports B-1

Time Out B-11

Please see JUDGE, Page A-4

Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com

Obituaries Mark Zaplin, Santa Fe, Sept. 17 PAGE A-10

Santa Fe Renaissance Fair Juggling/stilt-walking/magic troupe Clan Tynker, medieval combat re-enactments, kids’ games and food vendors, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and Sunday, El Rancho de las Golondrinas, 334 Los Pinos Road, 471-2261, $10, discounts available.

Today Thunderstorms. High 84, low 55. PAGE A-12

Please see PLATE, Page A-4

Opinion A-11

In a rare move, a committee that evaluates New Mexico judges says voters in the November general election shouldn’t retain state District Judge Sheri A. Raphaelson, who oversees a docket of mostly Rio Arriba County cases in the First Judicial District. Raphaelson is one of two judges among 85 statewide Sheri Raphaelson who were reviewed this year by the Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission and received the panel’s “do not retain” recommendation. The other is District Judge Lisa Claire Schultz in the 3rd Judicial District, which serves Doña Ana County. “It’s a pretty rare event,” said Patti Watson, a spokeswoman with the commission. Since the commission began evaluating judges in 2002, only one other state district judge has received a “do not retain” rating: Paul Onuska in the 11th District, which serves McKinley and San Juan counties. Voters subsequently voted Onuska off the bench. The commission said Raphaelson, appointed to the bench in 2009, received low ratings from attorneys who questioned her ability to be impartial and her knowledge of the law. Some also gave her low marks for showing arrogance and being inefficient. State district judges can be

Please see POT, Page A-4

Questions raised over license plate scanners

Index

Law panel opposes judge in 1st District Commission says voters should remove Raphaelson from bench

French airplanes pound targets inside Iraq PARIS — France is back at America’s side in conducting military strikes in Iraq. More than a decade after spurning President George W. Bush’s war against Saddam Hussein, France on Friday became the first country to join U.S. forces pounding targets inside Iraq from the air in recent weeks — this time in pursuit of militants of the Islamic State group. Flying from the United Arab Emirates, two French Rafale jets fired four laser-guided bombs to destroy a weapons and fuel depot outside the northern city of Mosul, part of the territory the militants have overrun in Iraq and neighboring Syria, officials said. An Iraqi military spokesman said dozens of extremist fighters were killed in the strikes. A French military official said a damage assessment had not been completed, while showing reporters aerial images of targets hit. Officials said it was at a former military installation seized by the group. One analyst said the French action was more symbolic than substantive — France’s military means in the region are limited — but it could give political cover for other allies to join

In the wake of the failed independence vote, British Prime Minister David Cameron is promising changes. PAGE A-3

Stocks B-5

BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM

Two sections,24 pages TV Book, 32 pages 165th year, No. 263 Publication No. 596-440


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