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Friday, March 14, 2014
www.santafenewmexican.com
The New Mexican ’s Weekly Magazin
e of Arts, Enterta
inment & Culture
March 14, 2014
$1.25
SFHS girls aim for state title Class AAAA: Demonettes beat Valencia 38-37 to head to Friday’s championship day against Los Lunas. sPORTs, B-4
Lobos head to semis
2 killed at SXSW fest
Soul trained
Kirk, Bairstow score 21 each to help lead UNM over Fresno State 93-77.
Suspected drunken driver plows into crowd, faces murder and assault charges.
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.
sPORTs, B-4
Page a-6
PasaTIemPO
SHARON JONES & the Dap-Kings
Fired officer settles with state
A crew works on a natural gas drilling platform near Farmington in April 2012. Improved technology is allowing for a new oil and gas boom to come to the San Juan Basin.
Cop involved in Taos minivan shooting mum on details of agreement
NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
San Juan Basin to see new oil boom
Improved technology provides drillers with better ways to reach reserves in tight shale formations By Staci Matlock
The New Mexican
Northwestern New Mexico is prepping for a new oil and gas boom in a region that’s pumped out natural gas for decades and where those resources were once thought fully developed. The boom could be similar to what’s happening in southeastern New Mexico’s Permian Basin, and the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Montana, according to oil and
gas experts. Improved horizontal drilling technology and hydraulic fracturing provide drillers an economical way to reach oil and gas reserves in tight shale formations in the San Juan Basin, said Dave Evans, district manager of the Bureau of Land Management’s Farmington Field Office. The office is preparing for the boom by analyzing potential draw-
of the termination, a Department of Public Safety official said Thursday. However, both parties have been silent By Uriel J. Garcia about the details The New Mexican of the agreement Elias A state police officer who was fired between the state and Montoya after shooting at a minivan full of chilthe officer, Elias Mondren in Taos last year has reached a toya — including whether Montoya is deal with the state regarding his appeal back on the job or whether the settle-
ment included a payout. Montoya, a 12-year veteran of the state police, was fired in December after an internal investigation into his use of force during the Oct. 28 incident, which drew national attention after a video of the shooting was released. In an email, state police spokesman Lt. Emmanuel Gutierrez said only that “the case was resolved to the mutual
Please see OFFICeR, Page A-4
DWI deaths down State saw a record-low 133 alcohol-related fatalities in 2013
Please see BOOm, Page A-4
GM air bag failures linked to 303 deaths By Danielle Ivory and Hilary Stout The New York Times
As lawmakers press General Motors and regulators over their decadelong failure to correct a defective ignition switch, a new accounting of federal crash data shows that 303 people died after the air bags failed to deploy on two of the models that were recalled last month. The calculation of the air bag failures, by the Friedman Research Corp., adds to the mounting reports of problems that went unheeded
before General Motors announced last month that it was recalling more than 1.6 million cars worldwide because of the defective switch. GM has linked 12 deaths to the defective switch in the two models analyzed, the 2003-5 Chevrolet Cobalts and 2003-7 Saturn Ions, as well as four other models. The analysis by Friedman Research, a company that analyzes vehicle safety data, looked at cases in which the air bags failed to deploy but did not attempt to evalu-
Please see gm, Page A-4
Workers file suits against McDonald’s Employees in three states claim the fast-food chain illegally underpaid workers, didn’t pay overtime and ordered them to work off the clock. Page a-5
Obituaries
Today
Michael Vincent Lovato, 24, Santa Fe, March 8 Judith Lynn Tuttle, 80, Santa Fe, Feb. 10 Pasqual Sanchez, March 5
Clouds and sun with a shower. High 54, low 31. Page a-8
Page B-2
Index
Calendar a-2
Classifieds C-2
Comics C-12
Crosswords C-3, C-11
New Mexico State Police Officer Rudy Mora checks motorists at a DWI checkpoint on Interstate 25 north of the Tramway exit in Albuquerque in 2008. Gov. Susana Martinez says alcohol-related traffic deaths in New Mexico have reached a record low. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
By The numBeRs DWI DEATHS IN NEW MEXICO
By Russell Contreras The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE lcohol-related traffic deaths in New Mexico have reached a record low after falling sharply over 10 years, Gov. Susana Martinez announced Thursday. Martinez said preliminary numbers show the state saw 133 fatal alcoholrelated crashes last year, a nearly 14 percent drop from 2012. That’s the lowest number of annual alcoholrelated traffic deaths recorded in the state and marked a 38 percent decline from a decade ago, the governor said. Martinez attributed the recent decline to tougher DWI penalties, aggressive programs by law enforcement agencies and better awareness by the public. “We won’t stop and we will not back off,” Martinez said at a press conference at Islesta Amphitheater. “We have to continue to work to bring those fatalities to zero.” The state’s previous low was in 2008 when New Mexico saw 143 alcohol-
A
Lotteries a-2
Opinion a-7
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 983-3035
Sports B-4
133
Number of fatal alcohol-related crashes in 2013.
14% 38% 143 Drop in fatal alcohol-related crashes from 2012.
related traffic deaths. Officials said some traffic fatalities involved substances other than alcohol. Richard Woodward applauded the latest numbers but said he still lives with the Susana pain of a deadly crash Martinez that changed his family. His 18-month-old grandson Brandon Lucero-Moya was killed by a driver high on methamphetamines in 2010 when the driver slammed into Woodward’s car at a stop sign in a residential area. The driver, Driver Ramon Rasco, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2011 after he was found guilty on
Time Out C-11
Three sections, 38 pages Pasatiempo, 48 pages 165th year, No. 73 Publication No. 596-440
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Number of DWI deaths in 2008, the state’s previous low.
charges that included homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence. “It is getting better, and I am really happy for that,” Woodward said about the state’s improved numbers. The New Mexico Department of Transportation said preliminary numbers show that New Mexico saw a total of 309 traffic deaths last year. That’s about a 16 percent drop from 2012, when officials reported 367 cases. Official said they hope traffic fatalities will drop even more next year. Martinez recently sign a bill prohibiting drivers from sending or reading text messages and emails, and doing Internet searches from smartphones or other hand-held wireless devices.
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