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THE NEW MEXICAN Tuesday, November 25, 2014
LOCAL NEWS
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AG’s office asks high court to remove judge Raphaelson says she shouldn’t have been on retention ballot By Phaedra Haywood The New Mexican
The New Mexico Attorney General’s Office is asking the state Supreme Court to remove District Judge Sheri Raphaelson from the bench by Jan. 1, 2015. Raphaelson, who was appointed in
2009 to fill a vacancy on the First Judicial District bench and won election in 2010, has said she won’t voluntarily leave office until the end of 2016, despite voters booting her in a Sheri retention election Raphaelson early this month. The judge, who has primarily presided over a Rio Arriba County docket, says that under her interpretation of the law, her name
shouldn’t have been on the Nov. 4 ballot. Although Raphaelson now insists she doesn’t have to stand for retention until six years after her election, she filed a declaration of candidacy to have her name put on the ballot this year. Assistant Attorney General Scott Fuqua wrote in writ of quo warranto filed Friday with the Supreme Court that Raphaelson “miscalculated the length of her term. Because she inherited a six-year term two years after it had begun, she was properly subject
to retention in the 2014 general election. But even if her retention election was held two years early, [Raphaelson] voluntarily subjected herself to that election and is bound by its results.” Raphaelson said Monday she plans to file a response but had no further comment. Raphaelson, 49, is one of only two judges — out of 86 reviewed statewide — who received a “do not retain” recommendation from the New Mexico Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission this year. Judges who stand for retention
Woman was found dead in Sangre de Cristo Mountains with hands, arms in stream
Hike would boost average bill by 60 percent in 5 years
By Robert Nott The New Mexican
Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com
Please see AG, Page A-7
S.F. county proposes sewer rate increase
Officials: Hiker died of hypothermia
Audrey Kaplan, who was found dead in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains above Santa Fe after she went hiking in late July, died of hypothermia, the state Office of the Medical Investigator determined. The 75-year-old Dallas woman, who along with her husband had a second home in Santa Fe, was discovered in a densely wooded area with her arms and hands in a stream of water, according to an autopsy report released by the Audrey Kaplan agency. She had removed some or all of her clothes in what the report calls paradoxical undressing, in which people who are freezing to death take off their clothes as if they are burning up with fever. Searchand-rescue team members found her clothing and other belongings nearby. “Although there are no specific autopsy findings to indicate hypothermia (drop in body temperature to below normal), the circumstances of Ms. Kaplan’s death and lack of fatal disease at autopsy support cold exposure due to very low temperature at night,” said the report, dated Sept. 12 on an autopsy conducted by Michelle Aurelius, assistant chief medical investigator and University of New Mexico Hospital autopsy director. “The findings support that Ms. Kaplan got lost while hiking, became dehydrated and died of hypothermia … with accelerated loss of body heat from being wet either from thunderstorm rain or immersion in the stream. There were no injuries that caused or contributed to death.” Authorities have said that Kaplan had gone hiking with her husband, Norman Kaplan, on the morning of Wednesday, July 30 on the Winsor Trail, which has a trailhead at a parking lot near the Santa Fe ski basin. She separated from her husband and left the trail to search for mushrooms around 10:30 a.m. When she didn’t show up by 12:15 p.m. her husband and others went looking for her. Torrential rains, fog and cold nighttime temperatures in the low 40s enveloped the area that following Friday, making search-and-rescue efforts difficult. Her body was found in the afternoon on Monday, Aug. 4, about 1.2 miles northwest of Wilderness Gate.
must receive affirmative votes from at least 57 percent of the voters to stay in office. According to unofficial results of the general election, Raphaelson received 55.88 percent of the vote. The state canvassing board is scheduled to meet Tuesday to certify the election results. Two days after the election, Raphaelson wrote a letter to Raymond Ortiz, chief judge of the First Judicial District, which includes Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba counties.
By Daniel J. Chacón The New Mexican
Sipapu on Sunday. Sipapu Ski Resort is enjoying 31 inches of snow and an early opening. COURTESY OF SIPAPU SKI AREA
Lack of snow delays opening at Ski Santa Fe Recent storms were not enough for resort to open on Thanksgiving Day By Staci Matlock The New Mexican
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wo questions weigh heavy on many minds before Thanksgiving: Will the turkey be ready in time for dinner and will the ski areas open? Ski Santa Fe won’t. On Monday, Ski Santa Fe announced to postpone the season opener until Dec. 6. The local ski basin received 2 inches of snow over the weekend and has been making snow daily since Nov. 10. More snow fell Monday night. But the ski resort only reported about a 10-inch base as of Monday and needs at least 2 feet for a good opening day, said communications director Deborah Owen. “We’re ready to go,” Owen said. “If we get the right storm we can open in 48 hours.” The ski basin features 77 trails and seven lifts. Thanksgiving openings have proven elusive for Ski Santa Fe. It opened on Thanksgiving Day in 2013, for the first time in 11 years, thanks to a snowstorm the week prior. Taos Ski Valley plans to open at least some of its 110 trails and 15 lifts on Thanksgiving Day. The ski resort on Monday was reporting a 36-inch base and had received about a foot of new snow over the last five days. Now celebrating its 60th year, Taos Ski Valley will be open Thursdays through Sundays only until Dec. 12 and then will be open daily.
In brief Wolf Creek Ski Area owner admits he lacked permit Davey Pitcher, owner of Wolf Creek Ski Area in Southern Colorado, pleaded guilty in federal court in Durango, Colo., Monday to one count of conducting work in the Rio Grande National Forest without a permit. Pitcher, 52, was cited earlier this year for five misdemeanor offenses involving conducting work activity using a helicopter without written authorization and for using explosives without a permit. His most recent permit expired in 2011. The citations related to back country activities on Feb. 11, Mar. 3 and March 4. Colin Sutton, 28, a longtime member of the Wolf Creek ski patrol, was killed in an avalanche off of Diablo Ridge about a
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 986-3035
mile west of Conejos Peak in the San Juan Mountains while testing snow conditions during the March 4 mission. Pitcher faces a fine of up to $5,000 and six months in prison, or both. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16. Pitcher still faces thousands of dollars in fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in connection with Sutton’s death. Albert Durand, Sutton’s stepfather, was among family members present in court. The decision to drop other charges was “incomprehensible,” he said. “We were appalled, shocked.”
Santa Fe teacher among seven award recipients Seven New Mexico middle school teachers, including Alfredo Celedón Luján of Monte del Sol Charter School in Santa Fe, received the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching.
SCHEDULED OPENINGS Sipapu: Open now
Angel Fire: Dec. 12
Red River: Nov. 26
Sandia Peak: Dec. 20
Taos Ski Valley: Nov. 27
Pajarito: Weather dependent
Ski Apache: Nov. 27 Ski Santa Fe: Dec. 6
SOURCE: SKI NEW MEXICO, SKI SANTA FE
Meanwhile, the small Sipapu Ski Resort in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains is enjoying an early opening and stellar start to the ski season, according to marketing director Stacey Glaser. Resort staff measured 13 inches of new snow over the weekend, bringing the total in the last nine days to 31 inches. “It’s been one of our best Novembers we’ve ever had,” Glaser said Monday. “We’ve opened more terrain than we ever have for this time of year.” In the last 14 years, the only ski season that came close to starting with conditions as favorable as this one occurred in 2004-05, Glaser said. That November, Sipapu received 30 inches of snow by Thanksgiving. During the season the ski resort received 239 inches of snow. “We like how this is trending already,” Glaser said. Sipapu has 18 trails open out of 41 and is striving to open all five of its lifts by the end of the week. Angel Fire received 5 inches of fresh snow over the weekend, bringing the base to 20 inches and the total snow at the ski resort to 39 inches. The resort plans
Please see SKI, Page A-7
The award since 1996 has been given to 123 New Mexico teachers to recognize their work in improving the academic achievement of students. The honor comes with a cash stipend of $4,000 to be used toward professional development. Each year the award rotates among grade levels, with the 2015 awards going to middle school instructors. The award-winning teachers were nominated last spring by their principal or other teachers, parents, students or community members. This year 126 teachers were nominated. This year’s other recipients are Albino Garcia III at the Native American Community Academy in Albuquerque; Cheryl Kerby of Mountain View Middle School in Rio Rancho; Randy Martin of Desert Ridge Middle School in Albuquerque; Doris Merzweiler at Hayes Middle School and Wilson Middle School in Albuquerque; Janene Mondragon of Questa Junior High in Questa and Jana Rupp of Bosque School in Albuquerque. The New Mexican
Santa Fe County proposes sewer rate hikes over the next five years that would boost the average monthly bill to $19 from $12 in the first year, a nearly 60 percent increase. The county proposal was spurred in part by the city’s decision to increase its sewer rates. The City Council last week approved a plan that will raise rates for all of its customers by 5.6 percent in January and then by 4.9 percent every year for the next four years. “The increase is needed to pay for increasing costs and capital improvements to serve all customers,” city documents state. “The increase will allow for the utility to maintain a sufficient fund balance to meet the minimum debt service coverage required to meet bond obligations.” The county’s proposed rate hike would affect about 800 customers in unincorporated areas of the county, primarily adjoining the city. County commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing on the rate change “no earlier than” 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25, in commission chambers at the County Administrative Building, 102 Grant Ave. In addition to the initial 60 percent increase, the county proposal calls for 5 percent rate hikes annually for four years starting in 2016. Claudia Borchert, county Utilities Division director, said two factors are driving the county’s proposal. The first is the city’s plan to bump up its rates. The majority of wastewater produced by county customers ends up at the city’s sewage treatment plant southwest of Santa Fe, “so we become the city’s wholesale customer for those retail customers,” she said. The second reason is that a rate increase is “long overdue,” as shown by 2010 a cost-of-service study, Borchert said. “This sewer rate change has been contemplated for a long time,” she said. “The last sewer rate change to the county customers was done in 1998.” While an initial 60 percent increase sounds “dramatic,” Borchert said, paying $19 a month for sewer service, as proposed in the first year, is “reasonable.” “The rates people are paying today haven’t been updated in 16 years and don’t reflect the cost associated with collecting and treating that waste in today’s costs,” she said. “I like to emphasize what people are getting for their $19,” she added. “They are getting a seamless disposal of all the waste they produce at their house. Bye-bye grease in the drain. Bye-bye toilet flushes. Bye-bye dirty shower water. Bye-bye laundry water. Not only that, but at the treatment end, the treatment plant then produces clean water that can be put back in our rivers, that we can re-use to irrigate fields that people like to play on. I think $19 a month is a very reasonable fee for all the services provided.” Contact Daniel J. Chacón at 986-3089 or dchacon@sfnewmexican.com.
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