Daily Lobo new mexico
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
thursday
October 30, 2014 | Volume 119 | Issue 52
Phantoms of the Philharmonic Sergio Jiménez / Daily Lobo / @SXfoto
Project ECHO founder Dr. Sanjeev Arora
Project targets rural patients By Lena Guidi
Kanan Mammadli / Daily Lobo
While wearing a plague doctor mask, Roger Thomas watches the New Mexico Philharmonic during the Breaking Boo event on Saturday evening at Popejoy Hall. Concertgoers at the Halloween-themed event were encouraged to dress up in their costumes and participate in a contest at intersession.
New Mexico Philharmonic, audience get into Halloween spirit
By Moriah Carty
With eerie sounds and low lighting, the New Mexico Philharmonic brought some spooky holiday fun to its recent concert. The New Mexico Philharmonic brought Breaking Boo to Popejoy on Saturday night, when concertgoers and musicians alike were given the opportunity to dress up in their Halloween costumes. Jan Zimmerman, who has been a volunteer for Popejoy for 18 years, said she has seen the struggle to maintain interest in classical music. The costumes helped add some excitement to the show and cater to a broader audience, she said.
“The philharmonic has tried a number of new things to try and hold on to its existing audience and to solve the problem all symphonies have, which is attracting a younger audience,” Zimmerman said. The New Mexico Philharmonic used to be the New Mexico Orchestra, but it went bankrupt about three years ago, she said. The philharmonic has been working to reclaim interest among the younger generations. The Breaking Boo concert was part of that effort, she said. Also, the New Mexico Philharmonic holds a “pops” concert once every month, which entails music from popular movies or top artists.
The pops attempt to bring popular music into a classical music environment, she said. There were more children and younger people at the Breaking Boo event than there typically are at other pops events, Zimmerman said. Chris Rancier, New Mexico Philharmonic executive assistant, was one of the viola players for Breaking Boo, and she said it was exciting and difficult to play in her costume. “You had to be careful how you planned your costumes so you could still play,” Rancier said. “We musicians can be really quite creative.” Being Halloween-themed, it seemed natural to encourage
attendees to dress up for the occasion, she said. The orchestra decided to followed suit. The event also held a costume contest at intersession. The contest was an effort to make the concert more exciting for families, she said. Before the concert, Jeremiah Bitsui, who played a minor role in the television series “Breaking Bad,” narrated “The Nightmare before Christmas,” giving the concert the name Breaking Boo, Rancier said. The narration by Bitsui was another effort to attract a larger audience. “We are happy to work hard to get our audience back,” she said.
By Ryan Lotz
$10,000. The BioPark Society and the Albuquerque Metro Crime Stoppers, as well as Corrales resident Laurel Westman, have chipped in money in hopes of finding the person responsible for the murdered marsupial, Montano said. Along with the rewards, the BioPark is looking to step up security around the park in response to the incident, Montano said. It remains unclear how the perpetrator or perpetrators gained access to the Tasmanian devil exhibit without being detected or identified by security cameras around the zoo. “We are going to be taking more security measures and we are going to be redoing the whole monitoring system,” Montano said. Jasper was one of four Tasmanian devils that the BioPark received in December 2013. The Albuquerque zoo is one of only two zoos in the country to feature
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Boo page 3
In 2003, the wait to see Dr. Sanjeev Arora for Hepatitis C treatment was eight months long. At the time, the clinic at UNM Hospital where Arora worked was one of only two in New Mexico that offered treatment for the disease. Arora said he realized that untreated Hepatitis C was not just causing patients to develop liver cancers and cirrhosis — it was killing them. Hepatitis C, one of the leading chronic infections that lead to death in the United States, is curable, but patients must undergo 12 to 18 rounds of difficult treatment. This, along with high costs, made this treatment unattainable for many New Mexicans, Arora said. “There were 28,000 patients who had this disease in New Mexico at that time, and less than 5 percent of them had been treated,” Arora said.
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Arora page 3
Marsupial’s killing remains a mystery
AP Photo / Raymond Watt / ABQ BioPark
This April 30 photo provided by ABQ BioPark shows a male marsupial, known by keepers as “Jasper,” who was one of four Tasmanian devils introduced to Zoo visitors last December. Keepers found Jasper dead in his outdoor enclosure on Wednesday, Oct. 15.
Local businesses and private citizens are pitching in to find the person or people who killed a rare animal at the city zoo. In addition to a large cash reward, local restaurant Pizza 9 has announced that it is offering free pizza for up to a year to the person who can lead police to those responsible for killing “Jasper,” one of ABQ BioPark’s Tasmanian devils. Zookeepers found Jasper dead in his exhibit on the morning of Oct. 15. Jasper was probably bludgeoned to death with a large piece of asphalt, said the Albuquerque Mayor’s Chief of Staff Gilbert Montano. “I think that it’s a horrific incident,” Montano said. “It’s tragic, upsetting, and we shouldn’t have to tolerate it.” Coupled with Pizza 9’s reward, the cash reward for finding Jasper’s killer currently stands at
a Tasmanian devil exhibit. The zoo has no plans for replacing Jasper yet, but hopes that upgraded security will act as a deterrent of any more criminal activity, Montano said. Tasmanian devils were officially placed on the endangered species list in 2008. Now only found on the island of Tasmania, just south of Australia, these nocturnal, carnivorous marsupials are currently threatened by loss of habitat, competition for resources with other animals such as the red fox, and Devil Facial Tumor Disease, he said. Devil Facial Tumor Disease, or DFTD, is a cancer that affects only Tasmanian devils, causing large lesions to grow on their faces and often the rest of their bodies. According to the BioPark’s website, the zoo is looking to offer a safe, healthy and disease-free environment for these animals to
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Zoo page 3