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Sunday, October 27, 2013
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Spying risks
Tough stuff
Revelations about National Security Agency tactics, which allegedly include tapping the phones of world leaders, threaten to undermine U.S. policy. Page a-3
Contestants guide stone-filled wheelbarrows through a Railyard Park obstacle course to mark the end of a stone symposium. lOCal, D-1
AD search continues Santa Fe Public Schools says it is still in interview phase and would like a larger pool of candidates. SPORtS, C-1
Curious Adélie penguins will walk a couple of miles to check out what the Moss Landing Marine Lab teams are doing in Antarctica. COURTESY LAUGHLIN BARKER
2014 MUNICIPAL ELECTION
Santa Fe engineer lands cool research gig — in Antarctica
Mobilized to make the ballot
U.S. team studying food web on frigid continent By Staci Matlock
coffee shop with unexpected free time on his hands.
Santa Fe native Laughlin Barker put his natural talent as a tinkerer to good use at the bottom of the world last year. Barker, who began taking gadgets apart and putting them back together at age 5, was an engineer with a team of scientists studying Antarctica’s food web. Now 25, Barker was preparing to head back to McMurdo StaLaughlin tion in Antarctica Barker with the team this October when the partial federal government shutdown halted the trip. It takes time to gear up for the three-month research season and the two-week government shutdown came at a bad time. Now the team has to wait until next year to go back down and continue their research. “It is unfortunate that petty politics had to get in the way of science,” Barker said recently, sitting at a downtown Santa Fe
Under ice
The New Mexican
McMurdo Station, established in 1956, becomes a self-supporting town from October through February. It is a U.S. research camp on the southern tip of Ross Island, more than 2,400 miles from New Zealand. The active volcano Mount Erebus is visible from the camp. Two runways — one on the sea ice and one on the more permanent ice shelf — provide landing strips for planes carrying people and supplies. The station serves as a base where research teams can eat, sleep, store data and have an occasional beer. Humans began protecting Antarctica decades ago. Under the 1959 Antarctic Treaty, the continent was set aside for scientific research and peaceful activities. “No resource extraction is allowed, no waste dumping, no weapons,” Barker said.
Nannette Alarid, owner of Hot Locks Hair Salon, contributes $5 and signs Javier Gonzales’ public financing petition Wednesday. CLYDE MUELLER/THE NEW MEXICAN
By Daniel J. Chacón The New Mexican
C
Please see COOl, Page A-4
ON tHe WeB u Find out more about the SCINI team’s work in Antarctica at http:// scini-penguin.mlml.calstate.edu/
Former Mayor Debbie Jaramillo chats with mayoral hopeful Bill Dimas at a campaign rally and dance Friday at the Fraternal Order of Police. JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN
The hunt gets harder for jobless over age 50 Older applicants report increasingly difficulty searches for work By Matt Sedensky The Associated Press
ROCKFORD, Ill. — When Charlie Worboys lost his job, he feared searching for a new one at his age might be tough. Six years later, at 65, he’s still looking. Luanne Lynch, 57, was laid off three times in the past decade and previous layoffs brought jobs with a lower salary; this time she can’t even get that. They’re not alone. A new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds many people over 50 reporting great difficulty finding work and feeling that their age is a factor.
After Worboys was laid off and his hunt for another teaching job was fruitless, he sought counseling positions. When those leads dried up, he applied for jobs in juvenile detention centers, in sales and elsewhere. He finally settled for parttime work, all the while still scouring online listings and sending out applications each week. “They’re looking for the younger person,” he said. “They look at the number 65 and they don’t bother to look behind it.” The AP-NORC Center poll found 55 percent of those 50 and older who have sought a job in the past five years characterized their search as difficult, and 43 percent thought employers were concerned about their age. Further, most in the poll reported finding few available
Roman ‘Tiger’ Abeyta meets with Joe Martinez while going door-to-door Thursday in Martinez’s neighborhood to garner signatures and $5 donations to reach the threshold for public financing. JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN
Please see HUNt, Page A-5
High-tech decor The integration of technology into home decor has come a long way with stylish built-ins and other gadgets. Real eState, e-1
Finding his own path
Calendar a-2
Classifieds e-9
today High 67, low 38. Page C-7
Lotteries a-2
Neighbors C-8
Opinions B-1
ity Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger wakes up to visions of $5 bills in her head. Neighborhood activist Margaret Josina Campos carries pieces of chicken in her purse to defend against angry dogs. Armed with a smartphone that maps likely voters, Roman “Tiger” Abeyta, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Fe, walks door-to-door after work and on weekends. As six of the seven candidates running for mayor in March try to qualify for public financing — the first time in a mayoral election in Santa Fe — their strategies for complying with the public campaign finance code are as different as the candidates themselves. Their efforts are meeting with uneven success, and along the way exposing strengths and weaknesses in a system intended to remove the influence of big money from city politics. Each candidate must collect $5 contributions from 600 individuals and the signatures of 265 people on their nominating petitions. Besides Wurzburger, Campos and Abeyta, the three other mayoral candidates seeking public financing are city councilors Patti Bushee and Bill Dimas and former state Democratic Party chairman Javier Gonzales. Only candidate Michael D’Anna, a night auditor at Motel 6, has opted not to go the public-financing route. “I’m not taking public or private financing. It’s self-funding,” he said. At least four of the candidates say they’ve met the threshold to qualify for public financing, though City Clerk Yolanda Vigil has yet to verify the information. Qualified mayoral candidates can get $60,000 each in public money. City Council candidates are required to collect 150 contributions of $5 each from people registered to vote in their council district to get $15,000 each in public funding. They must also get the signatures on their nominating petitions of one-half of 1 percent of the registered voters in their district. While council candidates tested the city’s public campaign finance code in the last election, this crop of mayoral contenders say the process has proved a boon in some ways, but also has room to improve. Among the benefits: Engaging voters face-to-face and cementing the foundation of their campaigns. Among the drawbacks: Candidates say they’re spending more time explaining public financing or filling out forms than listening to voters’ concerns. Some candidates have also slipped along the way as they or their supporters navigate the new system.
Obituaries
Mostly sunny.
Santa Fe transplant Paul Thacher prepares for a new phase of his life with a career in astrology. NeIgHBORS, C-8
Index
Mayoral hopefuls hit the streets to qualify for public financing, unearth system’s strengths, weaknesses
Police notes D-3
Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
Faye Myrick, 59, Oct. 22 Katherine Joyce Sybella Alvarez, Oct. 8 Parkinson Robison, Mary L. Baca (Pita), 92, Santa Fe, Oct. 21 77, Oct. 14 Albert R. Romero, Joe Naga Barela, Oct. 23 95, Santa Fe, Oct. 13 Patrick Anthony John Rowley, Clement, 80, Santa Fe, 86, Santa Fe, Oct. 24 Oct. 22 George Arthur Tate, Mary Lou Cook, 88, Santa Fe, Oct. 19 95, Santa Fe, Oct. 7 Tom Grammer, 65, Oct. 9 Tyra Allison Ulibarri, 34, Santa Fe, Oct. 20 Josina M. Howland, 90, Albuquerque, Oct. 23 PageS D-2, D-3
Real Estate e-1
Sports C-1
Time Out/puzzles e-16
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‘Feel the Spirit’ Santa Fe Men’s Camerata fall choral concert, 3 p.m., Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat and Conference Center, 50 Mount Carmel Road, $20, under 18 no charge, 571-6352.
Six sections, 48 pages 164th year, No. 300 Publication No. 596-440