Elkettes fall to Lady Horsemen in holiday tournament Sports, B-1
Locally owned and independent
Saturday, December 28, 2013
www.santafenewmexican.com 75¢
Ex-lawmaker Bond dies
Frank Bond will be remembered for his lifelong commitment to falcons as well as for public service.
A heart for‘Hulk’
Community rallies to help family of 4-year-old boy in need of transplant A chicken walks around in its coop on an Eldorado property. NEW MEXICAN FILE PHOTO
LOCAL NEWS, A-6
Eldorado chicken fight will go to trial
Texas throws book at tardy bookworms Man is jailed for not returning a book to the library. PAGE A-10
Ruling supports NSA A federal judge says the agency’s collection of data is legal. PAGE A-3
Judge paves way for lawsuit to be heard that bans fowl in subdivision
Weather in 2013 far from the norm
By Uriel Garcia The New Mexican
and a crowdfunding campaign. Junior’s parents first learned something was wrong with him in late October, when an emergency room X-ray revealed that his heart was enlarged. He was transported to University Hospital in Albuquerque and then airlifted to a hospital in Aurora. There, Junior’s heart stopped, and doctors implanted an artificial device. Junior’s temporary heart, known as a Berlin Heart, is designed to assist his own heart, since Junior has dilated cardiomyopathy, which means his heart muscle isn’t strong enough to effectively pump his blood.
A lawsuit filed by the Eldorado Community Improvement Association against property owners who want to keep chickens and hens in their yards can move forward after a ruling Thursday by a state judge. State District Judge Pro Tem Mark Macaron has dismissed a claim by some residents in the subdivision that the homeowners association had no right to bring the litigation. The primary lawsuit is now set for trial the week of March 24, according to attorney John Hays with Cassutt, Hays & Friedman, which represents the association. The defendants claimed the association acted in bad faith by filing the lawsuit. Specifically, the countersuit said the group violated its fiduciary obligation and breach of the covenant of good and fair dealing. In his ruling, Macaron said the defendants’ “claims for breach of fiduciary duties and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing are dismissed with prejudice.” Ronald J. Van Amberg, the attorney representing the property owners, could not be reached Friday. The civil lawsuit originally was filed in December 2012, after residents of the subdivision south of Santa Fe complained that certain families who had chickens on their properties were violating Eldorado’s pet covenants. The homeowners association is asking the court for a declaratory judgment that chickens and roosters are not recognized as pets. Before the association brought the civil lawsuit, residents of Eldorado held an election in which 55 percent of the voters cast ballots against amend-
Please see HEART, Page A-5
Please see CHICKEN, Page A-5
By Susan Montoya Bryan The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE — It seemed there was no end in sight after three years without any meaningful snow or summer rain. In 2013, New Mexico’s drought had become what climate experts and water managers were calling unprecedented. A summer heat wave made things worse as the state’s reservoirs were reduced to mucky messes, and stretches of the Rio Grande and Pecos rivers went dry. But summing up New Mexico’s weather this year is not that simple. There was also record rainfall, flash flooding, historic wind gusts and a severe hail storm that put snowplows to work during the first week of July. “We end the year with near normal temperatures and near normal precipitation, but the fluctuations during the year were anything but near normal,” said Deirdre Kann, the science and operations officer for the National Weather Service in Albuquerque. Meteorologist Kerry Jones had his own description. “If you had to sum it up, it would just be the switch from the extreme drought to wet,” he said. “It’s always a collection of extremes, and this year
Please see WEATHER, Page A-4
Hospice profits The typical hospice makes about $2,000 net profit per patient, but some chains make two or three times that amount. Net profit per patient, adjusted for inflation ODYSSEY
$6,000
$6,111
5,000
VITAS
4,000
$3,894 3,000
ASERACARE
$2,197
2,000 1,000 0 ’10
’11
’12
Source: Washington Post analysis THE WASHINGTON POST
Index
Calendar A-2
Josh ‘Junior’ Montoya of Santa Fe, shown in early December, has been surviving on an artificial heart in an Aurora, Colo., hospital since October, when his own heart stopped beating. The 4-year-old is waiting for a transplant, and members of the community have launched efforts to raise funds to help his family. COURTESY PHOTO
By David J. Salazar For The New Mexican
F
or one Santa Fe family this holiday season, home has been where the artificial heart is. Josh and Destiny Montoya’s 4-year-old son, Josh (who usually goes by Junior, but also likes the nickname “Hulk”), is being kept alive by an artificial heart in Aurora, Colo., as he awaits a transplant. Because the Montoyas have had to relocate to Colorado for their son’s indefinite hospital stay, they’ve looked toward the community to help them cover expenses, including a benefit held Friday night at the The Locker Room on Cerrillos Road
Hospice firms lure healthier patients to maximize profits By Peter Whoriskey and Dan Keating The Washington Post
Hospice patients are expected to die: The treatment focuses on providing comfort to the terminally ill, not finding a cure. To enroll a patient, two doctors certify a life expectancy of six months or less. But over the past decade, the number of “hospice survivors” in the United States has risen dramatically, in part because
Classifieds B-7
Comics B-12
Lotteries A-2
hospice companies earn more by recruiting patients who aren’t actually dying, a Washington Post investigation has found. Healthier patients are more profitable because they require fewer visits and stay enrolled longer. The proportion of patients who were discharged alive from hospice care rose about 50 percent between 2002 and 2012, according to a Washington Post analysis of more than
Opinion A-11
Police notes A-10
Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Dennis Rudner, drudner@sfnewmexican.com
1 million hospice patients’ records over 11 years in California, a state that makes public detailed descriptions and that, by virtue of its size, offers a portrait of the industry. The average length of a stay in hospice care also jumped substantially over that time, in California and nationally, according to the analysis. Profit per patient quintupled, to $1,975, California records show.
Please see HOSPICE, Page A-4
Sports B-1
Time Out B-11
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Today Partly sunny. High 47, low 24. PAGE A-12
Obituaries Sylvia R. Gonzales, 87, Dec. 24
Santa Fe Pro Musica Orchestra Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos will be at 6 p.m. in the St. Francis Auditorium of the New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W. Palace Ave. Tickets are $20-$65. Call 988-1234 or 988-4640, or visit ticketssantafe.org. Sunday encore. More events in Calendar, Page A-2 and Fridays in Pasatiempo
PAGE A-10
Life & Science A-9
Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010
Two sections, 24 pages TV Book, 32 pages 164th year, No. 362 Publication No. 596-440