Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 26

D2 ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL Tuesday, October 17, 1989 estgate Housing Project Sent Back to Planners By Michael Ilartranft JOURNAL STAFF WRITER landscaping, but doesn't define what that means. Lynda Moore, of ACORN, said she was concerned about, children's safety with sidewalks next to narrower streets. Councilor Nadyne Bicknell, opposing Baca's motion to grant the appeal, argued that the city vitally needs to provide affordable housing. She said she felt the variances were relatively minor deviations of standard subdivision policies and that there was "more room for discussion" on items of concern to residents. "I don't think we should discourage innovative thinking," she said.

way by allowing sidewalks to be built directly behind the curb. Representatives from the Westgate Heights Neighborhood Association and Westgate ACORN spoke out against special-use zoning approved by the planning board. They argued the 66-acre site should remain R-l, single-family residential, as called for in sector plans for the area. Fred Sanchez, of the association, maintained there was no justification for the zone change and that the site plan "leaves a lot to be desired." He said the plan calls for building a 317-lot subdivision near the future intersection of Unser and Arenal SW containing two- to four-bedroom homes at prices -affordable to more people. Most buyers are expected to have an annual income of about $25,000.

Proponents of the program claim that zoning allowances to cut development costs will help keep prices in the affordable range $55,000 to $75,000, possibly lower. The plan adopted by the planning commission provided allowances for smaller lots sizes, front setbacks smaller by five feet and a reduction of usual street right of ing and site plan approval. The motion to remand the proposal was made by Vincent Griego. It asks for commission consideration within 45 days to minimize costs of delay to the developer. Before that action, the council defeated, 5-4, a motion by Pat Baca to grant the appeal.

Baca called Westgate Heights a fragile area and said he felt the city's affordable housing effort was too greatly concentrated there. Working with the city administration and the Affordable Housing Foundation of Central New Mexico, Presley proposes The Albuquerque City Council sent a proposal for an affordable housing pilot project near Westgate Heights back to the planning commission Monday, maintaining the site plan should be more detailed and discussed in greater depth. Councilors expressed hope that in the interim, developer Presley Homes would be able to resolve concerns raised by neighborhood groups that appealed the Environmental Planning Commission's zon JOURNAL STAFF REPORTS IGEST 1 mm utm.L.,i i i Vs. Jl.rl.- I V-fr 7 i vu 1 a 1 '-mm ft few Varela Arraigned on Elk Charges Albuquerque Deputy Fire Chief Eddie Varela was arraigned Monday on one count of tampering with evidence and one count of negligent use of a firearm in connection with the killing of an elk a year ago. Varela appeared before District Court Judge Edmund H.

Kase III in Socorro Monday, said Kent Peterson of the District Attorney's Office in Socorro. The tampering charge is a fourth-degree felony and the firearm charge is a petty misdemeanor. The charges were filed against Varela in March soon after he was acquitted in Magistrate Court in Socorro of illegally killing elk in the Gila National Forest near Reserve Oct. 17, 1988. Varela withdrew from a preliminary plea bargain agreement last month according to which he would plead guilty to four misdemeanor charges in exchange for the state dropping a felony charge.

The agreement was non-binding because it had not been entered before a court. The trial date for the felony and misdemeanor charges was moved from Nov. 13 to Feb. 26 to allow more time for Varela's attorney to file various motions, Peterson said. Group Sponsors WIPP Forum Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping is sponsoring a forum on the Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

The forum Wednesday at 7 p.m. is in the Kiva Auditorium at University of New Mexico. A panel will discuss Environmental Protection Agency standards, gas generation, health effects of radiation, the suitability of the site and how the public can become involved in the issue. Panelists will be Lokesh Charurvedi from the State Environmental Evaluation Group, Al Lap-pin from Sandia National Laboratories, Michael Guerrero from the Southwest Organizing Project, Don Hancock from Southwest Research and Information Center and Bob Aly from Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping. Questions will be accepted from the audience after each panelist gives a 15-minute VT V- If" STEVE SHOUP JOURNAL Car, firetruck collide Fire and ambulance personnel carry off Mary Lynn Baldwin after she was injured in a collision with an Albuquerque Fire Department ladder truck Monday afternoon.

The truck was responding to a fire call about 4:45 p.m. when it hit the Volkswagen at Lead and University SE. Police said the truck was running with lights and sirens. Baldwin, an Albuquerque resident, was cited for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. She was treated and released at University Hospital.

One firefighter sustained minor injuries. Lo Alamos Chosen for Laser Project By Byron Spice JOURNAL SCIENCE WRITER Induction accelerators can produce very high current electron beams of moderate quality, while radio-frequency accelerators produce lower current beams of greater stability and quality. Last spring's decision to reduce the laser's power may have given the radio-frequency accelerator a significant advantage, McGaffigan said. "There was talk that TRW and Livermore were considering pulling out of the bidding," he added. "None of us ever really banked on that," said Sidney Singer, Los Alamos program director for defense laser technology.

Boeing and Los Alamos officials, however, were confident that their approach could meet the Army's requirements. "I think most of us feel pleased at the opportunity to address an important national issue," Singer said of SDI's selection of the BoeingLos Alamos design. "That's what the laboratory is here to do." The Army originally estimated that the laser and laser beam tube might be several miles long. But Singer said the actual dimensions will be more modest the laser system will be less than 700 feet long and the beam tube will be a similar length. Compactness is one Council Kills Contracting Ban The City Council Monday shot down an attempt to bar state and other elected officials from contracting with the city for professional services.

Councilor Richard Chapman, the sponsor of the bill, cast the lone vote for the measure. Chief Administrative Officer Clarence "Porky" Lithgow said the administration strongly opposed the measure because it would be virtually impossible to monitor. He said it would affect school board members and officials on the boards of a host of other government entities such as the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority and water and sanitation districts. Councilor Hess Yntema, who originally supported the concept, said he had changed his mind and opposed the bill because it would do the city more harm than good. With a new administration coming in, he said, there would be a new chance to review the city's contracting procedures.

Prospective Jurors Questioned Eleven prospective jurors for Merrill Chamberlain's second murder trial survived the first round of questioning Monday and will be called back in a few days for the next phase. Meanwhile, state District Judge Frank H. Allen Jr. and attorneys today will continue to individually question more prospective jurors. Allen said late Monday he is hopeful of it is too early to predict whether the House-Senate conference committee will adopt the provision or whether Bush might veto the spending bill because of it.

Ari Fleischer, spokesman for Domenici, maintained that the free-electron laser project will survive even without the provision, though McGaffigan contended, "Life would be pretty tough for this project." The free-electron laser project has been repeatedly delayed since it was announced almost four years ago. In June, Star Wars officials scaled down the project, reducing laser power to an estimated 20 million watts, in hopes of getting work started so experiments could begin in 1992. Col. Ed Pogue, SDI program manager for the free-electron laser, said restrictions of the contract-bidding process make it difficult to say why the Los AlamosBoeing design received the nod. In a free-electron laser, a linear accelerator produces a beam of electrons; the electrons race through a device called wiggler, which has magnets that wiggle the electrons back and forth to produce light.

The Los Alamos Boeing design employs a radio-frequency linear accelerator, while the LivermoreTRW design featured an induction accelerator. Command to demonstrate whether a large, ground-based laser can be used to destroy incoming enemy missiles. The Los AlamosBoeing team competed with a Lawrence Livermore National LaboratoryTRW team for the design contract. But Sen. Jeff Bingaman, cautioned that the Los AlamosBoeing selection may prove a hollow victory.

Defense Secretary Richard Cheney and other Pentagon officials have threatened to cut money for directed energy weapons, such as the free-electron laser, in favor of interceptor rockets called "brilliant pebbles" if the SDI budget is reduced, he said. A reduction in the SDI budget from the $3.7 billion level of fiscal 1989 is likely. Though President Bush asked for $4.9 billion, the House has approved only $2.8 billion for 1990, while the Senate appropriated $4.3 billion. If a House-Senate conference committee simply splits the difference, SDI would receive $3.6 billion. The Senate agreed to mandate that the SDI Organization spend at least $820 million on directed energy weapons in 1990.

The Bush administration staunchly opposes that provision, which is missing from the House version of the defense appropriations bill. Ed McGaffigan, a Bingaman aide, said The team of Los Alamos National Laboratory and Boeing Aerospace Monday won a competition to design, install and operate a large free-electron laser as part of a major Star Wars project at White Sands Missile Range. Details of the five-year, $400 million to $500 million contract remain to be negotiated, but officials in the Defense Department's Strategic Defense Initiative Organization said they expect to award the actual contract by January. Congressional and lab officials said they were pleased by the decision, though funding for the project is uncertain. Sen.

Pete Domenici, said Los Alamos might receive $22 million during the first year of the contract and $53 million spread out over the remaining four years. About 30 new employees would join the 55-member Los Alamos effort, he said, while Boeing plans to employ 250 or more people in the White Sands area. The free-electron laser, which converts the energy of an electron beam into laser light, is to be built near Orogrande. It is part of a $1 billion project by the Army's Strategic Defense Man Who Left Son at Lake Faces Child Abuse Charges completing jury selection in a week. Chamberlain, 50, a former Sandia National Laboratories physicist, is charged with first-degree murder in the Feb.

21, 1987, shooting of police officer John Carrillo and faces a possible death L- A Jtrt, penalty if convicted. Chamberlain Chamberlain was convicted advantage of the radio-frequency accelerator, he added. Probate Pleads Innocent To Cocaine Trafficking BERNALILLO Sandoval County Probate Judge David Lucero pleaded innocent Monday to a charge of trafficking cocaine. He will be tried in District Judge Kenneth Brown's court on the second-degree felony in January. He is free on $10,000 bond.

According to testimony, Lucero sold a $20 packet of cocaine to undercover State Police agents at a Bernalillo park west of Town Hall Aug. 11 during the town's annual fiestas. If convicted of the charge, Lucero, 31, could face nine years in prison. Seven others also arrested in the Sept. 13 predawn drug raid by State Police, Sandoval County and Bernalillo County Sheriff's Departments and federal agents also pleaded innocent to drug, charges Monday in Brown's court.

Other Bernalillo residents who pleaded innocent to cocaine trafficking were Chris Montano, 29, Teresa Bayes, 19, Anthony Garcia, 24, and Archie Manzanares, 20. Antoinette Montoya, 24, and Robert Whitmon, 24, also of Bernalillo, pleaded innocent to distributing methampheta-mines, a fourth-degree felony that carries a possible 18-month sentence. Joe Gonzales, 42, of Bernalillo pleaded innocent to distributing marijuana, another fourth-degree felony. Jolley said Gooding and his son canoed onto the lake to place their trot line. After Samuel was asleep, Gooding took the canoe onto the lake to check the trot line but couldn't find it in the dark.

When he tried to beach the canoe, he capsized near shore and fell into waist deep water. His heavy clothes threatened to pull him under, and when he finally reached shore, Jolley said he was shivering uncontrollably. Jolley said Gooding began to think about his financial situation. "Stewart thought death before dishonor," Jolley said. "He figured if they thought he was dead, the life insurance the bank made him take out would pay off the loan and cover the cattle ranch.

He thought if he disappeared, everyone would be better off." So Gooding laid out food and clothing supplies for Samuel, then hitchhiked toward California. Jolley said Gooding made such a poor decision because he was suffering from the irrational thinking that accompanies hypothermia. Five days later, when he reached Holbrook, Gooding decided his disappearance would hurt his family more than help it, so he returned to Albuquerque and turned himself in to police. Samuel camped in a tent next to the shore in mid-January. He said Gooding put the boy to bed in the tent, "contemplated the state of his life, decided he was no good for his family and took off after faking his drowning." A park ranger found the child wandering near the marina the next morning, frightened and looking for his father.

Defense attorney Val Jolley described Gooding in his opening statement as an avid outdoorsman who taught his stepson to be proficient in cold weather. He said his client had lost $400,000 on his cattle ranch by January and didn't have the money to make his next $100,000 semi-annual payment to the bank. After Samuel received a sleeping bag for his birthday Jan. 6, he asked his stepfather to take him camping, Jolley said. So Gooding took the child to Navajo Lake, where Jolley said they camped near the lake to be close to a good fishing spot.

By Margaret Cheasebro JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT AZTEC An Albuquerque man charged with leaving his 6-year-old stepson alone at Navajo Lake earlier this year went on trial Monday in state District Court here. Stewart Gooding, 33, was portrayed in opening arguments both as a man who left a youngster alone in potential danger and as a man suffering from situational-induced depression and the irrational thinking that accompanies hypothermia. An eight-woman, five-man jury, with one alternate, was selected Monday morning to hear the charge of child abuse, a fourth-degree felony, against Gooding. Judge James Brown is presiding over the trial, which is expected to continue through Wednesday. In opening arguments Monday afternoon, prosecuting attorney Craig Westberg said the temperature was 6 degress Fahrenheit at Navajo Lake with a water temperature of 40 degrees when Gooding and his stepson last November of three charges in the case, but a jury deadlock led to a mistrial on the murder count.

Prospective jurors are being called in one by one and asked their position on the death penalty and about their knowledge of the case. Victim in Hotel Strangled, Beaten Police said Monday a nlan found dead last week in a room of an East Central hotel was strangled and beaten to death. The body of Christopher Brumfield, 25, was found in a room at the Trade Winds Motor Hotel, 5400 Central SE. Residents of the hotel found the body at about 2:30 p.m. Friday, Albuquerque police reported.

The body was found lying next to a bed in one of the rooms, police said. The Office of the Medical Investigator did an autopsy over the weekend. Albuquerque Police Department spokeswoman Mary Molina Mescall said Monday police have no information on a suspect or motive. iumm-i.