Obituaries B-2 Police notes B-2 Sports B-5
FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2014 THE NEW MEXICAN
Comics B-8
Sports,B-5
LOCAL NEWS
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McCurdy holds off late charge to defeat Mesa Vista, 69-64.
Candidate explains error to ethics board Maestas blames a lack of communication on failure to disclose campaign expenditures By Daniel J. Chacón The New Mexican
City Council candidate Joseph Maestas says a lack of communication resulted in his failure to disclose $601 in campaign expenditures. In a written response to a complaint filed against Maestas
with the city’s Ethics and Campaign Review Board, Maestas said he has “acted honestly and in good faith with the intention of complying with the law.” Maestas said he was unaware of three months-old invoices for a robocall, placards and banners that he mounted on a wood frame in the back of his
pickup. Maestas said Neri Holguin, an Albuquerque-based political consultant working on his campaign for free, didn’t give him or his treasurer the invoices until after he had filed his expense report. Maestas said he became aware of the invoices only after opponent Jeff Green filed the complaint Dec. 9. “When I filed the Expenditure Report on November 18, 2013, I was not aware of the
status, nature or amount of invoices for the placards and banners, because neither my campaign Treasurer nor I Joseph had received Maestas or paid any invoices from the campaign account for the placards and banners,” Maestas’ response
states. “When I signed and filed my Expenditure Report, I believed the seed money account records reflected all of the campaign ‘expenditures’ made to the date of the Expenditure Report.” Maestas, a civil engineer who is a former mayor of Española, said he had “no financial inability or motivation” to delay payment. Maestas had raised $1,500 in seed money contributions by late August as
Lawmaker aims to revive gun bill Gov. to decide if Legislature will consider measure calling for expanding background checks at shows
allowed under the city’s public campaign finance code, according to campaign filings. Those filings also show Maestas spent the entire $1,500 by Nov. 1. “The delay in paying them from my Campaign Account was the result of an inadvertent lack of communication by me with Ms. Holguin (for which I am ultimately responsible),” he wrote. Green said Maestas should
Please see MAESTAS, Page B-3
Diseased carcasses destroyed in Santa Fe
If approved, a bill would expand background checks at gun shows, like this one in Las Vegas, Nev. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
State lab’s faulty digester results in animal remains shipped here, incinerated By Staci Matlock The New Mexican
State Rep. Miguel P. Garcia takes part in a House debate in February on his bill to expand background checks at New Mexico gun shows. The bill won House approval but died on the Senate floor when the session ended. Garcia hopes to reintroduce the bill when the 30-day session of the Legislature begins Jan. 21. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
By Staci Matlock The New Mexican
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state lawmaker from Albuquerque plans to try once more to win legislative approval of a bill that would require background checks of private buyers at gun shows and restrict access to firearms by people with mental illnesses — but he’ll need some help from the governor. In 2013, Rep. Miguel Garcia, a Democrat, sponsored a similar bill (House Bill 77), which passed the House with bipartisan support and was awaiting a vote on the Senate floor when the session ended. For lawmakers to consider the measure in
In brief Officers make 13 DWI arrests over holiday Law enforcement officers arrested a baker’s dozen of motorists on drunken-driving charges during the New Year’s holiday, and no major crashes or fatal injuries were reported in the Santa Fe area. The New Mexico State Police said in a news release that officers in the Santa Fe region arrested two individuals on charges of drunken driving and issued 32 traffic citations between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Maj. Ken Johnson, a Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesman,
the session that starts Jan. 21, a 30-day session focused mainly on budget issues, Gov. Susana Martinez must put the bill on her call list — and she has not yet said whether the firearms transfer bill will make the cut. Martinez said in statement that she supports a compromise version of the bill crafted by lawmakers in the last session because it incorporated her proposal to “keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill.” But the governor said her highest priorities for the session remain crafting a budget and passing reforms to “improve education, expand our workforce and grow our economy.” Garcia said his new bill, HB 44, includes the compromise language added to the bill he intro-
said county deputies arrested four people on drunken-driving charges between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Johnson said two of the motorists were involved in crashes. And Celina Westervelt, a spokeswoman for the Santa Fe Police Department, said city officers arrested seven people on drunken-driving charges. Most of the arrests, Westervelt said, came from checkpoints or saturation patrols, but officers did respond to a minor collision.
Judge mulls blocking horse slaughter A Roswell company that has been fighting for two years to open a horse slaughterhouse is back in court Friday. New Mexico Attorney General Gary King is trying to block Valley Meat
duced in the last session. Senators had amended Garcia’s firearms transfer bill to prohibit the creation of a state registry of firearms owners and allow an exception to the state Inspection of Public Records Act to prevent state agencies from giving out gun owner information. Currently, New Mexico does not require a background check in the case of a firearm transfer between two private parties at a gun show. But the state does require licensed vendors at gun shows to run background checks on buyers. Garcia’s bill would prohibit the transfer of a firearm between two people at a gun show without a background check of the buyer. The
Co.’s planned opening this month with a lawsuit alleging it would violate the state’s food safety, water quality and unfair business practices laws. Although the meat would not be sold domestically, it would be processed and shipped to other countries for human consumption. The state lawsuit is just the latest in a series of setbacks for Valley, which sued the federal government to get a permit after Congress lifted a ban on horse slaughter in 2011. But it’s planned August startup then was delayed by a federal lawsuit from animal protection groups, who eventually lost but are appealing.
Travel management appeal withdrawn A coalition of environmentalists and
Section editor: Howard Houghton, 986-3015, hhoughton@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Dennis Rudner, drudner@sfnewmexican.com
A state lab in Albuquerque that diagnoses animal diseases has been shipping contaminated animal carcasses to another state agency with an incinerator because its $800,000 tissue digester is broken, and the company that installed the faulty device has gone bankrupt. So far, the Veterinary Diagnostic Services, a division of the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, has sent only a couple of carcasses to the Department of Game and Fish office west of Santa Fe, said biologist Kerry Mower, a Game and Fish wildlife disease specialist. The veterinary lab spent more than $1 million to install the faulty digester, located in the state Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory Division, which shares a building in Albuquerque with the vet lab. “The lab was left holding the bag because the company that installed it [Hydro-Pro] went bankrupt,” Mower said. “Simply put, the issue with the current digester is that it doesn’t get hot enough,” said Katie Goetz, public information officer for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture. “A tissue digester uses intense heat and pressure, combined with an alkalizing agent, to reduce animal tissues to a sterile liquid.” Mower uses the Game and Fish incinerator, at 1 Wildlife Way in Santa Fe, to burn the carcasses of diseased wildlife after taking tissue samples for the Veterinary Diagnostic Services. The incinerator heats to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit — hot enough to kill diseasecausing agents. Smoke and other emissions are captured in a second chamber and reburned, Mower said, adding that the device “only emits heat.” Mower said he uses the incinerator only about three times a year, and because it releases no emissions, its operation doesn’t require a state Environment Department permit. But the device is small and expensive to operate. Mower can only burn 1,200 pounds of carcasses at a time, equal to about three good-sized elk, he said. The complete burn cycle takes six to seven hours, including a heat-up and cool-down
Please see GUNS, Page B-3
sportsmen groups has withdrawn an appeal to a travel management plan unveiled by the Carson National Forest for the Camino Real District this fall. The coalition originally filed an appeal arguing that forest supervisors had ignored requirements for ensuring that official roads meet certain engineering standards to prevent erosion and will not impact wildlife habitat. The appeal was submitted by WildEarth Guardians of Santa Fe, with the Center for Biological Diversity, NM Sportsmen, Back Country Horsemen of New Mexico and Carol Johnson, a member of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance board of directors and a former member of the New Mexico Off Highway Motor Vehicle Board. Carson National Forest spokesperson Kathy DeLucas told The Taos News the appeal was formally withdrawn. DeLucas said a second appeal,
Please see CARCASSES, Page B-3
from the New Mexico Off-Highway Vehicle Alliance, was received after the deadline.
Woman accused of aggravated DWI LAS CRUCES — A Las Cruces woman is in custody for allegedly driving while impaired and running over someone following an argument. Doña Ana County Sheriff’s officials say 33-year-old Rachel Miranda is being held on suspicion of aggravated DWI. They say their investigation is ongoing and additional charges are possible. Authorities say Miranda allegedly got into a physical altercation with a 39-year-old woman and tried to run the other woman over. Staff and wire reports
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