Our view: Courthouse opening a time to celebrate Opinions, B-2
Locally owned and independent
Fuego cope with smoke, pledge to aid those affected by fires Sports, D-1
Sunday, June 9, 2013
www.santafenewmexican.com $1.25
OLD SPANISH TRAIL
FINDING
Group strives to save trail remnants
‘IMMANUEL 12’ Adopted NMSD student overcomes cultural, emotional barriers with help of family, school, sports
Preservationists: Historic route to Los Angeles faces number of threats By Robert Galin
The Durango Herald
By James Barron The New Mexican
I
n American Sign Language, Immanuel Neubauer introduces himself as “Immanuel 12.” In his first year as a student at New Mexico School for the Deaf in 2006, it seemed that everywhere he went at the school, he was asked two questions: “What’s your name?” “How old are you?” After a while, he just automatically added the 12 to his name. With his hand in a fist, and his palm facing outward — rather than inward, which is standard — he would flick out his index and middle finger to indicate the number 12. And, “it stuck,” said Amanda Lujan, a teacher at NMSD who interpreted for Neubauer in an interview. Now an 18-year-old junior, Neubauer still introduces himself as “Immanuel 12.” That he is able to introduce himself at all is seen by some as an incredible feat, given his history. Neubauer spent the first 10 years of his life with his family on a farm in Ethiopia. He received no education and had difficulty communicating with anybody. After running away from home, he was eventually adopted by Lori Neubauer, a 58-year-old woman with two older sons who worked for an Albuquerque program that provides services to the deaf community. Until the moment she brought him to New Mexico, Immanuel Neubauer was lost in the vast sea of the hearing world, not knowing that he could swim in it. “I don’t think he realized he wasn’t the only one [who was deaf],” said Lori Neubauer, who adopted him from an orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, when he was 12. “He felt like in his life, he was the only one who was deaf.” The faculty, staff and students at NMSD knew bits and pieces of his story — that he was from Ethiopia and he was adopted — but they didn’t know the rest. Then again, Immanuel Neubauer isn’t always forthcoming about his past. Even as he bridged the communication gap by learning American Sign Language and then learning
ABOVE: New Mexico School for the Deaf student Immanuel Neubauer relaxes on the school’s athletic track Monday. Neubauer, adopted from an orphanage in Ethiopia where he had almost no language skills or education, has excelled in track and at the school.
Please see IMMANUEL, Page A-4
CLYDE MUELLER/THE NEW MEXICAN
I don’t think he realized he “ wasn’t the only one [who was deaf]. He felt like in his life, he was the only one who was deaf.”
— Lori Neubauer, Immanuel’s adoptive mother
Please see TRAIL, Page A-6
Past 50 years have brought huge strides for gay-rights movement By David Crary and Lisa Leff The Associated Press
Go back 50 years in time. Homosexuality was deemed a mental disorder by the nation’s psychiatric authorities, and gay sex was a crime in every state but Illinois. Federal workers could be fired merely for being gay. Today, gays serve openly in the military, work as TV news anchors and federal judges, win elections as big-city mayors and members of Congress. Popular TV shows have gay protagonists. And now the gay-rights movement may be on the cusp of momentous legal breakthroughs. Later this month, a Supreme Court ruling could lead to legalization of same-sex marriage in
Index
Calendar A-2
California, and there’s a good chance the court will require the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in all U.S. jurisdictions where they are legal — as of now, 12 states and Washington, D.C. The transition over five decades has been far from smooth — replete with bitter protests, anti-gay violence, backlashes that inflicted many political setbacks. Unlike the civil rights movement and the women’s liberation movement, the campaign for gay rights unfolded without householdname leaders. Progress came about largely due to the individual choices of countless gays and lesbians to come out of the closet and get engaged. These were people like a Chicago
Classifieds E-6
Lotteries A-2
Neighbors C-7
DURANGO, Colo. — When the Old Spanish Trail Association met in Cortez recently for its annual conference, several speakers said that the remnants of the trail from Santa Fe to Los Angeles may well be lost. One part of the trail goes from Abiquiú through Ignacio and Durango and on past Green River, Utah. To help define and preserve the trail, the OSTA wants to form a Four Corners chapter, said Mark Franklin, the group’s treasurer. “We’re living in the past, working today, doing this for tomorrow,” said incoming association President Ashley J. Hall, who insisted the OSTA needs more involvement from Native Americans and Hispanics. Southern Ute Tribal Elder James Jefferson told attendees that the Utes created a portion of the trail through thousands of years of their own trading. “The Old Spanish Trail had a long history before the Spanish walked on it,” he said. “We came here in the beginning,” long before other tribes such as the Navajo and Apache, whom the Utes call “The Wanderers,” Jefferson said. Nathan Strong Elk, acting director of the Southern Ute Cultural Center and Museum in Ignacio, said there is DNA evidence of Utes being in this area for at least 12,000 years. The Utes say it is at least 20,000 years, he said. “Utes are the longest continuing inhabitants of Colorado,” Strong Elk said. The Old Spanish Trail, more properly called the Old Spanish National Historical Trail under its federal designation, could be a catalyst for development, Strong Elk said. He said the Southern Ute museum could be directly involved in displays and education about the trail. Cortez resident and author Fred Blackburn said there is some physical evidence of Spanish in the area. He said he’s seen two artifacts: a slave (nose) ring and a lance. “We need to think about integrating the Spanish trail and the Native trail,” he said. There are a number of threats to the
graduate student willing to confront a high-profile critic of gay relationships. A young community organizer plunging into advocacy work for AIDS victims. Three gay couples in Hawaii suing for the right to marry at a time when that seemed far-fetched even to many activists. “It is pretty mind-blowing how quickly it’s moved,” said David Eisenbach, who teaches political history at Columbia University and has written about the gay-rights movement. “There are kids coming out in high school now, being accepted by their classmates,” Eisenbach said. “Parents, relatives, friends are seeing the people they love come out. It’s very hard to
Good to the last bite Diners line up for one last meal at the Bobcat Bite, an iconic roadside burger joint that will serve its last customers today. LoCAL NEws, C-1
obituaries Barbara A. Doolittle, Watrous and Santa Fe, May 27 Edward J. Frei Jr., 69, Santa Fe, June 5
Police notes C-2
Editor: Rob Dean, 986-3033, rdean@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
Real Estate E-1
Joanne Sisk Pendall, 83, Albuquerque and Santa Fe, May 26 PAgE C-2
Today Mostly sunny and warm. High 90, low 60.
Please see sTRIDEs, Page A-5
Opinions B-1
Rabbi Leonard Alfred Helman, 86, June 6
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Ellen Zachos The author/ethnobotanist discusses Backyard Foraging: 65 Plants You Didn’t Know You Could Eat, 11 a.m., Collected Works Bookstore, 202 Galisteo St., 988-4226. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
PAgE D-6
Sports D-1
Time Out/puzzles C-8
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010
Six sections, 48 pages 164th year, No. 160 Publication No. 596-440