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THE NEW MEXICAN Thursday, May 1, 2014
LOCAL NEWS Ex-cop accused of assaulting teen Family sues Española police department, alleges excessive force By Chris Quintana The New Mexican
A Rio Arriba County family is suing the city of Española, its police department and a former officer described as a “hothead” in connection with a 2012 incident in which the officer allegedly assaulted a teenager after
someone threw a foam football at his cruiser. The lawsuit, alleging excessive force, was filed this week in state District Court by Santa Fe attorney John Day on behalf of Dolores Tapia and her four children. It alleges the city, the police department and the officer, John Vigil, who no longer works for the department, caused physical and mental damage to the family. According to the lawsuit, Tapia came home from church with two of her children on June 20,
2012, and found Vigil “rummaging” through the glove compartment of a van on her property. She hadn’t given consent to have the vehicle searched, the suit says, so she asked the officer what he was doing. Vigil told her he “was a police officer and ‘could do whatever he wanted,’ ” the suit says. According to the complaint, Vigil used several expletives while asking Tapia about her home and if she had any children inside. He then said he planned
to arrest her and her son because one of her children had thrown a Nerf football at his police cruiser. Tapia called to her other children in the home, a 15-yearold and a 10-year-old, and told them to apologize to Vigil, the suit says, but that made the officer “angrier and [he] began to threaten them and their mother with profanities.” Tapia requested to speak with Vigil’s superior, and a short time
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Teachers Who Inspire: Year’s first honors go to pair of ATC educators
From left, Eric Carlson and Devon Ayers of the Academy for Technology and the Classics were the first two teachers to receive Teachers Who Inspire awards for 2014. They were surprised Wednesday during a student assembly. JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN
Inspiration times two By Robert Nott
The New Mexican
D
evin Ayers did a delighted double take when he heard that his colleague Eric Carlson was receiving a Teachers Who Inspire award during a schoolwide assembly Wednesday morning at the Academy for Technology and the Classics. Seconds later, Ayers let loose with another double take after he heard that he was receiving the award, too.
The two teachers are the first of six educators honored this year by Partners in Education, which has given Teachers Who Inspire awards to Santa Fe instructors for the past 22 years. An anonymous donor puts up the $1,200 check for each teacher and urges them not to spend the money on anything for the classroom. The teachers also receive a plaque of recognition. Carlson, who has been teaching music at the charter school for four years, accepted the award with a brief, “Thank you very much.”
Ayers, who has taught English at the school for six years, managed a few more words, saying, “There’s no place I’ve ever been where I’ve been happier.” Students and adults alike cheered and congratulated the two men, who seemed to be still waking up during the early morning event, held outdoors behind the school on Avan Nu Po Road. Ayers, at least, had a cup of coffee in his hand. “I don’t know if I cognizised it yet,” he
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Suit alleges ‘improper and unlawful acts’ at county jail Ex-warden, deputy claim they were fired for voicing safety concerns By Chris Quintana The New Mexican
A former warden and a former deputy warden for the Santa Fe County jail claim in a lawsuit filed against the county Wednesday that they were fired in May 2012 for complaining about “improper and unlawful acts.” David Trujillo, the former warden, and Ted Peperas, the former deputy warden, say they were fired because they protested the hiring of an unqualified maintenance crew and complained about being forced to house a pregnant inmate who was addicted to methadone and about a shortage of staff. The two allege these matters could have been a risk to the county jail’s accreditation and might have resulted in “large civil rights verdicts at … taxpayer expense.” A county spokeswoman said Wednesday that Trujillo and Peperas had held “at-will positions” at the jail, which meant they could be fired at any time. Regarding the lawsuit, Jennifer LeBar, an office manager for the County Manager’s Office, said the county does not comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit says the county hired members of a maintenance crew in August 2011 who were not “properly credentialed to work in the facility.” Despite the men’s protest, the complaint states, the crew members were hired. In February 2012, the suit claims, Trujillo was forced to house a pregnant woman who was addicted to methadone, even though the facility was “not capable of providing adequate medical care to her.” Trujillo alleges he complained to Pablo Sedillo, the county’s public safety director, and that Sedillo responded “in a raised and angry voice” that they should admit the woman and that the matter was not up for discussion. The lawsuit states that Trujillo did admit the woman, but that Sedillo again verbally reprimanded him the next day for initially refusing to admit her. The lawsuit says Peperas raised concerns about staff shortages in March 2012 that he claimed were creating an unsafe environment at the jail. He alleges county officials did not respond to his concerns. Trujillo and Peperas are asking for damages that include loss of wages and mental anguish. In a 2012 New Mexican article, Trujillo alleged the county fired him because it was trying to purge anyone with connections to former Corrections Director Annabelle Romero, who was fired two months prior to Trujillo’s termination. In the same article, Peperas alleged that he “ruffled feathers” because he pointed out that a staff hiring freeze left 12 positions vacant, which raised safety concerns. Mark Gallegos is the current warden at the jail, and Mark Caldwell is the deputy warden.
Jeff prepares to launch write-in campaign with cash advantage Report figures show rep — who was removed from ballot — has major financial lead over rivals By Milan Simonich The New Mexican
tion. They hired Jim Smith as the company’s president in 1976. Speaking by phone Wednesday, Smith said, “I learned so much from her [Muth] about so many things that have nothing to do with anything but living a good life.” Santa Fean Marilyn Fisher, who said she knew Muth for 30 years, said the latter’s “generosity, creativity, intellect and sense of humor were pretty keyed to who she was. … She really took the place of a mother for me. She had an extraordinarily dry sense of humor and was an avid reader until the very end.” Fisher said animals played a big role in the late artist’s life. Roz Eisenberg, who was named a Living Treasure in 2012, also said by phone Wednesday that Muth “loved cats and dogs. And most of them came to her front door and asked to be let in please. And she always let them in.”
State Rep. Sandra Jeff, removed from the primary election ballot by a judge, has raised more than twice as much money as her nearest rival. A Democrat who has been at odds with members of her own party, Jeff said she plans to mount a write-in campaign to try to win re-election to a fourth term. She would begin that effort with a significant financial advantage. In her state campaign report, Jeff, who lists her residence as CrownRep. Sandra point, said she had about $11,735. Her Jeff contributors included a handful of lobbyists and several out-of-state corporations, such as Anheuser-Busch and Devon Energy. Two other Democrats remain on the primary ballot in House District 5 after Jeff’s removal because she failed to file enough valid petition signatures. One of them, Doreen W. Johnson of Church Rock, had $4,175 in contributions. But her largest donation — $3,300 — was money that Johnson had loaned to her own campaign. A sitting Democrat in the House of Representatives, Rep. Liz Thomson of Albuquerque, donated $75 to Johnson. The other candidate, Charles Long of Crownpoint, reported having only $14 in his campaign account. Jeff would have been a heavy favorite to win the primary against two challengers with far less money. Now she says she will attempt a write-in campaign for the November general election. No Republican entered the District 5 House race, so the winner of the primary between Johnson and Long
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MARCIA MUTH, 1919-2014
Late artist remembered for ‘generosity, intellect’ Living Treasure began art career late in life By Robert Nott The New Mexican
Marcia Muth was a librarian, a poet, a publisher, a painter and a woman who, by her own admission, never let her lack of knowledge stop her from going forward. “I figured I’d learn as I went, and I did,” the longtime Santa Fe resident once said. Muth, who was named a Living Treasure in 2006, died at her Santa Fe home Friday, surrounded by family, friends and a beloved Maine coon cat called B.C. — short for Big Cat. She was 94 years old. Though she had no children, she is survived by her spouse, Jody Ellis, who also was honored as a Living Treasure in 2006. Muth was born in Fort Wayne, Ind., in 1919. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from
Marcia Muth works on a painting in her home in 2008. Muth, who died Friday at age 94, had been painting with acrylics on canvas since 1975. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
the University of Michigan and worked as a librarian for years. In the mid-1960s, she moved to Santa Fe for her health, initially working as a reference librarian for the state. Shortly thereafter, she met Ellis at a party. The two
were together for more than 45 years and married in Santa Fe last year. The couple founded the literary magazine Sunstone Review, which eventually grew into Sunstone Press, still in opera-
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