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Last modified: December 1, 2008

…Born to a new age

Phillip Sanchez

Photo courtesy of the Sierra County Sheriff's Office

Chris Turner

Photo courtesy of the SCSO

Burglary probe leads to meth lab bust

Desert Journal Staff Report

The Sierra County Sheriff’s Office investigation into a burglary that occurred Tuesday led deputies to bust a sophisticated meth-amphetamine lab at a Truth or Consequences residence the next day.

Sheriff Terry Byers said Friday his office, the Drug Enforcement Agency and District Attorney's Office mutually agreed that the case of the meth lab would be handled federally. "This was based on the substantial amount of methamphetamine that was seized at the scene along with the sophistication and complexity of the lab," Byers said. For example, the exhaust for the fumes was vented into the city's sewer system, a deputy said Friday.

On Nov. 13, sheriff’s deputies received a report of a burglary on County Road A007.

On Wednesday, Nov. 14, they received information of a vehicle at North Date Street and Highway 181 that had been left on private property. The property owner asked deputies to check out the suspicious vehicle.

Upon their arrival, the deputies met with Chris A. Turner, 25. “Upon further investigation deputies discovered tools in the vehicle that matched the description of tools taken at the burglary on County Road A007,” said Sheriff Terry Byers in a press release.

Deputies in an interview with Turner discovered he allegedly was responsible for the burglary and they arrested him, Sheriff Byers said.

Charges filed in the Sierra County Magistrate Court against Turner include commercial burglary, larceny over $2,500, breaking and entering and disposing of stolen property over $250.

Also during the interview, deputies learned from Turner that some of the stolen items taken from County Road A007 were at a residence on Elm Street in Truth or Consequences, according to Byers’ statement. Deputies then obtained a search warrant for the property at 310 Elm St.

At about 8:10 p.m. Wednesday, deputies executed the search warrant at the residence where they found items that matched the description of some of the stolen property taken from County Road A007, Byers said.

“While executing the search warrant, deputies also discovered what appeared to be a clandestine meth lab that appeared to be operational but was not in operation at the time. Deputies then secured the area and obtained a secondary search warrant for the vehicles and out buildings at the Elm Street residence,” the sheriff said.

Based on the potential volatility of the lab, Lt. Oskins called the Drug Enforcement Administration to dismantle the lab as part of the Sheriff’s Office protocol.

Deputies took into custody the owner of the Elm Street residence, Phillip Sanchez, 41, Byers said. Charges filed against him in magistrate court include manu-facturing a controlled substance, distributing a controlled substance, receiving stolen property and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Byers said at press time Thursday that the crime scene on Elm Street is secure while deputies await the DEA’s Lab Disposal Unit to arrive.

Meanwhile, both defendants were being held in the Sierra County jail without bond as of press time Thursday afternoon. Court personnel said arraignment for both men was expected to be held later Thursday when the judge also would set the bail amounts.

<<<   >>>

Former assistant city manager
files petition to recall 3 officials

By Bill Johnson of the Desert Journal

Vicki Rivera, former assistant city manager for the City of Truth or Consequences, is seeking the recall of three city commissioners despite her departure planned later this month.

“There are lots of reasons I’m doing this,” Rivera said Tuesday after certifying the recall petitions as to their form with the city clerk’s office.

“They haven’t properly managed the city. We wouldn’t be in the bind we’re in if it weren’t for the actions of these officials. And things have gotten worse,” she said.

Mayor Everett Banister and City Commissioners Nadyne Gardner and Jim Rainey are the targets of the new recall effort.

Another attempt to recall the same three commissioners was made earlier this year by city resident and semi-retired journalist Carol Main – who since then has made a career comeback stringing for the Desert Journal. Main’s petition died in its tracks.

However, after the most recent string of events in city politics, including the budget crisis and subsequent layoffs – of which Rivera’s position was a target but she resigned before actually knowing whether her post would be abolished – a renewed interest in the recall is brewing among city voters, according to Rivera.

“Because there is enough sentiment out there for the recall, I did the research and came up with the petition,” she said, adding, “They didn’t know how to get it started and I have the know-how.”

Rivera said the people she has spoken with are for the recall. “No one has said they’re against the recall,” she said.

“I’m doing it because the last straw was the budget (shortfall) which resulted in layoffs of city employees. I walked away from my job voluntarily before they could terminate it,” she said.

She said the commissioners said they didn’t know which positions they had approved even though every budget includes a personnel roster.

“I couldn’t believe it. They approved positions when they approved the budget. There were times they didn’t pay attention and can’t remember what they did at the last meeting,” Rivera said.

“They aren’t thinking the big picture or long term – just what makes them look good. They’re not thinking what is best overall for the community,” Rivera said.

To sign the petition, one must be a registered voter and their residence must be within the city, she said.

Rivera said she’ll help circulate the petitions until she leaves. Rivera said she hopes to move to Michigan by the end of the month.

“Someone else will have to be responsible for circulating, then collecting and submitting the petitions no later than the Jan. 7, 2002 deadline to the city clerk’s office,” Rivera said.

Rivera said if at least 201 qualified electors who reside within city limits sign the petitions on each commissioner, the question of whether the trio should be recalled will go before city voters at the same time they also go to the polls for the regular municipal election in March.

Then, the terms of commissioners Cookie Garcia Johnson and Lois Reaver-Black will have expired and voters will decide who fills these two seats. So far, Ralph Gooding, a city resident and a current Sierra County Commissioner, has announced his intention to seek one of the commission seats. Neither incumbent has said whether they’ll seek re-election.

To successfully recall a commissioner from office, there must be at least one more recall vote than the amount of votes that got him or her elected in the last municipal election. The amount of votes needed to recall each commissioner is 360 for Banister, 366 for Gardner and 258 for Rainey, Rivera said.

To help expedite local democracy in action, the Desert Journal has agreed to provide space at the front of the newspaper’s office at 111 N. Date St. for people to sign the petitions or to pick them up for circulation.

<<<   >>>

City grant writer quits, charges
threats by two commissioners

By Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

“Due to wrongful accusations, threats and unprofessional behavior by Mayor Everett Banister and Mayor Pro-tem Nadyne Gardner directed toward me on Nov. 6, 2001, I feel that I have no other alternative but to turn in my resignation effective today, Nov. 7, 2001,” said Danielle Thomas, grant writer for the City of Truth or Consequences, in her letter of resignation last week.

“Because of the hostile circumstances I regret that I cannot give the standard two-week notice,” Thomas said.

Referring to the Thomas affair, in a very roundabout way, Acting City Manager Mark Huntzinger during Tuesday’s city commission meeting addressed the issue of commissioners’ dealings with city staff.

“You act as a body to set policy for the city,” Huntzinger said to commissioners. “You also have personal and your other lives and dealings with the city. It’s a very fine line you have to walk between being perceived as asking for information and providing direction. Employees perceive that when you are talking to them you are a commissioner, it doesn’t matter...”

It was at this point that Mayor Banister cut Huntzinger off and said commissioners should discuss the issue among themselves. The mayor “asked” Huntzinger to skip over it.

Banister said he agreed totally with the acting city manager when they discussed the matter earlier and that commissioners will take it up in executive (closed) session.

Huntzinger on Wednesday did not say his remarks referred to Thomas but did say she had experienced the sort of thing he was addressing.

Thomas in a brief interview Wednesday said only she was subjected to wrongful accusations, threats and harassment by two city commissioners. Thomas was not available for further comment.

Asked for her side of the story Wednesday evening, Nadyne Gardner said, “If it’s threatening and harassing to say I think you’ve got to work as a team, then I guess I was threatening and harassing.”

Gardner said she spoke with Thomas the morning of Nov. 6. Gardner said Thomas, in her capacity as the city’s grant writer, was working with the Sierra County Economic Development Organization (SCEDO) on a presentation to attract a call center with perhaps 100 jobs to T or C.

Gardner said she made it clear to Thomas that she was speaking to her as vice-president of the SCEDO Board and not as a city commissioner.

Gardner said Thomas was unwilling to work as a team player with SCEDO Administrator Lane Pack and share credit with him. Thomas, according to Gardner, said she would be the “point of call” (primary contact) with the State Economic Development Board.

“I said, Danielle, you just can’t do that. Professionals work together. They must share in whatever they’re doing,” Gardner said.

“Danielle said, ‘I did the work and I put this on the computer and I am not going to have Lane take credit for my fact booklet’,” Gardner said.

“I said it doesn’t matter who gets the credit, when the two of you do good work and bring the call center here, that will be your reward, that you help this community,” Gardner said.

“I said, ‘You’re not working with SCEDO anymore.’ Danielle said, ‘Well, they (state economic development) are just going to call me.’ I said, ‘You just don’t take over and throw everyone else out, that’s not how you work as a team’,” Gardner said.

“When people sit around and worry about who’s going to get the credit,” Gardner commented Wednesday, “where would we have gone with half the things we’ve done? You just do what needs to be done.”

Huntzinger called a meeting with Gardner, Thomas, Pack and Mayor Banister the afternoon of Nov. 6 to determine who will take on which of the various tasks related to getting a call center, Gardner said.

Thomas, according to Gardner, said, “That’s alright, but I’ve done most of the work.” The mayor said Thomas’s having been paid this month is her reward, according to Gardner.

Banister couldn’t be reached for comment as of press time Thursday.

Gardner said the meeting ended amicably and in hugs after things had been worked out. Thomas resigned the following day.

<<<   >>>>

Larry and wife Myrna Robbins and Larry’s brother, Dale Robbins, all of Truth or Consequences, catch these three striped bass Monday afternoon, Nov. 12, in Myrna’s secret cove on the east side of Elephant Butte Lake, using Myrna’s secret bait, silvery minnows (yea right, joke!). The three stripers were in the 20-pound range.
Photo by Bill Johnson

DFA analyst praises city commissioners’
budget actions, blames Isom and Ortiz

By Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

After earlier rejecting the City of Truth or Consequences’ budget for fiscal year 2001/02 and placing the city under a restricted interim budget, the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration on Oct. 31 granted final approval for this year’s budget.

“I have to compliment you on doing a very good job in your budget cuts,” DFA budget Analyst Gloria Gonzales said to city commissioners Tuesday evening.

“We got it in time and I think we’re in a good place right now,” Gonzales said.

Although commissioners had accomplished a “major task” and the city’s finances will be okay for this year, the city will have to remain on a tight budget for several years to come, Gonzales said.

She said the city has spent down its cash reserves in the last couple of years and had come to a critical point where DFA needed to alert city officials that something must be done.

The reason the city’s cash shortfall was not caught until late in the game, Gonzales said, is that DFA was not receiving financial reports on time and could not approve the city’s budget as submitted.

Gonzales said the budget projections and cash reserves looked good in May but that she could not perform an analysis without the city’s financial report for the quarter ending March 31.

She said she became very concerned about balances in the city’s general and joint utilities funds when she finally received the March report.

Gonzales said she spoke with former City Manager Sam Isom on several occasions and had requested the city’s financial reports. Gonzales said she had also written letters to the city manager but Isom told her he never received them.

Gonzales said it was after she spoke with Isom on the phone and wrote to the mayor that Isom began responding to her concerns.

“The rest is history,” Gonzales said.

She said her concerns were justified when the city’s final budget was submitted and she saw that the cash reserves “were no longer there” and major spending cuts had to be made.

In answer to Commissioner Nadyne Gardner’s question, Gonzales said the city seems to have operated conservatively during the six or seven years prior to Sam Isom becoming city manager but began depleting its reserves too fast in the following two years.

Mayor Everett Banister said he had been told (by city staff) that the city three years ago had spent $2 million of its cash reserves but only $700,000 last year. The mayor added that he and the other commissioners thought they had a good budget this year and would be able to invest $40,000 in interest bearing accounts each year.

Commissioner Gardner said city staff told commissioners that depletion of cash reserves had been reduced to only $35,000 this year.

Gardner was concerned also about the depletion of city investments.

City Accountant George Marshall on Wednesday explained that the city in April invested $750,000 in a CD but in August unexpectedly had to take the money out to meet cash flow needs. Marshall said the city plans soon to reinvest $500,000.

Gonzales said the past year has been a learning experience and that much of the problem was due to a lack of communication in that commissioners were not being told the whole picture, especially about the city’s investments that had been cashed in.

Gonzales said she had repeatedly asked former City Financial Manager Ray Ortiz (who resigned last week) where the city’s investments are.

She said also she repeatedly called Ray Ortiz and that every time she asked when city financial reports would be ready, Ortiz would say that they were almost done but that he needed to make a few corrections.

“That was always his excuse,” Gonzales said.

Another “story” Gonzales said she heard was that the city’s problems with uncollected grant reimbursements were from prior years, but Gonzales said the city’s audit showed her those receivables weren’t that significant.

Gonzales said commissioners need tighter controls and at least a mid-year review of the budget to see that revenues are coming in as expected.

She said the commissioners had done what they were supposed to do in relying on their manager to take care of the city’s finances but were not properly informed.

Gonzales also discussed with commissioners the city’s gross receipts and property taxes. Having analyzed the city’s gross receipts tax revenues over the past five years, Gonzales found that the city had realized a generally steady increase with a slight decline last year.

Gonzales said the city, with voter approval, could increase GRT rates by one eighth percent that would produce about $98,000 per year.

In response to city officials’ previous questions, Gonzales said the city’s property tax rate is currently 2.225 mils with 5.425 mils (representing about $355,449) taxing authority remaining. Gonzales said commissioners can raise property taxes at their discretion during budget time by increments or all at once.

“You hate to hurt your constituents, your tax-payers, but when you need the operating funds that’s what these laws are in place for,” Gonzales said. Gonzales suggested also the possibility of raising utility rates.

Acting City Manager Mark Huntzinger at the end of Tuesday’s meeting suggested that commissioners have the State’s Attorney General investigate the city’s finances. He said criminal acts, if any are found, should be pursued.

Huntzinger said Wednesday he does not suspect any criminal activity but that he has heard rumors to that effect, adding that an investigation will either clear city personnel of accusations or lead to prosecution.

<<<   >>>

Ramsey hired as city manager

By Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

Former Sierra County Manager Richard Ramsey will be Truth or Consequences’ city manager as of Monday, Nov. 19, after being hired by city commissioners in a closed session this week.

Ramsey, one of 68 applicants for the city’s top job, will garner a salary of $60,000. His predecessor, Sam Isom, who resigned in June, started the job in 1999 at $55,000 a year.

Ramsey, who had worked for the U.S. Department of Agriclture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service for 31 years, has lately been assisting the city with its 40-year water plan.

Before that, he was Sandy Jones Construction’s project coordinator for the State Highway Department’s I-25 business loop rehabilitation project in T or C.

Ramsey was the city’s planner from 1993 to 1994 and Sierra County’s planner from 1997 to 1998. Ramsey ran unsuccessfully for a county commission seat last year.

City commissioners recently courted Ramsey to be T or C’s planner on a part-time basis but Ramsey said Tuesday he told city officials he didn’t think it would be a good idea for the city to hire a planner given its current financial situation.

But with an extensive background in planning, Ramsey said he will make planning part of his job as T or C’s city manager.

Ramsey graduated from New Mexico State University in 1972 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agronomy.

<<<   >>>

At podium, New Mexico Veterans Service Commission Director Michael D’Arco unveils the $1,500 “Beetle Bailey” check donated by Oberthur Gaming Technologies. The money is to be used for residents’ personal effects at the New Mexico State Veterans Home in Truth or Consequences and the Fort Bayard Medical Center near Silver City. D’Arco, NM Department of Health Secretary J. Alez Valdez (clapping at right) and two other state officials presented the check during the Veteran’s Day 11^th Hour ceremonies held Sunday, Nov. 11, at the NM Veterans Home.
Photo by Bill Johnson

Captain Walter F. Baker, retired U.S. Navy Vietnam veteran, during his keynote address Sunday morning at the Veteran’s Day 11^th Hour ceremonies at the New Mexico State Veterans Home, saluted his civilian counterparts – emergency personnel and clean-up crews – involved in the September 11^th terrorist attacks on America at the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of heroic firemen, police and rescue personnel lost their lives as the twin towers collapsed in New York, and will be remembered in the hearts of millions of surviving Americans for decades to come, Capt. Baker said.
Photo by Bill Johnson

Proposed ordinance decreases
utility rates for some businesses

By Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

Truth or Consequences City Commissioners Tuesday approved for publication an ordinance that will provide reduced utility rates to new and existing businesses that provide 10 or more new fulltime jobs within T or C.

Qualifying businesses will pay discount utility rates for 18 months if the “economic development” ordinance proposed by Commissioner Nadyne Gardner is approved.

Under the ordinance, commercial customers will pay 52 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity and $1.79 per 1,000 gallons of water. These rates are about equal to the city’s costs, according to Acting City Manager Mark Huntzinger.

Sewer and sanitation rates will be reduced by 10 percent during the discount period.

Sewer and sanitation services are already subsidized, that is current rates do not fully pay for the services, Huntzinger said.

Commissioner Cookie Johnson said she would be in favor of discounts for water and electricity but not the already subsidized sewer and sanitation rates at least until after the city performs a utilities rate study.

Commissioner Gardner said she doesn't think the discounts will be much of a reduction for a new business coming in and that the city must provide a good business climate. Gardner added that gross receipts taxes generated by new jobs will more than make up for the loss in utilities revenues.

Huntzinger had no projections for the total cost to the city by providing the utilities discounts and did not know how many T or C businesses would qualify. Huntzinger said there will be an administrative problem for the city in monitoring employers’ creation and maintenance of 10 new jobs.

<<<   >>>

High tech security in magistrate court

By Carol Main of the Desert Journal

Security at Sierra County Magistrate Court took a high tech turn into the 21st century this month with the arrival of a new video arraignment system called Frame Array.

Judge Tom Pestak's courtroom is one of 10 courts in the state that were chosen by New Mexico’s justice department to pilot the new system.

Under the old procedure when a person was arrested he or she was taken to jail, then at a later date transported to court by jail personnel for an arraignment hearing, and taken back to jail to await trial or to post a bail bond.

With the new system the arrested person is taken to a special video-camera room at the jail and questioned on camera by Judge Pestak from the courtroom.

On Wednesday, Nov. 14, Pestak invited the press to view the system in action on a large screen video monitor that faces the courtroom audience.

We reporters watched the defendant on the monitor as Pestak read him the criminal charges against him, the possible penalties for those crimes, told him his rights, questioned him on financial matters and set the amount of his bail bond.
Pestak then faxed papers to the jail for the defendant's signature.

"Originally, in a different court,'' Pestak said, "the fax machine was in the room at the jail with the defendant. But one prisoner figured out how to work it and faxed his own release papers to the court, so now the fax machine is with an officer right outside that room."

At one point Pestak panned the courtroom camera across the audience so the accused could see his friends and relatives.

The Frame Relay System was paid for by the state. Pestak said, "The New Mexico Legislature allocated one million dollars for court security this year and this pilot program used up half of that. It cost $30,000 for just the two video systems and the two fax machines for this court and jail.
"And then, Valor Telecom wanted $750 a month to run the videos through the phone lines, but since we have line-of-sight from here to the jail we turned them down and are using antennas," he said.

Pestak said the system will save money over the long haul because it will cut down on the jail personnel needed for prisoner transport to and from court, including the transport of juveniles from Deming for hearings and then back down there.

"The sheriff's department,'' Pestak said, "will no longer need to go get prisoners from Silver City or Roswell and bring them in for arraignment, I can do it all on video. The security enhancement of this alone is worth it. Most of the people who I see in this court are not killers, they are folks who have just made a mistake, but every once in a while we get that odd-one-out who goes crazy and this system will keep that person in a secure setting and out of transport.''

Pestak also stressed the road accident factor and said, "Eventually we will have a private network for court personnel training on this system too, so we will not have to travel out of town for that."

<<<   >>>

The Wall That Heals Visits Truth or Consequences

The Wall That Heals (top photo) - displayed at the New Mexico State Veterans Home – touches the hearts of many visitors during the Veterans Day holiday weekend Nov. 9-12. Flowers (center photo) brighten up The Wall, a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., which stretches at 250 feet (bottom photo) with the names of more than 58,000 men and women who loss their lives in the Vietnam Conflict.
Photos by Bill Johnson

The Nine Lives of Cheo

By Cheo via Carol Main

Part II

I liked the Blue Mountains because we were in this little town where there were a lot of big stupid macho dogs, and people who thought it was smart to find turkey eggs in the bushes, hatch them in their kitchens, and then raise these big red dumb birds in their back yards…

OH, THEY TASTED GOOD, and my person put a short table under my window, I did have my own room, so I could jump on the table and then grab the big dead bird I had drug home and throw it in my room.

Sometimes I could eat for two or three days on one kill before my person came in and cleaned up all of the feathers and feet and stuff.

And we had this great big tree in the front yard. This was my most fun ever, that tree. A family of gray squirrels had a hole in my tree that they put things in for them to eat later.

Most of the year, robin birds liked to rob the squirrels food hide-out, and even though the skunks had shown me that I could live on the acorns, filberts and pine nuts the squirrels hid, I never took their food because robins taste a lot better than do dry nuts.

As long as I left the squirrels’ food alone, the robins would come, but most of the time when I was on MY BRANCH I would not even look at those idiot robins right behind my butt because if I was there a dog was in my neighborhood.

Nobody in the Blue Mountains had little dogs - that would not be manly. And a big cat is a real challenge to shepherds, setters, chows, huskies and wolfhounds. But, a big cat with her BRANCH, ten feet off the ground, is something else, as I showed everyone of them.

All I have to do is pretend to be mouse hunting in any dog's yard, and YES, it will chase me. Chase me out of its yard, down the street, across my yard, to my tree.

NOW, I AM UP MY TREE, ON MY BRANCH, WAITING, WATCHING, GETTING READY. Here it finally comes, head down, sniffing the base of my tree... dumb and stupid dog.

They all do it, they all smell my tree where it comes out of the ground, like they think that can tell them something. Dumb and stupid, but I love it.

I WAIT, GET TIGHTER IN MY BODY, AND WAIT. I want the head to come up... there… almost... NOW... I DROP. This dog is mine.

For only one block do I ride them, front claws in their heads, back claws pulling and throwing fur, hair, skin and blood. Yes, this screaming, yowling, cowardly dog IS MINE.

One block is enough. No matter in which direction it runs, in one block from my room, I know that I will catch a young turkey, a small mallard duck, or if the snow is deep and their people have them all inside, my person will have venison waiting for me.

But, like I said before this is a macho town and she does not often need to put food in my room. One time when I was riding a German Shepherd, a man shot me with an air rifle (LIFE #4), and the doctor had to operate to take the air pellet out of my back.

I liked it there, in those Blue Mountains, where I learned that I did not have to eat F & F (feathered and furry) stuff all the time, and that my person liked me.

(Life #5 To Be Continued…)

<<<   >>>

Desert Journal makes national news again

Staff Report

The Desert Journal has made the front page of Publishers’ Auxiliary (November 2001), a monthly publication of the National Newspaper Association in Arlington, VA.

“This is isn’t the first time we’ve made national news,” said Desert Journal editor Bill Johnson.

“We also made it on the cover of Editor & Publisher Magazine three years ago with the drive-by shooting of our office while it was located on Austin Avenue, and also on page 3 of a very humongous Sunday edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer in a travel piece that featured the newspaper war among the three competitors in town, not to mention the sporadic quotes attributed to the Desert Journal by the now-defunct Spotlight, a government watchdog that was based in Washington, D.C.,” Johnson said.

The most recent piece in Publishers’ Auxiliary is titled “News rack tampering has NM publisher on edge,” in which Johnson asks Desert Journal readers to become first amendment police.

The reporter for Publishers’ Auxiliary, Stanley Schwartz, said he read about the Desert Journal’s plight in the New Mexico Press Association’s monthly publication Shop Talk (September issue), which was after the Desert Journal published its story in August. The story is still available on the DJ’s web site: www.desertjournalonline.com.

The Publishers’ Auxiliary story also quotes Herald publisher Mike Tooley and Sierra County Sentinel owner Myrna Baird Kohs.

<<<   >>>

The Red, White and Blue surrounds the grounds of the New Mexico State Veterans Home during the Veterans Day holiday celebration there Nov. 9-12.
Photo by Bill Johnson