Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 30

C2 ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL Thursday, April 8, 1993 Safety Board Won't Probe Shooting 3T f. .1 i fL. i ,11 uWn By Gene Beilard JOURNAL STAFF WRITER police and bystanders. "It seems like a contradiction to me to gas the man out and to have officers in place where they're in the line of fire," Valdez said. During a 4V2-hour standoff, Libby told negotiators he was armed, but after the shooting police found he was carrying a dark cologne decanter shaped like a locomotive.

Valdez addressed the board, a citizens oversight committee, after Deputy Police Chief Cliff Jenkins presented them APD's version of the shooting. The police Internal Affairs unit investigates all police shootings and reports to Jenkins. "It really looked like he (Libby) was carrying a gun," Jenkins said, calling the incident a "classic suicide-by-cop scenario." "It was clear negotiations were going nowhere," he said of the decision to "execute the gas plan" and force Libby out of the apartment. "Our job is to look at policy," not to conduct investigations on individual cases, said board member David Bennett in response to Valdez's request. Investigations by various agencies and police units follow all police shootings.

A criminal probe is conducted by homicide detectives, who turn their findings over to the district attorney. The district attorney also conducts its own investigation, and submits the case to a grand jury. APD Internal Affairs officers conduct a separate investigation, with oversight by independent counsel Patrick Apodaca. Apodaca said in a telephone interview Wednesday that he has the authority to investigate at any point, but usually waits to receive a report from Internal Affairs. Then if anything looks amiss, he steps in.

City attorneys also look into the shootings in case the city is sued. The Libby family has hired attorneys and says it plans to sue. The head of an Albuquerque community group asked the Public Safety Advisory Board to look into the March 20 police shooting of Randy Libby, but the board declined, saying ample investigations are under way and such a probe is outside its authority. "We think this is a highly questionable incident," Andres Valdez, president of New Mexico Vecinos United, told a meeting of the Public Safety Advisory Board in City Hall on Wednesday. Libby, a convicted arsonist wanted for a parole violation, was shot and killed by SWAT team marksmen after police used tear gas to flush him out of a two-story apartment when he refused to surrender.

Police say he rushed the door in a threatening stance and they thought he might open fire on Leading the Way IN BRIEF Construction Swallows Mall Bus Stops Attention, Winrock shoppers: If you ride the bus to the shopping mall, wear your hiking boots. For the next few months, you'll need them. Construction of a second Dillard's Department Store on the center's northwest side has engulfed the city's SunTran bus stops. SunTran and Winrock officials tried for more than a month to find interim spots on the mall property where the buses wouldn't tear up the pavement but had no luck, said SunTran spokesman John Parker. "Until the construction is done, we're going to have to stop some distance from the actual shopping center itself," he said.

"People are going to have to walk a little bit." Three buses cruise through Winrock: The LouisianaCentral, the Constitution, and the Indian School, Parker said. Both the Constitution and Indian School buses now stop on Indian School, next to Toys Us, he said. The Louisiana bus now stops on America's Parkway, near the Marriott HoteL From there, passengers have to cross Louisiana Boulevard to get to Winrock. "We're sorry for the inconvenience to our customers," Parker said. "We're trying to get them as close to Winrock as we possibly can." 1-25 Back to Two Lanes Again BERNALILLO Commuters between Albuquerque and Santa Fe will find the going a little smoother now that 1-25 is back to two lanes in each direction.

A $6.03 million reconstruction project that began last June is winding down for ihe three-mile stretch that started just north of the second Bernalillo exit, said Calvin Jeter, state Highway and Transportation Department project manager. Although the interstate will be reduced again to one lane in either direction at times while road crews lay the final pavement layer, Jeter said, that should only take about four days if weather holds. The final layer can't be put down, however, until the temperature reaches 60 degrees and rising, and the wind is near-calm, he said. Overall, the project went well, Jeter said. The work was completed about a month ahead of time and appears to be coming in near budget, he said.

Crews still will have to stripe and mark the interstate and in June will plant grass seeds, but that shouldn't hinder traffic, Jeter said. The entire road in both directions was torn up while crews used dynamic soil compaction, a procedure that involves dropping a 20-ton weight from 80 feet above the surface to pack the surface and prevent future settling that causes dips in the road. Traffic during rush hours creeped along the stretch, and many motorists used the frontage road to avoid delays. But even with all the construction and traffic, there was relatively few problems, Jeter said. i (V.

Sandoval Vote Fraud Probe Sought SANTA FE A local government-watchdog group wants an independent investigator to look into allegations of fraud in Sandoval County. The group, Citizens for a Clean Government, filed a petition in December seeking a grand jury investigation into a laundry list of allegations. But, according to group spokesman Alan Mervis, District Attorney Mike Runnels wants to have his chief investigator, Tony Trionfo, look into the claims. Mervis objects, saying Trionfo testified in a grand jury case included in their list of allegations. Runnels is on vacation and could not be reached for comment Mervis said officials are dragging their feet Runnels first sent the case to the Attorney General's Office because of a potential conflict of interest with his office.

But they sent it back because they are representing County Clerk Sally Padilla in an unrelated lawsuit. Padilla, who is named in the allegations, has denied all the group's allegations. Then Runnels said he wanted to wait until the legislative session was over and the grand jury was called before proceeding. Mervis said the group has compiled a list of attorneys who were recommended to them to conduct the investigation. He said he wants Runnels to pick an attorney from the list and to start the investigation as soon as possible.

-t VkJrkr a JACK PLUNKETT JOURNAL F. Sanchez, called for unity and healing. "Despite the heartaches, pain and problems," Sheehan said, "I know you priests are dedicated to the glory of God and to the salvation of the people You are held In high esteem." Bishop Michael J. Sheehan, flanked by other priests, offers a prayer during a Mass on Wednesday at SL Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe. Sheehan, named by the Vatican this week as Interim administrator of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, replacing Robert Mom Finds Son in Double-Decker Grave THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ON THE Offices Closing On Good Friday CALENDAR "I didn't think we did things like that," Guzman said.

"I thought we were human beings. We should have more respect for our dead because we are a civilized country." Coriz, 33, had been buried at the Westland cemetery late last year. Guzman had her son reburied Wednesday morning in a single grave after the family held a funeral Mass, KOB said. Vigil said he's requested plot plans from Westland to determine how many multiple graves exist. "There may be some that were three coffins per grave," Vigil said.

"We still don't know. The medical examiner's and Westland and others are saying that may have occurred." Since Westland is refunding the money, he said, he wasn't sure if any of the stacked bodies would be reburied singly. Vigil said the state allocates about $600 for each of the estimated 50 indigent burials a year. Westland President Barbara Page didn't immediately returns calls seeking comment Wednesday. Nick Cordova, whose company dug the graves, told KOB Westland officials instructed him to stack the coffins to save space.

Cordova didn't immediately return messages left at his home Wednesday by The Associated Press seeking comment. Vigil said the problem came to light about two weeks ago after a woman located her son through an identification number at the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque. "She went to look for him and discovered he was buried in a grave with somebody else each in a separate coffin, double-decked on top of each other," Vigil said. Roseanne Guzman told KOB-TV she was shocked when she discovered her son, Chris Coriz, buried atop another person. A woman searching for the body of her son discovered he had been buried with another person in a grave at a paupers' cemetery on Albuquerque's West Mesa.

And Bernalillo County, which has paid property owner Westland Development Co. Inc. to handle the indigent burials for the past decade, says it will investigate. "The way we were purchasing the services was one person per grave," County Manager Juan Vigil said Wednesday. "The problem is that we contracted for something and received something different." Vigil said Westland has agreed to refund money to the county.

Westland officials contend they had authorization from the county for multiple burials, Albuquerque television station KOB reported Wednesday. CITY OFFICES: Open Friday. COUNTY OFFICES: Closed Friday for spring break. STATE OFFICES: Open. FEDERAL OFFICES: Open Friday.

CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES: Schiff open Friday; Domenici: closed at noon Friday; Bingaman: closed at noon. COURTS: Federal District: open Friday; State District: closed at noon POSTAL SERVICE: Regular service. BANKS: Open Friday. GARBAGE: Regular service by the city's Solid Waste Department and for clients of J.D. Disposal.

SUNTRAN: Regular service Friday. UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO: Open Friday. PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Spring recess. ALBUQUERQUE T-VI: Open Friday. CITY POOLS: Open.

CITY COMMUNITY CENTERS: Open Friday. COUNTY COMMUNITY CENTERS: Closed Friday for spring break. CITY LIBRARIES: Open Friday. RIO GRANDE NATURE CENTER: Open Friday. RIO GRANDE ZOO: Open.

INDIAN PUEBLO CULTURAL CENTER: Open Friday. MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Open every day. Deputy's Making Her Mark With Music "If you go back in time The way that you came Wonder what we'd change Wonder what we'd gain" From "Make Your Mark" by Sabrina Pike By Arley Sanchez JOURNAL STAFF WRITER LOS LUNAS Sabrina Pike, Valencia County deputy sheriff and rodeo champ, wrote those words eight months after she nearly died in a December 1991 head-on collision with a wrong-way driver. "I've always been able to sit down and write my feelings, but I couldn't write after my wreck," Pike said in an interview this week. for her music.

"I've been writing poetry all my life," she said. Pike, who has won 16 world and national rodeo championship titles, bought her first guitar from Tim Coryell in 1980 when she was a college student in Oklahoma. Last summer, Coryell sent her an airplane ticket to go to Michigan to begin working on an album with Nebula, a Vandor International Records group. One of the songs on the album was inspired by a meeting with Reba McEntire, whom Pike met in 1983 when the country star was playing at the New Mexico State Fair. Pike's friend, a hostess at the rodeo, asked her if she wanted to meet McEntire.

Pike declined because she didn't want to meet her in a "groupie kind of a way." Ironically, when McEntire was introduced to Pike's mother, the singer asked if she was related to Sabrina Pike. It turned out that McEntire, who is from Oklahoma, followed Pike's exploits when she was a college rodeo champ there. "I went in and met her and my head was really huge for a long time because Reba McEntire asked to meet me," Pike said. Her song "Cowgirl to Cowgirl" on the Sabrina album was inspired by that meeting. ih "The song's about sticking to your goals and ideals, no matter what, a be-true-to-yourself kind of song.

It means a lot to me," she said, sitting in the drab confines of the detectives' room at the sheriffs office. On May 1, 10,000 copies of a test market recording called "Sabrina" will be released in 18 countries. Pike recently was signed to a recording and music publishing contract by Aavonica Licensing Ltd. of Beverly Hills, Calif. If the test market release does well, it could mean a follow-up album that could launch her into the recording industry, she said.

On Dec. 29, 1991, the 32-year-old deputy was on duty when her southbound patrol car collided head-on on NM 314 just north of Los Lunas with a northbound car in the wrong lane driven by an Albuquerque man. The man died instantly. Pike underwent months of reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation at an Albuquerque hospital and returned to active status with the sheriff's department in February! Rail thin and just as tough, Pike shows no obvious signs of the physical or emotional trauma of the accident She jokes easily with a fellow officer and seems a little embarrassed about talking about herself. But her voice takes on an excited animation when she talks about Stabbing Leads To Teen's Arrest LOS LUN AS A 17-year-old Albuquerque boy was treated and released Monday at an COURTS COPS Albuquerque hospital after being stabbed during a fight in Los Lunas, Detective Nephey Valdez said.

Police arrested a 14-year-old Los Lunas boy and booked him at the Valencia County Juvenile Detention Center on suspicion of aggravated batterv with a deadlv weapon, Valdez said. 0 1 1 "I had been hurt so badly, a part of me had been sealed up," Pike said. "They told roe I'd never work again, never wear boots, never ride a horse. They gave me all these nevers, but I'm so stubborn, I didn't believi it." Pike knew she couldn't go bf.ck in time, couldn't change anything. Bit she knew she culd still tiake her mark if Valdez did not release the names of the juveniles.

He said the incident occurred at about 10:30 p.m. Monday at a Los Lunas residence in a subdivision north of the high school. Valdez said the fight was sparked by a dispute over a girl. Police recovered the weapon used in the attack, he said. Pike she never gave up..