Santa Fe New Mexican, Aug 4, 2014

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Giants ral rally lly to beat Bills 17-13 in Hall of Fame Game Sports, B-1

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Monday, August 4, 2014

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Israel withdraws troops from Gaza

Under strong leadership, hospital workers stand firm on staffing

Even as Israel said it was close to completing its mission, heavy fighting raged in Gaza, with at least 10 killed in an airstrike near a U.N. shelter. PAGE A-3

Union members praise president’s doggedness after contract expires

Alternative approach to medicine on rise

By Patrick Malone The New Mexican

With its emphasis on community medicine and preventative care, osteopathy is attracting more students. LIFE & SCIENCE, A-9

Two months ago, the union that represents about 500 nurses and medical technicians at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center

marched into negotiations with the hospital a battered and teetering lot. New Mexico District 1199 of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees began the talks on defensive footing, publicly stating that the hospital was trying to “bust the union” and privately fretting that with only 50 percent of contract-covered employees paying dues, it might be the last stand for

the 40-year-old labor group. Bolstered by the solidarity of its members twice rejecting the hospital’s contract offers by margins of more than 90 percent, and membership rolls swelling to 70 percent of eligible employees, the union’s leaders have a new-found swagger. Leading the way is 65-year-old union President Fonda Osborn,

Please see HOSPITAL, Page A-4

Fonda Osborn, president of New Mexico District 1199 of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, speaks Wednesday about the status of the union’s negotiations with Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN

Community honors farm founder

Questa mine closure brings uncertainty for town, newly jobless

At ripe age of 100, John Stephenson reflects upon life experiences, desire to give to others

Q

ABOVE: From left, Myles Copeland, a representative from the New Mexico Aging and Long-Term Services Department, presents a certificate of recognition from Gov. Susana Martinez to John Stephenson on Sunday during the latter’s 100th birthday party. TOP: Stephenson’s party included a tres leches cake topped with a model of his favorite John Deere tractor. PHOTOS BY LUKE E. MONTAVON/THE NEW MEXICAN

By Robert Nott The New Mexican

J

ohn Stephenson figures his life was saved by fate at least three times during World War II. As an enlisted Army man, he was assigned to the 106th Infantry Division — “It was just a number to me,” he recalls — but a last-minute administrative decision left him working in an office while many of those men went off to fight and die during the Battle of the Bulge. He then became part of another unit that was split. “Most of them went to fight in the Pacific. Some made it. Some didn’t,” he says. Finally, Stephenson was assigned to a troop transport — one of three — heading to England. He was on the ship that didn’t get torpedoed by enemy submarines during the journey. To this day, Stephenson doesn’t know why he was spared. “It’s just one of those things that is supposed to happen and just does, and people don’t understand why,” he said Sunday before a surprise party for his 100th birthday. About 100 people attended the outdoor celebration at the Santa Fe Community

Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com

Farm at San Ysidro Crossing in Agua Fría village. Stephenson founded the community farm after he bought the property in the late 1940s. Recognizing that he had been given a shot at life repeatedly, Stephenson said he wanted to give back, so he started the farm to grow organic produce and donate it to the community. Last year, the farm, which is operated mainly by volunteers, supplied 13,000 pounds of vegetables for free distribution via The Food Depot, according to Roy Stephenson, John’s son. John Stephenson was born in Agua Fría on Aug. 3, 1914. Shortly thereafter, his family moved closer to downtown Santa Fe, near the intersection of Marcy Street and Paseo de Peralta. The land was wet and marshy then, and Stephenson still recalls Burro Alley in the days when donkeys frequented the area. His father, Clyde, died when John was a child. His stepfather, Felix, and his mother, Clara, ran the city’s telephone system. Felix needed help when it came to tending to phone line problems, so he taught John to drive a Model T when the latter was about 9 years old. “I never thought anything about it because, in New Mexico, we didn’t have

driver’s licenses then,” John Stephenson said. One of his first jobs was delivering copies of The New Mexican downtown. Some nights, he said, the press would run late, and there were evenings when there were very few copies to sell. “The businesses got them first,” he said. Stephenson built trails and fought fires for the U.S. Forest Service in the Tesuque district, often navigating the terrain on horseback. The most famous fire he encountered, he said, was not anywhere in the wild mountains but up on Los Alamos National Laboratory property in the 1940s. He brought a contingent of firefighters from the Pecos and Santa Fe area with him only to discover that none of them had security clearance to enter the property. The fire in question was started by two members of the Los Alamos Fire Department, Stephenson maintains. They were burning some trash — “never a good idea, especially on a windy day,” he said. A graduate of Santa Fe High School, Stephenson married Katherine Milner of Albuquerque in 1940. They had two sons, David (born in 1942) and Roy (born in 1950). Roy said at Sunday’s event that his father was “very inspirational.”

Please see FOUNDER, Page A-4

Today

Santa Fe Opera apprentices

Clouds and sun; t-storm possible. High 77, low 57.

6:30-8 p.m., Fuego patio, La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa, $15, 986-0000, opentable. com, 330 E. Palace Ave., 954-9697.

PAGE A-12

Index

Calendar A-2

Classifieds B-6

Comics B-12

Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 983-3035

Crosswords B-7, B-11

Life & Science A-9

El Nuevo A-7

Opinions A-11

Sports B-1

UESTA — Every work- Now, after all the pain and grit of a miner’s life, he has reached day for the past a crossroads. 18 years, Bill McCarty “I’m done,” said McCarty, drove 82 miles, one who turns 60 next way, from his home month and figures it’s near Raton, then time to retire. headed underground The future is less to his job at Questa’s certain for Questa, a molybdenum mine. town of about 1,700 Today marks people that has been the end, both for entwined with the the mine that has mining industry since employed about 300 1916. There were people and of McCarMilan booms, downturns, ty’s working life. Simonich layoffs and even one Chevron Mining previously planned Ringside Seat Inc. agreed in early closure of the mine in June to provide two 1992. Even after that months of paychecks doomsday announcement, the for workers who would lose mine lived on. their jobs with the mine’s This time, though, there will closure. The money runs out be no comeback. today. “It’s over. It’s like a death in After almost 40 years as a the family,” said David Trujillo, miner, McCarty is calling it president of the United Steelquits, too. He’s not leaving in workers Local 12-659, which repone piece. resented Questa mine workers. His ankles are held together Trujillo, 58, has found shortby pins and screws. Half his left term employment in Questa, a ear is gone, taken deep underbittersweet assignment if ever ground in an explosion in Trinthere was one. He has been idad, Colo., in 1991. He needed hired by a contractor to help skin grafts on much of his face. remove equipment from the Wire holds together his left leg mine and shutter it. above the knee. “Right now, work is work,” Even after so many grievous he said. injuries, McCarty kept at the His career at the mine covdangerous, back-breaking work ered 26 years. An equipment that once was vital to America’s mills and basic industries. Please see RINGSIDE, Page A-4

To infinity and beyond: Math whiz aims to make lessons in numbers fun Expert to share ‘aha!’ moment at free lecture By Staci Matlock The New Mexican

How do we know that the formula for the area of a circle is right? How did a mathematician lay the groundwork for cellphones? And how many people should you date to find your best match? New York Times columnist and mathematician Steven Strogatz wants people to see the beauty of math in our everyday lives. Strogatz will guide people from basic numbers to infinity and beyond during a free Santa Fe Institute lecture Wednesday at the James A. Little Theater in Santa Fe. Strogatz talks about “The Joy of x” and published a book by the same name last year. But aside from those who

Tech A-8

Time Out B-11

BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM

IF YOU GO What: “The Joy of x: A Guided Tour of Math,” a Santa Fe Institute lecture by New York Times columnist and mathematician Steven Strogatz When: Wednesday, Aug. 6 Where: James A. Little Theater, 1060 Cerrillos Road Cost: Free More information: www.santafe.edu

love numbers, he knows most people can point to the moment when they stopped finding joy in math. Usually, it involved a teacher or a new concept that derailed their affinity for the subject. “There’s this disturbing aspect of this, which is that it really makes people feel bad about themselves,” Strogatz said. “They get some blow to their self-esteem. It really changes the way people see themselves.”

Please see INFINITY, Page A-4

Two sections, 24 pages 165th year, No. 216 Publication No. 596-440


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