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Farmington Daily Times Sunday, January 27, 2013
By Ryan [email protected]
HUERFANO — Ahalf-million-dollar policestation paid for by SanJuan County taxpayers foruse by the Navajo Nationhas been little more than atemporary rest stop.
The building nearHuerfano, about 30 milessouth of Bloomfield nearU.S. 550, sees little action.In its two-and-a-half yearsof existence, the facilitythat was supposed to befully functioning policesubstation has become astopping point for officerspatrolling the highwaywho need to use the rest-room or write a report.
Navajo Nation officialssaid a lack of resourceshas made it difficult to per-manently staff the station.And a lack of jurisdictionin some areas serviced bythe station reduces theneed for Navajo Nationpolice officers there, theysaid.
In 2009, San JuanCounty and Navajo Nationofficials signed a contractthat said the county wouldbuild the $511,000 facilityand the tribe would“assign a minimum of fourlaw enforcement officersto the substation.” Thecontract also said San JuanCounty Sheriff’s deputies,New Mexico State Policeofficers and FBI agentscould use the building.
The purpose of theproject was to reduce thelengthy 911-call waittimes residents of Huer-fano and Nageezi and oth-er Navajo chapters in theregion were experiencing,officials said.
“I’m disappointed(Navajo police) have notupheld their end of thebargain after the taxpayersof San Juan County invest-ed $500,000,” San JuanCounty Sheriff Ken Chris-
tesen said. County government
officials are also con-cerned the contract wasnot upheld.
“It’s a situation wherewe built it and nobodycame,” San Juan CountyExecutive Officer KimCarpenter said.
There are severalclusters of Navajo Hous-ing Authority homes inthe area surrounding thesubstation. But it is out-side the exterior bound-ary of the Navajo Nationin a mix of triballyowned and non-triballands, often referred to as
the “checkerboard.” County commissioners
voted to build the substa-tion in November 2009and construction startedthe next month.
San Juan County andNavajo Nation officialsgathered outside the facili-ty for a ribbon-cutting cer-emony in July 2010.
The building has abriefing room, administra-tive offices, bathrooms, alarger room for patroldeputies, two holding cellsand a kitchen.
A sign on the outside ofthe building this week saidthe station was open Mon-
day through Friday from 8a.m. to 5 p.m.
But the door waslocked. No one was inside.
And no American flagflew on the flag pole.
No one at the sher-iff ’s office knewwhether the two smalljail cells have ever helda prisoner.
A sign hanging nearthe front of the buildingextends a special “thankyou” to San Juan Coun-ty taxpayers who madethe project possible.
“This is a great build-ing,” San Juan CountySheriff’s Office DeputyDan Ashburn said. “It’swell maintained, it’s justnot used.”
Ashburn l ives in aSan Juan County-owned house near thesubstat ion. He seesNavajo and New Mexi-co State Police officersand sheriff ’s deputiesbr ief ly come and gofrom the facility a cou-ple t imes a week butthere is not a continu-ous law-enforcementpresence there, he said.
“This is the onlypolice station in Ameri-can that doesn’t have anAmerican flag flying outfront and that really bugsme,” Ashburn said.
Former County Com-missioner and NageeziChapter President ErvinChavez founded theproject when he was acommission member.
Chavez said what thecounty and tribe negoti-ated never materialized.
“When we negotiated(the substation) we hadall the right people inplace. (Law enforce-ment) was going to use itas a police station forthis region,” Chavezsaid. “But it seems likeeverything changed.”
NEWSBEAT
TIMESFARMINGTON NEW MEXICOwww.daily-times.com
$1.50THEDAILYSunday, January 27, 2013
IN THE NEWSObama birth control mandate loosens lawsuits | A6Thousands march for gun control in Washington | A7Court: EPA overestimates biofuels production | A8
Celebs now targets in hoax 911 calls | A9Do penalties for smokers, obese make sense? | A9Child soldier’s tale illustrates Mali’s dirty war | B6
STATEMENT SENTPV wrestling takes 2nd inKansas tournament | B1
THE KING OF ROCKVeteran remembersservice with Elvis | C1
WEATHERTOP STORIES ONLINE1. City, residents dispute responsibility over ...2. BP, Haliburton fined in fatal pipeline explosion3. La Plata County Sheriff’s Office reveals ...4. Aztec mill levy tax has its opponents5. Feds: 6 tons of pot seized at NM border ...6. Shiprock boys blow past Aztec7. Two students spearhead clothing drive
INDEXCLASSIFIEDS | C4
FEATURES | D5CROSSWORD | D4
OBITS | A8SPORTS | B1
VIEWPOINT | B8WEATHER | B10
Showers
Low 51 35 Vol. 125, Issue 180High
By Ryan [email protected]
FARMINGTON — Ifvoters strike down a meas-ure to continue paying anemergency medical servic-es gross receipts tax inMarch, the county willhave to raise property taxesor cut services, San JuanCounty government offi-cials said.
Voters will determinewhether a tax that fundsemergency responsethroughout the county cancontinue indefinitely.
County voters over-
whelmingly agreed to startpaying the tax in 2003. Itwas approved 2,341 votesto 670 during a specialelection in March of thatyear, according to countydocuments.
The tax — which iscalled the EmergencyCommunications andEmergency Medical andBehavioral Health ServicesTax — amounts to 0.18percent of all gross receiptsin San Juan County.
The tax is used to fundSan Juan Regional MedicalCenter Emergency Medical
Services and the county’semergency dispatch center.
“Because it’s a grossreceipts tax it spreads theburden to all people in SanJuan County, not just theproperty owners,” SanJuan County ExecutiveOfficer Kim Carpentersaid. “Everybody whospends money in San JuanCounty, including visi-tors,” pays for emergencyresponse programs.
The tax is expected togenerate $7.1 million thisyear. The most the tax evergenerated was $8.3 million
in 2009. If the tax is struck
down, the county and allthree cities — Farmington,Bloomfield and Aztec —would have to pay for theservices.
Local governmentswould go back to an agree-ment they had before thetax began where Farming-ton and San Juan Countyeach pay for 44 percent ofthe emergency dispatchcenter and EMS servicesand Aztec and Bloomfieldeach pay six percent, saidLinda Thompson, the
county’s chief financialofficer.
“If this tax were to goaway ... it would be a hugestrain on the budgets of allfour entities,” Carpentersaid. “There would be areduction in services fromthe county (which wouldhave) to come up with $3million.”
Carpenter said it wouldbe unlikely there would bedrastic cuts to public safetydepartments, like the sher-iff’s office or the dispatchcenter.
But there may be a
reduction in public-workscrews or other countydepartments, he said.
If the county couldn’tmake up the money byslashing other programs,property taxes might haveto be raised, he said.
Emergency medicalservices and the county’sdispatch center madeimprovements to theiroperations and alsoexpanded services sincethe gross receipts tax wasapproved 10 years ago,Carpenter said.
EMS tax needed for continued services
Augusta Liddic/The Daily TimesThe halls of the substation are dark, though a sign posted says the building is open.
Augusta Liddic/The Daily TimesA calendar in an office at the substation reads Sep-tember 2012 an indication of the little use the build-ing sees.
Huerfano substation continues to puzzle
Augusta Liddic/The Daily TimesThe police station near Herfano has seen littleaction since opening in 2010.
By Milan SimonichTexas-New Mexico Newspapers
SANTA FE — Afterclosed meetings last fall, theregents of New MexicoState University agreed topay school president BarbaraCouture $453,000 inexchange for her resignation.
They never explained thereasons why they soured onCouture, saying what wentwrong was confidential.
One bit of fallout fromthe regents’ handling of Cou-ture’s departure will be feltMonday at the Capitol. StateRep. Jeff Steinborn said hewill introduce a bill callingfor three of the regents atNMSU and three at the Uni-versity of New Mexico to beelected in statewide ballotinginstead of being appointedby the governor.
Under his bill, otherregents would continue to beselected by the governor, butthe field of candidates wouldbe limited to those recom-mended by a newly formedhigher education nominatingcommission. This systemwould be similar to the waystate district judges areappointed.
The nominating commis-sion would screen and rec-ommend regent candidatesfor all seven of the state’sfour-year colleges and uni-versities.
Steinborn, D-Las Cruces,said Couture’s buyout was“a galvanizing event” in hispush for reform. “The wholeway it was handled botheredme.”
But he has broader rea-sons for introducing his bill.
Steinborn said the exist-ing system of appointingregents had become toopoliticized, as governorsselect donors, friends orpolitically connected insid-ers, often without regard toqualifications.
“They’ve kind of becomethe ambassadorships of NewMexico politics,” he said inan interview.
His criticisms, he said,were not a swipe at Republi-can Gov. Susana Martinez,who is beginning her thirdyear in office.
“This is not anti-Mar-tinez. This is a critique ofour system, which is not rig-orous enough,” Steinbornsaid.
He cited a 2008 study bya Michigan State Universityprofessor that found the top-performing states in highereducation use appointmentprocesses with requisitequalifications to decide thefitness of regent candidates.New Mexico, where thegovernor can pick virtuallyanybody she wants to serveas a university regent,
Bill wouldchangeappointedpositionsto elected
By Jenny [email protected]
FARMINGTON —Behind the scenes jokingquickly ended Saturday asmore than 200 high schoolstudents participating in the16th Annual Scorpion Invi-ta t ional put their smilesaside and got down to busi-ness.
The students came from18 schools scat teredthroughout the Southwest tothe Farmington High Schoolevent on Friday and Satur-day.
The event included avariety of skill set tests forstudents, all of whom aremembers of the JuniorReserve Officers’ TrainingCorps. JROTC is a nation-wide in-school program thatteaches students to becomeboth good citizens and lead-ers in their community.
“It’s not just learning thesteps and the uniform. It’sthe confidence,” said Sgt.Jonathan Hubbard, a mem-ber of a New MexicoNational Guard transporta-tion company.
Hubbard and otherNational Guard memberswere judging the students,who performed tasks thatincluded armed drill team,unarmed drill team, colorguard for both males andfemales, color guard mixed,physical fitness, obstaclecourse, and air rifle.
The s tudents receivedscores based on whetherthey were in s tep andwhether they looked andacted professional.
“We’re looking for per-fection,” Hubbard said.
However, events such asthe invitational are only onepart of JROTC.
While the students spendmuch time practicing theirski l ls during the schoolyear, they also spend a lot oft ime volunteer ing in thecommunity, said Sgt. VanColeman, JROTC instructorfor Farmington HighSchool.
“It’s a program to helpyouth become better citi-zens,” Coleman said.
Many of the students saidthey have noticed changesin their own behavior,though they still get nervouswhen they at tend eventssuch as the invitational.
“They try to make youlaugh,” said 15-year-oldTyler Montaño, a PiedraVista High School freshman.
The event is expected tobe held in future years aswell. It is the largest JROTCevent in the Southwest ,aside from state-organizedevents.
Serious tothe corpsJROTC studentscompete in FHS
invitational
See TAX, A2
See BILL, A2See STATION, A2
By Ryan [email protected]
HUERFANO — Ahalf-million-dollar policestation paid for by SanJuan County taxpayers foruse by the Navajo Nationhas been little more than atemporary rest stop.
The building nearHuerfano, about 30 milessouth of Bloomfield nearU.S. 550, sees little action.In its two-and-a-half yearsof existence, the facilitythat was supposed to befully functioning policesubstation has become astopping point for officerspatrolling the highwaywho need to use the rest-room or write a report.
Navajo Nation officialssaid a lack of resourceshas made it difficult to per-manently staff the station.And a lack of jurisdictionin some areas serviced bythe station reduces theneed for Navajo Nationpolice officers there, theysaid.
In 2009, San JuanCounty and Navajo Nationofficials signed a contractthat said the county wouldbuild the $511,000 facilityand the tribe would“assign a minimum of fourlaw enforcement officersto the substation.” Thecontract also said San JuanCounty Sheriff’s deputies,New Mexico State Policeofficers and FBI agentscould use the building.
The purpose of theproject was to reduce thelengthy 911-call waittimes residents of Huer-fano and Nageezi and oth-er Navajo chapters in theregion were experiencing,officials said.
“I’m disappointed(Navajo police) have notupheld their end of thebargain after the taxpayersof San Juan County invest-ed $500,000,” San JuanCounty Sheriff Ken Chris-
tesen said. County government
officials are also con-cerned the contract wasnot upheld.
“It’s a situation wherewe built it and nobodycame,” San Juan CountyExecutive Officer KimCarpenter said.
There are severalclusters of Navajo Hous-ing Authority homes inthe area surrounding thesubstation. But it is out-side the exterior bound-ary of the Navajo Nationin a mix of triballyowned and non-triballands, often referred to as
the “checkerboard.” County commissioners
voted to build the substa-tion in November 2009and construction startedthe next month.
San Juan County andNavajo Nation officialsgathered outside the facili-ty for a ribbon-cutting cer-emony in July 2010.
The building has abriefing room, administra-tive offices, bathrooms, alarger room for patroldeputies, two holding cellsand a kitchen.
A sign on the outside ofthe building this week saidthe station was open Mon-
day through Friday from 8a.m. to 5 p.m.
But the door waslocked. No one was inside.
And no American flagflew on the flag pole.
No one at the sher-iff ’s office knewwhether the two smalljail cells have ever helda prisoner.
A sign hanging nearthe front of the buildingextends a special “thankyou” to San Juan Coun-ty taxpayers who madethe project possible.
“This is a great build-ing,” San Juan CountySheriff’s Office DeputyDan Ashburn said. “It’swell maintained, it’s justnot used.”
Ashburn l ives in aSan Juan County-owned house near thesubstat ion. He seesNavajo and New Mexi-co State Police officersand sheriff ’s deputiesbr ief ly come and gofrom the facility a cou-ple t imes a week butthere is not a continu-ous law-enforcementpresence there, he said.
“This is the onlypolice station in Ameri-can that doesn’t have anAmerican flag flying outfront and that really bugsme,” Ashburn said.
Former County Com-missioner and NageeziChapter President ErvinChavez founded theproject when he was acommission member.
Chavez said what thecounty and tribe negoti-ated never materialized.
“When we negotiated(the substation) we hadall the right people inplace. (Law enforce-ment) was going to use itas a police station forthis region,” Chavezsaid. “But it seems likeeverything changed.”
NEWSBEAT
TIMESFARMINGTON NEW MEXICOwww.daily-times.com
$1.50THEDAILYSunday, January 27, 2013
IN THE NEWSObama birth control mandate loosens lawsuits | A6Thousands march for gun control in Washington | A7Court: EPA overestimates biofuels production | A8
Celebs now targets in hoax 911 calls | A9Do penalties for smokers, obese make sense? | A9Child soldier’s tale illustrates Mali’s dirty war | B6
STATEMENT SENTPV wrestling takes 2nd inKansas tournament | B1
THE KING OF ROCKVeteran remembersservice with Elvis | C1
WEATHERTOP STORIES ONLINE1. City, residents dispute responsibility over ...2. BP, Haliburton fined in fatal pipeline explosion3. La Plata County Sheriff’s Office reveals ...4. Aztec mill levy tax has its opponents5. Feds: 6 tons of pot seized at NM border ...6. Shiprock boys blow past Aztec7. Two students spearhead clothing drive
INDEXCLASSIFIEDS | C4
FEATURES | D5CROSSWORD | D4
OBITS | A8SPORTS | B1
VIEWPOINT | B8WEATHER | B10
Showers
Low 51 35 Vol. 125, Issue 180High
By Ryan [email protected]
FARMINGTON — Ifvoters strike down a meas-ure to continue paying anemergency medical servic-es gross receipts tax inMarch, the county willhave to raise property taxesor cut services, San JuanCounty government offi-cials said.
Voters will determinewhether a tax that fundsemergency responsethroughout the county cancontinue indefinitely.
County voters over-
whelmingly agreed to startpaying the tax in 2003. Itwas approved 2,341 votesto 670 during a specialelection in March of thatyear, according to countydocuments.
The tax — which iscalled the EmergencyCommunications andEmergency Medical andBehavioral Health ServicesTax — amounts to 0.18percent of all gross receiptsin San Juan County.
The tax is used to fundSan Juan Regional MedicalCenter Emergency Medical
Services and the county’semergency dispatch center.
“Because it’s a grossreceipts tax it spreads theburden to all people in SanJuan County, not just theproperty owners,” SanJuan County ExecutiveOfficer Kim Carpentersaid. “Everybody whospends money in San JuanCounty, including visi-tors,” pays for emergencyresponse programs.
The tax is expected togenerate $7.1 million thisyear. The most the tax evergenerated was $8.3 million
in 2009. If the tax is struck
down, the county and allthree cities — Farmington,Bloomfield and Aztec —would have to pay for theservices.
Local governmentswould go back to an agree-ment they had before thetax began where Farming-ton and San Juan Countyeach pay for 44 percent ofthe emergency dispatchcenter and EMS servicesand Aztec and Bloomfieldeach pay six percent, saidLinda Thompson, the
county’s chief financialofficer.
“If this tax were to goaway ... it would be a hugestrain on the budgets of allfour entities,” Carpentersaid. “There would be areduction in services fromthe county (which wouldhave) to come up with $3million.”
Carpenter said it wouldbe unlikely there would bedrastic cuts to public safetydepartments, like the sher-iff’s office or the dispatchcenter.
But there may be a
reduction in public-workscrews or other countydepartments, he said.
If the county couldn’tmake up the money byslashing other programs,property taxes might haveto be raised, he said.
Emergency medicalservices and the county’sdispatch center madeimprovements to theiroperations and alsoexpanded services sincethe gross receipts tax wasapproved 10 years ago,Carpenter said.
EMS tax needed for continued services
Augusta Liddic/The Daily TimesThe halls of the substation are dark, though a sign posted says the building is open.
Augusta Liddic/The Daily TimesA calendar in an office at the substation reads Sep-tember 2012 an indication of the little use the build-ing sees.
Huerfano substation continues to puzzle
Augusta Liddic/The Daily TimesThe police station near Herfano has seen littleaction since opening in 2010.
By Milan SimonichTexas-New Mexico Newspapers
SANTA FE — Afterclosed meetings last fall, theregents of New MexicoState University agreed topay school president BarbaraCouture $453,000 inexchange for her resignation.
They never explained thereasons why they soured onCouture, saying what wentwrong was confidential.
One bit of fallout fromthe regents’ handling of Cou-ture’s departure will be feltMonday at the Capitol. StateRep. Jeff Steinborn said hewill introduce a bill callingfor three of the regents atNMSU and three at the Uni-versity of New Mexico to beelected in statewide ballotinginstead of being appointedby the governor.
Under his bill, otherregents would continue to beselected by the governor, butthe field of candidates wouldbe limited to those recom-mended by a newly formedhigher education nominatingcommission. This systemwould be similar to the waystate district judges areappointed.
The nominating commis-sion would screen and rec-ommend regent candidatesfor all seven of the state’sfour-year colleges and uni-versities.
Steinborn, D-Las Cruces,said Couture’s buyout was“a galvanizing event” in hispush for reform. “The wholeway it was handled botheredme.”
But he has broader rea-sons for introducing his bill.
Steinborn said the exist-ing system of appointingregents had become toopoliticized, as governorsselect donors, friends orpolitically connected insid-ers, often without regard toqualifications.
“They’ve kind of becomethe ambassadorships of NewMexico politics,” he said inan interview.
His criticisms, he said,were not a swipe at Republi-can Gov. Susana Martinez,who is beginning her thirdyear in office.
“This is not anti-Mar-tinez. This is a critique ofour system, which is not rig-orous enough,” Steinbornsaid.
He cited a 2008 study bya Michigan State Universityprofessor that found the top-performing states in highereducation use appointmentprocesses with requisitequalifications to decide thefitness of regent candidates.New Mexico, where thegovernor can pick virtuallyanybody she wants to serveas a university regent,
Bill wouldchangeappointedpositionsto elected
By Jenny [email protected]
FARMINGTON —Behind the scenes jokingquickly ended Saturday asmore than 200 high schoolstudents participating in the16th Annual Scorpion Invi-ta t ional put their smilesaside and got down to busi-ness.
The students came from18 schools scat teredthroughout the Southwest tothe Farmington High Schoolevent on Friday and Satur-day.
The event included avariety of skill set tests forstudents, all of whom aremembers of the JuniorReserve Officers’ TrainingCorps. JROTC is a nation-wide in-school program thatteaches students to becomeboth good citizens and lead-ers in their community.
“It’s not just learning thesteps and the uniform. It’sthe confidence,” said Sgt.Jonathan Hubbard, a mem-ber of a New MexicoNational Guard transporta-tion company.
Hubbard and otherNational Guard memberswere judging the students,who performed tasks thatincluded armed drill team,unarmed drill team, colorguard for both males andfemales, color guard mixed,physical fitness, obstaclecourse, and air rifle.
The s tudents receivedscores based on whetherthey were in s tep andwhether they looked andacted professional.
“We’re looking for per-fection,” Hubbard said.
However, events such asthe invitational are only onepart of JROTC.
While the students spendmuch time practicing theirski l ls during the schoolyear, they also spend a lot oft ime volunteer ing in thecommunity, said Sgt. VanColeman, JROTC instructorfor Farmington HighSchool.
“It’s a program to helpyouth become better citi-zens,” Coleman said.
Many of the students saidthey have noticed changesin their own behavior,though they still get nervouswhen they at tend eventssuch as the invitational.
“They try to make youlaugh,” said 15-year-oldTyler Montaño, a PiedraVista High School freshman.
The event is expected tobe held in future years aswell. It is the largest JROTCevent in the Southwest ,aside from state-organizedevents.
Serious tothe corpsJROTC studentscompete in FHS
invitational
See TAX, A2
See BILL, A2See STATION, A2
Farmington, New Mexico The Daily TimesA2 Sunday, January 27, 2013 MORE FROM A1Subscribe to The Daily Times online at http://www.daily-times.com
TODAY IN LOCAL HISTORY
FARMINGTONTIMES HUSTLERJanuary 27, 1928
New Mexico OilIncome Now FourteenMillion
The year of 1927 wasby far the best, from anoil standpoint, in the his-tory of New Mexico.Altho [sic] pipe lineruns for the last week of1927 showed approxi-mately 1000 barrels lessthan the average for thelatter part of 1296 [sic],nevertheless lease buy-ing by the major compa-nies in New Mexico wasat its greatest peak whenthe crude oil situation
was at its lowest ebb.Four new producing
acres were opened upduring the year just past.In McKinley county theMidwest Refining com-pany brot [sic] in a wildcat in section 1-17N9W,which is good forapproximately 165 bar-rels at 1,531 feet. Thisstructure is rather smalland it is thot [sic] thecompany will endeavorto find oil on otherstructures in the area toobtain enough oil to jus-tify a pipe line. The wellis located on top of theContinental Divide. ...
Today’s highlight:On Jan. 27, 1973, the
Vietnam peace accordswere signed in Paris.
On this date:In 1880, Thomas Edi-
son received a patent forhis electric incandescentlamp.
In 1943, some 50bombers struck Wil-helmshaven in the firstall-American air raidagainst Germany duringWorld War II.
In 1944, the SovietUnion announced thecomplete end of thedeadly German siege ofLeningrad, which hadlasted for more than twoyears.
In 1945, Soviet troopsliberated the Nazi con-centration camps
Auschwitz and Birkenauin Poland.
In 1951, an era ofatomic testing in theNevada desert began asan Air Force planedropped a one-kilotonbomb on FrenchmanFlat.
In 1967, astronautsVirgil I. “Gus” Grissom,Edward H. White andRoger B. Chaffee died ina flash fire during a testaboard their Apollospacecraft. More than 60nations signed a treatybanning the orbiting ofnuclear weapons.
In 1977, the Vaticanissued a declaration reaf-firming the RomanCatholic Church’s banon female priests.
TODAY IN WORLD HISTORY
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ranked 49th of the 50 statesin that study.
Steinborn’s plan of elect-ing a handful of regents andcreating a nominating com-mission to help pick the restwould require approval fromthe Legislature and then thestate’s voters in November2014. That is because theNew Mexico constitutionnow gives the governor solepower over appointments tothe governing boards offour-year colleges and uni-versities.
Steinborn, who servedtwo previous terms in thestate House of Representa-tives, regained a seat in theNovember election. He hassince been working theCapitol corridors and offices,making his pitch to fellowlegislators for a revampedsystem of selecting universi-ty regents.
He said a hybrid of someelected and some appointedregents makes sense forUNM and New MexicoState.
His bill would expand thenumber of regents at NewMexico State from five toseven, the same as at UNM.Voters statewide would electthree regents at each of theuniversities to four-yearterms.
Because New MexicoState is a land-grant univer-sity and UNM has astatewide enrollment base,an election system should bepart of both boards ofregents, Steinborn said.
But he decided not toseek elections of all regentsat UNM and New Mexico
State for a simple reason. Ina statewide election, it ispossible that nobody fromLas Cruces would win a seaton the New Mexico StateBoard of Regents, leavingthe university’s hometownwith no representative.
His bill would requirethat two of the appointedregents for UNM and twofor New Mexico State comefrom the county where themain campus is located.
In addition, anotherregent for each universitywould have to come from acommunity that hosts abranch campus.
A student would be theseventh regent on both of thegoverning boards. The gov-ernor would appoint the stu-dent regents.
In Steinborn’s view, elec-tions and higher standardsfor appointees would createstronger governing boardsand better universities.
“We get greater accounta-bility, more public involve-ment, more dynamism,” hesaid.
Martinez might disagreethat the system is broken.
This month she choseformer state Rep. ConradJames, a fellow Republican,to serve as a UNM regent.James, 38, lost his bid for re-election in November, but hehas sterling academic cre-dentials.
A research engineer atSandia National Laborato-ries, James received a bache-lor of science degree in elec-trical engineering fromNotre Dame and a master’sdegree and Ph.D. in engi-neering physics from Cor-nell.
Martinez in 2011 choseretired Lt. Gen. BradleyHosmer as a UNM regent.He was superintendent of theAir Force Academy andpresident of the NationalDefense University.
Steinborn, though, saidpeople who become univer-sity regents under the currentsystem tend to move in polit-ical circles. Excellent candi-dates may not be in thatsame loop, he said.
At New Mexico State,one of the regents is JavierGonzales, chairman of thestate Democratic Party. For-mer governor Bill Richard-son appointed Gonzales as aregent in 2008 and hebecame Democrats’ partyleader the following year.
The Higher EducationNominating Commissionwould be for all regentappointments at New Mexi-co Tech, Eastern New Mexi-co, Western New Mexico,New Mexico Highlands andNorthern New Mexico Col-lege. Another component isthat the Legislature wouldestablish minimum qualifi-cations to serve as a regent.
Steinborn’s bill alsowould empower the nomi-nating commission to rec-ommend regents for theSchool for the Blind, Schoolfor the Deaf and the NewMexico Military Institute.The governor now alsoappoints the supervisingboards of those schools.
Milan Simonich, SantaFe bureau chief of Texas-New Mexico Newspapers,can be reached at [email protected] or 505-820-6898. His blog is atnmcapitolreport.com
San Juan RegionalMedical Center EmergencyMedical Services had a$6.1 million budget in2011, according to thedepartment’s most-recentannual report.
Of that, $2.9 millioncame from the EMS tax.The department alsoreceived $1.6 million fromMedicare, $500,000 fromMedicaid, $1 million frominsurance and $100,000from patients.
The department’s budg-et doesn’t cover all itsexpenses but the hospitalwill continue, with helpfrom local governments, tooperate its ambulance serv-ice, said Ed Horvat, man-ager of the hospital’s EMSprogram.
Demand for the services
has grown significantly.Countywide, emergency
calls for ambulance servic-es increased by 70 percentsince 2000. In 1990, therewere fewer than 6,000calls for ambulance servic-es and by 2011 there weremore than 14,000 calls.
Nearly 22,000 peoplewere treated in ambulancesin 2011, according to theEMS report.
Calls to the dispatchcenter have increasedalong with the county’spopulation in the last 10years, Carpenter said.
Horvat said the tax hasallowed the hospital’sEMS department to addnew technologies to itsambulances, including aprogram that allows ambu-lance paramedics to emailheart monitor results tophysicians waiting for the
patient in the emergencyroom.
Carpenter said the dis-patch center has also madeimprovements since the taxbegan. A recently addedprogram will allow resi-dents to enter importantinformation about theirhome -- such as wheretheir children sleep andhow many pets are in thehouse -- that can be usedby firefighters, police,paramedics and emergencymedical technicians whoenter the home during anemergency.
Early voting for the taxwill start Feb. 12 at the SanJuan County Clerk’sOffice. Voting day isMarch 12 and will takeplace at the same conven-ience centers used in thelast presidential election.
The closest NavajoNation police agency tothe substation is near U.S.371 in Crowpoint, which isabout an hour-and-a-halfdrive from the substation.
County officials saidwhen the agreement wassigned they believedCrownpoint officers wouldoccupy the substation.
The Crownpoint policedepartment has 16 patrolofficers, including threewho live in the Huerfanoarea, and patrols more than20 chapters on the south-eastern side of the NavajoNation, said Crownpoint Lt.Calvin Begay.
He said the officers who
live in the area respond tothe calls for service by localresidents and they use thesubstation to write reports,but they do not occupy thesubstation on a daily basis.
“We use it but we don’tstaff it 24/7,” he said. “Wedon’t have the resources.”
Erny Zah, thespokesman for the NavajoNation President’s Office,said there were several rea-sons the tribe has yet tostaff the substation, includ-ing that most Navajo policeofficers don’t have jurisdic-tion in the area becausethey are not cross-commis-sioned to enforce law onland not owned by the tribe.
Station(Continued from Page A1)
Bill(Continued from Page A1)
Tax(Continued from Page A1)
FIND US ONLINE AT:WWW.DAILY-TIMES.COM
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Farmington, New Mexico The Daily TimesA2 Sunday, January 27, 2013 MORE FROM A1Subscribe to The Daily Times online at http://www.daily-times.com
TODAY IN LOCAL HISTORY
FARMINGTONTIMES HUSTLERJanuary 27, 1928
New Mexico OilIncome Now FourteenMillion
The year of 1927 wasby far the best, from anoil standpoint, in the his-tory of New Mexico.Altho [sic] pipe lineruns for the last week of1927 showed approxi-mately 1000 barrels lessthan the average for thelatter part of 1296 [sic],nevertheless lease buy-ing by the major compa-nies in New Mexico wasat its greatest peak whenthe crude oil situation
was at its lowest ebb.Four new producing
acres were opened upduring the year just past.In McKinley county theMidwest Refining com-pany brot [sic] in a wildcat in section 1-17N9W,which is good forapproximately 165 bar-rels at 1,531 feet. Thisstructure is rather smalland it is thot [sic] thecompany will endeavorto find oil on otherstructures in the area toobtain enough oil to jus-tify a pipe line. The wellis located on top of theContinental Divide. ...
Today’s highlight:On Jan. 27, 1973, the
Vietnam peace accordswere signed in Paris.
On this date:In 1880, Thomas Edi-
son received a patent forhis electric incandescentlamp.
In 1943, some 50bombers struck Wil-helmshaven in the firstall-American air raidagainst Germany duringWorld War II.
In 1944, the SovietUnion announced thecomplete end of thedeadly German siege ofLeningrad, which hadlasted for more than twoyears.
In 1945, Soviet troopsliberated the Nazi con-centration camps
Auschwitz and Birkenauin Poland.
In 1951, an era ofatomic testing in theNevada desert began asan Air Force planedropped a one-kilotonbomb on FrenchmanFlat.
In 1967, astronautsVirgil I. “Gus” Grissom,Edward H. White andRoger B. Chaffee died ina flash fire during a testaboard their Apollospacecraft. More than 60nations signed a treatybanning the orbiting ofnuclear weapons.
In 1977, the Vaticanissued a declaration reaf-firming the RomanCatholic Church’s banon female priests.
TODAY IN WORLD HISTORY
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ranked 49th of the 50 statesin that study.
Steinborn’s plan of elect-ing a handful of regents andcreating a nominating com-mission to help pick the restwould require approval fromthe Legislature and then thestate’s voters in November2014. That is because theNew Mexico constitutionnow gives the governor solepower over appointments tothe governing boards offour-year colleges and uni-versities.
Steinborn, who servedtwo previous terms in thestate House of Representa-tives, regained a seat in theNovember election. He hassince been working theCapitol corridors and offices,making his pitch to fellowlegislators for a revampedsystem of selecting universi-ty regents.
He said a hybrid of someelected and some appointedregents makes sense forUNM and New MexicoState.
His bill would expand thenumber of regents at NewMexico State from five toseven, the same as at UNM.Voters statewide would electthree regents at each of theuniversities to four-yearterms.
Because New MexicoState is a land-grant univer-sity and UNM has astatewide enrollment base,an election system should bepart of both boards ofregents, Steinborn said.
But he decided not toseek elections of all regentsat UNM and New Mexico
State for a simple reason. Ina statewide election, it ispossible that nobody fromLas Cruces would win a seaton the New Mexico StateBoard of Regents, leavingthe university’s hometownwith no representative.
His bill would requirethat two of the appointedregents for UNM and twofor New Mexico State comefrom the county where themain campus is located.
In addition, anotherregent for each universitywould have to come from acommunity that hosts abranch campus.
A student would be theseventh regent on both of thegoverning boards. The gov-ernor would appoint the stu-dent regents.
In Steinborn’s view, elec-tions and higher standardsfor appointees would createstronger governing boardsand better universities.
“We get greater accounta-bility, more public involve-ment, more dynamism,” hesaid.
Martinez might disagreethat the system is broken.
This month she choseformer state Rep. ConradJames, a fellow Republican,to serve as a UNM regent.James, 38, lost his bid for re-election in November, but hehas sterling academic cre-dentials.
A research engineer atSandia National Laborato-ries, James received a bache-lor of science degree in elec-trical engineering fromNotre Dame and a master’sdegree and Ph.D. in engi-neering physics from Cor-nell.
Martinez in 2011 choseretired Lt. Gen. BradleyHosmer as a UNM regent.He was superintendent of theAir Force Academy andpresident of the NationalDefense University.
Steinborn, though, saidpeople who become univer-sity regents under the currentsystem tend to move in polit-ical circles. Excellent candi-dates may not be in thatsame loop, he said.
At New Mexico State,one of the regents is JavierGonzales, chairman of thestate Democratic Party. For-mer governor Bill Richard-son appointed Gonzales as aregent in 2008 and hebecame Democrats’ partyleader the following year.
The Higher EducationNominating Commissionwould be for all regentappointments at New Mexi-co Tech, Eastern New Mexi-co, Western New Mexico,New Mexico Highlands andNorthern New Mexico Col-lege. Another component isthat the Legislature wouldestablish minimum qualifi-cations to serve as a regent.
Steinborn’s bill alsowould empower the nomi-nating commission to rec-ommend regents for theSchool for the Blind, Schoolfor the Deaf and the NewMexico Military Institute.The governor now alsoappoints the supervisingboards of those schools.
Milan Simonich, SantaFe bureau chief of Texas-New Mexico Newspapers,can be reached at [email protected] or 505-820-6898. His blog is atnmcapitolreport.com
San Juan RegionalMedical Center EmergencyMedical Services had a$6.1 million budget in2011, according to thedepartment’s most-recentannual report.
Of that, $2.9 millioncame from the EMS tax.The department alsoreceived $1.6 million fromMedicare, $500,000 fromMedicaid, $1 million frominsurance and $100,000from patients.
The department’s budg-et doesn’t cover all itsexpenses but the hospitalwill continue, with helpfrom local governments, tooperate its ambulance serv-ice, said Ed Horvat, man-ager of the hospital’s EMSprogram.
Demand for the services
has grown significantly.Countywide, emergency
calls for ambulance servic-es increased by 70 percentsince 2000. In 1990, therewere fewer than 6,000calls for ambulance servic-es and by 2011 there weremore than 14,000 calls.
Nearly 22,000 peoplewere treated in ambulancesin 2011, according to theEMS report.
Calls to the dispatchcenter have increasedalong with the county’spopulation in the last 10years, Carpenter said.
Horvat said the tax hasallowed the hospital’sEMS department to addnew technologies to itsambulances, including aprogram that allows ambu-lance paramedics to emailheart monitor results tophysicians waiting for the
patient in the emergencyroom.
Carpenter said the dis-patch center has also madeimprovements since the taxbegan. A recently addedprogram will allow resi-dents to enter importantinformation about theirhome -- such as wheretheir children sleep andhow many pets are in thehouse -- that can be usedby firefighters, police,paramedics and emergencymedical technicians whoenter the home during anemergency.
Early voting for the taxwill start Feb. 12 at the SanJuan County Clerk’sOffice. Voting day isMarch 12 and will takeplace at the same conven-ience centers used in thelast presidential election.
The closest NavajoNation police agency tothe substation is near U.S.371 in Crowpoint, which isabout an hour-and-a-halfdrive from the substation.
County officials saidwhen the agreement wassigned they believedCrownpoint officers wouldoccupy the substation.
The Crownpoint policedepartment has 16 patrolofficers, including threewho live in the Huerfanoarea, and patrols more than20 chapters on the south-eastern side of the NavajoNation, said Crownpoint Lt.Calvin Begay.
He said the officers who
live in the area respond tothe calls for service by localresidents and they use thesubstation to write reports,but they do not occupy thesubstation on a daily basis.
“We use it but we don’tstaff it 24/7,” he said. “Wedon’t have the resources.”
Erny Zah, thespokesman for the NavajoNation President’s Office,said there were several rea-sons the tribe has yet tostaff the substation, includ-ing that most Navajo policeofficers don’t have jurisdic-tion in the area becausethey are not cross-commis-sioned to enforce law onland not owned by the tribe.
Station(Continued from Page A1)
Bill(Continued from Page A1)
Tax(Continued from Page A1)
FIND US ONLINE AT:WWW.DAILY-TIMES.COM
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