LOCAL & REGION
Sunday, August 10, 2014 THE NEW MEXICAN
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Think tank blasts state for pension’s financial hole Lawmaker questions report’s accuracy By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
A Chicago-based think tank has ranked New Mexico as the 18th worst state in terms of “the amount each taxpayer would have to send to their state’s treasury to fill its current financial hole” due to unfunded pension liabilities. However, those involved with passing legislation to shore up the state retirement system last year say the report misses the fact that the state’s pensions are in good shape as far as solvency goes. According to the Institute of Truth
in Accounting’s most recent report, “The 2013 Financial State of the States,” New Mexico has nearly $10 billion of unfunded retirement promises. This translates to $13,600 per taxpayer. “New Mexico statutes require the legislature to pass a balanced budget,” the report states. “One of the reasons New Mexico is in this precarious financial position is state officials use antiquated budgeting and accounting rules to report New Mexico’s financial condition. “Since employee retirement benefits are not immediately payable in cash, the related compensation costs have been ignored when calculating balanced budgets,” the report says of New Mexico. But Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela,
Ex-police chief facing rape charges has stormy Taos record Former officer left amid allegations of misconduct By Andrew Oxford The Taos News
A former Taos Police Department officer who left the agency after one year on the job amid numerous allegations of misconduct was arrested Thursday on charges of raping a 19-yearold woman detained at a police station in Jemez Springs. A spokesperson for the New Mexico State Police confirmed Shane Harger, 40, who most recently served as police chief in Jemez Springs, was taken into custody at his Edgewood home. A warrant for his arrest was filed with the 13th Judicial District Court on Thursday after he was indicted by a Sandoval County grand jury on charges of criminal sexual penetration, criminal sexual contact, kidnapping and extortion. Harger left the Taos Police Department in 2005 while at the center of several lawsuits alleging he assaulted, battered or falsely imprisoned suspects during his one year on the job. Federal court records indicate he was named as a defendant in two lawsuits during 2005. During 2004, he was named as a defendant in two lawsuits filed with state
courts. One federal lawsuit, which was settled by the town of Taos, alleged Shane Harger Harger peppersprayed a restrained suspect and later arrested the man’s mother, purportedly as an act of revenge. The lawsuit, which also named former chief Neil Curran as a defendant, raised concerns about Harger’s record as a law enforcement officer. Harger’s behavior at the Taos Police Department prompted a series of complaints and tort claims, the lawsuit said, and purportedly spurred one captain to resign. Harger’s subsequent departure from the Taos Police Department was “not retirement,” according to municipal officials. The officer later worked at the Milan Police Department before serving as chief of police in Jemez Springs. Harger surrendered his commission in Jemez Springs earlier this year when it emerged he carried an identification card under another name, Braxton Haze. The Taos News is a sister paper of The Santa Fe New Mexican.
Texas considers allowing alcohol sales at gun shows By Juan A. Lozano The Associated Press
HOUSTON — A proposal to allow alcohol sales at guns shows in Texas got a mostly unfavorable reaction at a gun show in Houston on Saturday, with some in attendance calling it a bad idea. The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission on Friday announced it is considering the proposal, provided that at such events live ammunition isn’t allowed or buyers can’t take possession of their weapons. Bill Clouse, one of several hundred people who attended the High Caliber Gun & Knife Show in Houston, described himself as a “huge gun supporter” but said he doesn’t believe guns and alcohol are a good combination. “I don’t think there will be a possibility for trouble. I just personally do not believe you should have alcohol and firearms in the same vicinity, whether you are hunting or at a gun show,” said Clouse, 34, a high school teacher. Josh Jensen, another person at Saturday’s gun show, was also against the proposal, saying the idea is “just silly to me.” “You will find people in here who are going to say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a great idea.
Why can’t we have a beer at the gun show? Nobody’s got a loaded gun.’ But stupid things happen.” said Jensen, 30, who works for a beer distributor. Under current rules, if a gun show is held at a venue licensed to sell alcohol, drinks sales and consumption are suspended during the time it takes to set up, conduct and dismantle the gun show. The commission is considering the proposal after getting a request from a Dallas-Fort Worth area gun club to change its rules. It will hold a 30-day public comment period before any change is made. The Texas State Rifle Association, the state affiliate of the National Rifle Association, says it is still reviewing the proposal. Crystal Hartt, 47, a ranch owner from the Port Lavaca area who was at the Houston gun show, supported the idea, adding she considered being able to buy alcohol at a gun show the same as buying a beer at a baseball game or a rock concert. Claire Elizabeth, a spokeswoman for the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said Saturday her organization did not know enough about the proposal to comment on its specifics.
D-Santa Fe, said this week, “I don’t know what information they have and if it’s up to date, but the Public Employee Retirement fund and the Education Retirement fund should be solvent in 20 years.” Legislation passed in 2013 — cosponsored by Varela and signed by Gov. Susana Martinez — made public workers pay a bigger share of their retirement funding and changed the amount and frequency of cost-ofliving adjustments. Carter Bundy, legislative director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, agreed. “New Mexico aggressively, and in an overwhelming, bipartisan manner, fixed our pension solvency problem,” he said. “ … New Mexico’s solvency
In brief
plan is a national model of bipartisan fiscal responsibility that protects retirement security for hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans while eliminating billions in unfunded liabilities. “There’s no hole for taxpayers to fill,” Bundy said. “Employees stepped up and saved the pension plans out of their own pockets, agreed to a lesser [cost-of-living adjustment], and created a new tier with fewer liabilities.” During the legislative debate on the pension fix, Bundy said he and union members weren’t happy with the changes, which put nearly all of the burden on the workers. But, he said, if the pension funds tank, it would hurt all employees. According to the Truth in Accounting report, 17 states are in worse shape
than New Mexico. The worst state, Connecticut, the burden is more than $48,000 per taxpayer, the report said. The best states in terms of low taxpayer burden, according to the report, are all Western states: Alaska, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and South Dakota. The Truth in Accounting study notes that New Mexico had not issued its June 30, 2013, Comprehensive Annual Financial Report at the time the report was compiled. This state and California were rated as “excessively tardy” in terms of timeliness of financial reporting. Contact Steve Terrell at sterrell@ sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at www.santafenewmexican.com/ news/blogs/politics.
POLISHING UP THE PLAZA
Agencies to hold job fair Tuesday Two New Mexico state agencies will host a job fair Tuesday in Santa Fe with the goal of filling 200 positions throughout the state. The Children, Youth and Families Department and the Human Services Department announced they will jointly host the recruiting event from 8 a.m. to noon Tuesday at the Willie Ortiz Building, 2600 Cerrillos Road. The government agencies are looking for people with experience in social services as well as applicants with degrees in social work, sociology, education, family studies, criminal justice, psychology or similar fields. State employees will be on hand to provide individual consultation, review applications and assist with the online application process. For more information, call Bob Tafoya at 359-1414.
ABOVE: Jeff Szabat, with Century Bank, paints a bench on the Plaza on Saturday as part of a Keep Santa Fe Beautiful project. Volunteer teams from local businesses gathered Saturday morning to paint and clean park benches, light poles and portal beams.
Scientist gives to LANL Foundation Donald Rose, a retired longtime scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, named the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation and two other nonprofits as beneficiaries of a $700,800 annuity. Rose died in April at the age of 91. He came to LANL in 1956, joined the Weapons Subsystem Group (WX-5) in 1982 and was named assistant to the deputy associate director for defense construction programs in 1984. He retired in 1990, returning as an associate and later a guest scientist at LANL until 2000. His obituary said, “Don will always be remembered for his warmth, his smile and childlike curiosity of science, nature and people. He shaped many lives.” Susan Herrera, CEO of the LANL Foundation, said Rose will “continue to shape lives through his unrestricted gift, which the Foundation will use to support education in Northern New Mexico.”
Roads open to Nina Otera The city of Santa Fe says the Santa Fe Public Schools’ Nina Otero Community School is now accessible via Herrera Drive from Cerrillos Road and Paseo del Sol from Jaguar Drive. Santa Fe Public Schools start
LEFT: Ron Olexsak and Kay Condiss, both with The USS Santa Fe Committee, clean the USS Santa Fe plaque on the Plaza on Saturday. PHOTOS BY LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO THE NEW MEXICAN
classes Aug. 18. For more information on the Nina Otero Community School, visit http://www.sfps. info/index.aspx?NID=1631.
Officer helps trapped teens New Mexico State Police said an officer recently rescued two teens trapped inside a smoke-filled car that had flipped on La Bajada. Sgt. Angel Torres was traveling northbound on Interstate 25 on July 31 when he saw a “plume of smoke” and discovered it was coming from the car, a news release said Thursday. State police identified the two teens as Alexis Flores, 17, of Pecos and Ruth Vasquez, 18, of Santa Fe. Torres reported that “the engine compartment looked like it was going to catch fire,” the statement says. He went up to the smoke-filled car, grabbed a rock and threw it to break the rear window, the release says. A good Samaritan also stopped to help Torres get the teens out of the car.
Torres helped the driver out through the rear window, the release says. Bystanders helped Torres flip the car and open the passenger door to help out the second teen.
Jury awards detective $200K FARMINGTON — A jury has sided with a former Farmington police detective who says he was the victim of retaliation in his department. The Daily Times reported 11 of 12 jurors awarded Frank Dart more than $200,000 on Friday. Dart, who retired last year, filed a complaint in February 2012 under the New Mexico Whistleblower Protection Act. In court documents, Dart says he wrote memos to the Police Chief Kyle Westall with concerns about a suspect’s arrest. Dart says the department started acting hostile toward him. He says he also complained about a lack of resources to develop a cybercrimes task force and was denied access to crucial equipment.
Virginia Anderman, an attorney for the defendants, says the city still has a good defense and will review her clients’ options.
Teen shot by deputy critical ALGODONES — Authorities say a suspect who was shot and wounded by a Sandoval County Sheriff’s deputy is a 17-year-old boy. New Mexico State Police Lt. Emmanuel Gutierrez confirmed Saturday that the teen was armed when confronted by deputies in Algodones, just north of Bernalillo. Gutierrez says deputies responded Thursday night to a report of shots being fired and initiated a dialogue with the boy. He says at some point, a deputy fired shots at the suspect. The 17-year-old remains in critical condition. No deputies were injured. Gutierrez says state police are still investigating. Staff and wire reports
Asian investors eye planned New Mexico potash mine The Associated Press
CARLSBAD — A proposed $1.02 billion potash mine in southeastern New Mexico may get a financial boost from Asian investors, company officials said. Intercontinental Potash Corp. says private investors from China and a bank in Japan have shown an interest in the proposed Ochoa Project, Carlsbad Current-Argus reported earlier this week. The company wants to develop an underground mine in southern Lea County to extract polyhalite
ore to use in the production of potash. Intercontinental spokesman Randy Foote said he couldn’t name specific investors because the company has signed nondisclosure agreements with “all the major players.” But Foote said he expects the company will continue to raise money for the project through this year and that it may be ready to break ground on the processing plant next year. “Anybody who raises $1 billion knows it’s a process, it’s not something that you do
overnight,” Foote said. “Most of these [projects] take about a year to raise funds.” The company’s plan calls for a processing plant and would involve the drilling of water wells, the installation of pipelines and the storage of tailings. Earlier this year, a memo from the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer’s Hydrology Bureau said it could take up to 500 years to replenish the brine water pumped out of a Carlsbad aquifer if the potash mine operates for 50 years. The memo said the proposed mine southeast of Carlsbad
wasn’t expected to affect the city’s drinking water, but it may still have some impact on the underground water source. Tests showed that if the mine draws 6,400 acre-feet of water each year at the site for 50 years, it would take 500 years for the Capitan Reef aquifer to restore itself, the document said. The Capitan Reef is the same aquifer that provides Carlsbad’s drinking water, though the potash company would draw its water from the opposite side of the reef.