Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 10

AlO ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL Friday, May 19, 1995 Scientists 'Wake Up'; An Ancient Bacteria! City Goes After Taggers Parents Ceremony Honors Officer Slain in '88 CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 THE ASSOCIATEO PRESS 'V i mm 1 WASHINGTON When ar) ancient stingless bee died aftej V-fTll A hi phone interview. "If my son did that, was caught, taken to court, then I could understand what you're telling me," said Katherine Scaggs, who was informed by the Journal of the lawsuit. "Where do you get off putting my name on a lawsuit, or my son, at this point? I think that's wrong." Assistant District Attorney Garry Breeswine said any charges against Scaggs would be handled through juvenile court because he was a juvenile when the incidents occurred. The lawsuit seeks damages from each individual, based on how many times authorities allegedly found their individual "tag" names, or the name they use on graffiti. The five men were also accused as a group of defacing property at locations listed on seven pages of the lawsuit.

Damage was estimated at $49,000. If the city wins its suit, it plans on collecting the full amount, even if it has to garnish future paychecks of the young men, Chavez said. "At some point, they're going to receive a job, and we'll get the money," he said. CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 you will be arrested and you will be prosecuted," the mayor said. "And if you allow your child to do so, you will be sued also." The suit targets the group "T.A.D.," or "True and Damage," which has left its mark on locations across the city.

"This tagger group, from my understanding, has done the most damage to the city," said Assistant City Attorney Mark Drebing, who added the city will be filing more such graffiti-related lawsuits. Damages must exceed $5,000 before a civil suit may be filed in District Court. The city has already filed graffiti-related lawsuits seeking lesser damages in Metro Court. Defendants named in the suit filed Thursday include Fernando Carlos Torres, 18, and parents or guardians Robert and Jackie Torres; Robert Paul Romero 18, and parent or guardian Robert P. Romero Joshua Montoya, 19; Gabriel Gallegos, 18, and parents or guardians Robert and Anna Trujillo; and Jeffery Scaggs 18, and parents Katherine and Jeffery Scaggs Sr.

oecoming trapped in tree sap, Dao-teria in its gut turned into a sporej. Now, in an experiment reminiscent of "Jurassic Park," scientists have awakened the bacteria from a 25-millioh-year sleep. Not only is the prehistoric microbe alive and well, it is producing a natural antibiotic that is being studied to determine if it has any medical value, Raul J. Cano of California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, said Thursday. Cano said the bacteria spore was found in the remains of a bee that had been entombed in amber, a hardened resin from ancient pine trees.

When the bee died, he jsaid, the bacteria apparently turned into a spore and remained trapped until it was uncovered in the laboratory. "Some bacteria make spores as a means of survival," Cano said. "These spores are very resistant to chemicals, heat and to pressure. They enable a bacteria to withstand long periods of dormancy." JEFF ALEXANDER JOURNAL Mayor Martin Chavez, right, announces the city's lawsuit seeking more than $150,000 in damages stemming from graffiti. From left are Assistant City Attorney Mark Drebing and Assistant District Attorney Garry Breeswine.

indictment, and they questioned why their family is named in the city's civil lawsuit. "If they're going to incriminate my son with any involvement of these graffiti charges, they had better be sure that he is responsible for it," Jeffery Scaggs Sr. said in a tele Four of the defendants were indicted last week on criminal charges of felony "unauthorized graffiti" on personal or real property. Felony graffiti means causing more than $1,000 in damage, and charges are filed in state District Court. The parents of Jeffery Scaggs Jr.

said their son wasn't named in the 3 "NOMHN'S LAND" Gallery Grand Opening May 20th 21st, 9:00 am to 6:00 p.m. Proprietor: Norman B. Pritchett-Artist Craftsman Hand Sculptured Glass Table Tops, Windows, Mirrors, Doors, Woods hand milled and sanded for each sculpted glass piece. Canes, Staffs, Totem Poles Hand fashioned and finished by "The Stickman" Bob. Antiques, New Mexico Texas Artists, collectible Oddities Located: Guadalupe Mesa Trading Post, Highway 4 (mile 11).

Open: Wednesday through Sunday, 10:00 am to 6:00 p.m. Private view contact Norman or Georgia Pritchett, (505) 829-3056. Noman, PO Box 68, Jemez Springs, NM 87025 Academy in Santa Fe. And for the first time since the state Attorney General's Office launched a criminal investigation into the fatal shooting seven years ago, Attorney General Tom Udall acknowledged Sandlin's death was a homicide not a suicide. The case is still unsolved.

Thursday's ceremony showed "his sacrifice hadn't been in vain," said Sandlin's father, retired Albuquerque police Lt. Tom Sandlin. "He's been remembered finally," Tom Sandlin said after the service, smiling as he hugged his 8-year-old grandson Robbie Steve's only child. "It's the start of our family recovery." With members of New Mexico's law enforcement community standing by, Steve Sandlin and Bernalillo County Sheriff's Lt. William Sibra-va were honored for their service to their community and their "ultimate sacrifice." Sibrava was killed last May in Albuquerque while trying to serve a court order for a mental evaluation on the son of former state legislator Joe Mercer.

Mercer's son, Stephen Mercer, gunned down his father and Sibrava before being fatally shot by other sheriff's deputies. Investigators have speculated that Steve Sandlin, 21, was killed with his own gun in connection with his seizure weeks earlier of 50 pounds of marijuana from an area resident he had arrested. The confiscated marijuana, locked inside the Torrance County Sheriff's Office in nearby Estancia, turned up missing after Sandlin's death and the drug charges were dismissed. In a speech during the memorial service, Udall didn't specifically say Sandlin's death was a homicide, but in a later interview he said Sandlin's name on the memorial signifies the officer was "slain in the line of duty" and not by his own hand. In 1989, Sandlin's name was placed on the national memorial for slain police officers in Washington, D.C.

But New Mexico's law enforcement officials wouldn't add his name to New Mexico's memorial because the Office of the Medical Investigator couldn't determine the manner of Sandlin's death. Though Udall's ongoing criminal investigation has focused on a group of suspects, no one has been charged. Tom Sandlin said he's tried for years to get his son's name on the memorial. Last year, with the support of the state Fraternal Order of police, he wrote a letter asking for reconsideration. Darrel Hart, director of the academy, said Tom Sandlin's request caused the Law Enforcement Academy Board to change its rules to allow review and approval of "questionable deaths." "He (Steve) would have loved it, he pomp and circumstance, the uniforms," said his mother, Eileen Sandlin Martin, after the memorial service.

I But Martin said she still felt slighted because neither she nor Tom Sandlin received an invitation to Thursday's service. I Martin, who is divorced from Tom Vornadcf fans to cool you Jff SIDEWALK SALE FRI. SAT. MAY 19TH 20TH Savory Fare R. Downs Co.

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"They were honoring just two officers this year, and they couldn't ven send us an invitation?" Eileen Martin said. Hart said his office didn't know the whereabouts of Martin or Tom Sandlin, who lives in Albuquerque. "If they don't update with us, there's so many people (invited), there's no way we could call and verify addresses every year," Hart said. After Eileen Martin wrote to complain, Hart responded in an April 25 letter, apologizing "for what seems like a bureaucratic nightmare in the face of a very real family tragedy." ZTV s. N.

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