Denver Curling Club teaches Santa Feans how to play Local News, A-6
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Saturday, August 24, 2013
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Patience is the key Second-year head coach Miguel Medina works to rebuild the Sundevils program. SPORTS, B-1
Same-sex couples marry in Santa Fe
County clerk issues licenses under judge’s order; approximately 40 wed
Police captain leaves force
Aric Wheeler announces retirement after 20-year career with department
By Phaedra Haywood The New Mexican
Santa Fe police Capt. Aric Wheeler wants to learn to play the piano. That’s not why the 41-year-old veteran of the force is retiring, but it is one of the things he wants to explore going forward, if he gets the time. The father of four — who announced his retirement Thursday after 20-plus years of Aric Wheeler police work — says he’ll take just three days off — over the Labor Day weekend — before he starts work as the disciplinarian and safety director at Pojoaque Valley Middle School. “Tuition bills are not cheap,” jokes Wheeler, who has a 19-year-old son in college, two kids at St. Michael’s High School and a first-grader at Eldorado Community School. Wheeler said recent changes to rules of the Public Employees Retirement Association are part of the reason he decided to retire this year. Delaying would have increased the number of years he would have had to wait to receive a cost-of-living adjustment to his pension. Wheeler said he looks forward to working with middle school kids because the job will give him a chance to steer youth toward good choices at a pivotal time in their lives.
Please see CAPTAIN, Page A-5
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
From left, Santa Fe County Commissioner Liz Stefanics and her partner, Linda Siegle, were married by Judge Mark Basham on Friday. The couple were the first to receive their marriage license from Santa Fe County Clerk Geraldine Salazar. PHOTOS BY JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN
‘This one counts,’ say local newlyweds
By Steve Terrell
The New Mexican
T
he floodgates have opened. Same-sex marriage has started in Santa Fe. In a historic move, Santa Fe County Clerk Geraldine Salazar began issuing marriage licenses Friday to same-sex couples following an order from state District Judge Sarah Singleton that said Salazar should immediately start issuing the licenses or appear at a court hearing to show good cause why she shouldn’t. The Clerk’s Office began issuing the licenses around 2 p.m. Friday. By about 5:30 p.m., 45 same-sex couples had been issued licenses. The office stayed open for about an hour and a half longer to handle the line of gay couples coming to get licenses. There was almost a party atmosphere at the County Administration Building as couples lined up to get marriage licenses — the first time in New Mexico in which the issuance of such licenses was backed up by a court order. Friends and loved ones hugged one another in the hallways, while some of the couples decided to
By Robert Nott The New Mexican
laws,” Sharer said in a telephone interview. “It shouldn’t be a county clerk or a district judge. If this is how we make laws, one person deciding, we all should be scared to death.” The first couple to take advantage
Three years ago, Eric Crites’ sister officiated a commitment ceremony for Crites and his partner, Simón Miera. “With absolutely no authority, I pronounce you spouses,” she said at the time. On Friday afternoon, Crites and Miera were among the last couples to wed in a civil ceremony at the Santa Fe County Administration Building after County Clerk Geraldine Salazar began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as the result of a court mandate recognizing gay marriage in the county.
Please see MARRY, Page A-4
Please see NEWLYWEDS, Page A-4
Yon Hudson, left, kisses his partner, Alex Hanna, after they obtained their marriage license Friday from the Santa Fe County Clerk’s Office.
get married right away in the County Commission Chambers upstairs. One person who wasn’t happy, however, was state Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, a longtime opponent of gay marriage. “This isn’t about marriage, it’s about who makes
‘The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein’ Offenbach’s operetta about military shenanigans is mighty slight stuff, but Lee Blakeley has directed it to a fare-thee-well, the cast sings and dances with frothy élan and mezzo-soprano Susan Graham invests it with impressive star power. 8 p.m., Santa Fe Opera, 301 Opera Drive, tickets available at the box office, 986-5900. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds B-8
Radioactive water inches toward Pacific Reservoir latest threat at damaged Japanese facility INSIDE u LANL physicists use specialized ray to assist at Fukushima plant. LIFE & SCIENCE, A-11
Comics B-14
Lotteries A-2
By Mari Yamaguchi The Associated Press
TOKYO — Deep beneath Fukushima’s crippled nuclear power station, a massive underground reservoir of contaminated water that began spilling from the plant’s reactors after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami has been creeping slowly toward the Pacific.
Opinions A-13
Police notes A-12
Interim Editor: Bruce Krasnow, 986-3034, bkrasnow@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
Sports B-1
Now, more than two years later, experts fear it is about to reach the ocean and greatly worsen what is fast becoming a new crisis at Fukushima: the inability to contain vast quantities of radioactive water. The looming crisis is potentially far greater than the discovery earlier
Please see WATER, Page A-5
Time Out B-13
Life & Science A-10
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010
Today Sunshine mixed with clouds. High 83, low 58. PAGE A-14
Obituaries Virginia B. Fuller, 94, Aug. 18 Anthony M. , 82, Santa Fe, Aug. 22 PAGE A-12
Two sections, 28 pages TV Book, 32 pages 164th year, No. 236 Publication No. 596-440