McCown throws four TDs, leads Bears to 45-28 rout of Cowboys Sports, B-1
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Tuesday, December 10, 2013
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SFPD fills all vacancies
Fired officer plans appeal The New Mexico State Police officer who was terminated after he fired his gun at a minivan filled with children will contest the department’s decision to let him go, his attorney says. LOCAL NewS, A-5
Addition of 19 new cadets leaves force fully staffed By Chris Quintana The New Mexican
County set to consider land development code
Tech firms lash out
Proposed plan would require developers to pay more of the burden their projects put on roads, water and sewer lines and other infrastructure. LOCAL NewS, A-5
Major companies join forces to curb government surveillance. PAge A-3
In a rare occurrence, the Santa Fe Police Department is fully staffed. Police spokeswoman Celina Westervelt said 18 new recruits started Monday and another will start next week, filling all the department’s openings. The new cadets, Westervelt said, will ease the workload of current officers,
cut back on overtime and allow the administration to assign more officers to the department’s burglary patrols. The department now employs 166 officers. Westervelt said the force almost was fully staffed in September 2009, when there were only two vacancies. And in May, it was fully staffed for a single week before a spate of retirements. Police Chief Ray Rael, who has decades of experience with the department, said even he is surprised. “To my recollection, this is a first,” he said. “We can actually have a waiting list.”
City grounds ‘flying farolitos’
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To my recollection, this is a first. We can actually have a waiting list.” Ray Rael, SFPD chief Westervelt said recruiters spent more time working with potential applicants and selling the benefits of living in Santa Fe, which led to higher recruitment numbers. Rael praised the efforts of the recruiting team of
Please see SFPD, Page A-4
Group ranks legislators on votes for conservation Five local lawmakers get 100%; Griego scores last among Senate Dems By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
Most of Santa Fe’s delegation to the state Legislature did well on the annual Conservation Scorecard compiled by the environmental group Conservation Voters New Mexico. Five Santa Fe lawmakers, all Democrats, received scores of 100 percent this year from the organization. They are Reps. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, Brian Egolf and the late Stephen Easley, and Sens. Nancy Rodriguez and Peter Wirth. The scores are based on how lawmakers voted on legislation deemed important by Conservation Voters. However, Sen. Phil Griego, D-San Jose, didn’t fare so well on this year’s scorecard. He was the lowest-scoring Democrat in the Senate, with 21 percent. Griego normally does better on the annual scorecard. His lifetime score is 51 percent, the group’s report said.
Please see VOTeS, Page A-4 John Evaldson, center, helps Arvo Thomson, right, launch a ‘flying farolito’ from Acequia Madre Elementary School on Dec. 24, 2005. The city fire marshal says he doesn’t plan to issue a permit that would allow Thomson’s display this year. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
Fire marshal won’t permit floating lanterns on Christmas Eve due to safety concerns By Howard Houghton The New Mexican
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on’t go looking for the “flying farolitos” during the annual Christmas Eve Farolito Walk on Santa Fe’s historic east side this year. The city fire marshal said Monday he doesn’t plan to issue a permit that would allow Arvo Thomson to send his glowing, tissue-paper-covered lanterns floating skyward from the Acequia Madre Elementary School parking lot. “We [can] have some pretty high winds that night, and there are just too many factors that you can’t control in a residential area like that,” said Fire Marshal Rey Gonzales. The city annually grants an exemption to its
“open burn” ordinance to allow farolitos — the candle-in-a-paper bag-with-sand creations used to line streets, sidewalks and walls — as well as the stacked-wood bonfires that Santa Fesinos call luminarias. Thomson also has received similar waivers in recent years, with requirements that he not launch his birthday-candle-powered creations under certain wind conditions, that he keep a fire extinguisher handy and have a cellphone to call for help in case of emergency. However, after years of drought and firesafety campaigns, local fire officials apparently are becoming more cautious. “I think in many ways our risk management has evolved,” said Chief Erik Litzenberg of the Santa Fe Fire Department, noting that he relies on the city fire marshal “to make these determinations.”
Long after the Christmas Eve stroll along Canyon Road and the Acequia Madre had become a popular activity — it now draws thousands from near and far who invade the neighborhood to soak up the holiday atmosphere — Thomson in the early 1990s took the idea of celebrating with glimmering candlelight to new heights. At first, the German-born car mechanic, certified massage therapist and builder didn’t bother seeking permits before sending up a few of his self-destructing displays on special occasions such as birthdays or holidays — a trick he learned in New Zealand from a Russian designer who studied under famed architect Buckminster Fuller.
By Barry Massey
New Mexico expects strong enough revenue growth to allow for a possible 5 percent budget increase next year for public education and other government programs, according to Monday’s financial forecast that will guide spending decisions during the upcoming legislative session.
Index
Calendar A-2
Economists for the Legislature and Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration prepared the latest revenue projections, which call for the state to collect nearly $6.2 billion in the fiscal year that starts in July. That’s about $293 million higher than current spending. The $293 million represents the pool of new money that lawmakers and the governor can use for spending increases, to replenish the state’s
Classifieds B-6
Comics B-12
Lotteries A-2
cash reserves and to offset the cost of any new tax cuts they may approve during the legislative session that convenes Jan. 21. If all of the money is added to the budget it would provide for about a 5 percent spending increase. Finance and Administration Secretary Tom Clifford told lawmakers that spending increases should be kept in the 4 percent range next year to protect the state against volatility
Opinions A-10
Police notes A-8
Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
u View the complete scorecard online at cvnm.org/scorecard.
Today Plenty of sun and cold. High 30, low 13. PAge A-12
Obituaries Pat Jaureguiberry, 66, Dec. 3 Robert William Weed, 58, Nov. 28 PAge A-8
Please see FAROLITOS, Page A-4
State revenues up $84M in current budget year The Associated Press
ON THe weB
in its revenues and in case growth is less than expected. The current budget provided for a slightly more than 4 percent spending increase. Historically, lawmakers have funneled close to half of annual revenue growth into public schools, which account for the largest share of New Mexico’s yearly operating budget. Top budget and tax officials in
Sports B-1
Please see ReVeNUeS, Page A-4
Time Out B-11
Local Business A-9
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Santa Fe Concert Band Holiday Concert Robert Foster’s “Rhapsody on Spanish Carols,” Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride,” and Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.” Live auction to conduct the band on July 4, 7 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W. San Francisco St., no charge. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
Two sections, 24 pages 164th year, No. 344 Publication No. 596-440