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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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By the Desert Journal's award winning investigative reporting team of Bill Johnson, Fred Mramor & David Pierre

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Last modified: April 25, 2009

Breaking News

Registration Opens for New Mexico’s Energy Economy Town Hall

ALBUQUERQUE, NM, March 23, 2009 — New Mexico First, a statewide public policy organization announced that its 2009 statewide town hall will address New Mexico’s energy economy. The town hall, entitled “Growing New Mexico’s Energy Economy" will be held in Albuquerque May 14 - 16.

Heather Balas, New Mexico First’s President and Executive Director said she is excited about the prospect of May’s event bringing together New Mexicans from every region and many different walks of life to participate in this year’s discussion.

 "People use to think of energy policy choices as ‘either/or’ propositions,” Balas noted, “but these arguments may not hold up anymore.” She hopes the 2009 town hall will help citizens explore the connections between energy policy and economic develop strategy and make concrete recommendations for policymakers and community leaders.

 All community members are invited to participate in this three-day statewide town hall to discuss priorities and concerns related to New Mexico’s energy economy, its progress, and its future. “New Mexico has the potential to be a national leader in energy production,” said Balas. “We have tremendous natural resources below the ground and above our head, from oil and gas to wind and solar. This is a perfect time to refine our state’s energy policy.”

 The town hall, which will be limited to 120 participants, will discuss these concerns and provide policymakers with consensus driven recommendations. Individuals interested in attending the town hall should register by visiting www.nmfirst.org. A background report, developed for participants, will be released next month.

 Who:                      All community members including: community leaders and citizens, business leaders and managers, economic development professionals, environmentalists, energy producers and advocates, state and local policymakers

What:                     Statewide town hall on growing New Mexico’s energy economy

Where:                   Albuquerque Convention Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Convener:              New Mexico First, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to engaging citizens in policy

Registration:         Register by visiting www.nmfirst.org or for more information please call 505.241.4813

Cost:                      Early registration by April 17 - $175 for New Mexico First members; $200 for non-members

 

New Mexico First is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization co-founded in 1986 by Senators Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman. We bring people together to address major issues facing the state. Each town hall results in concrete recommendations for state and local leaders.

<<<  >>>

Veterans and their families
travel to DC for peace rally

"THEY WAVE THE FLAG WHEN YOU ATTACK--WHEN
YOU COME HOME THEY TURN THEIR BACK" 

In traditional march cadence, U.S. military veterans will chant that statement on the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, as they lead a Veterans' March for Peace to significant sites in Washington, DC, including the National Archives, home of the U.S. Constitution.  There veterans will conduct an action of "civil resistance" and issue Citizen Arrest Warrants for George Bush and Dick Cheney for multiple violations of the Constitution and international war crimes.

On Wednesday, March 19, members of Veterans For Peace (VFP) will gather on the National Mall, at 9:00 am, on 7th St., between Madison and Jefferson for a brief rally, followed by a silent march to the Museum of Native Americans, where Buffy St. Marie will join in a ceremony honoring the original inhabitants of the North American continent.

Army Col. (ret) Ann Wright, a VFP member, said, "This war has cost too many lives and resources that should have been spent on health, education and other needs.  The war must be stopped before more Iraqis and Americans are killed, and the sooner the better.  Our military presence in Iraq must end so Iraqis can begin to rebuild their lives." 

The Veterans' March for Peace will continue to the Peace Monument on the grounds of the Capitol, where VFP members will confirm their Statement of Purpose which says in part: "We, having dutifully served our nation, do hereby affirm our greater responsibility to serve the cause of world peace.  To this end we will work with others to increase public awareness of the costs of war...(and) to abolish war as an instrument of national policy."

At 11:30 am, the Veterans March for Peace March stops at the National Archives, home of the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution.  Here veterans will retake their military oath, the key part of which is: "I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…"  In addition, they will serve Citizen Arrest Warrants for George Bush and Dick Cheney.

VFP President, Elliott Adams, explained why the warrants will be issued, saying, "It has long been apparent that our Constitution is under attack and has been deliberately and relentlessly undermined by domestic enemies -- indeed, by our highest government officials -- who took the same oath we did and have violated it by waging a war of aggression and committing war crimes in Iraq."

The Peace March will terminate at McPherson Square across from the Veterans' Administration Headquarters where a civil resistance action will highlight grievances over inadequate health care funding for veterans when they return home.

New Mexicans Urged To Register To Save Lives

April is National Organ Donation Month

(Albuquerque, NM, March 18, 2008) – New Mexicans are urged to register as organ donors on their driver’s license or state issued ID card during National "Donate Life" Month in April. 

MVD data released for 2008 shows 874,249 or 50.31 percent of New Mexicans registered to be organ donors at MVD, but more donor registrations are needed.

Currently, 98,358 patients are on the national organ waiting list, including 591 New Mexicans who need a life-saving organ transplant. 

New Mexican Phil Anaya waited months for a heart transplant last year.  "One person's decision to be an organ donor saved my life.  It's truly a generous life-saving gift I received" he said. Anaya received his heart transplant in May of 2007.  "Now I do everything I can to tell people that they too can save someone's life by being an organ donor" said Anaya. 

One donor can save the lives of up to eight people through organ donation and up to fifty more can be helped with eye and tissue donation.  As many as 18 patients die each day in the U.S. awaiting an organ transplant. 

“We urge every New Mexican to make a difference and sign up to be an organ donor,” said Patricia Niles, executive director of New Mexico Donor Services. 

You don't have to look far to find someone who has benefited from a generous organ or tissue transplant.  In 2007, 28,300 organ transplants and one million tissue transplants were performed in the U.S.  Tissue transplants included cornea, tendons, skin, bone and heart valve surgeries.

Visit www.DonateLifeNM.org or call 1-800-843-7672 to learn more about saving lives through organ and tissue donation.

New Mexico Donor Services is the federally designated organ procurement organizations serving the citizens of New Mexico.  NMDS is a non-profit organization, working closely with the Motor Vehicle Division and Partner Hospitals throughout New Mexico to provide donation options to families.

<<<   >>>

(posted 3-18-08)

How many times must we watch The West burn?

Goats Help Prevent Fire Damage

Albuquerque, NM -  “The millions of dollars in damages from the recent California wildfires –including the Thanksgiving flare-up in Malibu - could have been reduced or even eliminated if goats had been used to diminish the risks,” says Holistic Management International (HMI) COO Peter Holter.

The Albuquerque-based non-profit, founded in 1984, works on four continents with stewards of large land holdings to heal damaged land, improve biodiversity and food production and reverse desertification, yielding a “triple bottom line” of sustainable environmental, economic, and social benefits. Thirty million acres worldwide are currently under Holistic Management.

 “Holistic Management^® practitioners have used animals – especially goats – to mitigate the risk of fire damage, especially in areas where urban areas and wildlands meet,” Holter explains. “Goats reduce the natural ‘fuel ladder’ – vegetation less than eight feet in height that allow wildfires to rush up the trees and into the canopies.”

“While there’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution to the increasing risk of wildfire in the West, using animals to ameliorate the fire hazard costs significantly less than the millions spent on fire suppression, and actually improves the land so that it is less likely to suffer damage from future fires,” Holter added.

Holistic Management® practitioner and rancher Bill Burrows, who manages 40,000-acres in the western part of the Sacramento Valley near Red Bluff, California, thinks it’s essential to bring the herbivore, particularly goats and sheep, back into the management of the catastrophic build up of fuels in the 41 states that have major fire problems.

“These animals are especially beneficial in California, where three things are happening: First, it’s very difficult to have prescribed burns because of strict air pollution laws. Next, mechanical methods are very expensive and cannot be used on steep terrain. Third, chemicals have social implications and not acceptable because we have no idea of their long-range effect,” he said.

“Animals, the only tool we have left, provide benefits beyond the reduction of biomass and adding organic matter back into the soil. Their hoof action prepares soil for planting grasses and other desirable species, they are efficient in reducing invasive exotic weeds, and they are the cheapest removers of biomass around. Goats cost $18.44 per acre, or $144 per ton of biomass removed,” he said.

In fact, goats are most effective in populated areas in the wildland-urban interface, says Kathy Voth, whose “Goats! For Firesafe Homes in Wildland Areas - Handbook on CD,” explains how to use goats, cattle and sheep to manage vegetation. Voth participated with the federal Bureau of Land Management and Utah State University in a recent study of the use of goats in fire suppression. Video of Voth using goats to create fuel breaks, and the beneficial impact her work during an actual fire, are available at www.livestockforlandscapes.com.

A 2004 Federal Emergency Management Administration report confirms that goats effectively decrease hazardous ladder fuels and are an attractive alternative to prescribed burns because they do not produce slash piles that must be removed or burned later.

Federal and state grants are available for individuals and municipalities to pay for part of the expense of purchasing and using goats to clear flammable vegetation.

“You aren’t just throwing the goats on the land,” says Holter, who received a grant to obtain 500 goats to cut a firebreak around a 239-home community in Northern California. “The herd will be managed and will systematically cover the area of concern.”

According to Holter, when the animals’ hoof action prepares the soil for planting grasses, it also works their excreted dung and urine into it. The soil is then enriched, encouraging root growth in plants. Healthier plants sequester more carbon from the atmosphere and hold more moisture in the soil, promoting more biodiversity. Live biomass is less susceptible to burning than dead fuel, as well.

 For more information about using goats and other animals in fire suppression and land restoration in general, call HMI at (505) 842-5252 or visit www.holisticmanagement.org. 

<<<   >>>

(posted 11/27/07) 

Habituated wolves are dangerous wolves

Catron County presses FWS on habituated wolves

RESERVE, NM -- A recent inquest determined that Kenton Carnegie had been killed by wolves two years ago in Ontario, Canada. 

On October 11 of this year, the Catron County Commission sent a letter to Dr. Benjamin Tuggle of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service notifying him of the County’s findings of imminent danger and a demand for permanent removal of a male Mexican wolf from the Durango pack.  The wolf at that time had been documented as frequenting two homes, one 21 times and another seven times over the course of a few months.
 
In its letter to Dr. Tuggle, the County cited the “10J Rule” - a part of the Endangered Species Act which applies to the experimental, non-essential Mexican wolf population.  This rule provides guidance for management of the Mexican wolf program and definitions of what constitutes a problem wolf. 

The County stated that the wolf in question met four of the five possible identifiers (only one is required for a wolf to be so identified).  According to the 10J Rule, a problem wolf can be removed from the wild by the wolf program before it performs some action which may require, by the same Rule, that the wolf be destroyed, according to the Catron County Commission's letter.
 
However, in his Oct. 27 reply letter, Dr. Tuggle chose to disagree with the County’s findings, stating that the wolf’s actions did not constitute problem behavior, and further stated that the behaviors exhibited by the wolf would be best dealt with via “aversive conditioning methods”, stating that the measures had been proven to be successful.
 
During the 10 days that these methods were employed by authorities, the wolf returned to one of the homes five times.
 
“Dr. Tuggle seems to think the wolf’s being documented at homes 28 times is normal wolf behavior,” said Catron County’s Wolf Interaction Investigator, Jess Carey.  “He thinks it is acceptable for a family to have to live with people on their property on a daily basis, hazing the wolves away to protect the family.”
 
According to a recent report by Dr. Valerius Geist, a Canadian biologist, becoming used to and not afraid of humans is one of the final steps before a wolf starts seeing humans as prey.  Dr. Geist consulted wolf experts from around the world and identified seven stages of wolf habituation leading to attacks on humans.
 
“It appears that Dr. Tuggle is content that wolves in Catron County are displaying the exact behavior displayed by wolves that killed and ate Kenton Carnegie,” said Ed Wehrheim, Chairman of the Catron County Commission.  “We have a serious problem of escalating habituated behavior here. We told Dr. Tuggle very clearly of the evidence we have that the wolf is habituated and therefore a problem wolf.  We invited him to come down here and examine our evidence.  Our documentation includes three videos that were taken of wolves in people’s yards, taken from their living room window.  A habituated wolf is a dangerous wolf and we need to get these habituated wolves out of the our county so they are no longer threatening our people.”
 
In a reply letter to Dr. Tuggle from the County, Wehrheim said, “The County has taken no action in order to give you time to do your job.  However, we can wait no longer.” 

Commissioner Wehrheim stated that the County will take measures to protect its citizens, acting under the Catron County Wolf Protection Ordinance. 

“It is the moral and legal responsibility of the Catron County Commission, first and foremost, to  protect the safety, health and welfare of the residents of Catron County,” the letter concludes.

<<<   >>>

(posted 11-10-07)

Justin Morgan tries to dig his way out of the cull de sac in Albuquerque's foothills this morning to get to work, but his car gets stuck high centered on the snow.  Photo by Bill Johnson

Snow piled up on top of trees, walls and utility wires and everything else.

It snowed to the extent that we got stuck and could not get to work early this morning.  The snow accumulations shown here are from a 24-hour period, starting at about 7:30 a.m. Friday.

(posted 12-30-06)

The Maury Show features New Mexico's 

notorious sex torture convict, David Parker Ray

Desert Journal's photos get well-deserved play

The Maury Show on Tuesday, Feb. 7, aired a segment of New Mexico's sex torture convict David Parker Ray in an hour show dubbed "Violent Sex Crimes and Attacks, Accidents and Rescues Caught on Tape" and used four of the Desert Journal's photographs from its true crime book, Satan's Den Exposed. 

Victims' rights attorney Gloria Allred, a special guest of Maury Povich on the show, told TV viewers that the David Ray case in the Truth or Consequences area involved the most violent sex torture crimes this country has ever seen.  The show also featured a reenactment of the victims' gruesome treatment while in the hands of their abductors David Ray, his girlfriend Cindy Hendy, and his daughter, Glenda Jean "Jessy" Ray. 

Allred also explained that Jessy Ray received the court's leniency or only five years of probation as part of prosecutors' plea deal with her father, who was sentenced to 224 years in prison.  Ray, convicted for the sex torture of three victims (one in 1996 and two in the winter of 1999 before his arrest in March that year), died at the age of 62 from a heart attack after spending only a few years of his sentence in jail and finally in the prison at Hobbs, NM.

The story is so horrific that three books so far have been written about David Parker Ray and his crimes, which apparently went unnoticed for more than two decades.  Hendy had told authorities that Ray admitted to her he had killed at least 14 of his victims, but investigators hot on the trail have yet to prove one homicide.  That's because Ray duct taped the faces he caught on videotape and not one, except for Kelly Van Cleave Garrett, could be identified.  The videotape of a swan tattoo on one of Kelly's leg led investigators to her. 

The case came to light in March 1999 when Albuquerque prostitute Cynthia Vigil escaped Ray's residence at the Elephant Butte State Park Lease Lots south of Rock Canyon after three days of captivity and sexual torture, including in Ray's well-concealed, sound-proofed "Toy Box," where he hung a sign, "Satan's Den."  Vigil was naked and wearing only a metal collar with lock and chain attached when she struggled with Hendy and managed to escape while Ray was at work as a mechanic at the state park's maintenance shop. 

The first book, Cries in the Desert by English true crime author John Glatt, was based partly on the Desert Journal's award winning investigative reporting on the case in 1999 and it also published seven of the Desert Journal's photographs by David Pierre and Bill Johnson.  The second book, Slow Death by Jim Fielder of Seattle, was sharply criticized by the Desert Journal for making fact out of fiction.

The third book, Satan's Den Exposed, was published by the Desert Journal in 2003 after the weekly newspaper in Truth or Consequences folded.  Bill Johnson, publisher of the Desert Journal and Desert Journal Online, is also the editor and major contributor of the contents of the book; and two of his former staff members, Fred Mramor and David Pierre, also are acknowledged for their work as co-authors.  Johnson continues to maintain the website for the purpose of promoting his book and to share his many news archives.

"I am extremely proud of our work and happy to see that finally we at the Desert Journal got at least some national recognition for our work, including research that spans nearly five years or since David Ray's arrest in 1999, with last Tuesday's airing on The Maury Show," Johnson said.  "Maury and his staff and guest, Gloria Allred, did an excellent job with the treatment of this story and they are to be commended for it." 

The Maury Show also gave a few seconds credit - "Courtesy of the Desert Journal" - that appeared on one of its photos.  The Desert Journal photos included David Ray making his first appearance outside the magistrate court in Truth or Consequences and later at his sentencing, and of Ray's residence, which FBI and state police investigators shielded from public view with blue tarp while they collected thousands of pieces of evidence.  To view the photo of Ray at sentencing, click on the following link at http://www.desertjournalonline.com/2001archive/9-21-01%20Headliners.htm

The show also used an audio tape of one victim’s testimony as well as other media’s video footage.

Satan's Den Exposed is a compilation of the Desert Journal's stories from March 1999 to May 2003, plus Desert Journal Online stories that appeared after May 2003, and it contains more than 40 photographs.  It is available for purchase either as an electronic book off the Desert Journal Online website with color photographs, or in print from Ramble House Books in Shreveport, LA, with black and white photos.

The Ramble House website is at:

http://www.ramblehouse.com/satansdenexposed.htm.

<<<   >>>

CLICK HERE FOR MORE LINKS TO RELATED STORIES

(posted 2-9-06)

Where’s Desert Journal Online headed?

By Bill Johnson

Editor of Desert Journal Online

We recently received inquiries from our online visitors who asked whether Desert Journal Online is history.  If you’re reading this article then you know we are still here; however, those who have paid attention to our website the last few months also may be asking us the same thing about our current status and whether we folded.

My answer is that I simply do not know where Desert Journal Online is heading – it wants to hang on to dear life, but on the other hand it also is on the verge of retiring.

Since our daughter Gina died June 16 this year at the young age of 21 from a massive infection, Desert Journal Online for the most part has been inactive while my wife and I have been taking care of our three grandchildren along with their father.  After Gina’s death, we moved to Albuquerque at the start of July and have been reorganizing our entire lives.

But now that things have settled for the large part, we come to a junction in the road that beckons us to make a decision as to our website’s future.

Today I dismantled the sports and community pages of the website because over the last few months they grew stale without new content.  But then I began to wonder how Desert Journal Online might survive on the World Wide Web.  The fact is it has survived even without all of the new news being posted almost daily as it used to be before the start of last summer.  And today I decided to at least update Moti’s “Celestial Cycles” column to include her new October astrological readings, replacing the one from last June.

So, although a full recovery of the website is not impossible, it will take time to decide how to chart our future course.  It is important to maintain our website because many of our visitors would not otherwise be able to find our book, Satan’s Den Exposed – The David Parker Ray Story, since we are the only ones promoting it besides the publisher of our print version, Ramble House Books.

So, keep surfing in and watching for new developments from time to time.

<<<   >>>

(posted 9-26-04)

Desert Journal moving to Albuquerque

Desert Journal Online – www.desertjournalonline.com - is in the process of moving to Albuquerque from Truth or Consequences, where the website was founded in May 2001.

“We’re in a period of great transition so this website will continue to remain dormant without new updates, besides the one we posted with today’s release of the second edition of our e-book, Satan’s Den Exposed,” said Bill Johnson, editor and publisher.

Johnson said he expects the website to remain inactive with no new updates for at least another week or two, or until he and his family - including wife Teresa and their three grandchildren and their father, get settled into their new home.

<<<   >>>

(posted 6-30-04)

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