The Taos News from Taos, New Mexico • Page 3

THE TAOS NEWS Thursday, Aug. 2,1990 A3 In brief Campus on agenda A public hearing is scheduled Tuesday (Aug. 7), 7:30 p.m., at the Garcia Middle School Auditorium to discuss the Aug. 14 mill levy election and to address issues related to the proposed community college campus. The proposed two-mill levy would help pay operating expenses for a Taos campus of Northern New Mexico Community College.

For more information call the college's Taos Education Center at 758-9369. Wills a topic Living wills, the Right to Die Act, health care decisions and other topics are scheduled to be discussed at a special meeting at Taos Civic Plaza Tuesday (Aug. 7) at 7 p.m. in the Plaza's Room D. The meeting is sponsored by Northern New Mexico Legal Services, The program will be presented in both English and Spanish, according to a press release, and a film will be shown about families who must make medical decisions about their loved ones.

A panel including a bioethicist, an attorney and a physician will discuss pertinent issues. For more information, call Virginia Sears or Meredith Phillips at 1-800-848-9123. Hiroshima remembered The Concerned Citizens of Taos are sponsoring an event commemorating the 45th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, at Los Alamos' Ashley Pond Park 4 p.m. Sunday (Aug. 5).

Taosefios including Robert Mirabal, Larry Sargent, Danza Azteca de Anahuac and Steven Walters are scheduled to provide music, dance and Native American ceremony at the event. According to Taos organizer Elliott Libman, speakers will discuss recent political changes in Europe and the Soviet Union. "The time is ripe for all the peoples of the world of their leaders a stop to the production of nuclear weapons," Libman said. "The severe environmental, health and safety hazards are just not worth the risk. The enormous expertise at Los Alamos National Laboratories can now be shifted toward life-enhancing pursuits." For more information, call 758-5450.

Totemoff dead at 72 Pete Totemoff, a pioneer of the New Mexico ski industry who helped Ernie Blake establish Taos Ski Valley, was found dead July 26 in Elephant Butte Lake. Totemoff, 72, was found by a fisherman in a cove on the east side of the reservoir where he anchored his sailboat. He had a history of heart trouble and Tim Zagprski, ranger with New Mexico State Parks and Recreation at the lake, said it appears Totemoff died while taking a bath. Totemoff, who ran a ski area atTres Ritos and later worked in ski areas at Santa Fe and La Madera (now Sandia Peak) before teaming with Blake, was a 30-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service and one of the first snow rangers in the country.

He moved to. Truth or Consequences following his retirement in 1981. Ute Mountain target The Nature Conservancy is attempting to acquire Ute Mountain, northwest of Questa, and add it to the Bureau of Land Management's Wild Rivers Recreation Area and preserve wildlife habitat, according to state director William Waldman. Waldman said the mountain provides valuable habitat for birds of prey and other animals that depend on the nearby Rio Grande for water, riverside grazing areas and a convenient gathering place for game. "The mountain is part of the river corridor habitat," Waldman said.

The Public Service Company of New Mexico owns Ute Mountain, and area BLM manager Michelle Chavez said some of her agency's land in northwestern New Mexico might be logically traded for the Taos County property. END OF SLIMMER SALE August 2-12 Unique Clothing of Natural Fibers McCarthy Plaza (505) 758-1133 Open 9 5:30 p.m. Every Day 4 Optimum care' an expensive commodity By Bryan Welch Staff Writer Highflying Pilot Ron Stoney of Mountain Magic Balloon Co. in Arroyo Seco recently took some clients for a balloon adventure over the Rio Grande gorge. Richard Torres Magic Mountain balloons and their pilots can be hired out by anyone looking for a little escapade in the sky.

For two days surrounding the July 4 holiday, Holy Cross Hospital was without an emergency-room doctor due to staff shortages. While the problem has been solved for now, hospital administrator Mike Sinclair said staffing the emergency room should not be a significant problem in the future, adding that the hospital "can't provide optimum care all the time." When the hospital is without an emergency-room doctor, physician's assistants assume the doctor's responsibilities. Until about two years ago, the hospital's emergency care was frequently provided by physician's assistants, Sinclair said, but Holy Cross managers decided emergency care deserved a larger investment. Physician's assistants manned the emergency room for 24 hours on both July 3 and 5. Emergency-room doctors are paid about $35 per hour, according to sources at the hospital who refused to be named, less than half what a doctor can make in larger hospitals in places like Santa Fe or Albuquerque.

But managers at Spectrum Emergency Care, the company that provides doctors for Holy Cross' emergency room, say Taos' quality of life and small-town atmosphere make the local hospital's pay scale realistic. Frank Boggio, Spectrum's district manager, said three doctors normally staff Holy Cross' emergency room and when one is on vacation, "there's a strain," Jury ponders death in -V Jl By Dick Behnke Staff Writer A district court jury must decide this week whether a Colorado man died in a hot mineral pool as a result of the pool's negligence or his own drunkenness. On Monday (July 30), a five-man, eight-woman jury, including one alternate, was selected to hear the civil suit and determine if the Ojo Mineral Hots Springs Corp. was negligent in the death of Paul Miller, 30, a farmer from Alamosa, Colo. Attorney David Graham, representing Miller's estate, claimed in opening statements that the corporation was negligent in failing to warn, or have warning signs posted, that prolonged exposure to the 109-degree water could be dangerous.

Graham also said the corporation was negligent in failing to have any personnel trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation when the incident occurred in October of 1985. Leroy Farlo, representing the corporation, said that evidence would show that Miller was an alcoholic and his own drinking caused the tragedy. He said when the incident occurred there was a sign saying that anyone with heart problems, high blood pressure or under the influence of drugs or alcohol would not be permitted into the baths. Graham admitted Miller had been drinking. But, Graham said, there were no warning signs saying a combination of the hot water temperatures and alcohol could be dangerous.

Miller, who had just turned 30 four days before his death, entered the "iron springs" bath at 4 p.m. Moments before his death, Miller reportedly dived into the pool and did not resurface. At 4:55 p.m., an ambulance and the state police were called to the baths. A nephew and another patron pulled Miller from the water, but neither they nor an attendant on duty knew CPR, Graham said, and it was several minutes before Miller's sister-in-law, who is a registered nurse, was called and began performing CPR. Graham said there was no state- required resuscitation chart posted at the baths and there was no state-required telephone at the bath.

Miller was finally taken by ambulance to the Espafiola Hospital where he was pronounced dead of drowning. Farlo said people are not allowed into the hot springs when they are drunk. He said an attendant checks to see if people have been drinking and if so, he will not let them in. Farlo said a sign also said a maximum of 10 minutes should be spent in the water. Farlo contends that Miller, who had been at the hot springs many times before, had been drinking steadily since the group had left Colorado.

He said Miller was "a chronic alcoholic" and that chronic alcoholics can "mask their appearance" of intoxication. 'To the attendant, he appeared to be OK," Farlo said. Farlo said later tests showed Miller had a .29 blood alcohol level. A .10 blood alcohol level is considered intoxicated under New Mexico law. John Brandenburg Insurance Agency, Inc.

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