The Taos News from Taos, New Mexico • Page 2

A2 THE TAOS NEWS Thursday, Feb. 9,1989 REST The big dump Lou Meshekey shoveled the parking lot at the McCarthy Plaza Saturday morning (Feb. 4) before the weekend's blizzard began in Elaine Querry earnest. The shoveling chore had reached epic proportions by Monday morning. Reporter Ruth Fish dead at 96 Ruth G.

Fish, 96, a Taos resident for 55 years, died at Holy Cross Hospital Saturday (Feb. 4). She was born on a ranch in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado Nov. 11, 1892, the daughter of John Alfred Alexander Goodall and Jennie Dorris Goodall. After Fish moved to Taos she was frequently featured in the pages of the Taos Valley News, El Crepusculo, Taos Review and The Taos News, as a writer and local personality.

Most recently, she was honored by the Taos County Historical Society in 1986 for "providing the only available written accounts of certain historical subjects such as the 19th-century Taos Valley Donas." She was instrumental in the 1935 rebirth of the Taos Fiestas and was the Women's Chamber of Commerce's Woman of the Year in 1982. When asked, in 1982, how she would like to be remembered, Fish said "as a re- porter." At different times in her life, she was a social worker, a teacher and a journalist. She began her career in journalism in 1910 at the Alamosa Journal, writing at the same time for the Associated Press. She was a feature writer for the Denver and the Pueblo (Colo.) Star Journal before she switched to social work in the early 1920s. Tony Hillerman described her as 'an elderly woman of dignity, charm and grandmotherly appearance (who) also possessed a flawless reputation for In 1921, Fish worked with Red Cross Disaster Relief for flooding in Pueblo, and race riots in Tulsa, Okla.

After a stint as a social worker in Michigan, she became Director of Emergency Relief for Taos County. She taught social work at universities in Michigan, Chicago and New Mexico. She also taught and acted as a temporary librarian in the Taos Public Schools. Fish returned to journalism in Taos in the 1930s as a reporter for the Associated Press and United Press International and the Santa Fe New Mexican. She was editor of the Taos Valley News and county editor for El Crepusculo de La Libertad.

In his book, "The Great Taos Bank Robbery," Tony Hillerman describes a Taos correspondent for the New Mexican as "an elderly woman of dignity, charm and grandmotherly appearance (who) also possessed a flawless reputation for accuracy." That woman, a witness to the famous bank robbery, was Fish. During World War II, Fish accompanied her daughter and son-in-law and their five children to Wiesbaden, Germany, where she edited a column for the Wiesbaden Post. Later, she was manager of the Taos Chamber of Commerce. Fish was active in the Holy Cross Hospital Auxiliary, Taos Garden Club, Taos Fiestas and the Taos County Historical Society. She received the Distinguished Civilian Service Cross for her Red Cross work during World War I and the Golden Award of the American Association of Medical Social Workers.

Fish requested that memorials be donated to the Holy Cross Auxiliary. Memorial services are scheduled Feb. 18, 1:30 p.m., at St. James Episcopal Church in Taos. STORM Continued from Page A-1 and visitors complained of the bitter cold as their electric heating systems failed, and Monday dawned with temperatures in the single digits.

Life was made doubly complicated for disabled and wheel-chair-bound residents who were unable to reach their cars because of the snow. Questa resident Robert Plet- man, who can't move without crutches, couldn't get to his outhouse or his-car all weekend because of the deep snow outside his house on Jaricito Road. He was without food on Monday morning. Later in the day he reached Taos County Ambulance Emergency Services who agreed to bring him food by snowmobile. Pletman said a neighborhood dog made a trail through the snow to the outhouse for him to go to the bathroom.

The disabled man stood at his doorway throwing biscuits towards the outhouse, and the dog bounded after them making the path, he said. The storm forced state officials to close Highway 64 from Taos to Angel Fire, and Highway 38 from Eagle Nest to Red River on Sunday night and Monday morning. Portions of Highway 64 through Pilar and Embudo were also closed on Sunday night. The entire Kachina Basin at Taos Ski Valley was closed, and the lift shut down from Saturday through presstime on Tuesday after the Kachina lift shack was smashed to "smitherines," according to mountain marketing manager Chris Stagg, by an avalanche that filled the Kachina basin with more than 10 feet of snow. Some local Taos Ski Valley; skiers mused that recently deceased Taos Ski Valley founder Ernie Blake has moved "up" closer to the powers that be and is sending Taos snow, lots of it.

They're calling it "Ernie's storm." On Saturday night an avalanche came down the south side of the Rio Hondo canyon, splaying snow, trees and rocks onto the road. Many TSV employees and guests remained stranded at the ski area on Saturday night. It was the first time the road had been closed in at least 15 years. On Sunday skiers were kept inside the lodge and away from the mountainside windows until 11 a.m. while the ski patrol bombed the front side of the mountain.

The large blasts cause controlled avalanches. Other ski areas did not report significant avalanche hazards. Tremendous blasts echoed across the Twining valley throughout the weekend. An avalanche slid on the front side pushing over one skier and burying another temporarily. No one was hurt.

No other accidents were reported, although avalanches were happening all over the mountain all day long. On Monday afternoon another spectacular avalanche nearly more than eight feet thick, viewed by many skiers, smashed into a stranded maintenance vehicle near the top of the mountain, tossing it about 200 yards into the woods. ELECTION Continued from Page A-1 it to the out of 8,653 eligible voters. County Clerk Joella Coca DeVargas said she blamed the poor turnout on the snowy roads and cold weather. In Questa the race among nine candidates for three seats was tight.

Voter turnout there was higher with nearly half of the of the ballots. Questa engineer Lawrence Ortega won position number four with 37.8 percent of the votes. He narrowly defeated plumber Jose A. Cisneros who pulled in 24.7 percent and Larry Rivera, of Amalia, with 26 percent. The fourth candidate for the position Red River Town employee Robert Perry won 11 percent of the votes.

Questa police officer Danny A. Pacheco edged out former teacher and businessman Juan L. Valdez, 419 votes to 364, to take position number five. Larry Alfred Salazar, a contractor who works at Ski Rio in the winter, easily defeated his opponents pulling in about 50 percent of the vote. Red River contractor Tommy C.

Davis and Amalia ski instructor Anthony Martinez split the remaining votes. Questa voter approval of the two-mill levy means that all property owners in the district will have to pay $2 for every $1,000 of assessed valuation. Assessed valuation is one-third of the appraised value. Penasco voters also narrowly endorsed the levy, 237 to 222. Turnout in Penasco neared the 50 percent mark with 772 of the 1,663 voters turning in their ballots.

Christine Gonzales won position number 1 with 51 percent of the 773 votes. Catherine Romero took position number 2, defeating Manuel Pacheco 448 to 292. Alfredo Dominguez carried nearly all the votes for position number 3. His only Op 0ne nt, write-in candidate Lawrence Trujillo, won only 16 votes. Pharmacy Footnotes by Robert Counts, R.Ph.

ASPIRIN FOR WHAT AILS YOU Most of us think nothing of popping a couple of aspirin tablets at the first sign of a headache or muscle pain. As much as 20,000 tons of aspirin are consumed each year in the U.S. Because aspirin is available without a prescription and is inexpensive, most folks don't even consider it a "real" drug. However, aspirin is perhaps the closest thing to a wonder drug yet invented. It relieves fever and inflammation, and reduces pain as well as any non-narcotic drug on the market.

Aspirin is now being used experimentally as a "blood- thinner" to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. It may even be useful in slowing the growth of cataracts. Aspirin can have serious side-effects, however, including tinnitus, headache, dizziness, and mental confusion, as well as stomach upset and bleeding. As with other medication, it should only be taken when needed. At the TAOS PHARMACY we have a large selection of aspirin and acetaminophen.

These products come in a wide variety of configurations such as buffered, capsules and tabs. They serve different purposes and meet different needs that may prove to be confusing to you. Don't hesitate to ask our fine staff for assistance in this Park right in front of TAOS PHARMACY, in Pinon Plaza or call 758-3342. We're ppen 9am-7pm Monday hrough Friday, and 9-5 on iturday. HINT 3u are pregnant, never take medication, including aspirin, your obstetrician's iroval.

of Board Certified Family Health Care Specialists Open 6 days a week Se Habla Espanol The Physicians of Family Practice are pleased to offer the availability of mammography, a method for detecting early breast cancer. Mammograms are recommended at regular intervals for women over the age of 35. Early cancer detection can save your life and possibly your breast. Call for an appointment Larry Schreiber, M.D. Ellen R.

Warren, M.D. Alfredo Vigil. M.D. Charles Bonfanti, P.A. Donna Gomez, W.H.S.

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