Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 37

NEW MEXICO Saturday, March 24, 1990 Albuquerque Journal Page 3, Section Digest Under State Surgery goes By Tamar Stieber COMPILED FROM JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS Coll Hospitalized SANTA FE State Rep. Max Coll, chairman of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, was reported in stable condition Friday after suffering a heart attack, his wife said. Coll was undergoing tests Fri- Streeper said this time the situation is much more serious because a piece of the blood clot broke loose and traveled to Reynolds' lungs. Doctors removed the clot, he said, and put in a sieve to prevent others from traveling to the lungs. Dr.

Roger Smithpeter, the cardiovascular surgeon who operated on Reynolds, wouldn't give details about his patient's condition Friday except to say Reynolds "has a very serious illness requiring major surgery and he's doing well." Smithpeter noted the blood clot was one of many medical complications Reynolds was undergoing, though he declined to elaborate. 1 Smithpeter also described Reynolds' condition as "far too complex to predict" when he'll leave the hospital. Streeper, however, said he thought Reynolds might be able to leave in a week to 10 days. Richard Simms, who began working in the state Engineer's Office in 1971 and was Reynolds' general counsel from 1976-82, said Reynolds' current medical problems stem from several years ago when the state engineer broke his ankle. At that time, Simms said, "I went to the hospital and he was less concerned about his, ankle than having materials brought to him so he could continue to work as if nothing had happened.

I suspect that's how he'll be when he gets over the immediately severe trauma he's going through." Simms is now a partner in the law firm of Simms and Stein, which practices water law exclusively. Reynolds, co-founder and past president of the New Mexico Society of Professional Engineers, has been honored by that organization for his lifetime service to the engineering profession. He also has received awards by the National Water Resources Association, the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Reclamation, New Mexico State University and the New Mexico Distinguished Public Service Awards Council. OF THE JOURNAL'S NORTHERN BUREAU SANTA FE Steve Reynolds, New Mexico's state engineer for the past 35 years and the state's acknowledged water czar, was in serious but stable condition Friday at St.

Vincent Hospital's intensive care unit after undergoing surgery for a blocked femoral artery. Reynolds, 73, will undergo another operation today when doctors will try to save the lower part of his left leg, said Reynolds family physician, Dr. Richard Streeper, a Santa Fe internist and cardiologist. "It (amputation) would be a very remote possibility because they think they removed the clog from enough of the artery and the branches that they believe they have a possibility of saving the leg," said Streeper. Streeper explained that Reynolds' condition is a flare-up from nine years ago when Reynolds, a diabetic, had surgery for similar problems.

But fi Vincent JLS 1 Hosnital. riHif ft is "Max is doing really good," said Sally A a Steve Reynolds "Doing very well" uujuuu mmiiwi iumw.fJf Jlllrl ft It" i It- I HI -xi Hi 0 an 4 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS New television station KZIA-TV president Robert Munoz says Las Cruces is "long overdue" for local news. TV Station To Have Cruces Viewpoint Mexico, U.S. Study Crossings By Bill Diven OF THE JOURNAL'S LAS CRUCES BUREAU TUCSON Mexico and the United States formally agreed Friday to begin the technical studies needed to open two proposed border crossings in Dona Ana County. The crossings would speed industrialization and manufacturing growth on both sides of the border.

"It's a big push," said Ambassador Luis Wybo Alfaro, director general of the border section of Mexico's Foreign Ministry. "It's the first formality to address the issue bina-tionally in full agreement. "We have agreed to proceed immediately to take consideration of the projects as presented." However, Wybo and Richard Howard, director of the U.S. State Department Office of Mexican Affairs, cautioned that numerous agencies within both governments must join in analyzing the crossings proposed for Anapra and Santa Teresa. Neither man would commit to a schedule for completing the studies on environmental impacts, transportation needs and other issues.

Project sponsors in both countries will provide the information with New Mexico's congressional delegation coordinating the process on the U.S. side, they said. Wybo and Howard are co-chairmen of the Binational Working Group on Ports and Bridges. The group ended three days of closed meetings here Friday shortly after hearing presentations on the crossings from representatives of New Mexico Gov. Garrey Carruthers and Chihuahua Gov.

Fernando Baeza Melendez. "Everybody seems interested and seems to be in a positive mood to make it work," said Delia Marquez, Carruthers' interpreter and translator. "Both the chairman and the ambassador were impressed by the enthusiasm of both states." Ricardo Wisbrun Saenz, Baeza's director of economic development, said his state's work supporting the projects should be ready within a month. "We feel that we will have approval very shortly because both of our governments are working for it," he said. Baeza has said the Anapra crossing will open before Carruthers leaves office at the end of the year, Wisbrun added.

If the crossings are approved, it will end at least 55 years of effort to open a port between Chihuahua and Dona Ana County. New Mexico's other border counties, Luna and Hidalgo, have border crossings. The proposed Anapra port of entry is within the city of Sunland Park two miles west of the point on the Rio Grande where Chihuahua, Texas and New Mexico meet. Santa Teresa is seven miles farther west and is a private development led by Santa Teresa businessman Charlie CoM his wife. "We basically expect a full recovery." Coll, 58, a Democrat who now represents parts of Santa Fe County, first was elected to the House in 1966 as a representative from Chaves County.

He was elected as a representative from Santa Fe County in 1980. Coll is recognized for his expertise and knowledge of the state budget and, in addi-tion to chairing the Appropriations and Finance Committee, chairs the Legislative Finance Committee a joint House-Senate panel. Coll was repairing a tractor Thursday at his house when he felt chest pains, Rodgers said. The couple went immediately to the emergency room, a reaction Coil's doctor said "aborted a major heart attack," Rodgers said. Challenge Appealed SANTA FE A District Court decision to dismiss state Sen.

Tom Benavides' challenge of his opponent in the Democratic primary election for U.S. Senate was appealed Friday to the state Supreme Court. District Judge Art Encinias of Santa Fe Thursday dismissed Benavides complaint that John Eder of Albuquerque lacked sufficient valid signatures on his nominating petitions to qualify as a primary candidate for U.S. senator. Encinias said in his order the complaint failed to comply with a state Supreme Court rule pertaining to challenges of nominating petitions.

The rule requires a complaint specify each signature challenged and state the specific ground on which it is challenged. Benavides challenged 418 signatures on Eder's petitions on the basis the signers either were not registered voters or were not registered as members of the Democratic Party. Lorenzo F. Garcia of Santa Fe, Eder's attorney, argued Thursday that state law and the Supreme Court rule required specific grounds for the challenge, that those signers who were not registered voters be identified separately from the signers who were not registered as Democrats. Librarian Named SANTA FE Karen Wat-kins has been appointed state librarian by Gov.

Garrey Car-ruthers. Watkins was one of five finalists interviewed by the State Library Commission last week, said Helmuth Naumer, head of the Office of Cultural Affairs, the parent agency of the library. Watkins has been acting librarian since the resignation of Virginia Hendley in October 1989 and had been library administrator since 1983. She is a native of Albuquerque and graduate of St. John's College in Santa Fe.

Program Expanded WASHINGTON -The New Mexico Organ Donor Program, which was threatened with closure April 1, will remain open for all New Mexicans. Under current U.S. law, federally supported organ donor programs that don't cover an entire state or account for at least 50 donors a year would be merged with other, larger programs or lose their federal funds. New Mexico's program averages 40 donors a year. But the Health Care Financing Administration decided to add Eddy and Lea counties to the region served by the Albuquerque donor center as a result of intervention by Sen.

Pete Domenicij to NMSU sports events. The rights are now held by an El Paso station. "We're after those games and we've already been talking to New Mexico State. We fully expect to be the Aggie station," he said. The 5-million-watt broadcast will generate from a 500-foot antenna about 20 miles south of Las Cruces and is expected to reach into east El Paso and a portion of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

"Ultimately, my goals are to also extend via translators throughout southern New Mexico," he said. Munoz said he was general manager for KCIK-TV, Channel 14 in El Paso from 1983 to 1988. "Our intention is to present something distinctly unique about Las Cruces and New Mexico because all the media is now coming out of El Paso," he said. The three network affiliates in El Paso now serve Las Cruces. KZIA-TV will air a half-hour national and local news program to compete with the local coverage provided by El Paso stations, he said.

"And I don't think you're going to see much difference between us and the networks as far as our on-air look is concerned," he added. The station is expected to employ about 25 people. New Mexico By Karl F. Moffatt OF THE JOURNAL'S LAS CRUCES BUREAU LAS CRUCES A new television station is expected to begin broadcasting from Las Cruces in May, bringing local news, sports and entertainment to the Mesilla Valley. "It's long overdue," said Robert Munoz, president of KZIA-TV, Channel 48.

"What this community needs is a local news outlet." The station is scheduled to begin broadcasting May 9, and indications are that the broadcast also will be available to subscribers of local cable television, he said. State University's journalism department, which has its own public TV station, is expected to supply some of the talent needed for KZIA's operations. "That's fully our intention, to use the university as a resource for personnel," Munoz said. Cruces' former private TV station, KASK-TV, went off the air in October 1987. Munoz is taking over that broadcast frequency.

"It had been for sale for a couple of year and I've been working for 25 years for this opportunity to own and operate my own station," he said. A it ajor goal for the station will be to acquire the broadcast rights N.M. Tech Tuition Increase Likely By Chuck McCutcheon JOURNAL STAFF WRITER "We're slipping further and further beyond our peer institutions in terms of salaries." Laurence Lattman, institute president the funding formula for Tech, Lattman said he does not plan faculty or staff cutbacks. But he said he likely would have to leave "one or two" open positions unfilled in the future. Over the last eight years, Tech has lost 300 students because the sagging state of mining and petroleum have scared many high school students away from entering those fields.

Tech, like other state schools, is funded from a formula based on its number of students. With less funding because of fewer students, there also has been less money to pay faculty salaries, school officials have said. Following the adjournment of the special legislative session earlier this week, a Commission on Higher Education Official said he hopes many employees at New Mexico colleges will get a 7-percent increase by schools using other revenue sources. Jim Wiegmann, the University of New Mexico's budget director, said Friday he is not yet sure what UNM will do with the salary issue or tuition rates. Disappointed by the Legislature's approval of a 2.8-percent faculty salary increase this week, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology President Laurence Lattman said a tuition hike at his school is likely.

"We will be forced to raise tuition to give the faculty any kind of a reasonable raise," Lattman said Friday. "We're slipping further and further beyond our peer institutions in terms of salaries." The state Commission on Higher Education had proposed a 7-percent salary increase to the Legislature in January. Lattman said New Mexico Tech needed a 15-percent increase just to keep pace with other comparable schools. "We are a quality school, and it'll be very difficult to maintain quality standards with the funding we received," he said. Although Lattman would not say how much of a hike he would recommend next month to the Board of Regents, he said it would not be larger than last year's 10-percent increase.

Currently Tech's tuition ranges from $884 a year for in-state undergraduates to $4,338 a year for out-of-state graduate students. As for the Socorro school's staff members, Lattman said he will try to make adjustments so employees at lower salary levels get more than a 2.8-percent raise. Because the Legislature did adopt a revision in Crowder. A planned industrial and residential development straddling the border there would include a public crossing leading to a major highway southwest of Juarez. Tribal Council Rejects Budget; Lack of Debate Protested THE ASSOCIATED PRESS responded Haskie, adding that delegates shouldn't listen to innuendo.

Tribal employees told delegates they were asked by Haskie aides to contribute $100 a paycheck to Haskie's campaign. Tso said he wished Haskie had listened when he recommended giving the delegates time to study the budget and beginning the session instead with the election code and other issues. Budget and Finance Director Bobby White said disbursffnents would contini until the new budget is adopted. then voted to recess until Wednesday when more attention could be given to budget requests. Council delegates became concerned last week, following Haskie's announcement that he will run for the new position of tribal president.

Yazzie told Haskie he should take the next six days to "ponder the question as to whether you should remain as interim chairman while you are campaigning for president." "I thought you put your trust in me," requesting is a chance to talk." "We want to be heard. It's not right," said Councilman Duane Yazzie of Shiprock, N.M. "We have the largest chapter," added Shiprock Councilman Donald Benally. Tso and Yazzie made the motion in February 1989 that placed Chairman Peter Mac-Donald on administrative leave and put Haskie in office. Benally had been a supporter of MacDonald but later joined efforts by Tso and Yazzie.

The council rejected the new butget 43-39, WINDOW ROCK The, Navajo Tribal Council rejected the 1991 budget Thursday following protests that interim Chairman Leonard Haskie denied delegates a chance to debate the issue. Councilman Daniel Tso of Torreon, N.M., yelled at Haskie after he failed to recognize his raised hand throughout the third day of the debate. "If it's defeated, we start the whole process 'all over again," Tso said. "Wlt we're.