2011 A year in review

11-11-11 Terror Threat

An anonymous letter sent to the Socorro Police Department lead to mass absences at schools and a heavy presence of law enforcement in the days surrounding Nov. 11, 2011 — digitally notated as “11-11-11.”
The letter, signed with the initials “GBF,” threatened “mass casualties on the citizens of Socorro” and made two referenced to 11-11-11. The author declared that on the 11th day of the 11th month in 2011 he would leave this earth and take others with him. He warned that schools, government offices and law enforcement facilities would be targets.
“Bomb/Murder Imminent” was written on the envelope, which turned up at the Socorro Post Office on Monday, Nov. 7.
Police Chief George Van Winkle said what may only have been a bad prank warranted serious attention.
“When people threaten to blow up schools, government buildings and police stations, that’s a little different,” he said.
City police, the Socorro County Sheriff’s Department and New Mexico Tech Campus Police stepped up patrols all week and through the weekend. State Police and the FBI were also involved.
Socorro Consolidated Schools was notified of the threat and sent letters home with students on Tuesday saying that students would be excused from school that Friday. Superintendent Cheryl Wilson reported attendance was only 5 percent that day, and 57 percent the day before, as the community exercised on the side of caution.
New Mexico Tech issued an alert to students and faculty. Although classes weren’t officially canceled, the message sent out to students, faculty and staff was that all absences would be excused.
Nov. 11 is, of course, Veterans Day and government offices were closed. But police made a strong presence at Veterans Day ceremonies held that morning at Isidro Baca Park. Spotters were stationed on the courthouse roof and officers on the ground were visibly well armed.
Nothing came of the terror threat, but police remained vigilant. Police officers and sheriff’s deputies were still out in force a week later at a high school football playoff game at Socorro High School.
The case was turned over to the FBI. Chief Van Winkle said earlier this week that he has heard no new updates on how the investigation is progressing.

VLA expands, new name sought

In the wide open Plains of San Agustin, an internal transformation begun a decade ago to increase the Very Large Array’s technical capacities 8,000 times over came to fruition in 2011.
Should travelers ever be stranded on Jupiter with only a cellphone with which to call for help, they’d be happy to know that the VLA is now capable of detecting their phone’s weak radio signal across that half-billion mile divide. That wasn’t true 10 years ago, but thanks to a dramatic upgrade, the Expanded VLA is now 10 times more sensitive to radio emissions from distant astronomical objects and covers three times more radio frequencies.
From the outside, the VLA still looks much as it has since it was built in the 1970s. Giant dish radio telescope antennae continue to advance and retreat across the western Socorro County landscape, forming and reforming in familiar patterns, with cattle and antelope grazing undisturbed in their shadows.
Inside the electronic nerve center of the facility, however, there has been a metamorphosis, from vintage analog to state-of-the-art digital high-bandwidth transmission capability — from caterpillar to butterfly.
In honor of this stunning transformation, National Radio Astronomy Observatory Director Fred Lo felt the VLA deserved a more fitting appellation. In October the NRAO announced a contest to come up with a new name for the iconic array, and encouraged the public to submit suggestions at a specially set up website.
In the first week of the contest some 20,000 submissions were received, many of them tongue-in-cheek. The news of a name change was greeted by many, however, with something less than enthusiasm.
New Mexico Tech, which houses the NRAO’s scientific, technical, and administrative center — renamed the Pete V. Domenici Science Operations Center in 2008 — made its position on the matter publicly known in November. The Tech Board of Regents issued a non-binding resolution at its November meeting opposing the name change on the grounds that the VLA’s existing name is already well-established and unique, and isn’t likely to be improved upon.
The deadline to submit a suggestion for a new name for the VLA was Dec. 1. Since then, suspense has been building in anticipation of the NRAO’s announcement of the winning entry, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas, in January.
What will the new name be? And how will the new name be received by the scientific community, the residents of Socorro County and the world at large? We’ll find out next year, on Jan. 10, 2012.

Attorney attacked

Socorro was stunned by news of the brutal attack on attorney Thomas Fitch at his law office on California Street in August. A former district court judge and well respected member of the community, Fitch survived the attack but his assailant has yet to be identified.
Early reports from law enforcement officials indicated the attack occurred sometime on Friday, Aug. 5. Fitch was discovered by his wife and law partner, Polly Tausch, that evening and Socorro police responded to the scene about 7:25 p.m. Fitch was first transported to Socorro General Hospital, then airlifted to an Albuquerque hospital where he underwent surgery.
New Mexico State Police were called in to help process the scene and soon took over the lead in the investigation.
State Police isn’t releasing information, saying only the case is under investigation. But some details can be gleaned from police reports obtained through the Inspection of Public Records Act.
Fitch was struck with an unknown blunt object and was found slumped over his desk with apparent head wounds. Crime investigators spent days inspecting the scene, taking fingerprints, blood samples and other evidence.
Numerous interviews were conducted and police chased down several leads in the weeks that followed. Video taken from the Walmart parking lot shows a few vehicles pulling in and out of the law office’s driveway during the afternoon hours in which the attack is suspected to have occurred. There was one report of someone seeing a pickup truck speeding away from the scene.
State Police did their due diligence reviewing court cases Fitch handled as an attorney and presided over as a judge. Some persons of interest emerged, but no arrests have been made.
Interviews conducted with Fitch were redacted from the police reports.
Fitch has kept a low profile since being released from the hospital but has been spotted in and around town in the last month and is reportedly recovering quite nicely.

A Rash of copper thefts

The poor economy and high price of copper were an electrifying combination for some people trying to make an extra buck in the first half of the year. With up to $4.50 per pound being offered for scrap copper, the Socorro Electric Cooperative fell victim to multiple episodes of vandalism by copper thieves stripping ground wire from poles in the first four months of 2011, causing thousands of dollars of damage.
The first report came in January and involved about 100 power poles along N.M. 47. The thieves were believed to have used bolt cutters to snip roughly eight-feet of wire from the bottom of each pole.
Not long after, in February, two city of Socorro Parks Department employees were caught on camera, on their lunch break and in a city truck, at a normally locked property yard at New Mexico Tech. Still photos appeared to show the men loading about 200 pounds of copper cable into the city truck. Upon investigation, it was learned that the men had sold a quantity of copper wire to Salome Scrap Metal Recycling on McCutcheon Street later that same day.
Tech officials said the camera had only recently been set up to monitor activity at the yard after personnel noticed copper cable missing in January.
The employees were placed on paid administrative leave in February, and were officially fired from their jobs at the end of March. Both were charged with misdemeanor offenses and required to appear in court. Sentencing consisted of unsupervised probation, community service and a small amount of restitution to Salome Scrap Metal Recycling.
In the meantime, the copper thefts continued.
Three more people were charged with copper theft in April. A Socorro man was named as the ringleader, and a married couple from Lemitar were charged as his co-conspirators on multiple counts ranging from burglary and larceny to criminal damage and disposing of stolen property. Their victims were A-1 Quality Redi-Mix, Socorro Electric Cooperative and Midstate Electric; their modus operandi was to use bolt cutters to break into maintenance yards and buildings. After stripping the wire coating and burning it to dispose of the evidence, they sold the wire at multiple locations from Socorro to Belen.
In all, the copper theft ring was accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of wire. All three signed plea and disposition agreements, pleading guilty to fourth-degree felonies.
Whether the notoriety of the cases was to blame, or the price of copper dropped, the second half of the year resulted in no major copper thefts being reported.

Rodeo and sports complex gains traction

The city of Socorro began construction this year on a project that officials hope will eventually spur all kinds of economic development.
Hoping to capitalize on Socorro’s central location, almost exactly in the middle of the state, the city began developing plans a few years ago to build a multi-purpose complex that could eventually enhance the local economy by creating  a venue for rodeo events, sports tournaments and national and statewide meetings and conventions.
The economic downturn, however, meant that funding that was expected to be available for the project didn’t materialize as hoped.
In 2011, officials decided when it comes to economic development, waiting for the ideal conditions to move forward was not an option. The decision was made to get started, using Lodgers Tax money and what are likely to be small piece-meal state appropriations.
When it’s finished, the complex will have soccer fields, a rodeo arena and a convention center, located on 50 acres of city land between U.S. 60 west and the fairgrounds, just south of the National Guard Armory.
The original plan called for the complex to have been built in three phases, starting with road-grading work and construction of soccer fields, a dirt rodeo arena with a pipe fence and a gravel parking lot. Phases two and three would have added more soccer fields, bleachers with seating for 1,200 spectators, trails and open space, a concession stand and rest rooms, and a convention center with an exhibit hall, a ballroom, several meeting rooms and more parking. The second and third phases were anticipated to cost an additional $12 million.
Phase one had an initial price tag of $1 million. Only about $350,000 is available, so the plans have had to be scaled back.
In June, the city awarded a contract to J & H Services of Albuquerque for $322,147 to do the earthwork, creating the foundation for the site. Work began in September. In the meantime, the city has created a mile-long access road from the east that begins near the fairgrounds, using city employees from the street department, with equipment borrowed from the county and from the landfill.
Progress is expected to be slow but steady, and the new, more modest Phase I could be complete in a year to 18 months. The next phase would then create additional soccer fields, and another phase will involve building the actual convention center itself. Walking and bicycling trails to turn the center into a year-round multi-user recreational area may have to wait a while.
The new estimate for the scaled-back project is closer to $5 million than the initial $12 to $14 million the city was hoping to be able to invest. The project may not be completed until 2017 or thereabouts, unless the economy takes an upswing and funding begins to flow more freely again.
In the meantime, it’s a start.

Socorro Electric loses lawsuit

In an unusual and unprecedented case, Socorro Electric Cooperative lost the lawsuit it filed against all of its approximately 10,000 member-owners in an attempt to block new bylaws that require the co-op to operate with increased transparency.
Member-owners of the democratically controlled co-op passed a bevy of new reform measures—many of them targeting a board of trustees that incurred expenses totaling nearly $500,000 the previous year ― at the 2010 annual meeting. But the board of trustees voted to challenge bylaws that require it to operate with greater transparency, and the lawsuit was filed in district court in Los Lunas.
Aside from a preliminary hearing in December 2010, the case was litigated during the spring of 2011. The decision was handed down on May 17 by a New Mexico Supreme Court-appointed judge in a jam-packed Socorro courtroom.
The co-op’s attorneys argued that members couldn’t require the co-op to abide by the Open Meetings Act and Inspection of Public Records Act because those laws apply to government entities, and Socorro Electric was a private, non-profit corporation.
Attorney Dennis Francish told the judge that the board of trustees simply couldn’t conduct business meetings in front of an audience and with the press in the room. He said no other electric co-op in the country operates that way.
“Mr. Francish, I guess Socorro Electric will be a leading co-op once again,” District Judge Albert J. Mitchell Jr. said in announcing his ruling. “Owners chose to do this. If it’s to their detriment, I suspect the members will make changes.”
Mitchell ruled that the new bylaws were properly adopted and the co-op should have been following them all along. He ordered the co-op to draft a new set of bylaws and put them in place, and notified the board of trustees that any action it took over the past 13 months that didn’t meet the requirements of an open meeting needed to be remedied.
“It’s a win for the people,” said Charlene West, a leader of the reform movement and the only individual named in the lawsuit against “all unnamed” members.
The judge later awarded a total of $13,000 in attorney fees to three teams of attorneys who defended the case. But the lawsuit cost members — who ironically end up footing the bill for a lawsuit ruled in their favor — a lot more than that. The co-op’s attorney fees increased by more than $30,000 — and that’s not counting a year’s worth of work by the Kennedy Han law firm, which represented the co-op throughout the litigation but has yet to submit a bill.
And the case is still in court. A countersuit that calls for class action certification and targets members of the board of trustees was filed in response to the original lawsuit is still pending. A status hearing on that aspect of the case was held earlier this month and a schedule for future hearings was sketched out, assuring the litigation will carry on well into 2012.

Weather Wreaks Havoc

2011 was one for the books weather-wise.
The year started with a cold snap that wreaked havoc throughout the county. In Alamo, more than 50 homes were left without heat because a propane value didn’t get shut off on New Year’s Eve, the village of Magdalena dealt with a water main break on Spruce Street, the city of Socorro was kept busy shutting off water to homes where pipes ruptured, and eight buildings at New Mexico Tech were left without heat when lines that were part of the university’s hot water heating loop burst, causing flooding in some buildings.
That was nothing, compared to what happened a month later when a winter storm dumped about a half foot of snow on Socorro and record-breaking cold temperatures set in. Dozens of accidents along Interstate-25 were caused by snow and icy conditions, forcing its closure in both directions for about 20 hours. Nearly 100 stranded travelers were put up for the night by the city at the youth center and Finley Gym. A bus load of federal inmates had to make an unscheduled stop and were housed at the county detention center. Schools, government offices and some businesses closed.
While snow caused problems, the cold temperatures did most of the damage. Socorro residents woke up the morning of Feb. 2, Groundhogs Day, to a -14 reading on their thermostat. According to the National Weather Service, that’s the lowest on record and the coldest its been here since 1976 when -13 was recorded.
In the aftermath, water pipes burst all over the county. Magdalena again had a water main break. Hundreds of residents were left without heat in Socorro due to a natural gas outage. The police dispatch center was inundated with calls on various calls for help. School buses and diesel-fueled trucks wouldn’t start. It was the worst winter storm in memory.
After a another extremely dry summer, winter returned with a vengeance this December. A storm early in he month dropped nearly 11 inches of snow fell on Socorro, shutting down the interstate once again. State Police reported 30 accidents on I-25 between Bernardo and T or C on Dec. 5 before the highway was closed. Dispatchers fielded more than 300 calls, and 37 stranded travelers had to take shelter at city facilities.
Schools shut down for two days and New Mexico Tech and government offices closed for a day and operated on a two-hour delay after that.
A little more than two weeks later, practically the same thing happened. Nearly another foot of snow fell, assuring that Socorro would enjoy a white Christmas. The Interstate was closed again and this time about 170 travelers — many of them on their way to spend the holiday with family and friends — were temporarily stranded and put up in shelters.
Despite all the snow, precipitation totals in Socorro were down about 2 1/2 inches from 2010 and remained below the annual average.
Though the snowstorms created chaos, it was a rare opportunity for people to enjoy playing in the snow, going sledding and building snowmen.

Magdalena’s business boom

A bumper crop of news businesses in 2011 gave Magdalena a needed economic boost.
”It was beginning to feel like we had fell into a hole and couldn’t see the other side,” Magdalena Mayor Sandy Julian said.
Several new enterprises popped up on the strip of U.S. 60 that runs through the village. They included a refurbished High Country Lodge, Mary Mac’s restaurant, M&M Grill, Z.W. Farnsworth’s blacksmith shop, Tino’s Barber Shop, Serna’s Locksmith Boot and Shoe Repair, Wind Spirit Realty, a tire shop and food wagon.
Some of these new businesses received the support of the Magdalena Area Community Development Corporation, a 501C3 organization. The CDC offered a wide range of economic assistance to the new businesses. It included purchase of the lodge, the hiring of Alice Lawton as General Manager, and CDC volunteers assisting in the sprucing up of the premises.
Lawton took the helm of the lodge on Oct. 3 and upgraded the facility. She also oversaw improved hospitality standards and spearheaded increased promotional activity.
The new and improved lodge also sublet space for Ann Fillion. She relocated her Datil restaurant, Mary Mac’s Café to Magdalena. The café now offers home-cooked meals three times a day, seven days a week. The refurbished lodge also offers conference space, as well as an in-house dining option.
Jericho Walton, owner of Wind Spirit Realty also benefitted from CDC involvement. Walton relocated from Houston, Texas. Friends Lee and Lori Scholes, CDC members, offered their support. She is receiving real estate mentoring from Lee Scholes, a qualified broker in the area. Lori Scholes, operator of the Marketplace on Main Street, made room for Walton and that’s where the Wind Spirit realty office is located.
Farnsworth is keeping busy with his blacksmith work, providing ranch and farm implement repair and farrying.
Linda Mansell opened the M&M  Grill, which offers outdoor grilled burgers and her signature breads and desserts. The grill also serves patrons of the Golden Spur Saloon next door.
In addition to the tire shop and food wagon, two residents with deep roots in the community opened new ventures. Tino’s Barber shop, owned by Valentin Valentino???? (Tino) Trujillo, provided not only haircuts, but a community meeting place. Robert Serna’s long-time locksmithing business re-opened on U.S. 60. His new shop, Serna’s Locksmith Boot and Shoe Repair, also offers leather working, belts, accessories and home decorating items.
The economic boost benefits the village, which relies of gross receipt taxes to pay for projects. As a snapshot, the village earned $3,609.64 more in GRTs in October of 2011 than it did during the same month the previous year.

Chuck Headen Dies at 87

Chuck Headen, a prominent Socorro businessman with extensive land holdings in Socorro and around the state, died in June at age 87.
Headen was a private man, but an imposing presence in the community. He was a gifted conversationalist who commanded any room he entered and earned the respect of many through his business acumen.
“He really knew his business, and was good at it,” said Holm O. Bursum III of First State Bank. “Chuck improved properties and renovated old homes, all for the betterment of the community — he didn’t do it to show off.”
Born in Greenville, Texas, Headen was raised by his grandparents in Oklahoma, where he attended college. He was a Marine pilot during World War II and later served as a wartime flight instructor in Florida.
His wife was a war veteran herself, working in covert communications. They were married in Corpus Christi and the union lasted 62 years until Jessie’s death several years ago.
After the war, Headen became a buyer for oil companies and for AT&T. He came to New Mexico to oversee the installation of underground wiring between Vaughn and Catron County. His work found him spending a lot of time in the Socorro County Courthouse, researching real estate and property records.
Headen acquired an affinity for property law and enrolled at the University of New Mexico’s law school. Though he never obtained a degree, he did establish personal relationships with many of his law school peers whose names are among the most prominent in New Mexico law firm circles.
Headen came to Socorro in the early 1960s and along with his late wife, Jessie, purchased a title and abstract business, Security Title Abstract Co. In time, the Headens owned 11 title companies in the state.
Headen helped resurrect historical buildings in Socorro, including the territorial style structure that houses Security Title and the J.J. Baca building across the street. His reverence for the culture and people of the Southwest was immense. New Mexico Tech President Daniel Lopez, said Headen spoke Spanish almost exclusively in the final days of his life.
Headen was a good friend to New Mexico Tech, contributing to the President’s Club and the Presidential Scholarship Program and other projects. He also contributed to many other causes in the community.
“If ever there was an occasion, he was always ready to support anything that had a community benefit,” Lopez said, adding that much of his generosity was exhibited behind the scenes.
Even in his later years, he projected a Jonh Wayne-like image — a tall drink of water, somewhat old-fashioned in his values, opinionated and articulate, gruff on the outside but kindhearted.
“He was an extraordinary businessman and an individualist to the core,” Lopez said. “He did not believe in anyone helping him; he did it on his own.”

Fires burn throughout county

Large scale fires causing massive destruction and the loss of several homes made headlines in Socorro County in 2011. The fire season started on March 31 with a blaze that burned 32 acres just west of Magdalena. No buildings burned, and no people were harmed, but high winds keep the situation touch and go for several hours.
The Magdalena fire was just a harbinger of things to come. Days later, two separate wildland fires burned thousands of acres at opposite ends of the county.
On April 2, while responding to a fire south of Socorro at Willow Springs, near San Marcial, firefighters got word of another blaze to the north, near the Bernardo Waterfowl Area. The first fire, caused by sparks from a metal fire, burned 137 acres and took six hours to put out. Luckily, again, no one was harmed in the blaze.
Up north, the fire took a considerably greater toll, jumping the Rio Grande and closing down N.M. 304 for several hours while firefighters established firelines. About 2,700 acres were destroyed in the blaze, and the residents of the Boys and Girls Ranch had to be evacuated, but had a home to go back to when it was all over several days later.
When the Wallow Fire broke out in Arizona at the end of May, close to the New Mexico state line, the county’s emergency management office was activated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Socorro County personnel headed to Reserve, N.M. to help set up an emergency operations center there in anticipation of the fire crossing into Catron County. The flames eventually consumed more than 534,000 acres, and the 3,000 men and women who fought it included rangers from the local Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service field offices, and other local agencies.
The Wallow Fire was eventually declared 100 percent contained on July 8, but in the meantime another emergency had broken out in northern Socorro County.
On June 23, flames erupted near the intersection of N.M. 346 and N.M. 116, starting on the west side of the Rio Grande and jumping to the east. High winds exacerbated the difficulty for firefighters struggling to contain the blaze in the heat, heavy smoke and spewing ash.
By June 27, fire crews from multiple agencies had established a ring around the fire and helicopters were assisting ground crews with water drops. There were six crews, 16 engines and three dozers working the fire, along with 193 firefighters. Meals were prepared for and served to about 225 people every day, including volunteers from the Hop Canyon, San Antonio, Midway, Abeytas, Veguita, Jarales, Tomé and Rio Grande Estates volunteer fire departments
The 346 Fire, as it was named, eventually consumed about 292 acres, destroying three mobile homes and numerous outbuildings and vehicles. It was declared 100 percent contained on July 1, and by July 2, initial estimates put the cost of fighting it at more than $400,000.
Socorro County was not alone in having a highly volatile spring and summer. Throughout the Southwest there were reports of 1,600 fires burning over 1.5 billion acres by mid-July.
The high degree of danger resulted in the closing of all or parts of the Santa Fe, Carson, Lincoln, Cibola and Gila National Forests for the month of July. The Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District closed the Rio Grande bosque, and opened it again in Sandoval, Bernalillo, Valencia and Socorro counties on July 25.

“M” Mountain achieves new notoriety

Socorro Peak took center stage in the community’s hearts and minds more than once this year, as is only befitting to an iconic presence that towers over the town in winter, spring, summer and fall.

The first sign that there would be unusual doings on the mountain this year came in April, when a team of as yet unidentified merry pranksters climbed to the big “M” at the top — apparently in the dark of night and possibly under the influence of an illegal substance — to string up some flashing green lights in a symbol that may or may not have been a celebration of a counterculture holiday known as 4-20 Day.
Four-twenty, in some circles, is code for cannabis, and the lights on the mountain, had they all worked as planned, may have been intended to replace the “M” with the outline of a flashing green marijuana leaf.
June’s big “M” Mountain event brought its share of smiles, and more than a few grimaces, with the Elfego Baca Shoot. An annual experience in extreme golfing that’s been taking place since the mid-1970s, the Elfego Baca Shoot garnered national attention this year, and was featured in a special segment on National Public Radio and in the L.A. Times.
Not for the faint of heart, the event involves teeing off from the top of “M” Mountain and making it 3,000 or so feet down its rocky convoluted face to the ‘“hole” with all limbs intact, and in as few strokes as possible. The record, matched by this year’s winner, Dennis Walsh, is 15 strokes.
Then, in October, for the first time in decades, members of the general public were allowed to join the students in New Mexico Tech’s annual tradition of freshening up the enormous letter “M,” that stood, when it was initially conceived, for the “M” in School of Mines. The tremendous turnout for the event was what Tech’s vice president of research and development, Dr. Van Romero, was apparently going for when he created a furor the year before by proposing to change the “M” to a “T.” That idea was shouted down by several thousand vociferous alumni and members of the public, but it got everyone’s attention.
On Oct. 21, several hundred townspeople took advantage of the opportunity to reclaim for a day the mountain that once belonged to all and now is the property of the university, for a small fee that included a bus ride down from the top, a burger and a few small mementos.
Due to the grueling nature of the climb, the university made sure to have search and rescue teams available to haul off those who were vanquished by the mountain’s treacherously steep slopes and crevices.
Over the course of the year, various commentators have speculated that the “M” stands for everything from masochist to midnight oil. The people of Socorro, however, have another longstanding tradition about what the “M” stands for: Old-timers say it stands for “Mitote” — gossip, in Spanish. This year, certainly, “M” Mountain gave people something to talk about.