Sabtu, 28 Desember 2013

Year in Review: New NMSU president, ruling for same-sex marriage among top ... - Las Cruces Sun-News

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LAS CRUCES >> With less than two weeks left in the year, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal in the state, settling, for now, a controversy that had roiled for the second half of 2013.


Doña Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins sparked a statewide movement to legalize same-sex marriage when he independently began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on Aug. 21. The move generated both criticism and applause and sparked one of the highest attendances in recent history at a County Commission meeting. The commission, in a 4-1 vote, expressed support for Ellins' move.



NMSU president >> In May, former New Mexico Gov. Garrey Carruthers was named president of New Mexico State University. Carruthers, who had been dean of the business college at NMSU, replaced Barbara Couture, who was paid more than $450,000 in a separation agreement. Between Couture and Carruthers, Manual Pacheco served his second stint as interim president. Dan Howard, a finalist for president, later accepted the provost position, replacing Wendy Wilkins.


This fall, the university announced that enrollment was down for the third consecutive year.


DACC Nursing program >> Former Doña Ana Community College President Margie Huerta was transferred to a position working for Carruthers, in part as a result of the DACC nursing program losing its national accreditation the year before. Students who lost opportunities to work at local hospitals were offered hasty transfers to NMSU. Earlier this month it was announced that the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing had granted the program candidacy status, the first step toward regaining its accreditation.



County manager >> After about a decade in the role, former County Manager Brian Haines, 57, departed the county early in the year after months of medical-related absence. Sue Padilla, long-time assistant county manager, was named the interim manager.


In early November, Julia Brown of Las Cruces, an attorney with a background in economic development, was hired to be the next county manager. She signed a three-year contract and will be paid $130,000 per year.


In a surprise move, Doña Ana County Commission Chairwoman Karen Perez announced in early August she was resigning her post, leaving open the door for Gov. Susana Martinez to appoint Las Crucen Ben Rawson, son of a former state senator, to replace Perez. Rawson is now the only Republican on the five-member County Commission.



Slevin SETTLEMENT >> In the first few months of the year, county commissioners sparked outrage when they announced they'd settled a previous verdict for $15.5 million over a court case involving former inmate Stephen Slevin. Of that, county taxpayers were directly liable for $9.5 million.


More than a year earlier, a federal jury in Santa Fe had awarded Slevin about $22 million, an amount negotiated down. The settlement was described by the group Public Justice as 'one of the largest-ever prisoner civil rights settlements in an individual case.'


In early July, a 12-person jury awarded ex-County Public Works Director Jorge Granados more than $250,000 in a state district court lawsuit. The jury found he had been retaliated against for attempting to report discrimination against someone else.


Also in July, the Doña Ana County Commission OK'd a 2013-14 budget that contains about a $15.4 million spending gap between revenues and expenses.


City, county taxes >> One proposal that would've propped up county finances was a 1/4 of 1 percent gross receipts tax hike that commissioners put before voters on July 30. The tax -- a proposed extra 25-cent charge on a $100 purchase -- would have paid for ambulance service, operations of the county's built-but-not-yet-opened Crisis Triage Center to help the mentally ill and expanded staffing for a proposed new city-county 911 call center.


Three bond questions were also on the ballot. Voters approved a $6 million measure to build a new countywide 911 center, and $800,000 to finish building a facility for dogs and cats seized in court cases. They rejected a $1 million measure for improvements to the county-owned fairgrounds west of Las Cruces.


The city of Las Cruces did not need voter approval to pass an increase in its gross receipts tax to compensate for anticipated loss of revenue through repeal of a hold harmless measure. The Legislature allowed for the tax hike without a vote, but concerns with the wording of the ordinance led the state Taxation and Revenue Department to reject it, leading to a second ordinance and delaying the start date for the tax by six months.


Flooding >> After months of hard drought, late-summer deluges washed out roads and damaged property and homes in Vado, Anthony, Berino and La Union, prompting cries for help in those communities. Some repairs were made on publicly owned land, but county officials said they were hampered by state laws from making improvements to privately owned parcels.


National monument >> U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, both D-N.M., joined what has been an ongoing effort to designate the iconic Organ Mountains a national monument and protect hundreds of thousands of acres throughout Doña Ana County, introducing a new bill Dec. 12.


The national monument would total about 450,000 acres -- or 780 square miles -- nearly half of which would be designated a wilderness area, the highest level of protection that can be imposed by Congress.


The debate over whether to grant a new land protection to the acreage -- and if so, how much -- has been ongoing since 2005. U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., has introduced a separate bill that would designate much less land in just the Organs for a national monument.


Sunland Park >> After a year of scandal in 2012, Sunland Park had a quieter 2013. In December, Vernon Wilson was named city manager. He'll earn $80,000 yearly in the new role.


Water >> The year was the driest in the nearly 100-year history of the Rio Grande Project, which delivers Rio Grande irrigation water to Doña Ana County, part of Sierra County and El Paso County. Within the Elephant Butte Irrigation District, irrigators saw the shortest-ever season on record, along with the smallest allocation of water.


EBID got about 53,000 acre-feet of water; El Paso County Improvement District No. 1 received 44,000 acre-feet; and Mexico got about 3,700 acre-feet -- all record lows, local irrigation officials said.


As the year ends, attorneys in Texas and New Mexico are waiting to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a lawsuit filed by Texas regarding groundwater pumping and its effects on downstream users.


Agriculture >> The onion harvest in Doña Ana County saw some setbacks thanks to cooler temperatures this spring and saltier irrigation water as growers relied upon ground-well water. But it improved throughout the summer, growers said.


A later-than-usual onion harvest prompted some labor shortages for green-chile harvesting. Also, heavy rain in September kept workers from getting into green chile fields and caused some disease problems. But growers, overall, said the chile season was solid.


The pecan harvest was delayed slightly this year, as farmers awaited a hard freeze needed to start picking nuts from the trees.


Spaceport America >> Supporters of the $212 million Spaceport America, a launch site for commercial space vehicles in southeastern Sierra County, started the year calling upon the state Legislature for immunity from legal liability to be extended to suppliers of spaceflight parts. The move was heavily backed by Virgin Galactic, the spaceport's main tenant. It passed the Legislature and was signed into law by Martinez.


Virgin Galactic filed a key permit application with federal officials for its flight vehicles. Its spaceship remains under development in Mojave, Calif.


A number of stars signed up to buy Virgin Galactic spaceflights that will launch from the spaceport, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga.


Closing out the year, Doña Ana County and Sierra County officials learned about possible state legislation that could result in a reduction of funding for school districts now receiving a share of spaceport sales-tax money. Both counties, in which voters OK'd a sales tax years ago to back the spaceport and education, recently approved formal stances against the proposed law change.


Teacher evaluation >> As part of the effort to comply with federal accountability standards, Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera rolled out a new teacher evaluation system that had been previously rejected by the Legislature. The move prompted Las Cruces school board members to seek greater local control.


Las MontaÑas >> The Las Cruces school board agreed to keep Las Montañas Charter High School open for another year, after years of academic and financial problems, under the condition that a special master, appointed by Superintendent Stan Rounds, oversees the school's improvements.


State championship >> The 2013 state high school football championship came down to city rivals Mayfield and Las Cruces, and the game was yet another classic.


It was the 50th game played between the two schools since 1967. A blocked extra point with 1 minute, 31 seconds left gave the Bulldawgs a 27-26 victory -- and back-to-back state championships.


City elections >> Incumbents Olga Pedroza and Gill Sorg won re-election to the Las Cruces City Council in early November. They were joined by Cecelia Levatino, who won a seat on the council to represent the growing East Mesa district in her first run for public office.


Incumbent Municipal Judge Kieran Ryan also was re-elected.


Intermodal center >> In early December, city officials cut the ribbon on a $36 million transportation intermodal center, at the southwest corner of Alameda Boulevard and Lohman Avenue. The facility will be a central point where residents can catch RoadRUNNER Transit buses or the New Mexico Park and Ride program.


In late November, the first multigenerational community center for East Mesa residents opened. The Sage Cafe is a mix of a branch library, a community center that provides events and activities for residents of all ages, and a barbecue restaurant.


Country club >> In June, the City Council approved rezoning for slightly more than 30 acres of the 110-acre Las Cruces Country Club property. The rezoning was sought for a proposed medical campus that will anchor redevelopment of the remaining 80 acres. Opponents argued the property could become too congested for what has been its traditional use. However, supporters of the project, which included some residents of the country club neighborhood, claimed the redevelopment could increase their property values. Meanwhile, representatives of the former Las Cruces Country Club have a tentative agreement in principle to purchase Sonoma Ranch Golf Course. However, there will be several details to be concluded before any sale can be finalized. It's anticipated that could happen in late January or early February.


WSMR >> Gwen Bingham, White Sands Missile Range commander, was promoted from brigadier general to major general. Bingham, 54, becomes the first WSMR commander to have that rank since early 1990, when Thomas 'J.P.' Jones was WSMR's commander.


Bingham is the first woman, and first African American to command at WSMR.


One of the issues the range dealt with this year were spending cuts mandated through federal legislation know as sequestration, which sent civilian employees home without pay for a portion of 2013, and a partial government shutdown in October.


Three of five companies of the 2nd Engineer Battalion, based at WSMR, returned from deployments to Afghanistan. Altogether, about 300 of the estimated 500 soldiers assigned to the battalion were on deployment during 2013.


TWEF >> Roberto Estrada, creator of what many consider to be the world's largest flat enchilada, was able to resume making the concoction after state officials had said Estrada didn't have the proper equipment to make the gigantic enchilada for 2012's The Whole Enchilada Festival.


Convention center >> After concerns among some city officials that the Las Cruces Convention Center was taking business from city hotels and events centers, a change in management and a revised contract in operations were made by the Las Cruces City Council.


There will now be one-year operating agreements between the city and Global Spectrum, the company that manages and operates the convention center for the city.


Roadwork >> In April, city, state and federal officials gathered underneath an overpass at Cholla Road to mark the completion of the reconstruction of the interchange linking Interstate 25 with I-10.


The project was completed in less than a year and provided substantial economic benefits to the city. Since its completion, the collection of gross receipts taxes from the construction industry has once again declined.


Also, after a fatal crash that claimed the lives of a Las Cruces woman and her son, cable barriers were installed in 2013 along a portion of U.S. Highway 70 to prevent vehicles from crossing the highway in opposite directions.


New Bishop >> For the first time since late 1982, the Las Cruces Catholic Diocese has a new bishop. Bishop Oscar Cantu was installed in February as the new bishop, succeeding the Most Rev. Ricardo Ramirez, who until then was the diocese's first and only bishop. Ramirez has retired, but continues to serve the diocese as bishop emeritus.


Catholic clergy from throughout the U.S. came to Las Cruces in February for Cantu's installation, which was conducted at the Las Cruces Convention Center.


Crime >> A veteran detective resigned this summer amid allegations that he sexually assaulted a high school girl interning with the Las Cruces Police Department.


Michael Garcia, 37, was arrested in late August shortly after the girl came forward saying he sexually assaulted her inside his unmarked police car after a call in May 2011. About two weeks later, authorities accused him of molesting another girl over the period of several years. Both cases are pending in state district court.


Garcia had spend most of his LCPD career investigating child abuse cases.


Jesus Solis, a 47-year-old longtime former teacher at Desert Hills Elementary, was arrested in July on charges that he groped three female students over the course of two years. He is facing 52 counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor, all pending in state district court.


In January, police arrested a Las Cruces mother and her live-in boyfriend on child abuse charges for allegedly leaving the woman's 8-year-old niece home alone and locked in a wooden cage.


In December, Cindy Patriarchias, 33, and her then-boyfriend Edmond Gonzales, 38, both admitted to some of the charges as part of a plea deal.


A fit of jealousy allegedly caused a New Mexico State University basketball player to punch another student he thought was dancing with his girlfriend at a January house party.


Police later arrested former Aggie forward Tyrone Watson on aggravated battery charges. Watson has graduated but is still awaiting trial.


Homicides >> County authorities investigated eight killings in 2013, most of which have resulted in murder charges.


In June, the girlfriend of Carlos Nevarez III allegedly ran him over after he left her truck during a late-night fight. She is awaiting a murder trial.


In July a man fatally shot Lisa Cash, his sister-in-law, the day before she was set to testify against him to a grand jury on a domestic violence charge. After killing her, he turned the gun on himself, police said.


The most recent killings happened on consecutive days in late November, when police found a homeless man, David Jones, 55, stabbed to death in a lot off Valley Drive. A man who initially reported being jumped along with Jones has been charged with murder.


The previous day, Jerome Saiz, 37, died after being beaten with a bat, police said. His girlfriend and another man have been charged with that killing.


In October, 30-year-old David Vallejos died after being shot by a neighbor. The two were fighting because Vallejos was reportedly upset that the man was working without a shirt. The man, who claimed self-defense, has been charged with murder.


Police say Ramon Robledo, 30, died in August of stab wounds inflicted by a man as the two fought inside an SUV. That man is awaiting trial on a murder charge.


Fernando Morales died in July of a gunshot wound to the face, after trying to break up a fight at a party near Hatch, deputies reported. After fleeing, the man charged with his murder surrendered and is awaiting a murder trial.


The area's first homicide happened in Berino, where Juan Perez was found beaten and clinging to life. After he died, authorities charged Joel Ponce with murder. That charge has since been reduced to manslaughter. Ponce remains at large.


In April, local authorities rushed to an apparent shooting scene, only to find the 911 call they had responded to originated in a Washington, D.C., suburb.


A former Las Cruces woman, Julie Serna Gonzales, died after being shot by her estranged husband that afternoon. Arthur Gonzales, an FBI agent, claimed self-defense. He is awaiting a March murder trial in Virginia.


When the couple moved from Las Cruces, they apparently did not change the address for their Internet phone line, and that caused his 911 call to rout to Doña Ana County.


Police shooting >> For the fourth time since 2010, a man died after being shot by Las Cruces police officers.


Jose 'Joey' Estrada reportedly pointed a pellet gun that strongly resembled an assault rife at police July 2 near his home in the 1300 block of Bronco Way. Three officers fired, hitting him with two fatal shots.


The district attorney's office cleared the officers of wrongdoing. Estrada was drunk and may have been trying to induce the shooting, according to an autopsy report.


A federal judge sided with Las Cruces police in a May ruling that cleared the agency, one of its officers and the city of any wrongdoing surrounding the July 2010 shooting death of a sword-wielding man outside his apartment.


U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory B. Wormuth determined LCPD Officer Horacio Rivera did not use excessive force or act negligently when he shot Lance 'Lizard Man' Hummell to death that summer morning, as his family contended in its lawsuit.


Crashes >> A deadly crash cast a pall over the first day of classes at Doña Ana Community College in January, when a student-employee hit a well-liked instructor in a crosswalk.


Lucy Montes-Sandoval, who taught classes in the nursing program, died about a week after the crash. The driver, Catherine Parra, was cited for the crash, but did not face criminal charges.


A 57-year-old Las Cruces man riding a bicycle on Valley Drive died after a hit-and-run crash in August. A couple weeks later, thanks to a Crime Stoppers tip, police arrested the alleged driver.


Terry Havey died a couple days after the crash. Jeffrey Nieto, the driver, is facing numerous felony charges related to a fatal crash for the second time since 2005. In that case, he pleaded guilty to a pair of felony charges.


The most recent case is pending in court.


Courts >> Thanks to a rarely seen bond, the Las Cruces man convicted of leaving his infant daughter to suffocate beneath a mound of clothes is out of prison pending his appeal.


In February, a jury found Robert Flores guilty of negligent child abuse resulting in death. He left his 4-month-old daughter alone in a laundry basket so he could go buy beer in 2007.


A judge sentenced Flores in April to 18 years in prison. But the judge then granted an appeal bond months later because of the case's circumstances. The appeal is pending in the New Mexico Court of Appeals.


Bringing closure to what may have been the area's most jarring case in decades, a jury in May swiftly convicted Gino Ferri of a murdering three business partners in 2010.


Ferri, of Las Cruces, shot Gilles Delisle, 69, his wife Helga Delisle, 72, and their friend and business partner Peter J. Weith, 68, as the three arrived separately at the Delisles' upscale home outside Mesilla that April, the jury determined.


They had been set to testify against him the next day at a civil proceeding.


Ferri is in prison, serving three consecutive life sentences. He will not be eligible for parole until 2103.


In April, a prominent state prosecutor dismissed all felony charges against a former Las Cruces judge accused of bribery, solicitation and witness intimidation. In exchange, former Judge Michael Murphy pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor violation of a government conduct law.


Prosecutors had alleged that Murphy told an aspiring judge she had to donate money to a prominent local Democrat to get such an appointment. Investigators tried to tie the money to former Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat. Murphy's attorney said the case was politically motivated.


Several of the more than 20 Sunland Park corruption cases were resolved this year -- most through plea deals, but some were dropped.


A central figure in the border town's sweeping corruption investigation, former Mayor-elect Daniel Salinas, is awaiting trial on an array of charges, including bribery, extortion and receiving illegal kickbacks.


Ruling that federal prosecutors 'negligently or intentionally' suppressed key evidence in a firearms case against a Deming family, a Las Cruces judge in February granted the family a new trial.


A jury in 2012 convicted Rick Reese, his wife, Terri, and their son Ryin of making false statements on investigation forms -- all in connection to an informant and undercover federal agents posing as straw purchasers in the summer of 2011. Those four convictions came from an initial lot of 30 charges. An appeal is pending.


A Lordsburg man filed suit in Las Cruces federal court against several southwestern New Mexico authorities, alleging they forced him into a battery of invasive medical procedures, performed by unethical doctors, because the officers suspected the man was hiding drugs in his anal cavity.


The lawsuit, which was filed in August, made national news in November. A similar suit was filed later by another man. Both cases are pending.


New chiefs >> New leadership came to three county law enforcement agencies in 2013, including the Las Cruces Police Department.


In late December, officials announced LCPD Deputy Chief Jaime Montoya was selected as new chief. The longtime LCPD officer took over for Richard Williams, who left for a position with the Federal Reserve in El Paso.


Another LCPD veteran, Tom Austin, came out of retirement to head the Mesilla Marshal's Department.


Hatch officials hired two police chiefs this year, the first in January, then another in November. The September firing of longtime Hatch police officer Mike Vega caused a stir in the small town. His replacement, Lee Alirez, accepted the job in November.


Steven Seagal, who has played no-nonsense tough guys in dozens of movies, was sworn in as a sheriff's deputy in Doña Ana County in January.


The 61-year-old martial arts specialist was sworn by Sheriff Todd Garrison during a brief January ceremony at sheriff's headquarters in Las Cruces. He is a reserve officer, meaning he can work only in tandem with a commissioned peace officer.


New judges >> Two longtime magistrate judges retired in 2013, including the man who initiated the DWI court and pushed to get the new courthouse.


Oscar Frietze retired in October, after nearly 23 influential years on the bench. Another judge, Richard Silva, also retired in the fall.


-- Compiled by Diana Alba Soular, Steve Ramirez, James Staley and Lindsey Anderson.







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