The Santa Fe New Mexican from Santa Fe, New Mexico • Page B001

Santa Fe El Norte INSIDE Lotteries B-2 Obituaries B-2 Police notes B-3 Movies B-3 Time Out B-7 Comics B-8 THE SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN Tuesday MARCH 8, 2005 www.santafenewmexican.com In brief Gov. declares Taos County disaster area ALBUQUERQUE Gov. Bill Richardson declared Taos County a disaster area Monday due to storms that saturated the region last month. Richardson signed an executive allowing the release of money from a $750,000 state disaster relief fund that can be used for infrastructure repairs, overtime pay for safety personnel and other emergency expenses in the county. emphasis right now is strictly on the said Tomas Trujillo, Taos County emergency manager.

He said mud in places is up to 18 inches thick, making access to some areas all but impossible. The bridges remain intact, but Trujillo said trees and debris will need to be cleared from some streams. Residents seek new park Residents around Maclovia and Declovina streets want the city to develop a in their neighborhood. Kingsley Hammett, who lives in the area, said Monday that neighbors seek a passive park meaning, parks with landscaping and benches and no recreation facilities such as playgrounds so people can enjoy accessibility to the nearby Acequia Madre Trail. Neighbors told the Public Works Committee on Monday that the 1-acre parcel on the south side of the Casa Alegre neighborhood was dedicated to the city by developer Alan Stamm 50 years ago.

Robert Romero said he has lived on Declovina Street for 30 years without realizing the city owned the parcel that is often covered with trash. The committee unanimously endorsed Councilor David resolution asking for the full council to order the development of the park. Councilor Matthew Ortiz said he might introduce a resolution on three more undeveloped parks. Water efficiency goal of city work City crews began renovations of irrigation systems in Santa Fe parks Monday. The work, which will be done in two phases, will continue through spring and into summer.

Parks are not expected to close for the work. Crews will change out old sprinkler heads for new, more efficient units. Also, crews will replace water flow meters to more accurately account for the amount of water used in city parks. Portions of some parks scheduled to have turf replaced will be closed during parts of the late spring and early summer while that work occurs. Search follows suicide pact rumor CARLSBAD Carlsbad High School was searched by law enforcement officers Monday morning after rumors surfaced of a possible suicide pact.

No explosives or weapons were found at the school, authorities said. The start of the school day was delayed by two hours based on unverified information that single, yet unknown, individual had planned to end their life on campus during school said Carlsbad police Capt. Kelly Lowe. Staff and wire reports hooking a dog or a cat through the mouth with a large hook and dragging them behind your car. There is no escaping that fishing is egregious cruelty to KARIN ROBERTSON manager of Fish Empathy Project By BEN NEARY The New Mexican For many New Mexicans, casting dry flies to Rio Grande cutthroat trout is a near-religious experience.

But one animal-rights group wants the practice banned. The brilliantly colored trout, New state fish, live only in beautiful places skinny mountain streams where your only company is more likely to be a startled deer than a fellow fisherman. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, based in Norfolk, wrote a letter to Gov. Bill Richardson on Monday asking him to declare the Rio Grande cutthroat off-limits to fishing. hooking a dog or a cat through the mouth with a large hook and dragging them behind your Karin Robertson, manager of Fish Empathy Project, wrote to Richard- PETA wants state fish off limits Please see STATE FISH, Page B-4 ABLITA ELARDE ARRISON EGAY With mountain snowpack already heavy, Santa Fe makes room for this melt By TOM SHARPE The New Mexican A heavy, wet snowpack in the mountains above Santa Fe caused the city to begin releasing water from its reservoirs Monday for the first time this year.

Gary Martinez, source of supply manager for the city Water Division, told city councilors recently that the early controlled release into the Santa Fe River is intended to prevent the reservoirs from spilling too fast this spring and out a chunk on Canyon With the peak runoff season still two and a half months away, McClure and Nichols reservoirs already are filled to 78 percent of capacity and collecting more than 4 million gallons a day from the municipal watershed. The U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service said this snowpack already is more than twice as deep as it was last year in the higher elevations and four times as deep near the river. is the best forecast had in at least eight years going back to said Dan Murray, water supply specialist for the federal agency in Albuquerque. Murray said the latest data show snowpacks around Santa Fe at 140 percent of average, even though the peak snowpack in the area usually occur until April 15.

typically get most of our snowpack accumulating in the month of he said. would expect to get about 25 percent (of annual snowfall) in Electronically monitored Snow- tel sites at 11,500 feet on the ridge line near Ski Santa Fe recorded a 72-inch snow depth on March 1. That compares to only 9.6 inches a City releases reservoir water Please see RESERVOIR, Page B-3 By TOM SHARPE The New Mexican Thirty percent of all future housing developments in Santa Fe would have to be affordably priced, if the City Council adopts a resolution approved Monday by the Public Works Committee. The federal definition of affordable housing means homes within the means of someone who earns no more than 80 percent of the local mean income. Such a house would cost $165,000.

However, the resolution would endorse recommenda- tions by the Regional Planning Affordable Housing Task Force that would require even more stringent rules for affordability: Ten percent of the new homes would be priced as high as $115,000 so people making less than 65 percent of the local mean income could afford them. Another 10 percent would be priced as high as $145,000 for people making between 65 and 80 percent of the local mean income. And another 10 percent Public Works Committee OKs tighter housing rules Please see RULES, Page B-3 Raul The New Mexican Pablita Velarde, left, and Harrison Begay are congratulated by Lee Witt, far right, assistant to New Mexico first lady Barbara Richardson, as Yvonne Lewis, second from right, who is with the office of Sen. Leonard Tsosie, D-Crownpoint, makes the introductions. By SHANNON SHAW The New Mexican Two award-winning American Indian artists from one of President Franklin New Deal programs were honored Monday at the state Legislature for the declaration of Native American New Deal Art Day.

Harrison Begay, 87, a Navajo who resides in Chinle, and Pablita Velarde, 86, a Santa Clara Pueblo Indian who lives in Albuquerque, are the two surviving American Indian artists out of 28 who were part of the Works Progress Federal Art Project between 1933-43. A New Deal emergency program, the project was designed to promote Indian arts and crafts, increase employment, improve infrastructure on reservations and construct schools during the Depression, according to the state Senate Joint Memorial. Velarde, a painter, said American Pioneering artists Legislature recognizes two of the 28 Native American artists left from New Deal project Please see ARTISTS, Page B-3.