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Last modified: December 1, 2008

Headline News From April 26, 2002 Issue

Six arrested in marijuana bust 

  Six travelers were arrested in connection with a state police bust of 88.6 pounds of marijuana early Sunday morning on Interstate 25 near Elephant Butte.

See Cal Owens Close Up.
CLICK ON PHOTO

World War II veteran
volunteers at museum
at NM Veterans Home

  Calvin “Cal” Owens was a Hell’s Angel – not of the motorcycle gang’s fame.

Identity thieves getting smarter (maybe) 

  “Some of your customers may be the unwitting subjects of a new fraud scheme that uses fictitious IRS forms and fraudulent bank correspondence,” an April 5 alert to banks from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) warns.

Nobes quits DWI post 

  Bernice Nobes last week turned in her resignation as Coordinator for the Truth or Consequences/Sierra County DWI Prevention Program.

UNM Institute for Public Policy to hold citizen conference 

  The University of New Mexico Institute for Public Policy, a non-partisan forum for social scientific research and education, will hold seven citizen conferences across the state including Truth or Consequences to aid the State Highway Department’s long-range planning process.

Scorpions of Twisted Wire

  The poverty in Boquillas Del Carmen, Coahuila, Mexico is preposterous even for Mexico.
 

…Working side by side

The mother and daughter team of Lynette and Amanda Beach works together cooking eggs at Timmy’s Town Talk Café on Broadway in downtown Truth or Consequences in conjunction with Take Your Daughter to Work Day on Thursday, April 25. Amanda, 12, who’s in the sixth grade at the T or C Middle School, said she was having fun learning the ropes cooking short orders alongside her mother.
Photo by Bill Johnson

Six arrested in marijuana bust

Desert Journal Staff Report

Six travelers were arrested in connection with a state police bust of 88.6 pounds of marijuana early Sunday morning on Interstate 25 near Elephant Butte.

State Police Officer Peter Bowidowicz was routinely patrolling I-25 when he saw two vehicles traveling together at 3:45 a.m. April 21.

They both exited I-25 at Exit 83 and traveled northbound on Highway 181 before turning westbound together on State Road 52, with the sedan traveling ahead of the truck.

Bowidowicz said in the affidavit for arrest warrant he paced both vehicles, which accelerated to about 58 mph in a 50 mph zone. The officer then stopped the vehicles at about mile marker 2 on State Road 52 in Sierra County.

The sedan driver, Gloria Orozco, 19, of Deming, told police she was traveling to the La Quinta motel in Albuquerque but the officer told her there was no such hotel in the direction she was traveling.

The driver of the truck was identified as Ricardo Silva, 23, of Phoenix, AZ, the officer said, adding he issued citations or gave verbal warnings for speeding, no license plate light and driving while license suspended.

The officer then asked both drivers if they were carrying any controlled substances, such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine and both said they were not, then signed consent to search forms with regard to their vehicles.

During the search of the truck, Officer Bowidowicz tested the spare tire to find it contained material with the tire weighing between 150 and 200 pounds. At that point, the officer resolved to obtain search warrants from the court for both vehicles and he found the truck’s spare tire contained 14 bricks of marijuana weighing 88.5 pounds.

Bowidowicz said that during the detention of four adult occupants of the two vehicles, they spoke Spanish among themselves. State Police Officer Freddy De La O, who speaks Spanish as well, overheard the four adults discussing the merits of the criminal case and he heard Silva explain that they were all going to “get off” because there was no basis for the stop, with the three others concurring with this sentiment.

During an interview with state police narcotics agents, Cecilia Silva said she would cooperate with agents by contacting her sister, Silvia Lozano, in order to bring her to Sierra County and transfer the contraband and forward it to its final destination in Denver, CO, according to Officer Bowidowicz in his statement of probable cause.

Silva called Lozano in Deming on a cell phone and advised she was at the Rio Grande Motel in Williamsburg and would await her sister’s arrival. Silva also said she would take her sister around the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-25 in Sierra County because it was alleged to be opened.

Lozano said she would be leaving Deming immediately and travel with her boyfriend, Campos.

During the afternoon, Campos called Silva to get information on Silva’s location and her situation. Silva gave him the same information she had given to Lozano, the officer’s statement said.

At 4 p.m. the same day the two narcotic agents rented two rooms at the Rio Grande where they awaited the arrival of Campos and Lozano. Lozano in a call to Silva said she would be arriving in a light blue Nissan sedan along with Jesus Campos and her six-month-old infant child, according to the statement of probable cause.

The agents then arrested Lozano and Campos and took them to the state police office in Truth or Consequences for interviews in which they allegedly told police they were taking the marijuana to Denver for $5,500.

Lozano and Campos then were taken to the Socorro County Detention Facility for incarceration and booking.

Charges of distribution of marijuana or possession with intent to distribute, conspiracy to distribute and tampering with evidence were filed against Silva, Orozco, Manuelio Calderaon, 18, of Oklahoma City, OK, and Cecilia Silva, 18, of Deming. All three charges are fourth degree felonies.

Police also leveled charges in magistrate court, including a count each of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute marijuana against Jesus M. Campos, 35, and Silvia Lozano, 24, both of Deming. Both charges are fourth degree felonies.

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…Dedicated volunteer

Cal Owens, 83, of the New Mexico State Veterans Home in Truth or Consequences, happily greets and assists visitors to the Veterans Museum at the Vets Home. Hundreds of items of military memorabilia have been donated to the museum that fills the walls and hallways of the state-run facility.
Photo by Bill Johnson

World War II veteran volunteers

at museum at NM Veterans Home

By Bill Johnson of the Desert Journal

Calvin “Cal” Owens was a Hell’s Angel – not of the motorcycle gang’s fame.

The 303^rd Bombardment Group (H) to which Owens belonged committed itself to a total of 364 combat missions during World War II between Nov. 17, 1942, and April 25, 1945.

Cal had the distinctive honor of participating in the first 10 missions and eight other raids before being relieved of his U.S. Navy duties in Europe in 1943.

“We made the first daylight raid on Germany on Jan. 27, 1943, at the naval base in Wilhelmshaven, Germany,” Owens said. This was a bit unusual as most bombardment raids were conducted at night.

“You didn’t go out in the daylight – not bombing. It just wasn’t done that way, but we did it,” Owens explained.

Before Germany, the group’s missions focused on Nazi-occupied France and the bombings targeted Germany’s U-Boat submarine pens, other submarine pens, carriage and wagon works, railroad marshalling yards, an air depot and torpedo storage areas.

Sixty years later at age 83, Owens now finds himself volunteering at the Veterans Museum at the New Mexico State Veterans Home in Truth or Consequences where he has taken up residency.

Military memorabilia, wall hangings, paintings, glass cases full of military books, papers, or the images of heroes, flags, uniforms, hats, swords, a German machine gun, a copy of the Japanese surrender, etc., all occupy Owens day in one way or another as he prepares for a new display of historical goodies coming into the museum.

Owens said he has all but received a U.S. Marine Corps uniform to put inside a display case in one of the home’s spacious hallways.

Owens helps in whatever way he can and as of late has taken on the publicity angle of getting the news out about the Veterans Museum, perhaps the only one of its kind in the State of New Mexico and maybe in the nation.

Carol Wilson, an employee at the Veterans Home, oversees the museum’s operations, which spills into the hallways, onto the walls and almost everywhere you look at the Veterans Home.

But it is the enthusiasm that volunteers like Cal Owens express – with a big smile, of course - that drums up support for the ongoing museum projects.

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COME VISIT THE MUSEUM WITH CAL

A shelf at the Veterans Museum displays various knick knacks including a picture of Audie Murphy, the “Most Decorated Soldier in American History.”
Photo by Bill Johnson

This U.S. Navy hat is a new addition to the Veterans Museum at the New Mexico State Veterans Home.
Photo by Bill Johnson

Civil War hats – both Union and Confederate – are displayed on a glass shelf at the Veterans Museum.
Photo by Bill Johnson

A German machine gun from World War I guards the halls of the New Mexico State Veterans Home as part of the Veterans Museum display.
Photo by Bill Johnson

Identity thieves getting smarter (maybe)

Now using phony IRS & bank forms

but their grammar is poor & atrocious

By Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

“Some of your customers may be the unwitting subjects of a new fraud scheme that uses fictitious IRS forms and fraudulent bank correspondence,” an April 5 alert to banks from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) warns.

“Documents are being circulated nationwide in an attempt to steal your customers’ identity and money by having your customer disclose personal and banking information. Accordingly, when the perpetrator of the fraud contacts your bank they have all the customer’s information to appear credible,” the OCC alert states.

Identity thieves send to bank customers a letter affixed to a bank letterhead threatening to withhold 31 percent of their interest if they fail to complete and return a fictitious Internal Revenue Service Form W-9095.

The badly written letter, with its missing prepositions, citizen/alien red herrings and other gobbledygook, reads as follows:

“Dear Customer:

“We are currently updating our resident, non-resident alien and citizens records. This is to enable us to detect persons exempted from the United States reporting and withholding tax on interest paid to you on your bank account and other financial dealings.

“To adequately protect such exemptions from paying tax on statutorily, we are required to update our records to enable you recertify your exemption status.

“To complete this exercise in time, you are required to complete the attached form W-9095 and return same to us as soon as possible through the fax number 1-914-470-9245.

“United States citizens or resident aliens should also fill the form, indicating ‘U.S. Citizen/Resident’ on the form and return same to us. We will on receipt, re-classify such category of customers.

“In completing the attached form, you are advised to follow the steps below:

i) If you are a non-resident alien, indicate the name of your country to support your non-resident status.

ii) U.S. Citizens and other resident aliens must indicate their permanent residential address in the U.S. This is to enable us mail further documents regarding their status.

iii) If any signatory/ies to the account have acquired U.S. resident status after the opening of the account, please indicate same in the form.

iv) In case of joint signatories, all such persons or holders must sign and date their form separately and fax same to the fax number indicated above.

“All completed form W-9095 should be returned to us within Seven (7) days of receipt of this letter, to help us update your records immediately.

“Please remember that if your account or financial dealings are not recertified early enough it will be subject to U.S. reporting and withholding tax.

“If this is applied, we are required to withhold 31% of all interest paid to you. We appreciate your timely cooperation to help us protect your exemption status and accurately update our records. Yours sincerely, - Monique Meeuws,” the letter ends.

The bogus IRS form carries the heading of “Application Form For Certificate/Status Ownership Bank” and customers are instructed to sign the phony form “under penalty of perjury.”

The OCC alert instructs banks to advise customers, who have completed and returned the fictitious IRS form, to notify all financial institutions they do business with, the fraud departments of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union), the IRS and the police.

Though no local instances of the fraud have been reported, Addie McGarry of the Truth of Consequences State National Bank this week said that T or C residents, many of them elderly, honest, and especially susceptible to this type of fraud, should be forewarned so they will not be taken by these scam artists.

In addtion to the newspapers, McGarry has forwarded the OCC alert to the Sierra Joint Office on Aging and the T or C Housing Authority.

McGarry added that any bank should have necessary customers’ information on file but that if a bank requires new or updated signatures or other information, it will ask customers to come in rather than return a form by mail or fax.

McGarry said also customers should call their bank to authenticate any questionable correspondence that appears to be from their bank.

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Nobes quits DWI post

By Fred Mramor of the Desert Journal

Bernice Nobes last week turned in her resignation as Coordinator for the Truth or Consequences/Sierra County DWI Prevention Program.

Nobes has held the position since January, 2001.

Nobes gave the City of T or C her 30-day notice and offered to help with the transition when a new coordinator is hired and as needed in the future.

Nobes this week said she will also serve on the local DWI Prevention and Planning Council whose 30 or so members include T or C City Commissioner Lois Reaver-Black and the Reverend James White.

Nobes said she is going on to a position in case management and will pursue her master's degree as a social worker in two semesters at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, NM.

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UNM Institute for Public Policy

to hold citizen conference in T or C

The University of New Mexico Institute for Public Policy (IPP), a non-partisan forum for social scientific research and education, will hold seven citizen conferences across the state including Truth or Consequences to aid the State Highway Department’s long-range planning process.

The meeting in T or C will be Thursday, June 13, at the Civic Center, 400 W. Fourth Ave.

SHD sponsored similar meetings in 1997 and found they are an effective and innovative way to incorporate public opinion into the policy making process.

Relying on New Mexicans to provide insight about their preferences for transportation is an especially important function this year and beyond, because the state is facing a future where transportation needs of citizens will outgrow available resources.

About 10 randomly selected citizens will be recruited from throughout the state by the IPP to take part in each of the daylong meetings.

In the morning a question and answer session involves “citizen advisors” discussing transportation issues with state and local transportation professionals.

In the afternoon they deliberate on what they have learned and develop a list of recommendations for transportation planning throughout the state.

The recommendations will be presented to the press, local citizens and the SHD at 4 p.m.

Local public officials, business people and the general public are invited to the session in T or C. They will have the opportunity to join the discussion at an informal public meeting after the presentation.

For more information, call the UNM Institute for Public Policy at 505-277-1099 or 866-602-6810.

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Scorpions of Twisted Wire

The Sierra Club sentences 

tiny Mexican village to poverty

By J. Zane Walley

Paragon Foundation News Service

Alamogordo, NM

BOQUILLAS, MEXICO - The poverty in Boquillas Del Carmen, Coahuila, Mexico is preposterous even for Mexico.

The destitution is so abject that it is agonizing to witness. Young mothers, old women and children dressed in rags have meager sales stalls made of river-cane, or stand unprotected in the blazing Chihuahuan desert sun, offering rocks and fossils for sale that they have gleaned from the wastelands surrounding their tiny village.

A relatively new item offered at the stands are scorpions made of twisted copper or aluminum electrical wire.

There is only one way into Boquillas. By a homemade boat that ferries tourists from Big Bend National Park across the muddy waters of the Rio Grande. Once in Mexico the visitor can hike into the village or rent a burro, mule or pickup truck for a short ride up the chalk-dusty and littered trail.

Boquillas citizens did not move to the edge of Big Bend National Park to reap tourist riches.

Expansion of the Mexican mining frontier in 1580 necessitated Indian labor. Writer J. Charles Kelley noted in "The Historic Indian Pueblos of La Junta de los Rios," that since the time of Cabeza de Vaca, Spaniards were aware of the large settlements of sedentary Indians living along the Río Grande.

Not surprisingly, mine owners viewed these domesticated Indians as a source of slave labor.

The 1883 mining activities in the Sierra del Carmen led to the formal settlement of Boquillas. Locals worked with the Puerto Rico Mining Co. to move large quantities of lead, zinc and silver ore to the railroad in Marathon, TX.

They profited as independent freighters, hauling ore, supplies, water, wood, mail and passengers to and from the mining towns.

After most of the mines in the Boquillas area closed in 1919, subsistence farming along the river floodplain became the major activity. The ability of Boquillians to practice agriculture began to falter in 1944 when the area was designated as Big Bend National Park and they were gradually restricted to less than half the land that they had previously tilled.

Bit by bit, the tiny community was forced to base its economy on an increasing flow of American and international tourists. Today, the village's survival is wholly dependent upon Big Bend National Park's tourist trade.

Boquillas is an ejido, a federal commons where all the land is owned by the Mexican government. It is far too remote to be serviced by the Mexican government and cannot furnish tourists with the expected creature comforts, because there is no electricity and thus, no running water.

The Park Bar and Restaurante Falcón offer soft drinks and beer slightly cooled in aging Servel propane refrigerators. A few solar panels dot the occasional roof and provide enough power to operate dim light bulbs.

The nearest hospital, bank, schools and stores in Mexico are in Múzquiz, a Herculean 141 mile journey, much of it unimproved dirt road across the steep Sierra del Carmen.

José Falcón, proprietor of Restaurante Falcón and the unofficial Mayor of Boquillas, remembers that once his town had a future.

"In 1988 the governor of Coahuila persuaded Señor Clements (the then-governor of Texas) to bring electric across the Rio Grande to Boquillas. It looked certain, so each family in our village dug deep into their pockets for money to pay the Mexican government to install power poles from the river to the town and for an electrician to install outlets in our homes."

Falcón pauses and looks across the Rio Grande before continuing. "With electricity we could have built nice hotels and restaurants for the Big Bend tourists. We could have had running water, and schools and a future for our children. But now, all that is dead because of a bird.

“The Sierra Club said they feared that drawing power lines across the river and into Boquillas might bother the falcons. Somehow they persuaded the electric company in Texas to drop their plans to bring the electricity into our village."

José's face becomes hard when he says, "This is our home. Our fathers and their fathers before them lived here. Are we to leave. To where? For a bird, they deny our children a future!

“Sierra Club! What kind of people are these? They have destroyed all our hopes. Why do they do this? "Porque pueden?" (Because they can?) All we have to show for our future are scorpions made of twisted wire."

Writer's note: The 46 families in Boquillas are also beleaguered by the designation of their home as a International Park and a wolf release area. On Nov. 7, 1994, President Carlos Salinas de Gotari of Mexico issued a decree that the Chihuahuan Desert region be a Protected Natural Area. Boquillians note that there is increasing pressure to halt their sole livelihood, the meager harvest of stones and fossils.

Their future is uncertain.

Article made possible by a grant from the Paragon Foundation: 1-877-847-3442.

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