Pojoaque volleyball team faces season with new coach, mentality Sports, B-1
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Testimony begins in fatal Plaza fight case Witnesses describe 2011 melee By Phaedra Haywood The New Mexican
Eresmo Baca, charged with battering a man who later died from his injuries, listens Monday to testimony from witness Killian Flynn in Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer’s courtroom. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
Sebastian Gordon’s skull made an awful sound when it hit the sidewalk during a scuffle with another man in front of the Plaza Galeria on the Santa Fe Plaza one hot
summer night in August 2011. A security guard who witnessed the incident described it as the sound a watermelon or a bunch of eggs might make if smashed on the sidewalk. The guard, Fabien Duranona, who was on patrol one door down from where the incident
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Please see FIgHT, Page A-4
Pajarito set for visitors
An architect transforms a walk-in ice cream freezer into a functional office. LOCAL BUSINeSS, A-8
Consultant gets 10 years for misusing federal funds State contractor ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
Brian Foley, a member of the board that runs the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area, stands Aug. 13 near one of the ski lifts that was damaged by the Las Conchas Fire. Two lifts were affected by the 2011 fire, but the ski area hopes to reopen fully this winter, weather permitting. Biking and hiking trails already are accessible on the mountain, where next month’s Ullr Fest will be held. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
Political consultant Armando C. Gutierrez was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison plus $2.5 million in restitution for misusing federal funds from a contract with the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office. Gutierrez was convicted in February on charges including conspiracy, theft of government property, obstruction of justice and money laundering. Former Secretary of State Rebecca VigilGiron hired Gutierrez — a former Albuquerque resident who worked on several campaigns of prominent Democrats — to produce voter-education TV ads. He received more than $6 million in federal Help America Vote Act money from VigilGiron’s office between 2004 and 2006. But audits showed he could not account for more than $2.5 million of work under his contracts. Vigil-Giron initially was indicted in the case in state court, but the charges against her eventually were dismissed. Others convicted in the case were lobbyist Joe Kupfer and his wife, Daisy Kupfer. Gutierrez paid a company owned by the Kupfers more than $746,000, the government has said. But no documents were ever produced.
Please see CONSULTANT, Page A-4
Repair work complete, ski area looks to reopen fully for first time since fire By David J. Salazar
The New Mexican
A
t the bottom of Camp May Road, just on the edge of Los Alamos, the trees are tall and thriving. But as the road winds up toward the lodge at the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area, many trees are leafless, and 3-foot charred stubs are all that remain on some hillsides. Both the Cerro Grande Fire in 2000 and the Las Conchas Fire in 2011 — two of the three largest fires in the state’s history — roared through here. But it was the wind during the Las Conchas Fire that pushed the flames into the 700-acre ski area itself and damaged two of the mountain’s four lifts. “Luckily, we had a pond full of snow-making
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Juan Siddi Flamenco Theatre Company Performance at 8 p.m., The Lodge at Santa Fe, 750 N. St. Francis Drive, $25$55, discounts available, ticketssantafe.org, 988-1234. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds B-5
water,” said Brian Foley, a member of the board that owns the ski area. Foley, who’s been involved with the organization since the 1980s, added, “We were able to divert the water to the fire hydrants below.” The ski-area’s firefighting resources — which include the 10 million-gallon pond and a 250,000-gallon tank that’s typically filled to capacity — coupled with the 60 ski runs, which provide firebreaks and can hold fires at bay — are what kept the entire 750-acre ski area from being engulfed, Foley said. After the Las Conchas Fire was contained, Foley and other volunteers got to work cutting down burnt trees and removing fallen limbs from the ski slopes. The lumber was saved, milled and used to build wooden fences around the mountain. On the edges of the ski
runs, though, there are what Foley calls “leopard trees” — aspens marked with blackened patches and bald spots where the bark burned away. Two of the mountain’s ski lifts, one on the east side and one on the west, were damaged by the 2011 fire. Although the cable for the one on the west side of the mountain was ruined by the heat of the fire and the wooden structure at the top was destroyed, most of the chairs were completely intact. On the east side of the mountain, however, 70 percent of the chairs were destroyed, Foley said. Although the western ski lift was functioning last winter, the eastern one wasn’t operational until May.
Please see PAJARITO, Page A-4
Today Partly sunny with likely afternoon thunderstorms. High 88, low 59. PAge A-12
Obituaries Maria “Mary” F. Archuleta, 85, Aug. 17 Jose Baldonado, 79, Aug. 16 Joseph L. Pacheco (Joe Louie), 84, Santa Fe, Aug. 17
Earl “Mike” Clemmer, Aug. 15 Teresa “Toushie” A. Fox, Santa Fe, Aug. 15 Susan McCormick Mayer, Aug. 18 PAge A-9
Navajos round up horses on drought-stricken land The Associated Press
GALLUP — Navajo Nation rangers have rounded up numerous horses on the reservation under an operation conducted as part of the tribe’s response to the continuing drought. A natural resources law enforcement official says least 248 horses were seized through Thursday and that additional horses were seized in operations late last week. The operations were conducted in the Iyanbito, Canyon de Chelly,
Comics B-12
Lotteries A-2
Pinedale, Chinle, Black Mesa, Ganado and Blue Water Lake areas, the Gallup Independent reported. The horses seized are said to be either feral or belong to residents who lack grazing permits or have more horses than their permits allow. Grazing official Wilbur Murphy said horses unclaimed by residents will be sold to a buyer either for resale off the reservation or for transport to Mexico for slaughter for meat. The Navajo Nation has voiced support for a plan by a Roswell company,
Opinions A-10
Police notes A-9
Interim Editor: Bruce Krasnow, 986-3034, bkrasnow@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
Sports B-1
Valley Meat Co., to begin slaughtering horses for meat. A spokesman for Navajo President Ben Shelly has said the reservation can no longer support the estimated 75,000 feral horses that are drinking wells dry and causing ecological damage to the drought-stricken range. The Navajo Nation Council has approved $3 million in emergency funds to combat extreme drought conditions on the reservation and nearly $1.4 million in additional funds for feral horse roundups.
Time Out B-11
Local Business A-8
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010
Leonard Butler, a tribal Natural Resources law enforcement official, said tribal chapters that approved resolutions to conduct the horse roundups in their communities will be compensated with about $20 per head. “That’s the incentive for the chapter to pass resolution to participate in the roundup,” Butler said. Ranger Lorenzo Lapahie said horses that are branded will be kept for three days to give owners time to reclaim the animals by showing a grazing permit and proof of ownership.
Two sections, 24 pages 164th year, No. 232 Publication No. 596-440