Consignment shop owner takes her business in new direction Local Business, A-8
Locally owned and independent
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
www.santafenewmexican.com 75¢
‘Ranger,’ Santa Fe share storied past
Western-flavored junket lures writers By Tom Sharpe The New Mexican
1981 flop began with bad press about star’s behavior By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
Some 300 entertainment writers descend upon Santa Fe this week to take part in media events tied to the upcoming release of a new Lone Ranger movie starring Johnny Depp
and Armie Hammer. But longtime residents realize that this isn’t the city’s first dance with the masked man. Back in 1980, a movie called The Legend of The Lone Ranger — directed by William Fraker and starring Klin-
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From left, Michael Horse portrayed Tonto and Klinton Spilsbury starred as the Lone Ranger in the 1981 movie, The Legend of the Lone Ranger. Shot partly in Santa Fe, Spilsbury’s antics in local bars helped assure it would become a film most would rather forget. COURTESY PHOTO
This week’s press junket for The Lone Ranger is a tightly controlled event aimed at garnering good press for the film and New Mexico. An estimated 300 movie writers will get one-on-one interviews with the film’s stars, two free nights at some of Santa Fe’s
Packard’s closing shop
swankiest hotels and swag bags filled with Taos Toffee, green and red chile-flavored pistachio nuts, blue corn popcorn, bizcochitos and a copy of New Mexico Magazine. The proceedings at local hotels Monday were closed to the public, and organizers were tight-lipped about the details.
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Insurance hike looms for state workers By Barry Massey
The Associated Press
Catherine Canon Mesquite, whose family has run Packard’s on the Plaza for years, said Monday the family wanted to give the public plenty of notice about the store’s impending closure, so customers could visit one last time. The store sells one-of-a-kind Navajo blankets, katsinas and pieces from pueblos throughout New Mexico and Mexico. PHOTOS BY CLYDE MUELLER/THE NEW MEXICAN
Longtime Plaza retailer one of two with plans to shutter stores By Bruce Krasnow The New Mexican
T
he owners of Packard’s on the Plaza have announced that the store, known since 1944 for its relationships with authentic Native American and Southwestern artisans, will close after the summer. Jerry Jones, managing partner, said the store will remain open through Santa Fe’s Indian Market and the summer tourist season and then close on Sept. 28. The owners will retain the name, but it is unknown what will become of the 5,800-square-foot space that occupies perhaps the highest-profile spot on the 400-year-old Plaza. The store’s 19 employees were notified Monday of the
closing and all will be provided a benefits package and help gaining new employment, Jones said. Catherine Canon Mesquite’s parents, Richard and Carolyn Canon, purchased the business in 1979 from Al Packard. Mesquite used to work in the store as a child — and roller skate in and around the Plaza property — but she and her husband, Dean Mesquite, live in California with their two children and need to concentrate the family energies elsewhere. The Plaza and Packard’s are doing well, she said — and more customers than ever recognize what the store offers. “My dad took great pride in his relationship with the artists,” she said.
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Push for a park
Index
Calendar A-2
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Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Packard’s has a prominent storefront on the east side of the Plaza. What will become of the 5,800-square-foot space is not yet known.
Obituaries Bernadette Evangeline Garcia, 60, Pojoaque, June 13 Laura Dolores Garcia Nevarez, 80, June 3
A city committee moves forward with plans to make a Water Street landmark a park. LOcAL NEWS, A-6
Classifieds B-6
Comics B-12
More than 30,000 state and local government workers face a 15 percent increase for their health care insurance starting next month, but it could be only the beginning of higher costs as New Mexico’s self-insurance program digs out of a financial hole. There have been no premium increases for workers for the past five years as government struggled with tight budgets. But the fund covering health benefits was projected to be almost $70 million in the red next year if the state did nothing to the insurance program to deal with rising health care costs. “That’s why we had to make these drastic changes to stay solvent,” said A.J. Forte, director of the Risk Management Division, which serves as the state’s insurance company for health care, unemployment compensation for government workers and for liability claims. To help stop the financial bleeding, premiums are increasing for workers and governmental employers. Health care plans were revamped to require employees to pay more for medical services. Deductibles more than doubled for some plans, and copays increased. But Forte said another round of premium increases is needed to rebuild cash reserves, which help pay for the insurance program when — like this year — revenues from premiums are projected to fall short of covering expenses of about $340 million. He’s proposed an additional 15 percent premium increase in the fiscal year starting in July 2014, but top officials in Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration haven’t decided whether to endorse the proposal and include the higher costs in agency budgets that will be recommended to the Legislature next year.
Lotteries A-2
Opinions A-10
Betty Lou Norris, 78, Española Valley, June 13 John D. Seagrave, 87, June 11
Today
PAgE A-9
PAgE A-12
Police notes A-9
Editor: Rob Dean, 986-3033, rdean@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
Sports B-1
Partly sunny. High 89, low 58.
Time Out B-11
Local Business A-8
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010
Santa Fe Photographic Workshops’ instructor presentations series Open conversation and slide presentation of works by Karen Divine, Christopher James, Arthur Meyerson, Elizabeth Opalenik and Jennifer Spelman, 8:30-10 p.m., Santa Fe Prep auditorium, 1101 Camino de Cruz Blanca, no charge, 983-1400, ext. 11. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
Two sections, 24 pages 164th year, No. 169 Publication No. 596-440