Cowboys to play l E Eagles for leead in NFFC C East Sports, B-1 S
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Thursday, November 27, 2014
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Taos resident accuses Cosby of rape
Help for the holidays
Be alert on roads
A 73-year-old woman, one of several to come forward, says the comedian attacked her in California in 1971. PAGE A-14
Aid from the Empty Stocking Fund helped a Santa Fe mother keep her home. PAGE A-8
Watch for wildlife on rural stretches. OUTDOORS, B-7
10
A bowl fragment from Pindi Pueblo depicts opposing turkeys. BLAIR CLARK/LABORATORY OF ANTHROPOLOGY
Member’s ties questioned as PRC mulls Uber service
who made a difference
A 10-PART SERIES CELEBRATING THOSE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO OUR COMMUNITY
Puebloan connection to turkeys predates pilgrims
Commissioner accused of being too close to ride-share lobbyist By Milan Simonich The New Mexican
A meeting of state regulators looking into a controversial transportation company’s expansion into New Mexico turned into a verbal brawl Wednesday as one member of the panel accused the other of being in the company’s pocket. The confrontation occurred during the state Public Regulation Commission’s weekly public meeting, normally a session of mind-numbing reports on utility grids and fees. This meeting turned ugly and personal when Commissioner Valerie Espinoza accused fellow Commissioner Karen Montoya of being so tight with lobbyists for transit company Uber that Montoya had abandoned her professional ethics. “It’s you scratch my back, I’ll scratch your back,” Espinoza said to Montoya. Espinoza, D-Santa Fe, said Montoya, D-Albuquerque, was intent on helping Uber crack into the transportation industry in New Mexico for selfserving reasons. Montoya’s 2012 campaign manager, Mark Fleisher, now is a lobbyist for Uber, Espinoza said. Montoya is beholden to her former campaign man-
Local people raised birds long before Thanksgiving By Robert Nott The New Mexican
Centuries before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, a small pueblo south of Santa Fe was busy domesticating the bird that would one day become the staple of Thanksgiving. In a little-known chapter of Southwest history, the Tewa Indians of what would later be known as Pindi Pueblo were believed to be raising turkeys by at least the 13th century, keeping them in pens and using their feathers for blankets and ceremonies. In some cases, they may even have treated the birds as pets, right down to giving them formal burials when they died. The pueblo was occupied on and off from the mid-1200s until about 1420 before it was finally abandoned. Today the site, about six miles southwest of Santa Fe along the Santa Fe River in the village of Agua Fría, sits on private land out of public view. Archaeologists Stanley A. Stubbs and W.S. Stallings Jr. of the Laboratory of Anthropology named the pueblo Pindi — the Tewa word for turkey — after they excavated the site in the early 1930s and discovered evidence that the residents were keeping and raising turkeys. While other Southwestern tribes kept wild turkeys as early as the 800s, the archaeologists found that the residents of Pindi had extensively domesticated them. The two men oversaw a sixmonth excavation of the 250-room site under the auspices of the Civil Works Program at the invitation of the property owners, who had hoped to exploit the pueblo as a tourist attraction. That idea never caught on, probably due to the financial constraints of the Great Depression. Stubbs and Stallings detailed their findings in a report in 1953. But outside
Please see TURKEYS, Page A-4
Please see UBER, Page A-5
THIS YEAR’S 10 WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE u Socorro Aragón teacher, cultural preservation u John Berkenfield El Rancho de las Golondrinas and Southwestern Association for Indian Arts u Kathy Olshefsky Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Posse u Katherine Wells Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project u John Rochester Santa Fe Food Depot and theater volunteer u Anna Cardenas Galisteo preservationist u Christine Johnson St. Bede’s Episcopal Church u Bette Booth skate parks u Robert Ortiz minister at the adult detention center
Today Plenty of sunshine. High 57, low 28.
u George Rivera runner, sculptor, tribal leader
T
hey share a love for Northern New Mexico, its diverse cultures and the big landscapes that surround us. They also share a love for giving back to the community with their time, energy and expertise. This year’s honorees for The New Mexican’s annual 10 Who Made a Difference profiles include a longtime pueblo governor who led his people to improved physical and financial health; a woman who has imbued the love of archaeology and preservation to teens; a longtime museum director who has embraced youth theater. Since 1995, the newspaper has told stories about community volunteers, and starting this Thanksgiving we will continue that tradition — to give thanks to them and all others in Northern New Mexico who step outside themselves to help others. Their stories will run over the next 10 days — Socorro Aragón, John Berkenfield, Kathy Olshefsky, Katherine Wells, John Rochester, Anna Cardenas, Christine Johnson, Bette Booth, Robert Ortiz and George Rivera. Today’s story begins on Page A-8. A list of past winners is on Page A-9.
FBI data show thousands of gun buyers get around checks Black Friday kicks off busy period in which many can skirt the rules By Matt Stroud The Associated Press
BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — More gun sales than ever are slipping through the federal background check system — 186,000 last year, a rate of 512 gun sales a day, as states fail to consistently provide thorough, real-time updates on criminal and mental histories to the FBI. At no time of year is this problem more urgent. This Friday opens the busiest season for gun purchases, when requests for background checks speed up to nearly two a second, testing the limits of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. The stakes are high: In the U.S., there are already nine guns for every 10 people, and someone is killed with a firearm every 16 minutes. Mass shootings are happening every few weeks. “We have a perfect storm coming,” FBI manager
Please see GUN, Page A-4
PAGE A-10
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Guitarras con Sabor Gypsy Kings-style rhythms, 8 p.m., El Farol, 808 Canyon Road, no cover. More events in Calendar, A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
Index
Calendar A-2
Classifieds B-8
New challenges arise as U.S. air war focuses on ISIS Attack and surveillance craft redirected from Afghanistan to fight militants By Eric Schmitt The New York Times
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. — The United States is shifting more attack and surveillance aircraft from
Comics B-14
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010 News tips: 986-3035
Crosswords B-9, B-13
Afghanistan to the air war against the Islamic State, deepening U.S. involvement in the conflict and raising new challenges for the military planners who work here
Lotteries A-2
Opinions A-13
in central South Carolina, far from the targets they will pick for those aircraft. A dozen A-10 groundattack planes have recently moved from Afghanistan to Kuwait, where they are to start flying missions supporting Iraqi ground troops as early as this week, military
Outdoors B-7
Scoop A-11
officials said. About half a dozen missile-firing Reaper drones will also be redeployed from Afghanistan in the next several weeks. Perhaps nowhere outside the Middle East do the additional aircraft have a more direct impact than at this Air Force base, which has
Sports B-1
Time Out B-13
BREAKING NEWS AT WWW.SANTAFENEWMEXICAN.COM
become a leading symbol of the military’s ability to carry out global operations from afar. But while the Air Force personnel who help plan airstrikes against the Islamic State from here will have more firepower to bring to
Please see WAR, Page A-4
Two sections, 28 pages 165th year, No. 331 Publication No. 596-440