Sunday, September 15, 2013 THE NEW MEXICAN
In brief Police seek robbery suspect The Santa Fe Police Department is searching for Alex Gallegos, 29, as a suspect in a Tuesday robbery at a convenience store on Siler Road. He is considered armed and dangerous, according to Alex Gallegos police. The Latinos Unidos Convenience Store, 1242 Siler Road, was robbed just after 11 a.m. Tuesday. Police believe more than one person was involved in the crime, which was recorded by a surveillance camera. The footage shows a red 2004 Dodge Stratus leaving the scene, and police say it belongs to Gallegos. On the tape, a blond man between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet tall, weighing about 170 pounds, flashes a handgun hidden in his waistband and demands that the store clerk hand over the cash in the register. The unknown suspect fled with an undisclosed amount of money. If anyone sees the car, has information about Gallegos’ location or can identify the man in the video, police are asking them to call 428-3710 or Crime Stoppers at 955-5050.
Forum planned on power system A public forum is planned from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Scottish Rite Temple, 463 Paseo de Peralta, on the question of whether Santa Fe’s electric power system should be publicly owned. The League of Women Voters of Santa Fe County, the Sierra Club of Northern New Mexico and New Energy Economy are hosting the free public forum. According to a news release, a not-for-profit energy system could mean less coal burning, more renewable energy, savings for consumers and new jobs for Santa Fe. Speakers on Wednesday will include Karl R. Rábago, former vice president of Austin Energy; Nann Winter, a New Mexico attorney specializing in municipal utilities; and Paul Campos, an attorney and former Santa Fe County commissioner. For more information, contact Judy Williams at 920-7817 or jkwilliams24@gmail.com.
Hearing set for horse slaughter ROSWELL — The New Mexico Environment Department has set a public hearing on a water discharge permit for a Roswell company seeking to open up a horse slaughter processing plant. The Roswell Daily Record reported that a hearing at the 5th Judicial District Courthouse has been scheduled next month on Valley Meat Co.’s permit. State officials say the hearing was required after the department’s Water Quality Bureau received more than 450 public comments concerning Valley Meat’s application. Kevin Powers of the Environment Department’s Office of General Counsel says less than 12 of the public responses were received from New Mexico residents.
Intel cuts force in Rio Rancho ALBUQUERQUE — Intel Cop. says it is reducing the workforce at its chip-making plant in Rio Rancho. The Albuquerque Journal reported that Intel plans to “redeploy” 400 of the Rio Rancho plant’s 3,300 workers due to a changing market. The announcement didn’t provide details about what will happen with the workers, but it says the company is offering various options to the affected workers. Those include transfers to other Intel sites and voluntary retirement and separation packages. Staff and wire reports
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Suit: State Supreme Court denied motion in 2012 Continued from Page C-1 of Teachers-New Mexico, said teachers are overwhelmed by the move and wish to focus on working with the new Common Core Standards this year rather than be placed under additional pressure with a new evaluation system. She said all 31 chapters of the union in the state — which together represent at least 15,000 teachers — voted to
join the lawsuit. Bernstein said Albuquerque teachers are supportive of a new evaluation plan “as long as the system is welldeveloped, well-implemented, based on research, and has some integrity.” Ly echoed that thought, noting that teachers would like at least an additional year to play a role in revamping the evaluation system to “provide positive feedback to teachers and reflect
back on how they can improve their teaching.” Although NEA-Santa Fe did not join the lawsuit, the organization’s head, Bernice Garcia-Baca, said she thinks most Santa Fe teachers “would be in favor of anything that would slow down the implementation of this plan. I think everybody feels that this evaluation system — especially the high reliance on testing scores to indicate whether a teacher is
Books: Donations welcome Continued from Page C-1 “The first idea was to distribute books to people, because some people just cannot afford them. Then the other idea is, we actually need people to read books. So we started having contests with really cool prizes.” At the Income Support Division office off the Interstate 25 Frontage Road, the students converted a small glassed-in area into an inviting reading room for children who often have long waits with their parents. They put in colorful carpets and comfortable, kidsized easy chairs. There are even a few toys. One of the shelf stockers, Alex Malhotra, 14, said the division’s site is one of the most popular, and they often have to resupply it with books. On Friday, as soon as the middle-schoolers were finished sorting and restocking the shelves with books in English and Spanish, two little girls wandered in to take a look. Ava Love-Montoya, 3, and Madison Quintana, 4, both said they like to read books. “My favorite is Beauty and the Beast,” Madison said. “I go to the library with my Nona [grandmother].” “Me, too,” Ava said. The bookstop project now involves youth from Capital High School, Santa Fe High, Acequia Madre Elementary, Monte del Sol Charter School, the Academy for Technology and the Classics, Santa Fe Prep and the New Mexico School for the Arts. Students from each school are part of a steering committee called Youth United for Hooked on Books. The committee thinks up the various contests and prizes, judges
Hooked on BookS SiteS u New Mexico Department
of Motor Vehicles, 2546 Camino Entrada u New Mexico Income Support Division, 39B Plaza la Prensa u Camino Entrada Medical Clinic, 2590 Camino Entrada u Genoveva Chavez Community Center, 3221 W. Rodeo Road u Urgent Care, 2801 W. Rodeo Road u New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, 1920 Fifth Street u Arroyo Chamiso Pediatric Center, 2025 Galisteo Street
the contests and conducts the awards ceremony. (In the latest contest, youth read a book, then draw a map about a place in the book and submit it for consideration. The deadline is Nov. 1.) Seventh-grader Gabe Maestas, 12, who said he didn’t learn to read well until second grade, will help tutor other youth through the program. Middle-schoolers from the Santa Fe School for the Arts and Sciences also tutor elementary students at César Chávez Community School every Friday morning throughout the year. The student program also collects and distributes books to the Prison Project, which provides books for prisoners and their children. The community can help the reading program by sponsoring a bookshelf or donating books. Each bookshelf has a donation bin next to it. “We are in need of books for infants through young adult,” said Santa Fe School for the Arts and Sciences teacher
u Christus St. Vincent
Regional Medical Center emergency room waiting room u Women, Infants and Children, Santa Fe County Health Office, 605 Letrado St. u Casa Alegre Housing on West Alameda Street u Santa Fe Public Schools Special Education Department; contact katinaabbott @gmail.com For more information on Hooked on Books and the Youth United, visit www. nmallianceforliteracy.org
Rayna Dineen. “We are always in need of bilingual children’s books and picture books. “Some of our bookshelves have been sponsored by local businesses, like Beehive Books and Tumbleweeds, but most are in need of a sponsor,” she said. Adult books can be donated in Hooked on Books’ name to Op Cit books in the Sanbusco Center or Books & More on Cerrillos Road. Books can also be dropped off at donation bins at Java Joe’s on Rodeo Road and any New Mexico Bank and Trust office. The Youth United reading efforts earned a national Peace Jam youth service award last year. As part of the award, Nobel Peace Prize-winner Betty Williams will visit Santa Fe and Hooked on Books/ Youth United in mid-November. Winners of the latest reading contest will have an opportunity to meet Williams. Contact Staci Matlock at 986-3055 or smatlock@ sfnewmexican.com.
Flooding: Small creeks surge Continued from Page C-1 Mineral Hill and N.M. 65 in the Gallinas Canyon, both west of Las Vegas. The roads were the only way to safety for residents who lived between the two routes. Lawrence Sanchez had watched the Tecolote Creek near his house in Mineral Hill swelling dangerously Friday when a wedding party stopped to ask if they could use his footbridge. “They used a wheelbarrow to take all their decorations across. They decided it was safer to move the party into Las Vegas,” Sanchez said with a chuckle, as he stood with friends and talked about the flood Saturday. He said Tecolote Creek usually runs less than a couple of feet deep and 3 to 4 feet wide. On Friday, he said, the floodwaters swirled around his house and back porch and then receded. His friend Sam Dixon said the rain gauge at his Mineral Hill home measured 7 inches of rain from Tuesday to Saturday morning. A cousin’s rain gauge in another part of the valley collected 10 inches in the same time period. Dixon estimated more than 200 people over age 70 live in the area. “The older people can’t get out when the roads flood,” he said. Before the drought of the last five years shrank the creek flows, said Mineral Hill resident Josef Jaureguiberry, N.M. 283 and a smaller road to the Church of Christ Blue Haven Camp would become muddy and briefly impassable a couple of times a year, “But nothing like this.” The flooding washed out a newly improved road leading to houses past the Blue Haven Camp, including Jaurguiberry’s parents. “It took us 25 years to get the road,” Dixon said. “Mother Nature just took it back,” Sanchez added. The Gallinas Creek, which is the primary water source for Las Vegas, swelled with floodwaters Thursday and Friday. The creek roared through the narrow Gallinas Canyon, toppling trees, wiping out bridges
and private driveways and burying a Santa Fe National Forest campground under inches of mud. One couple in the canyon tried to leave their home Friday, only to have both roads leading to safety blocked by floodwaters. The couple were finally rescued by a helicopter near midnight. The Gallinas Creek flow had fallen to less than 5 cubic feet per second, barely enough to wet a toe, until Tuesday. As rain in the mountains began pouring into the creek, the volume of water shot up to more than 1,000 cfs. By Friday, it had doubled until it went off the chart as measured at the Lourdes gauge. Rain fell most of Friday night and Saturday morning around Santa Fe and villages to the north. One Santa Fe rain gauge collected 2 inches of rain, while a gauge in Truchas measured 2.2 inches. At 8 p.m. Saturday night, the Rio Grande measured at the Otowi gauge between Santa Fe and Los Alamos was moving at 2,000 cfs, more than twice its average for this time. Elsewhere in New Mexico, officials said heavy rain Friday caused the Rio Grande and nearby creeks to overflow in Sierra County and forced an unknown number of residents to evacuate. In response, Gov. Susana Martinez issued a state of emergency for all of New Mexico to open up recovery funding. The governor was scheduled to tour flood damage at Truth or Consequences and Las Vegas Saturday. In Doña Ana County, heavy rains overwhelmed an aging earthen dam outside La Union causing flooded homes, washed out roads and utility outages. County spokesman Jess Williams told the Las Cruces SunNews that no injuries were reported and he did not know how many people were affected. “It’s yet another wake-up call,” Williams said, referring to the many earthen dams throughout Doña Ana County. “They were never meant to protect residential areas.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
good or not — is not sensible.” Democratic Sens. Howie Morales and Linda Lopez joined state Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton and the American Federation of Teachers-New Mexico, as well as Bernstein and teacher Ryan Ross, in the petition. Lopez and Stapleton joined the teachers union and others in a similar petition in the state Supreme Court in late 2012, but their motion was denied.
This action led them to pursue action in District Court, Bernstein said. On Friday, Larry Behrens, spokesperson for the Public Education Department, said via email that “the lawsuit rehashes the same tired arguments the Supreme Court rejected late last year. We will fight yet another tactic to delay because we understand over 300,000 New Mexico students deserve better.”
Church: Is inclusive Continued from Page C-1 ment of the Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III after 37 years with the church. A search for a permanent pastor is underway. Schlechter is the church’s first female pastor, and she noted that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America also recently elected Elizabeth Eaton as its first female presiding bishop. Christ Lutheran preaches a message of inclusivity: It’s supportive of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals and has a longstanding friendship with Temple Beth Shalom, whose Rabbi Schwab often attends services at the church. Every fall, Christ Lutheran hosts a breaking of the fast for Temple Beth Shalom following Yom Kippur, while Temple Beth Shalom buys Christ Lutheran a wreath during the December holidays. “Theologically, our interpretation is that there are no distinctions between people, no qualifiers,” said Rickey Faehl, who has been a member of Christ Lutheran since the 1970s. “We implicitly welcome people of all stripes — we even have a Buddhist priest who comes on Sundays.” “[Inclusivity] is not just about sexual orientation,” Schlechter added. “It goes back to civil rights and a strong sense of social justice.” Community engagement is a way of life at Christ Lutheran. Back in the early 1970s, the church helped found the Santa Fe Farmers Market, financially assisting farmers so they could bring their produce to town. Christ Lutheran is home to weekly events hosted by
outside groups, like courtmandated DWI courses, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and Zumba classes. Every Thursday, congregation members distribute bags of groceries purchased from The Food Depot to 20 or 30 families. When the Cerro Grande Fire led to the evacuation of much of Los Alamos in 2000, the church served as a refuge for people forced to leave their homes. The size of Christ Lutheran’s congregation is about the same today as it was in the mid-1960s. “It used to be if you built it, they would come,” Peterson observed, “but since the church’s founding, the world has changed around it.” Currently, the church has five members under the age of 18 and continuously considers how to reach out to youth. “It’s something we’re concerned about, because we really think we have something of value to give younger people,” Faehl said. While Christ Lutheran members are united in being good neighbors and, as Faehl put it, “being a Christ-centered community,” they don’t agree on all political and social issues. But Schlechter believes that’s of little consequence. “We’re diverse, but we’re united before the altar,” she said. “We’re equal before God.” On Sunday, Sept. 15, Christ Lutheran will celebrate turning 50 with a catered luncheon. Regular services are held at 8 and 10 a.m. every Sunday. To learn more about the church, call 983-9461 or visit www. clcsantafe.com.
Funeral services and memorials JOE WERNER WOOD On September 9, 2013 at the age of 89, Joe Werner Wood died peacefully at home having been a good loving son, brother, husband, father and grandpa. He accomplished much and left the world a better place. Born January 28, 1924 in Heber Springs, Arkansas to Bynum and Zula Wood, Joe was one of four boys. He graduated from Little Rock High School. In December 1941, Joe joined the U.S Navy and served until February 1946. During that period, Joe attended Midshipman School at Notre Dame University where he was on the tennis team. After leaving the Navy, Joe hitchhiked out to New Mexico. He was in the first graduating class of the University Of New Mexico School Of Law in 1950. He was admitted to the State Bar of New Mexico that same year. During Joe’s 51 years of legal service to the people of New Mexico, he worked as an attorney of the New Mexico Legislative Counsel Service, in private law practice in Farmington and as Judge of the New Mexico court of Appeals from 1966 to 1986. He served as Chief Judge of Court of Appeals from 1971-1981. After leaving the Court of Appeals in 1986, Joe worked Of-Counsel at the Hinkle Law Firm until he took inactive status as a lawyer at the end of September 2001. The driving forces in Joe’s life were his family and the deeply held desire to be fair to all. He had a fine sense of humor. He read extensively, really enjoying reading all kinds of history books and Agatha Christie Mystery books. He passed on a love of reading to his three daughters. He also taught his daughters the value of hard work, the love of nature, and the value of helping other people. Joe lived and breathed the law. He considered the finest compliment he ever got was from two young lawyers working different sides of a case; they discovered that Judge Wood decided each case as he saw it, he never favored any side. He is survived by his three daughters: Lorraine Wood Nicholls (Simon), Rachel Wood (Kevin Haughton) and Helen Wood; grandchildren: Megan and Alex Haughton. We shall miss you Joe, we love you.
Rivera Family Funerals and Cremations 417 East Rodeo Rd. Santa Fe, NM 87505 Phone: (505)989-7032 Fax: (505)820-0435 santafefuneraloption.com