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Welcome to Desert Journal Online, established in May 2001 in New Mexico. Our website offers our true crime book, Satan's Den Exposed - The David Parker Ray Story, and poetry and photo collections, Bombshell Liberation and Interference, and provides free access to our featured columns, photos and news archives.











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Last modified: April 14, 2008

Headline News From Our
March 14, 2003 Issue

Young man killed, girl
injured on ‘Austin Raceway’

Cody McDaniel

City will hire utilities director, eventually

  The City of Truth or Consequences will hire a joint utilities director, T or C Mayor Jimmy Rainey said Thursday, although the mayor doesn’t know just when that will be.

School district addresses bomb threats

  I have been asked on many, many occasions lately, “What is the school doing about the bomb threats?” From the public’s perspective, it may look like the district and schools have not done much about the threats. In reality, we have done a great deal.

Rep. Lujan asks NM Finance
Authority to focus on water

  On Tuesday on a vote of 61-0 the House passed Speaker Ben Lujan's bill to dedicate severance tax bonds for water projects.

Black Cat Books & Coffee
to feature published poet

Gary Mex Glazner

CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE

...Safe Community?

OBITUARIES

   Death notices for Cody L. McDaniel & Thomas W. Reeves

…Rockhound RoundUp

These gems at the Rockhound RoundUp last Saturday in Deming look like they belong on a pool table. Click on photo and see more photos from one of the biggest gem and mineral shows in the Southwest.
DJ photo by Bill Johnson

Flowers, a gold cross, photograph, poster board and crime scene tape make up the memorial sign perched high on a utility pole at Austin Avenue and Clancy Street next to the two-story building that was the early Monday crash site that claimed the life of Cody McDaniel. Friends and family erected the sign Tuesday afternoon after an El Paso hospital pronounced McDaniel dead Monday afternoon as the result of massive head trauma.
DJ photo by Bill Johnson

Young man killed, girl

injured on ‘Austin Raceway’

By Fred Mramor

of the Desert Journal

A speeding car slammed into a block building at the corner of Clancy and Austin in Truth or Consequences at about 1 a.m. Monday, waking the building’s occupants and their neighbors, and killing the driver, Cody Lee McDaniel, 21, of T or C.

The cause of the single vehicle accident was determined to be alcohol and speed, T or C Police Department Officer Joe Baca said Tuesday.

Baca said McDaniel was under the influence of alcohol and driving in excess of 80 miles an hour before losing control of his 1995 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Traveling west on Austin, McDaniel drove across the front yard at 524 Austin Ave., taking out a cactus, a small tree and a tree stump, continued across Clancy Street and over the curb on the other side of the street until colliding with the business and residential building at 600 Austin Ave.

The car spun around after the impact and came to a stop on Clancy Street with a rear wheel missing and a front wheel collapsed under the car.

Numerous police, paramedics and other emergency response personnel soon arrived on the scene where they found the unconscious McDaniel bleeding from a severe head wound.

“I don’t think he’s going to make it,” a witness heard a police officer say.

McDaniel was airlifted to Thomason Hospital in El Paso, TX, where he was immediately admitted to the operating room. Initially listed in critical condition, McDaniel was pronounced dead from massive head trauma at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

McDaniel’s passenger, a 17-year-old girl, was airlifted to an Albuquerque hospital where she was treated for a ruptured spleen, a punctured lung and a broken thumb.

Officer Baca asked that the minor girl’s name not be published but said her name is not Julie Mason as another newspaper reported.

Damage to the building at 600 Austin Ave., which houses the You-Nique Beauty Salon, includes broken windows, spider-like cracks on the inside wall and a bent chain link fence.

A small chunk of the cactus from the yard across the street left a large dent in the extended cab portion of the pickup truck parked on the far side of the building.

After losing a wheel, the car left an almost eight foot long gouge in the pavement on Clancy.

The impact of course woke the family living in the building. “We didn’t know what it was. It scared the crap out of us,” one of the building’s occupants said Tuesday.

The crash also woke neighbors. Some thought the loud bang they heard when the car struck the building was a gunshot.

One of the neighbors said she earlier saw McDaniel’s car speeding on her mostly residential street, which she called “Austin Raceway”.

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This is the part of the wall of the block building at 600 Austin Ave. that the vehicle struck, causing most of the visible damage in the building’s interior.

DJ photo by Bill Johnson

City will hire utilities director, eventually

By Fred Mramor
of the Desert Journal

The City of Truth or Consequences will hire a joint utilities director, T or C Mayor Jimmy Rainey said Thursday, although the mayor doesn’t know just when that will be.

The joint utilities director’s position has been vacant since Jan. 29 when beleaguered former director Neil Knot, who seemed to have been blamed for all the city’s electrical problems, resigned to take the job as supervisor for Artesia, NM’s wastewater department.

The city placed a help wanted ad in the Municipal League Reporter as of the first of March and may advertise in local and Albuquerque and Las Cruces papers and post the position in-house for existing city employees, the mayor said.

The city hasn’t received any applications for the combination joint utilities director and assistant city manager’s position so far, Rainey said.

The position has remained vacant because the salary has been going into the city’s coffers to help the city meet its obligations, the mayor said.

Rainey said the city may see if it can manage for perhaps three to six months without a joint utilities director, making about $4,000 a month available to the city in the meantime.

“The question is,” Rainey said, “are we saving money, but not doing as good a job as we can and placing too great a burden on the city manager that a combination joint utilities director and assistant city manager can help relieve?”

City Manager Richard Ramsey is being run ragged and it’s extremely difficult for him to attend to all of the duties of a city manager and a joint utilities director, the mayor said, adding that the heads of the city’s electrical, sanitation, water and wastewater departments normally report to the joint utilities director but currently report to the city manager.

The mayor said also the city needs an engineer who understands the functions of city utilities. The joint utilities director’s position requires a bachelor’s degree in engineering.

In addition to performing the usual duties of a joint utilities director, the city needs someone who can help with current projects including the construction of new water tanks and an investigation into upgrading the city’s electrical system, Rainey said.

“The city can sometimes get along without a joint utilities director, but with all that’s going on now, we really need one,” the mayor said.

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A vendor displays his shiny rock last Saturday at the 38^th annual Rockhound RoundUp held at the Southwest New Mexico Fairgrounds in Deming. The event is one of the largest gem and mineral shows in the Southwest. Scroll down to see more photos from this impressive event.
DJ photo by Bill Johnson

School district addresses bomb threats

By Bruce Hegwer

Superintendent of T or C Schools

I have been asked on many, many occasions lately, “What is the school doing about the bomb threats?” From the public’s perspective, it may look like the district and schools have not done much about the threats. In reality, we have done a great deal.

First and foremost, the students we have been able to definitively identify as being responsible for one or more of the threats this year, have been expelled permanently from our district. This means they have lost all further rights to an education in our school system. This is the most severe punishment that we, as a district, can impose.

Taking away the privilege of attending school in our district has severe consequences for the student and their family. Not receiving an education will have a negative impact on the student for the rest of their lives. We all know that the job opportunities for people without an education are much more limited.

In addition, being expelled presents a great hardship on the families. Parents now become responsible for the student’s education and for supervising the students on a daily basis. This can impose a tremendous financial and emotional burden on parents.

The school is still investigating those threats that remain unsolved at this point. School officials are following ev ery lead possible and will take harsh action against any student found to be guilty of any bomb threat. That action will continue to include permanent expulsion from our district.

All information we have on those responsible for the threats have been turned over to local law enforcement authorities. The schools have no control over what action the law enforcement authorities may take from that point.

I suggest that any questions or comments about any actions the police may be taking, or have taken, be directed to T or C Police Chief Russ Peterson.

The Board of Education is considering filing civil suits against the parents of the students found guilty of making bomb threats. The Board has been in contact with the district’s attorneys and will make a formal determination in the near future on that course of action.

According to the district’s attorneys, the district can file suit against the parents to recover the financial expense of the threats.

While these steps are being taken against those students we have found to be guilty of the threats, what is being done to prevent further threats?

The administrators at the middle school have increased the length of the school day to make up for the lost instructional time. In addition, many student privileges have been taken away. Lunch and recess time for students has been reduced. Students cannot bring backpacks to the middle school. Bathroom passes are no longer granted during class time. Students can use the restroom facilities only between classes and staff members are stationed in the restrooms to ensure that students are supervised at all times.

Many of the punitive measures can, and will be removed, when the threats cease to occur.

The student council at the middle school also has been very proactive in helping to reduce the bomb threats as well. They are encouraging all students to stop and consider the consequences of the threats.

Of course, the district can take additional measures if needed. Students can be required to make up the instructional time lost on Saturdays or even into the summer. Extracurricular activities can be cancelled as well. Additional student privileges can be taken away.

Unfortunately, all these measures punish the students who are not guilty as well. These are measures that none of us want to impose, but we will if necessary.

As a district, we will continue to work hard to ensure the threats cease. We will take every precaution to ensure the safety of all students and staff members at all times. If we can answer any questions about the bomb threats and the action the school district is taking, please do not hesitate to call the Superintendent’s Office at 894-8151.

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Amethyst, a purple crystal, is popular for most rockhounds and the Rockhound RoundUp in Deming last weekend had plenty of it for the crowd.
DJ photo by Bill Johnson

Rep. Lujan asks NM Finance

Authority to focus on water

Legislation commits

10% of bonding capacity

to water projects

SANTA FE – On Tuesday on a vote of 61-0 the House passed Speaker Ben Lujan's bill to dedicate severance tax bonds for water projects.

"Our water needs are a top priority statewide and by having a dedicated funding stream for water projects, we assure New Mexicans that the State is responsive to those needs," said the Speaker.

"In addition, this State commitment could very well bring in additional Federal matching funds for water projects," he said.

House Bill 882 requires that 10% of the annual severance tax bonding capacity be used for funding statewide water projects recommended by NM Finance Authority to the Water Trust Board.

The Board will select from a NMFA list of water projects and will certify bonds be issued to fund those projects deemed critical.

House Bill 882 defines water projects in four categories:

Storage, conveyance or delivery of water to end-users.

Implementation of federal Endangered Species Act of 1973.

The restoration of watersheds.

Flood prevention.

House Bill 882 specifically requires that severance tax bond proceeds shall not be used to pay indirect project costs and that the proceeds from bonds issued for a water project will revert to the severance tax bond fund within six months of completion of the water project.

The bill requires NMFA to monitor and ensure proper reversions.

Water-related funding issues continue to dominate as one of the state's most pressing needs.

The Water Trust Board has identified over $2.3 billion in regional and statewide water project needs. House Bill 882 will help to provide resources for the state's water system needs particularly in rural New Mexico.

HB 882 now goes on to the Senate.

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A huge crystal beams its brilliance and transparency at the Rockhound RoundUp last Saturday in Deming. The annual event is enjoyed by thousand of rockhounds from throughout the Southwest.
DJ photo by Bill Johnson

Black Cat Books & Coffee

to feature published poet

Gary Mex Glazner

Santa Fe poet Gary Mex Glazner will give a reading to celebrate the release of his new book Ears on Fire: Snapshot Essays in a World of Poets from 6 to 7 p.m. Friday, March 21, at Black Cat Books & Coffee, 128 Broadway in Truth or Consequences.

Glazner’s book, published in 2002 by La Alameda Press of Albuquerque (128 pages), is a collection of poems, travel stories, translations and photos.

The event is free. For more information call 505-894-7070.

This book is an album, journal and recollection. The author’s idea was to travel around the world, meet poets, work on translations and write poems.

“My wife Margaret and I traveled about 34,229 miles by planes, trains, tuk-tuks, bemos, ferries, broken down Chinese night buses, and rickshaws,” Glazner said.

Along the way there would be encounters with the Princess of Thailand, The Pink Man, Shilendra K. Singh in Katmandu, fried grasshoppers, Tibetan monks in China cheating at cards, Tea House rappers, Xuan Xe of the Naxi Music Orchestra, the Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey, the mystic barber of Selcuk, Turkey, a sandlemaker poet in Greece, the Nubian Insect Poet of Tuscany, in Paris with George Whitman at Shakespeare & Company, a visit to Garcia Lorca’s home and grave, Geraldo Rivera, and more.

The stories are breezes over beers, swapped yams, epiphanies, a jumble of thoughts, smells, kisses and bites. This isn’t Basho’s journey to the far north, this is Gary’s stumble into the big picture, crack ing out of the nutshell, hopping onto the blank page: the pen always moving to where poems actually happen.

What results is a quirky look at the friendly camaraderie when poets from elsewhere meet poets of somewhere.

Pontiac featured Glazner’s poetry in Apri1 2002 in a 17-city traveling festival to launch their new car, “The Vibe.” Encinitas was one of the liveliest stops on the Vibe Tour.

The tour was organized by the New York based Knitting Factory. The tour also featured the jazz trio “Vibes.”

Glazner is the Minister of Fun for Poetry Slam Incorporated. 

Glazner’s poetry and film, Busload of Poets, was featured along with readings by Gary Snyder, Anne Waldman and Sherman Alexi at the 20th anniversary of the Tucson Poetry Festival. He is working on a manuscript entitled, “How to Make a Living as a Poet.”

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…Blue rock with white hole

Just because I said I like to collect rocks doesn’t mean that I know all of their scientific names, as a geologist would. It was just a pretty photogenic crystal displayed at the Rockhound RoundUp in Deming.

DJ photo by Bill Johnson

Fool’s gold with white crystal makes for an interesting combination at the Rockhound RoundUp in Deming last weekend.

DJ photo by Bill Johnson

The Shadow Advisory

…Safe Community?

If you were to ask me whether I thought Truth or Consequences is a safe community, I wouldn’t even blink. “Hell, no!” I’d have to tell you.

But if you were me, you’d understand why I would say that, right? If you don’t, you don’t know me. And if you don’t believe me, then you’re a liar, at least to yourself because what I have to say is the truth.

Justice is blind in Truth or Consequences. A lot of people suffer because she is a pig-headed blinded bitch. Its name itself is cursed.

But I love this community and I will make a difference! Tough love is here. Mark my words!

Christ told his disciples he would sing to the rocks because at least the rocks had ears. The rocks could listen. Maybe that’s why I took up rock hounding as a hobby. The rocks would listen to me. Finally, something would hear my voice. A lonely voice in the desert, singing to the rocks…

Let’s talk about my voice for just a second – I’m not the easiest person to listen to and, as a matter of fact, I like to do all of my business in writing. My hands control what I have to say in writing. My mouth does not.

And if I were to do as Apostle Paul instructed a troubled church with members (“body parts” in his words) gone astray, and the actual need to sever their relationship from the body, I’d be cutting off my tongue.

Truth is like a clashing cymbal. So back to my topic, the safety of the community – how safe is it?

Well, some people never get their justice, while the criminals do. They get to take home the bread and butter; the victims get screwed.

If you don’t know what I mean, come pay a visit to my office or set up an appointment with me. And if I trust you, I’ll tell you the truth. If I don’t trust you, I’ll say nothing.

But if those who would harm me get in my way, they’ll have to face one god-awful army of vengeance. Whether I stand alone, separated from the rest of the world which has gone all to hell, I still will have my say.

And if the community isn’t listening, perhaps the rocks will.

If you read this message, send me a postcard, e-mail, a note through the door, a message on the phone - just something to let me know that I haven’t died and gone to hell where it appears that the people are more deaf than me, who is half deaf, or a lot more than half deaf, but who still tries to listen and even YELLS to try to get an answer.

Send to me at Desert Journal, 111 N. Date St., Truth or Consequences, NM 87901; phone 505-894-7341; e-mail at desertjournal@zianet.com.

Let me know how you feel about the safety of our community, whether it be Truth or Consequences, Sierra County, and/or New Mexico. If I deem your comment publish worthy, I’ll run it in the letters to the editor. If it’s great, I might even break it out and make it a guest editorial.

But is the community safe? You tell me!

I already told you how I feel. And if you didn’t catch it the first time, stick around, maybe you’ll hear it again, that is if you care to listen to a loud guy like me.

Notice I didn’t say “soft spoken” because I’m not. But that’s only because I know no one is listening and maybe the rocks are. Right? Tell me about that too!

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OBITUARIES

Cody Lee McDaniel, 21, a resident of Truth or Consequences the last four and a half years, died Monday, March 10, 2003, at Thomason General Hospital in El Paso, TX, after a fatal one-vehicle accident at Clancy and Austin streets in T or C earlier that day.

He was born Dec. 16, 1981, in Monahans, TX, to Marty Lee and Brenda Marlene (Davis) McDaniel. He enjoyed the outdoors, fishing and golfing. Everyone liked him all of his family and friends will miss him.

Survivors include his mother, Brenda M. McDaniel and her fiancé Bob Reddy of T or C; his father, Marty Lee McDaniel of Fort Worth, TX; his sister, Casie McDaniel of T or C; his maternal grandmother, Thelda “Mama” Miller and husband Claude of Alamogordo; his maternal grandfather, Lynn Davis and companion Juanita of Alamogordo; his paternal grandmother, Billie McDaniel of Fort Worth, TX; his paternal grandfather, Bo McDaniel and wife Annie of North Dakota; his aunts, Lynelda Cypher of Monahans, TX, and Cindy Turri of LaLuz; his uncle, Jeff and wife Sylvia Davis of Tularosa; and his nieces and nephews, Michael Turri, Dena Turri, Kendall Davis, Tyler Davis, Lyndi Cypher and Zach Cypher.

A memorial celebration service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 15, at the Moose Lodge in T or C with Rev. John Fleming officiating. Cremation took place. Arrangements are by French Mortuary of T or C Inc.

Thomas Woodrow Reeves, 67, of Loveland, CO, died March 7, 2003, in Fort Collins, CO. He was born July 21, 1935, in Duke, OK, to Woodrow Wilson Reeves and Rosa Lillian Heidenreich Reeves. He graduated from Duke High School in Duke, OK. He married Beverly Heathcock on Oct. 1, 1969, in Longmont, CO, at the home of Frank and Lee Flanders.

Survivors include his wife, Beverly; six children, Kathy Roth of Loveland, CO, Karla Pafume and husband Dave Graves of Eaton, CO, Howard Roth and wife Robin of Grimes, IA, Kathy Barnett and husband John of Alamogordo, NM, Janean Ruegsegger and husband Dave of Loveland, CO, and Michael Reeves and wife Katie of Austin, TX; 18 grandchildren, Jenny, Sarah, Ariel, Alicia, Jesse, Nikki, Ryan, Abbi, Kendra, Jasmine, Tyler, Cassie, Matthew, Maria, Nicholas, Zachary, Jackie and Christie; a brother, Jerry Reeves and wife Mary of Duke, OK; his sister, Rebecca Reeves of Duke, OK; his aunt, Louise Thomas and husband L.V. of Amarillo, TX; and his cousins and brothers- and sisters-in-law.

He was a member of the Colorado Donor Alliance. He was a State Farmer in FFA and played basketball at Duke High School. He played college basketball at Oklahoma City University and at Phillips University in Enid, OK, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in geology in 1958.

He was named to the Phillips University Hall of Fame in 1988, one of 10 in the school’s Inaugural Hall of Fame class. His graduate schooling was at the University of Denver. In 1954, he was featured in Look Magazine, after his basketball coach enrolled him and other members of the OCU team in ballet lessons to improve their agility on the court.

He began his career in the newspaper industry covering sports for the Enid paper while still playing college basketball, and went on to work as a reporter in Borger, TX. After moving to Colorado, he worked at a weekly newspaper in Westminster before becoming managing editor of the Longmont Daily Times Call, then editor of the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald, and executive vice president of Lehman Communications, which included both these papers, the Canon City Daily Record and other newspapers.

In 1981, Reeves accepted the position of general manager of the Hearst Corporation’s Capital Newspapers in Albany, NY, publishers of the Albany Times-Union and Knickerbocker News.

A westerner at heart, he longed to be back in that part of the country. In 1983, he became publisher and editor of the Ukiah Daily Journal in Northern California. In 1984, the Journal was purchased by Donrey Media Group, and Reeves remained with Donrey.

On May 1, 1989, he became publisher of the Hemet News, a 21,500-circulation Donrey newspaper in Southern California. Later promoted to division manager, Reeves was responsible for three other Donrey papers - the Redland Daily Facts, the Moreno Valley Times and the Alamogordo Daily News, in addition to serving as publisher of the Hemet News.

In 1992, Reeves transferred to Alamogordo as publisher of the Daily News, until July 1998 when his health forced him to retire from active newspaper management.

His wife, Beverly, owned two newspapers in Sonoma County, CA, the Healdsburg Tribune and the Windsor Times, which they purchased from Lesher Communications in 1995. He helped her with those papers until she sold them in May 2000, to Sonoma West Publishers, the current owners. Tom and Beverly moved back to Loveland in September 2000.

Reeves served on the Loveland Planning Commission. He previously served on the board of the Inland Daily Press Association and served on the Inland Management and Cost Committee for 10 years, three as chairman. He was president of the Colorado Press Association, president of the Colorado Bar/Press Association. He has been part of numerous community organizations including president of Loveland-Berthoud United Way, president of Loveland Rotary Club, board chairman of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Loveland. He has been on the board of directors of the Chambers of Commerce in Longmont and Loveland, Ukiah, and San Jacinto.

He was an avid photographer, enjoyed nature and working in the yard. Reeves read many magazines, newspapers and books. He was a volunteer for various civic organizations. He was an explorer who took his wife and family on numerous vacations around the United States, many on the spur of the moment.

Cremation arrangements were completed at Kibbey-Fishburn Funeral Home in Loveland, CO. Family and friends gathered at the First Christian Church in Loveland, CO, on Wednesday, March 12, to celebrate his life. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Mr. Reeves’ name to the Colorado Christian Home in care of Kibbey-Fishburn Funeral Home, 1102 N. Lincoln Avenue, Loveland, Colorado, 80537.

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