The Santa Fe New Mexican, Aug. 10, 2013

Page 1

New coach tries to help McCurdy finish what it started last season Sports, B-1

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Saturday, August 10, 2013

www.santafenewmexican.com 75¢

Jury: State guilty of retaliation Ex-Department of Health worker wins $165K in whistle-blower case By Tom Sharpe

The New Mexican

Jennifer Smith cried and her lawyer pumped her fist Friday as a Santa Fe jury awarded Smith damages after finding she had been wrongfully fired

from her job at the state Department of Health’s AIDS Services Program. The jury found that the state agency was guilty of violating the state’s Whistleblower Protection Act and Fraud Against the Taxpayer Act for retaliating against Smith while she worked there from 2006 to 2012. Smith filed a lawsuit in 2011 in which alleged she had been harassed for pointing out that federal funds were being misspent and continued to seek

City proves ‘demolition by neglect’

damages after she was fired in July 2012. The unanimous decision of the 10-woman, twoman jury was to award Smith $52,000 in lost wages plus $30,642 in lost benefits for the 13 months she has been without a job. But because the two state laws call for double damages, her total award should exceed $165,000. The trial began Monday before state District

Deeper is deadlier

Please see gUIlTY, Page A-4

UNM scientist finds thickness is key in determining whether melanoma will kill. lIfe & SCIenCe, A-9

A vandalized classroom on the campus in 2006, a year after New Mexico Consolidated bought the property. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO

Police shoot suspect in face Man, 25, apprehended after fleeing from cops in a stolen vehicle By Phaedra Haywood

The New Mexican

Roberto Mendez, a 25-year-old man who was shot in the face by Santa Fe police late Thursday, was scheduled to undergo surgery for nonlife-threatening injuries Friday at University Hospital in Albuquerque, a police spokeswoman said. State police are investigating the Roberto incident, which Mendez began just before midnight at an Allsup’s convenience store at Cerrillos Road and Calle La Resolana when city officers confronted the occupants of a green 2003 Ford Explorer that fit the description of a vehicle that had been reported stolen Thursday. The driver of the vehicle — which contained two men, two women and a 4-year-old boy — refused to get out of the SUV, according to a statement issued by state police Friday after-

Please see SHOOT, Page A-4 Municipal Judge Ann Yalman ruled Friday that the owner of the St. Catherine Indian School, New Mexico Consolidated Construction Services, violated the city code by allowing buildings on the historic campus to deteriorate beyond minimum maintenance standards. CLYDE MUELLER/THE NEW MEXICAN

City judge orders owner of St. Catherine Indian School to fix deteriorating campus By Julie Ann Grimm The New Mexican

T

he owner of the former St. Catherine Indian School must take immediate steps to secure historic buildings and address their structural integrity, Municipal Judge Ann Yalman has ruled. The case involved an argument by the city of Santa Fe that claimed the landmarks there were

being subjected to “demolition by neglect.” Yalman’s ruling that New Mexico Consolidated Construction Services violated the city code by allowing buildings to deteriorate beyond minimum maintenance standards comes more than a month after she accepted closing arguments in the prosecution that began nearly a year ago. The city proved its allegations, she wrote in the ruling, and the campus owners must board all

windows and doors on landmark structures within 30 days as well as submit a plan to the city about other measures to secure buildings and assess their structural integrity. Yalman also ordered that all nonlandmark structures on the property be demolished or secured in 90 days, the same deadline she gave for roof repairs.

Please see CAMPUS, Page A-4

Today A thunderstorm this afternoon. High 83, low 56. PAge A-12

Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com

22nd annual Zia Regional Rodeo

Lawmaker puts hold on payments to Ariz. health firms Finance Committee director uses rule to delay transfer of $10.35 million New Mexico In Depth

Legislative Finance Committee Director David Abbey has invoked a little-used rule to delay transfer of $10.35 million from one state account to another to pay five Arizona orga-

Index

Calendar A-2

nizations that are taking over some behavioral health care services in New Mexico. A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for Aug. 21 in Chama, Abbey writes in an Aug. 2 letter to Finance and Administration Secretary Tom Clifford. It seems a few state lawmakers want answers as to why Gov. Susana Martinez is moving so swiftly and with so much secrecy against 15 non-

Classifieds B-6

Comics B-12

Lotteries A-2

profit community organizations, the letter states. The 15 organizations that were audited provide counseling and other services to New Mexicans struggling with issues such as mental illness and drug addiction. Critics worry that some of New Mexico’s most vulnerable residents might come out the losers as some of the New Mexico providers that are being taken over work through a transition with the

Opinions A-11

Police notes A-10

Interim Editor: Bruce Krasnow, 986-3034, bkrasnow@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Carlos A. López, clopez@sfnewmexican.com

Sports B-1

InSIDe u Arizona health firm CEOs to earn higher pay in New Mexico. PAge A-4

five Arizona organizations. The public hearing was triggered when Abbey formally objected to a request by Martinez’s Human Services Department to transfer the $10.35 million. The state has set

Charity event presented by the New Mexico Gay Rodeo Association; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. today and Sunday, Rodeo de Santa Fe Fairgrounds, 3237 Rodeo Road, $15 per day at the gate; $25 weekend pass; children 12 and under no charge, nmgra. com; benefit dance with music by Connie Long and Fast Patsy, 8 p.m.-midnight, Santa Fe Sol Stage & Grill, 37 Fire Place, $10, 505-263-3592. More events in Calendar, A-2 and in Pasatiempo

Please see HOlD, Page A-4

Time Out B-11

Life & Science A-9

Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010

Two sections, 24 pages TV Book, 32 pages 164th year, No. 222 Publication No. 596-440


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