Santa Fe New Mexican, April 28, 2013

Page 1

Big Brothers Big Sisters celebrates 30 years with bowling, boogies Local, C-1

Locally ll ow lly owned and independent

Hilltoppers sweep Sundevils to win 5th straight title Sports, D-1

Sunday, April 28, 2013

www.santafenewmexican.com $1.25

LEGISLATURE

A story of

Taxpayers foot bill for lame-duck travel costs

LOVE &LIFE

By Steve Terrell The New Mexican

While the Legislature is not in session, many lawmakers travel out of state — at taxpayer expense — to attend various conventions, conferences and workshops. Meeting fellow legislators and officials from other states gives our senators and representatives fresh and wider perspectives, and keeps them informed on issues facing New Mexico. Money spent reimbursing travel expenses is seen as an investment, with the goal of producing better lawmakers. However, a recent check of state travel vouchers showed that taxpayers shelled out thousands of dollars for out-of-state travel and even a couple of out-of-country trips for several lame-duck legislators who knew they wouldn’t be coming back to the Roundhouse this year. Some were lawmakers who did not seek re-election and others were defeated in their bids for re-election last year. There is a law that prohibits nonreturning members of the Senate and House from being reimbursed for outof-state travel — unless three-fourths of the members of the Legislative Council, a committee made up of lawmakers in leadership positions and senior members of the Legislature, vote to approve the travel. And that’s

Myoko Costello gives Stephen Pattelena a kiss hello after he returns home from picking up their twin daughters from Girls Inc. on Wednesday. The couple were divorced when Pattelena was in a serious car accident last year, but now the family is back together, living under the same roof. PHOTOS BY JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN

By Phaedra Haywood The New Mexican

T

he stress of modern-day life tore their marriage apart. Tragedy brought them back together. Now this Santa Fe couple and their daughters are working to rebuild their lives after an accident forced them to examine what’s really important.

Boy meets, marries, divorces girl They met waiting in line for the bathroom at the Cowgirl BBQ. “I let her go first,” said Stephen Pattelena. “She thought that was sweet. Then I asked for her number, and we had a date.” “It was like we were old friends,” Myoko Costello said of the couple’s first real date. “I felt his confidence. He was rough and rugged and down to earth, but had a sense of worldliness about him. He drove a beater. But he was classy, with good taste. On our second date, we went on a hike, and he pulled out a bottle of good wine.” “She was really cute,” Pattelena said. “And she’d lived a life of adventure — as a Peace Corps volunteer in Chad — and that was attractive to me.” A year and a half later, he decorated their onebedroom apartment in purple, her favorite color, and proposed. “There were dozens and dozens and dozens of flowers,” Costello said. They married May 24, 2003, at the Evergreen Lodge in Hyde Park. They were young and collegeeducated — his degree in mathematics from the College of Santa Fe, hers in environmental science from The State University of New York at Plattsburgh. They had every reason to believe they were on the road to the American dream. But real-life problems threatened the newlyweds’ fairy-tale future. They were eager to be parents but had difficulties conceiving a child. After paying $20,000 for in vitro fertilization treatments, Costello got pregnant with twins. They greeted the birth of their daughters, Adeline and Cecilia, with joy. But pressures began to fray their marital ties. “Two babies and a $20,000 debt was a hard way to start a family,” Costello said. While she was at home with the twins, Pattelena was working at his parents’ business, Santa Fe Home Inspections, where he spent the day climbing ladders, descending into basements and wriggling through crawl spaces. “I was making over $100,000 per year and earning every penny,” he said. He was working 60-plus hours a week.

Please see TRAVEl, Page A-5

Do lesbians have easier going than gay men?

Costello fixes her daughter’s bicycle chain as 6-year-old Adeline Pattelena discusses the situation with her father and twin Cecilia Pattelena looks on. The family shared a picnic at Fort Marcy park earlier, and then the girls rode their bicycles around.

Research shows society exhibits more tolerance toward female couples By Martha Irvine

The Associated Press

CHICAGO — It may be a man’s world, as the saying goes, but lesbians seem to have an easier time living in it than gay men do. High-profile lesbian athletes have come out while still playing their sports, but not a single gay male athlete in major U.S. professional sports has done the same. While television’s most prominent same-sex parents are the two fictional dads on Modern Family, surveys show that society is actually more comfortable with the idea of lesbians parenting children. And then there is the ongoing debate over the Boy Scouts of America proposal to ease its ban on gay leaders and Scouts. Reaction to the proposal, which the BSA’s National Council will take up next month, has been swift, and often harsh. Yet amid the discussions, the Girl Scouts of USA reiterated its policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, among other things. That announcement has gone largely unnoticed. Certainly, the difference in the public’s reaction to the Scouting organizations can be attributed, in part, to their varied histories, including the Boy Scouts’ long-standing religious ties and a base that has become less urban

Pattelena picks up the twins from an after-school program Wednesday. Since he returned home after his accident, Pattelena contributes by picking up the girls from school, cooking dinner or spending time with his daughters at the park.

Our view: Too little done to help youth Society isn’t finding solutions that will put young people to work or help them afford ever-increasing education costs. OpInIOns, B-2

Cooking spaces with soul

Calendar A-2

Classifieds E-6

Obituaries Christine Hage Fidel, 87, April 25 Alejandro Gallegos Jr., 97, April 24 Ursula M. Hayter, 90, Los Alamos, April 23

Dream kitchens are no longer about the sexiest six-burner range or the most exotic countertop material. Instead, homeowners are looking for unique rooms that involve less tradition and more transition. REAl EsTATE, E-1

Please see EAsIER, Page A-5

Index

Divorced couple reunite, plan new future together after accident leaves him paralyzed below chest

Lotteries A-2

Neighbors C-6

Opinions B-1

Police notes C-3

Editor: Rob Dean, 986-3033, rdean@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com

Real Estate E-1

Please see sTORY, Page A-4

Darlene Rose Long, April 20 Joseph Dominic Lujan, Santa Fe, April 23 Faustin (Huero) Montoya, Sept. 19

Pasapick

pAGEs C-2, C-3

The Santa Fe Raptor Center plans to release golden eagle James Dean at noon; former Gov. Bill Richardson and actors Wes Studi and Marsha Mason expected to attend; Rio Grande Gorge area on N.M. 570; call the center for details, 699-0455.

Today Mostly sunny and comfortable. High 76, low 43.

www.pasatiempomagazine.com

Raptor release at the Taos Gorge

pAGE D-6

Sports D-1

Time Out/puzzles E-16

Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010

Six sections, 44 pages 164th year, No. 118 Publication No. 596-440


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