Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 39

NEW MEXICO Saturday, February 19, 1994 Albuquerque Journal Page 3, Section i Digest FROM JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Tribe Seeks Return Of Unique Container By Scott Sandlin JOURNAL STAFF WRITER er to Los Alamos National Laboratory. Ridlon says in an answer and counterclaim filed Jan. 21 that the pueblo has no right to the object. Ridlon was hiking with a friend in the summer of 1978 in an area strewn with boulders and cave-like openings when he came to a natural depression or small cave, he says in the court documents. When he looked inside, he found the object now commonly called the "White Rock double sealed pot." The cave is on county land, he says.

The pots were placed there hundreds of years ago and should be legally classified as abandoned property to which he acquired legal ownership when he removed them from the cave, Ridlon says. "As finder of abandoned property, Ridlon has an absolute right of possession to the sealed pot," the counterclaim says. Scientists have estimated the pot is about 500 years old. Rae Ridlon, Daniel Ridlon's father and legal guardian, received a request from Los Alamos National Laboratory to use the pot in scientific tests, the counterclaim says. The pot was placed on loan at the lab in 1979, but sometime between then and 1985 the counterclaim says the lab "unilaterally determined that the pots may not belong to Ridlon and requested an opinion as to the rightful owner from the New Mexico State Historic Preservation Officer, Thomas Merlan." According to the court documents, Merlan said the state Cultural Properties Act didn't apply to the find it was a question of private vs.

county ownership. Further legal opinions failed to clear up the ownership question, and the lab kept the pot. Ridlon contends Los Alamos County and the lab have wrongly denied him the lawful use and possession of the pot, and that he has been damaged as a result. Among other things, he asks the court to find that the federal graves act "affects only the relationship between federally funded museums and Indian tribes, not the Fifth Amendment rights of private citizens." Ridlon also asks the court to find that he is entitled to immediate possession of the pot and legal fees spent trying to get it back, and that Los Alamos County and the lab have wrongly taken his property and owe him damages. Ridlon contends that giving the pueblo the pot would deny his constitutionally protected property rights without his receiving any compensation.

No date has been set to hear the case, a spokesman for U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez said Friday. A man who found a unique ancient pot in White Rock Canyon as a boy says he is its true owner not the pueblo that also is claiming it. In documents filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque, Daniel Ridlon continues a five-year legal battle to get back a double pot sealed with limestone mortar he removed from White Rock Canyon in 1978.

San Ildefonso Pueblo filed a claim in federal court in December seeking the pot under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The pueblo says it is entitled to the pot because of the pot's religious significance and because it was taken from the pueblo's ancestral lands. But Ridlon has been fighting in state court since 1989 to get back the pot he loaned more than a decade earli Waiting Around Suit Challenge Vigil-Giron Filing 9 1 i Questions Raised About Signatures By John Robertson JOURNAL POLITICS WRITER The treasurer of Secretary of State Stephanie Gonzales' re-election campaign filed suit Friday to challenge the nominating petitions submitted by one of Gonzales' Democratic challengers former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron. The lawsuit, filed in Santa Fe District Court by Susan Miera, alleges that many of the voter signatures on nominating petitions Vigil-Giron submitted to the Secretary of State's Office on Feb. 8 are invalid.

The suit contends Vigil-Giron is 501 signatures short of the 3,625 she needs to participate in the Democrats' March 6 pre-primary nominating convention. The convention will rank candidates for the June 7 primary election ballot according to the preference of convention delegates. Vigil-Giron could decide to skip the convention, gather additional nominating signatures and win designation on the ballot by filing the larger number of signatures on March 1. "I'm going to make it on the ballot one way or another," Vigil-Giron said Friday. The lawsuit challenging Vigil- Giron's already submitted petitions was filed in the name of Miera a school teacher and private citizen and not by the Secretary of State's office.

Miera is represented by Santa Fe attorneys Morton Simon and Jane Bloom Yohalem. Meanwhile, Vigil-Giron charged in a telephone interview Friday night that, "I know they were using the resources of the (secretary of state's) office to prepare their challenge She (Gonzales) is seriously worried about me being a challenger." The allegation that the Secretary of State Office's resources were used to prepare the lawsuit was denied by state ethics law administrator David Harrell, who is an office employee. "I have no hesitation in asserting that this was not done," Harrell said. Gonzales and Miera were not immediately available for comment Friday evening. Earlier this week, Gonzales' office ruled that Sandoval County Clerk Sally Padilla, another Democratic candidate for secretary of state, did not have sufficient nominating petitions to participate in the pre-primary convention.

Padilla said she would seek additional nominating signatures and file on March 1 for direct placement on the primary election ballot. Gonzales, Padilla and Vigil-Giron are the only candidates so far to have declared their candidacies for secretary of state. 7 it X-A Buyer Finds Marijuana Stashed In Car Bought at County Sale PEMING A man got more than he bargained for when he bought a used car at a Luna County auction. He found 14 pounds of marijuana in the car's spare tire. Don Lipscomb turned the marijuana over to the Luna County Sheriffs Department, which valued the drug at about $11,000.

The county auctioned off the car after it was declared abandoned, said Don Daniels, a narcotics investigator for the department. He said the car originally was seized by the U.S. Border Patrol when two bricks of marijuana were found under the spare tire cover at a border check point between Deming and Hatch. The driver of the car and a passenger were convicted and deported to Mexico, Daniels said. The car remained in storage at the sheriffs department.

He said the vehicle was checked at least once by a drug-sniffing dog, but no further search was made because the dog reacted only at the spare tire compartment where the original marijuana was found. "These things happen occasionally," Daniels said. Sheriff Jim Clay said Lipscomb discovered the marijuana when he checked the spare tire and found it wasn't seated properly on the rim. Lipscomb is a member of the Mounted Patrol, a volunteer law enforcement group. Environmental Group Accepts Registration for April Meeting Registration is being accepted for the New Mexico Conference on the Environment, trade show and exhibition planned April 24-26 at the Albuquerque Convention Center.

The event is sponsored by the state Environment Department. Ted Turner, chairman of the board and president of Turner Broadcasting System will be the keynote speaker at an evening banquet April 25. Conference sessions and workshops will focus on economic considerations in environmental issues, particularly the economics of prevention vs. cleanup. The environmental and health effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which took effect Jan.

1, also will be discussed. The advance registration fee is $90, and that will increase to $125 after April 10. The fee for the banquet only is $35. Student fees are $70 with the banquet and $45 without. Payment may be sent to the New Mexico Conference on the Environment, P.O.

Box 3295, Albuquerque, N.M., 87190. Questions may be directed to 256-7120. Sentencing Delayed of Woman Who Fled With Grandson LOVINGTON A woman convicted of custodial interference for taking her grandson and disappearing for more than a year will be sentenced after a 60-day diagnostic evaluation. State District Judge Fred Watson on Friday ordered Patricia Farmer, 51, to undergo the evaluation at the women's prison in Grants. Farmer, from Monument, could face up to 18 months in prison for the fourth-degree felony She was convicted earlier this month.

The woman and her grandson Jerad Lee Peters, who was 3 at the time, disappeared Dec. 11, 1990. Authorities tracked the two to Gulf Shores, where they had stayed with other relatives for about eight months. Authorities said the two disappeared again anJ were missing until Aug. 19, 1992, when a woman in Salt Lake City saw the child on television and called police.

The story of the child's disappearance had been broadcast on two television shows. Jerad and his mother, Ladonna Chew, were reunited three days later, according to court records. Former Firefighter Charged In Burning of TliTee Buildings TULAROSA A former volunteer firefighter has been charged with arson in connection with the burning of three abandoned dwellings here, authorities said. Scott Hinds of Tularosa was arraigned Thursday on two counts of arson exceeding $1,000 and one count of arson between $100 and $1,000, Otero County Magistrate Henry Prelo said. Bail was set at $25,000.

The 20-year-old Hinds had been a model firefighter and had been promoted for outstanding performance with the department, Police Chief Reynaldo Guile? said. Ground Crews, Planes Fight Blaze in Lincoln Comity One volunteer firefighter was injured slightly and some homes were saved as a fire of more than 1,500 acres burned Friday on private land between the Lincoln County communities of Tinnie and Hondo, officials said. The fire was about 60 percent contained, and firefighters were expected to battle the blaze all night, said Barbara Luna, district forester with the state Forestry Division. "One volunteer firefighter had a minor injury but he's OK now," Luna said. "Some homes were threatened.

If it weren't for the efforts of the firefighters, they wouldn't have been saved." Two air tankers and about 100 firefighters from the Mescalero Apache reservation and neighboring volunteer fire units battled the blaze, which was spread by winds of more than 35 mph. Luna said the fire, which firefighters called the 1 I 1 4 i-. I THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LEGlSBATURE I 4' HL: i I i -1 Thursday, Feb. 17 Passed by the House: HB071 Income tax exemption, Indians. 47-6.

HB1059 Underground storage tank fund oversight committee. 44-15. SB067 Employment definition. 61-0. SB124 Coal surtax exemption.

61-0. SB372 General appropriations. 47-1 3. SB664 Foreign tax judgments. 54-0.

SB675 Amend medical support act. 61 -0. SB900 Penalties for death of a human. 57- 0. SB002 Gross receipts tax deductions for nonprofits.

5B-0. SB988 Special registration plates. 54-0. SB138 School transportation task force. 56-0.

SB967 Victims of crime act. 66-0. SB086 Motor pool act. 60-1 -SB126 Medical and geriatric parole. 29-28.

SJR11 Game Commission Land. 58-0. Passed by the Senate: HB195 Deadly weapon on school premls- es. 24-8. HB203 NTTC application fee repeal.

31 -0. HB732 Health contracts provisions. 30-0. HB736 Youth Cadet Corps act. 31 -0.

HB847 DWI process, standards and plan. 30-0. HB1046 Property tax rebate. 23-3. HB470 County officials salaries.

31-1. HB680 General obligation bond projects. 39-1. HB019 Severance tax bond and general fund protects. 40-0.

SB126 Medical and geriatric parole. 29-5. SB998 Private investigators and weapons. 24-5. SB849 Visitation program.

38-0. MARK HOLMJOURNAL RIsa Ott, who plays third base for the University of New Mexico softball team, huddles against the wind that whipped through Albuquerque Friday. Ott was waiting at the softball diamond to see whether practice would be held. Governor Eases Election Rule for New Judges NEfMEXICO A JHIL Those petitions are due March 15. It wouldn't be fair to expect a judge appointed shortly before the nominating petition deadline to be faced with collecting the signatures, said King's press secretary, John McKean.

The constitution provides that the governor appoints judges to fill vacancies. The appointees then must be elected in a parti Track Fire, burned in grass and timber north of U.S. 70. She said the fire burned on land near the Lmcoln National Forest. mm new appointee wouldn't face any opposition from within his own party, unless someone in his party decided to run against him in November as an independent.

Judges appointed after Jan. 1 would run in the Nov. 8 general election. The appropriate central committee of the opposing political party may put a candidate on the ballot; other candidates would have to run as independents. King has appointed one judge since Jan.

Metropolitan Court Judge William Lang was appointed to a new judgeship in the 2nd Judicial District. King also must appoint a new judge in Otero and Lincoln counties and will name someone to replace Court of Appeals Judge Ben Chavez, who is leaving the bench to run for Congress. Under the law, a selection committee of lawyers and other citizens nominates a list of candidates from which King makes the appointment. Appointments after Jan. 1 Exempt State Jurists From Primary Race THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SANTA FE State judges appointed after Jan.

1 won't have to run in the primary election, Gov. Bruce King said Friday. King issued an amended election proclamation that specifies what judicial races are on the June 7 primary election ballot. Judges appointed after the 1992 general election but before the end of 1993 must run in the primary election. A spokesman for King said the governor established the Jan.

1 cutoff date because judges appointed after that might not have enough time to collect the required number of signatures on nominating petitions. The fire began shortly after 10 a.m. Friday. A wind-driven fire also burned Friday about four ELECTIONS miles southeast of Roswell in the Pecos River bosque, Luna said. Firefighters hadn't determined how many acres burned.

The fire began as a controlled burn Thursday, "and san election; after that, they face only retention elections a "yes" or "no" from voters. King decided the Jan. 1 date; it's not fixed in law. "We're hoping here we've created a custom that future governors will follow," McKean said. Not having to run in the primary election means the the wind got it going again," said Sharon Jackson, Chaves County fire and safety administrative.