N.M. vintners seek to impress at Santa Fe Wine Festival Page C-1
Heart of the art scene: Canyon Road house/gallery on the market Home, inside July 2014
Locally owned and independent
Sunday, July 6, 2014
www.santafenewmexican.com $1.25
HO M E & GA RD EN TO UR
Blogger claims she’s solved Fenn mystery
Suspected mugger arrested Santa Fe police say a man with a lengthy criminal record has admitted to four recent armed robberies, including last week’s mugging of a teenage girl downtown. PAGE C-1
North Carolina woman says riddle is about faith By Bruce Krasnow The New Mexican
Gov. seeks mayors’ help
Kvitova wins Wimbledon
Susana Martinez asks local Hispanic leaders to assist in her bid for re-election. PAGE C-1
Czech crushes opponent from Canada in women’s singles final in London. SPORTS, D-1
ON CA NY ON RO AD
Forrest Fenn’s hidden treasure sends searchers on a spiritual journey that should renew their faith and open their hearts to a larger life, according to a North Carolina woman who claims to have solved the local writer’s famous poem. Pam Shetron, who has published her interpretation of Fenn’s poem on a website,
said Fenn is a hero and has cleverly taught people about faith and what’s important in life — that the search, the friendships and the path are more important than money and physical riches. She said the poem leads to the Pam Shetron Christ of the Mines Shrine in Silverton, Colo., but there is no treasure box at that location — just silent, peaceful spirituality. “This is a spiritual journey Mr. Fenn is taking us on. It’s about faith,” she wrote on
Proposal for grassy concert space at historic Madrid ballpark divides residents
A waste of water?
her blog June 23. “You can’t see faith, but you may have it. You have faith the chest you never saw is out there somewhere north of Santa Fe. Seeing is not always believing. Have faith in all you can not see, but choose to believe in it anyway.” Fenn is not one to dismiss or confirm anyone’s hints into the hidden treasure chest. In regard to her interpretation of the poem, he said, “that’s her opinion, she’s entitled to it.” The former business owner and artifacts dealer went even further in an email to The New Mexican: “I had not heard
Please see MYSTERY, Page A-7
N.M. leads nation in deaths tied to alcohol Excessive drinking takes years off the lives of state’s residents, CDC reports By Patrick Malone The New Mexican
A view from the outfield of the Oscar Huber Memorial Ballpark in Madrid, which was built in 1920. CLYDE MUELLER/THE NEW MEXICAN
By Phaedra Haywood The New Mexican
local nonprofit’s offer to plant and maintain grass at the Oscar Huber Memorial Ballpark in Madrid in exchange for being allowed to host concerts there is drawing mixed reviews from residents of the community, which has long been plagued by water scarcity. While some say they would welcome a cool, green place where children can play and sporting events and concerts can be enjoyed, others say it doesn’t make sense to grow grass in the desert, especially when the water to care for it will have to be trucked in from somewhere else. The historic ballpark and its refurbished grandstand, where local coal miners once watched minor league baseball teams play, has been used in recent decades as a venue for music festivals, often with the audience seated on lawn chairs and blankets on the dirt playing field.
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Tracy Ragan, a member of the Madrid Landowners Association’s ballpark committee, says she supports a plan for improvements — and a grassy field — at the historic ballpark, where coal miners watched minor league teams play in the 1920s and 1930s. The plan has drawn mixed reviews from the community, where water is scarce. JANE PHILLIPS/THE NEW MEXICAN
The offer — to level the infield, install an irrigation system and water storage tank, as well as plant sod in the outfield and then maintain the grass by mowing and watering it with trucked-in
supplies from elsewhere — came from Jim Heath of the Heath Foundation. Heath, who has lived in the Santa Fe area for more than 20 years, said he became inter-
ested in the ballpark after moving to the Galisteo Basin last fall. “I looked at it and said, ‘You know, this would make a great music venue,” said Heath, whose foundation owns Heath Concerts, which sponsors free movies and concerts in the Santa Fe Railyard Park and other events at venues such as The Downs at Santa Fe. Heath said he later met Tracy Ragan, head of the Madrid Landowners Association’s ballpark committee, and learned that the association and Santa Fe County had been collaborating over the years to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state to restore the ballpark, which is thought to have been the first fully illuminated ballpark west of the Mississippi, thanks to coal-fired electrical power. Over the past decade or so, about $600,000 worth of state money has been spent restoring the historic grandstand and bleachers. And Ragan hopes to
Peter and Laura Lafond had plans. Their marriage of 22 years had produced a son and a daughter, and Peter and Laura had begun to relish their future together. In the short term, that meant seeing their daughter off to her senior prom and watching her graduate high school. In a few years, they looked forward to celebrating their 25th anniversary. Ultimately, they had their sights set on retiring and traveling around the country in a recreational vehicle. “We were going to grow old together,” said Laura Lafond, 52. “A lot of times, when we would see an old couple running errands or taking a walk, we’d say, ‘That’s going to be us someday.’ We could see ourselves sitting under a tree in the park, taking it easy together.” At 4:08 p.m. March 15, 2013, as Peter Lafond, 51, was riding his motorcycle to a friend’s house to help with a remodel project, he was struck and killed by a drunken driver, whose level of intoxication was more than twice the legal limit for driving. The Lafonds would never realize their dream of quietly living out their days, enjoying each other’s company. “In the first six months after he died, there was just so much stuff that he missed,” Laura Lafond said. “He missed our 23rd anniversary in April; Easter; his sister’s birthday; our daughter’s prom and graduation. He missed his mom turning 90 in July.” Peter Lafond’s life cut short demonstrates a tragic reality: New Mexico is drinking itself to death faster than any other state. But it’s not just on the highways that booze is shortening the lives of New Mexicans at a pace that outstrips the rest of the United States.
Please see ALCOHOL, Page A-5
Obituaries Otis Lee Beaty Jr. (Toro), July 2 William Duncan Greaves, June 27 Robert Mash, June 30
Please see BALLPARK, Page A-5
Today
Sheriffs balk at idea of holding noncitizens longer Fearful of lawsuits, local agencies prefer to release those who’ve served time for crimes By Jennifer Medina The New York Times
LOS ANGELES — Sheriffs around the nation are openly rejecting the Obama administration policy of holding noncitizens who are accused or convicted of crimes for extra time, which for years has enabled the
Index
Calendar A-2
federal government to begin deportation proceedings for thousands of immigrants. The local decisions are limiting the Obama administration’s ability to enforce immigration laws and could significantly decrease the number of immigrants deported each year.
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Lotteries A-2
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 983-3035
The phenomenon started this spring, after a federal judge in Oregon ruled that a sheriff there had violated one immigrant woman’s civil rights by holding her in the county jail solely at the request of federal agents. Almost immediately, sheriffs across the state started refusing to honor the policy, which asks them to hold undocumented inmates without probable cause for a criminal violation, a process known as a detainer.
Neighbors C-7
Opinions B-1
Now, dozens of sheriffs are doing the same: releasing noncitizen offenders who have served their time rather than holding them longer on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security. For years, the administration has asked them to hold such people for up to 48 hours after they were scheduled for release, giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement extra
Partly sunny. High 87, low 59. PAGE D-6
Tommy L. Maxwell, 73, July 1 Herbert Mayer Schon, June 30 Isabel Standard, Santa Fe, June 29 PAGE C-2
Pasapick
www.pasatiempo magazine.com
Native portrait studio at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture A photo booth will be on the premises from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today through Monday. Take your photos with you, but leave one print for the Community Gallery, 710 Camino Lejo, Museum Hill, indianartsandculture.org.
Please see HOLDING, Page A-6
Real Estate E-1
Sports D-1
Time Out/crossword E-16
BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM
Six sections, 48 pages 165th year, No. 187 Publication No. 596-440