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Director brings Johnny Tapia’s story to the screen Inside
October 11, 2013
JOHNNY TAPIA
a life on the ropes NT FILM FESTIVAL SANTA FE INDEPENDE
Locally owned and independent
Friday, October 11, 2013
www.santafenewmexican.com $1.25
Forecasters predict more snowfall this year
Battling copper rule Media mogul Ted Turner teams up with environmentalists and Attorney General Gary King to oppose mine rule adopted by state regulators. LOCAL News, C-1
GOP plan raises hope of ending impasse House Speaker John Boehner’s plan calls for extending federal borrowing limit for six weeks. PAge A-3
Early blast of winter
Robert Wimberley, founder of the political research firm Blue Searchlight, has filed at least three open records requests with the city government, including the monthly water usage and payment histories for four mayoral candidates: Bill Dimas, Patti Bushee, Rebecca Wurzburger and Javier Gonzales.
Firm digs up dirt on mayoral hopefuls
Presbyterian seeks to open outpatient center in S.F.
Opposition research suggests campaigns for municipal elections have become more sophisticated
Proposed facility to be housed across from Christus St. Vincent
By Daniel J. Chacón
By Bruce Krasnow
The New Mexican
The New Mexican
Presbyterian Healthcare is proposing a large outpatient medical facility on St. Michael’s Drive, directly across from Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center. It would be the first stand-alone facility in Santa Fe for Presbyterian, a large nonprofit health care provider in New Mexico with eight hospitals, including one in Española, and the state’s largest critical-care hospital, with 453 beds, in downtown Albuquerque. Notice for the 30,000-square-foot Santa Fe project has gone out to adjacent property owners, and a sign has been posted at the site, which is in the St. Michael’s Office Park at Botulph Road. A neighborhood notification meeting to discuss preliminary plans is set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Residence Inn, 1698 Galisteo St. The area is already dense with medical and office complexes. In addition to the hospital itself, Christus has nearby specialty clinics. Other buildings house eye doctors, lawyers, accountants, dentists and physical therapists. But city approval is necessary because development approval for that 6.7-acre phase of the St. Michael’s Office Park has lapsed. “The single-story building will blend in mass, scale and height with the office and medical buildings of the surrounding neighborhood,” according to Presbyterian’s filing with the city Land Use Department by JenkinsGavin Design and Development. “Once completed, the project will provide many jobs for local residents.” Presbyterian Healthcare did not
Please see OUTPATIeNT, Page A-4
The mayoral race in Santa Fe is months away, but the campaign season is in full force. A Washington, D.C.-based political research firm is trying to dig up dirt on candidates running for mayor in the March 2014 municipal election. But so far, no one has fessed up to hiring the firm. The opposition research is the latest evidence of a changing political landscape in Santa Fe, with mayoral elections that have gotten more sophisticated and competitive. “Quite frankly, I hope it doesn’t escalate into all kinds of little investigations on everything that you’ve ever done, you know, what size shorts you wear, what color they are,” City Councilor Bill Dimas, a mayoral candidate, said Thursday. Since September, Robert Wimberley, founder and president of Blue Searchlight, a political research firm that says it works for Democrats and progressiveminded candidates, has filed at least three openrecords requests with the city government. Among the documents Wimberley requested are the monthly water usage and payment histories, including late payments and penalties, for four candidates: Dimas, Councilors Patti Bushee and Rebecca Wurzburger, and Javier Gonzales, a former Democratic Party chairman. The city provided records from 2007 to the present for Bushee and Wurzburger, from 2010 to present for Dimas and from 2007 to 2012 for Gonzales. The records show that at one point, Gonzales was $1,639 behind on his water bills. He explained that he was distracted by a divorce and devoting a lot of time to the Democratic Party. He also said that he had some water leaks. He eventually paid up. Bushee was sometimes as much as hundreds of dol-
Snow and high winds closed the chairlift at Ski Santa Fe on Thursday. The lift operator plans to offer rides through Sunday. JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN The New Mexican
A
cold front blasted through New Mexico on Thursday, whipping up high winds and dusting the state’s northcentral mountains with snow. The conditions prompted Ski Santa Fe to shut down a chairlift that gives visitors a bird’s-eye view of golden aspens in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Three inches of snow fell in Chama. And wind gusts knocked over 15 rail cars near an Interstate 40 underpass at Marmon, N.M., but no one was injured, according to KOAT-TV.
Forecasters for Accuweather.com think the storm is the first of what promises to be a snowier winter than last year. They predicted snow will “bury” portions of the Northern Rockies by January. Based on current meteorological data, the company predicts that the Santa Fe area will receive higher than normal precipitation in December and January, with cooler than normal temperatures, said Bob Smerbeck, an Accuweather meteorologist. Whether there will be more snow than rain is still uncertain,
Please see DIRT, Page A-6
College prep 101
Please see BLAsT, Page A-4
Today
Autopsy cites fatal drug mix in 14-year-old’s death By Chris Quintana The New Mexican
An autopsy has confirmed what officials had already suspected: A 14-year-old Santa Fe girl who died in August at a Duke City concert had taken a fatal amount of Ecstasy, a synthetic, mind-altering drug that acts as both a stimulant and a hallucinogenic. The report from the Office of the Medical Investigator reveals that Hannah Bruch, a Santa Fe High School student, died from a combination of MDMA, often known as Ecstasy, and diphen-
Index
Calendar A-2
hydramine, an over-the-counter drug present in allergy medications such as Benadryl. “The amount of MDMA alone is sufHannah ficient to cause Bruch death, however, combining it with a high amount of diphenhydramine would be especially lethal,” the medical examiner wrote. “The manner of death is accident.” Bruch’s father, Larry Bruch, had told The New Mexican that
Classifieds D-2
Comics B-6
Lotteries A-6
he believed “drugs and peer pressure” caused his daughter’s death. The OMI results indicate there were no external or internal injuries to Bruch. The report also indicates the teen ingested small amounts of MDA, a variant of Ecstasy known as “Molly”; lidocaine, a drug used to control irregular heart rates; and lorazepam, a prescription anti-anxiety medication often sold under the name Ativan. New Mexico State Police spokesman Sgt. Emmanuel Gutierrez said to his knowledge, neither Molly nor Ecstasy is
Opinions A-5
Police notes C-2
Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Carlos A. López, clopez@sfnewmexican.com
Mostly sunny High 61, low 34.
generally cut with Benadryl, so Bruch might have taken the medication at another time. He also said he hasn’t seen a trend of young people mixing Benadryl with Ecstasy. Benadryl’s active ingredient has sedative effects, and at high dosages it may cause confusion, agitation, central nervous system depression and heart arrhythmia, according to the OMI report. Gutierrez also said he couldn’t disclose whether anyone has been arrested in connection with the case because the investiga-
Please see AUTOPsY, Page A-4
Sports B-1
Time Out B-5
From tackling the admissions process to surviving the first semester, Gen Next offers a guide for high-schoolers applying to college. PAge D-1
PAge C-4
Obituaries Samuel John Brient Antonio Hernandez Guerra, 84, Santa Fe, Oct. 4 Martha K. Iwaski, Santa Fe, Sept. 29 Sofia Lopez, 103, Santa Fe, Sept. 29 PAge C-2
Gen Next D-1
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010
Porsches on Plaza More than 250 vintage sports cars descend on Santa Fe for the five-day “West Coast Holiday.” LOCAL News, C-1
Four sections, 24 pages Pasatiempo, 72 pages 164th year, No. 284 Publication No. 596-440