Hilltopper sets high jump high mark at Marilyn Sepulveda Meet Sports, B-1
Locally owned and independent
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
www.santafenewmexican.com 75¢
Court: State must recognize tribe Fort Sill Apaches laud ruling as ‘turning point’ while Governor’s Office disagrees with decision
Median removal costs taxpayers City-mandated road dividers on Paseo de Peralta made lanes too narrow for snow plows, so crews had to dig them up. PAge A-6
By Patrick Malone
The New Mexican
The New Mexico Supreme Court ordered the state on Monday to recognize the Fort Sill Apache tribe, which had been forced from its ancestral home in the state in 1886. The high court issued its unanimous ruling with just 15 minutes of
deliberation after hearing arguments from lawyers representing the tribe and Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration. Tribal Chairman Jeff Haozous cheered the court decision as a rare victory for his tribe in its historically acrimonious relationship with government. “In a way, it’s a turning point from
being opposed by state governments to being allowed to return,” he said. The Governor’s Office issued a statement disagreeing with the court’s ruling. “The Supreme Court’s ruling ignored the fact that the Fort Sill Apache tribe is not actually located in the state of New Mexico,” said Enrique Knell, Martinez’s spokesman. “The ruling will require the state to include Fort Sill in discussions on education, health care, water and natural resources, and capital outlay, even though the tribe has no commu-
nity or tribal members on its lands in New Mexico.” Jeremiah Ritchie, the lawyer representing the Governor’s Office, argued that the Fort Sill Apache tribe has neither the population nor infrastructure in New Mexico to be recognized by the state. “That is a cruel irony of a fact, given that they were forcibly removed from their tribal land,” said Chuck Peifer, the lawyer representing the Fort Sill Apache tribe.
Please see TRIBe, Page A-5
Nigeria blast kills 71 Attack in capital one of the deadliest in years. PAge A-3
Babies’ bodies found Police say Utah woman hid seven dead infants in garage. PAge A-3
Mayor seeks stiffer fines for cell use while driving
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
Webber leads Dems as Martinez out-raises all rivals
Group claims governor overstepped authority when she nixed 8% raise By Patrick Malone The New Mexican
By Steve Terrell
The New Mexican
Alan Webber, a retired magazine publisher who lives in Santa Fe, reported putting together more campaign cash than any of his four Democratic rivals in the gubernatorial race — although more than half of Webber’s total includes contributions and loans from himself and his wife. Meanwhile, financial disclosures filed Monday show incumbent Republican Gov. Susana Martinez out-raised all other candidates, adding more than another $1.3 million to her campaign war chest. Martinez, who has no opposition in the June primary election, reported that she had more than $4.2 million in the bank as of April 7. The campaign finance reports filed Monday with the Secretary of State’s Office are the first since October
Please see FINANCe, Page A-4
gOveRNOR’S RACe FUNdS Amounts candidates have raised since October, according the Secretary of State’s Office:
Susana Martinez
$1.3 million
Lawrence Rael
$322,963
Alan Webber
$834,000
Gary King
$229,479
A driver uses his cellphone while crossing the intersection of Cerrillos Road and St. Francis Drive on Monday. Mayor Javier Gonzales is proposing an amendment to the city’s traffic ordinance that would double the existing $100 fine and triple it for offenses in school zones. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
Proposal would double existing $100 penalty, triple it in school zones By Daniel J. Chacón
The New Mexican
D
rivers across New Mexico who are caught texting while behind the wheel will face fines under a new law that goes into effect in July. And in the city of Santa Fe, fines for drivers cited for using a cellphone could be even stiffer under a proposal by Mayor Javier Gonzales. His proposed amendment to the city’s uniform traffic ordinance calls for fining motorists $200 for using a cellphone while driving — twice as much as the existing $100 fine — and $300 if the offense occurs in a school zone. In contrast, the state’s new antitexting law calls for fining violators $25 for a first offense and $50 for every subsequent violation. “Texting and driving is unsafe, and we must all do our part to break this bad habit that results in injury and loss of life,” Gonzales said in a statement Monday. “I want to send a strong message about the dangers of distracted driving and remind everyone that when you take your eyes off
Pasapick
the road, even for a few seconds, it could cost someone injury or even death.” But at least one of Santa Fe’s eight city councilors doubts that higher fines would make much of a difference. “Being a former law enforcement officer, and knowing a lot of the law enforcement officers and talking to them, it’s going to be next to impossible to enforce,” Councilor Bill Dimas said last week. “I mean, they’re not giving citations now on a first offense, much less doubling the fines and tripling because if you double and triple nothing, it still equals nothing.” Santa Fe police issued 478 citations for cellphone violations last year, according to Municipal Court records. Enforcement is a key component of any law that bans texting while driving, said Deb Trombley, senior program manager of transportation initiatives for the National Safety Council. “Higher fines are good, but people also need to think that they’re going to be caught,” she said. City Councilor Peter Ives, who
ON OUR WeBSITe u If fines were doubled for cellphone use on the road, would you be less likely to use your phone while driving? Vote online at www.santafenewmexican.com.
is co-sponsoring the proposal for stiffer penalties, said a number of people had reached out to him in the hope of increasing the penalty for using a cellphone while driving. Ives said he was working on a proposal to increase fines when Gonzales, who was elected in March, expressed interest in strengthening the penalties imposed by the state’s antitexting law. The fines do not apply during emergencies or when drivers use hands-free mobile devices. “I think we’ve all had the experience of driving around town and seeing folks just happily talking away on their phones in their cars and wondering what we can do about it, to try and really get folks to pay more attention to their driving and not to their phone use while driving,” Ives said.
Please see FINeS, Page A-4
Howie Morales
Index
Linda Lopez
$28,570
Calendar A-2
Classifieds B-5
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 983-3035
Crosswords B-6, B-11
Please see PAY, Page A-5
ON OUR WeBSITe u View a copy of the lawsuit at www.santafenewmexican.com.
Lotteries A-2
Opinions A-10
Lumber store built to last
Partly sunny and warmer. High 65, low 36.
Don Goldman, April 14 Louise V. Kippert, Santa Fe, April 11 Eli Augustine Martinez, 1 day, Rio Chama, April 12 Maria Isabel (Bell) Mondragon Elizabeth A. “Betsey” Montano, 78, Albuquerque, April 12 Jose Leon “Leo” Segura, April 10 Carole “Mayor Nanita” Silon, March 7
Alpine Builders Supply Company has carved out a niche selling hardto-find woods at its downtown location.
PAge A-12
PAge A-8
LOCAL BUSINeSS, A-9
www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Patricia McCraw will talk about her book about the rise of New Mexico’s famous mines on Turquoise Hill as seen through the eyes of American Turquoise Company Superintendent James Patrick McNulty, 7:30 p.m., Fuller Lodge, 2132 Central Ave., Los Alamos. Call the Los Alamos Historical Society for details, 662-6272. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
Comics B-12
A group of New Mexico judges filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to overturn Gov. Susana Martinez’s veto of an 8 percent pay raise for the judiciary, claiming the governor overstepped her authority. The judges are asking the New Mexico Supreme Court to reinstate the pay increase, even though the ruling could affect Supreme Court justices’ own salaries. “The New Mexico Constitution grants specific powers to each of the three co-equal branches of government,” said Ray Vargas, the lawyer representing the judges. “In our Constitution, it is solely up to the Legislature to set judicial pay, which it did. By vetoing judicial salaries, the governor exercised powers the executive branch does not have and ignored the system of checks and balances built into the Constitution.” Vargas contends that when Martinez struck down language in the state budget related to the judicial raises, she left no provision for judicial salaries at all after July 1. “It puts everyone in a very uncomfortable situation because we have no law on the books that authorizes a salary for judges for fiscal year 2015,” Vargas said. The Governor’s Office strongly disagrees with that assertion and the claim that Martinez’s veto exceeded the powers of her office. “The argument that the executive plays a role in setting the salaries of every state worker except judges is not only brazen, but quite arrogant,” said Martinez spokesman Enrique Knell. “Judges are not above the law, and their salaries are set through the legislative process as well — a process that includes the governor.”
Obituaries
‘Tiffany Blue’ discussion with the author
$172,916
Judges file suit over vetoed pay hike
Today
Sports B-1
Time Out B-11
Local Business A-9
BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM
Two sections, 24 pages 165th year, No. 105 Publication No. 596-440