Albuquerque Journal du lieu suivant : Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 14

NEW MEXICO Tuesday, February 26, 1985 Albuquerque Journal El 11 Page 2, Section Quick-Thinkiiig Blast Victim Saves Own life, Lej By Nancy Harbert JOURNAL STATE NEWS WRITER "He could have been in much worse condition," Trotter said. Before Trotter arrived, however, a first-aid team with Northwest Pipeline Corp. of Farm-ington removed the tourniquet and packed the wound with gauze. Making the rescue difficult was eight miles of road with mud two-and-one-half-feet deep, Hawkins said. Although four-wheel-drive vehicles could make it to the well, a helicopter from the 1550th Air Combat Crew Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base was unable to land because of the deep mud and unlevel terrain.

"The workmen had started a fire to show us where he was," said Staff Sgt. Rod Alne, a paramedic with the wing. The rescue helicopter hovered about 10 feet above Daniels, while a harness was lowered to lift him out, Alne said. "We put him on an IV when we got there," he said. After working about 45 minutes hoisting the victim into the helicopter, the trip back to Albuquerque took 30 minutes, he said.

Alne, who has been involved in rescue operations for seven years, said Monday's rescue went smooth, thanks to the tricky maneuvering of the pilot to get into the rugged area. Daniels was working under contract with Mobil Oil Corp. out of Farmington. Daniels was checking a compressor with 9,000 pounds of pressure at 10:30 a.m. when a piece of the pipe blew off, catching his lower leg, said State Police Sgt.

Tom Hawkins. Daniels, who was alone at the isolated site about 35 miles northwest of Cuba on the Jiearilla Apache Reservation, used a two-way radio in his truck to contact another vehicle in the area. "He kept radioing until somebody came along," Hawkins said. Daniels' actions not only could have saved his leg, but his life as well, said Bill Trotter, an emergency room technician at Cuba Health Clinic, who was one of the first professional medical personnel on the scene. A Bloomfield man who suffered deep cuts to his right leg when a natural-gas compressor exploded on Monday applied a tourniquet to reduce bleeding, then dragged himself at least 300 feet up a rugged hill to radio for help.

Harry Daniels 39, was in stable condition at University of New Mexico Hospital late Monday where he was reported to have deep cuts and possible broken bones. He went into surgery late Monday afternoon, said hospital spokesman Bob Illady. 1 ys. 1 250,000 Bond Fixed In School Shooting; Suspect Enters No Plea 1 "i iff N.M. Justices Bans Judicial Workers From Elective Office By Linda Drucker OF THE JOURNAL'S NORTHERN BUREAU JT7Y771 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS '-4'.

I rzt I I I I if ') 1 mi GALLUP Magistrate Paris Derizotis set bond at $250,000 Monday for a high-school principal charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Gallup-McKinley County School District Superintendent Paul Hanson. The magistrate scheduled a preliminary hearing for March 6 for Osmond Charle "Chick" Fero, 43. Attorney Frederick Howden of Grants entered no plea for Fero, and Derizotis automatically entered a plea of innocent." District Attorney Robert Ara-gon said the death penalty would not be sought because the case does not meet the criteria under state law for capital punishment. Aragon argued during the hearing that the charge against Fero is a capital felony and cited the extreme amount of publicity the case has received. Howden argued that under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution, a person has the right to bond. Fero, principal at Tohatchi High School since 1983, was arrested Friday after the shooting. Assistant Superintendent Larry Binkley said the shooting oc- JOURNAL PHOTO EUGENE BURTON La Cruces Planner Jim Erickson goes over proposal for the Las Alamedas planned community. Cruces Panel Studies Housing, Mesa's Geothermal Potential Osmond Charle Fero curred after a man went into the superintendent's office for an employment evaluation. Gallup Police Chief Frank Gonzales said the incident occurred at 10:05 a.m., and officers who arrived at the scene about a minute later found Hanson dead.

A bullet from a snub-nosed revolver went into an adjoining board of education conference room, but no one else was hurt, he said. SANTA FE The Supreme Court has adopted new personnel rules that ban employees of the judicial branch from holding elective office. Two court employees who currently hold elective office may have to resign from their elected posts or lose their jobs unless the Supreme Court decides to allow them to finish serving out their terms, Edward J. Baca, director of the administrative office of the courts said Monday. Chief Justice William Federici said the ban on office-holding will apply to all of the court system's employees except elected judges, whose participation in politics is already restricted by a judicial ethics code.

There are 785 judicial employees, including clerks, secretaries, bailiffs, and court reporters throughout the state, Baca said. Under the new rules, any court employee who decides to run for political office must take an unpaid leave of absence. Once he formally becomes a candidate, he must resign from his court job. The ban includes all public offices, partisan or nonpartisan. The employees, however, are not prohibited from engaging in political activity during their off-duty hours.

The rules on political activity, which were was approved by the Court on Feb. 6 as part of an overall revision of the judicial system's personnel regulations, will take effect March 1. Baca identified the two office-holding employees as juvenile probation officer Richard Padilla of Santa Fe, who currently is a member of the Santa Fe school board, and Pete Padilla, also a juvenile probation officer, who is an elected municipal judge in By Joe Smith OF THE JOURNAL'S LAS CRUCES BUREAU Lawsuit Seeks $10 Million Over Closure of Strip Mine ermal development, which was the topic considered by the commission immediately prior to his presentation Monday night. The CH2M Hill group presented to the commission a study of geothermal potentials on the east mesa, in an area slightly south of the proposed Las Alamedas development. Two geothermal wells were drilled one just north of A Mountain east of the city and the other just south of the landmark, and tests found geothermal potentials of about 150 degrees Farenheit.

But the firm said temperatures higher than 200 degrees were needed to generate electricity. However, the report said the geothermal resource could, under optimum circumstances, adequately support certain industries and, possibly, a 105-acre industrial park. City Manager Dana Miller reduced the report to four alternatives: The city could buy an option on the CH2M Hill-leased land and delay development until sometime in the future. The city could develop the resource now through a joint utility bond sale. The city could enter into a private-public partnership, possibly one including the state.

The city could drop the matter entirely and let private enterprise pursue development if some company wished. No decisions were reached in the non-voting work session, and all items were referred to city staff for. study and possible inclusion on future commission agendas. LAS CRUCES Future development was the No. 1 topic for discussion at a City Commission work session Monday night, with a master plan for a planned community east of the city and a report on a study of geothermal usage potentials taking up most of the time.

Jack Pickel, president of Alameda Land and Development Company, gave the commission its first glimpse of Las Alamedas, a planned housing development proposed for a tract that was involved in the complex Elena Gallegos land swap. That three-way trade ended up with the city of Albuquerque owning a large tract of land on the city's east mesa. Pickel last year entered into an agreement with Albuquerque to purchase the tract on a rolling option and to develop the land over a long-term arrangement. Picket's plan, which Las Cruces principal planner Jim Erickson said appeared to be of top quality, is to develop about five square miles into a subdivision of 9,000 to 9,500 dwellings within the next IS to 25 years. Pickel told the commissioners that, in preliminary planning for the development, he tried to incorporate what he perceived to be the goals and ideals of current city residents and to fit the master plan into the boundaries of the city's comprehensive plan.

His plan, he said, takes into consideration water use and transportation and tries to use potential geoth the state closed it and now is attempting to cancel Firchau's permit and lease. Companies named in the suit, filed in state District Court in Albuquerque, are Arroyo Mining Co. Inc. of Albuquerque; Arroyo Associates; Montpelier General Partnership, one of the partners in Arroyo Associates; Page-Mill Energy headquartered in California; and Integrated Native Resources a New Mexico corporation. Individual defendants include Michael Gibbs of California, who allegedly controlled Page-Mill, and 15 other men who are identified as partners in Arroyo Associates or officers of the other companies.

Seattle businessman Albert J. Firchau on Monday sued 16 men and five companies for more than $10 million, alleging that their activities caused the closure of a Sandoval County strip coal mine on which he holds a state lease. State Land Commissioner Jim Baca has ordered the lease cancelled Feb. 28, and denied appeals of the cancellation, listing 10 environmental violations and noting the leaseholder then Arroyo Associates, a New York partnership had never seriously attempted to operate the mine according to law. Firchau alleges the defendants improperly operated the mine, allowing it to become unproductive and unprofitable, and to violate laws and regulations until Panel Rejects Bill To Retain Gas Price Controls By Leah Beth Ward OF THE JOURNAL'S CAPITOL BUREAU Ana.

"Even though that perception may be wrong, the net impact is harm." Rep. Richard Cheney, R-San Juan, asked Energy and Minerals Secretary Paul Biderman, "Is it part of your job description to lobby for anti-development bills?" Biderman, who testified in support of the bill last week, responded that it represents a balancing of consumer and industry interests. He said it is not anti-development because it contains a provision that would allow producers to be free of all controls if they renegotiated their contracts and got rid of the price escalators. Reps. Nick Salazar, D-Rio Arriba, Robert Johnson, D-Sandoval-Cibola, Sam Vigil, D-San Miguel, and Silas Garcia, D-Santa Fe, voted against the recommendation to end price controls.

Recommending an end to the controls were Ms. Thompson, Cheney, Don Silva, R-Bernalillo, Vernon Kerr, R-Los Alamos, Robert Light, D-Eddy, Leonard Sheffield, D-Otero and Hal Stratton, R-Bernalillo. Absent were E. Kelly Mora, D-Colfax-Mora and Leo Watchman, D-San Juan-McKinley. has no reason to voluntarily lower the price it can get for its product at the wellhead.

"If I were a stockholder in one of these companies (Arco, Conoco, Mobil) and they didn't take advantage of the price escalators, then I'd be yelling, screaming and shouting," Sanchez said. Opponents of the bill called it "anti-development" and said it sent the wrong signal to one of the most important revenue-producing industries in New Mexico. "Perception prevails," said Rep. Mary Thompson, R-Dona By a 7-to-4 vote after lengthy hearings, the committee decided to accept the gas industry's contention that without controls, consumers would see no drastic rise in their gas bills and might even see a drop because of a glut in the natural-gas market. At issue were the "indefinite price escalators," provisions in existing "old gas" contracts that automatically raise prices to federal ceilings on gas sold in-state.

Rep. Raymond Sanchez, D-Bernalillo, sponsor of the legislation to extend last year's controls, told the cornmittee the industry Truth or Consequences. Both men said they will ask for permission to serve the remainder of their terms. Pete Padilla said Monday he may challenge the new regulation, which he considers "discriminatory." "I think our right to hold political office is protected by the New Mexico and U.S. constitutions," Pete Padilla said.

"I don't think we should be discriminated against because we are court employees." District Judge Lorenzo Garcia of Santa Fe, who chaired a 12-member committee that proposed the new rule, acknowledged that the regulation was "controversial" but said, "The thinking of a majority of the committee was that a judicial employee has a unique position that extends beyond his hours on the job. We wanted the public to be assured that the employee would not use his influence off the job to affect his performance on the job." Federici said the court's five justices have not yet decided whether the new rule should be interpreted to apply to those who already held office at the time the regulation takes effect. FOR THE RECORD" An article in the Sunday Journal incorrectly reported that the Mora Water and Sewage Association bought the town's water system from the late Felipe Sanchez, who was described as a private owner. The system, which was owned and operated by the state of New Mexico, was turned over to the association by the state in 1971. Sanchez was one of the association's board of directors.

SANTA FE The House Energy and Natural Resources Committee gave an unfavorable recommendation Monday to legislation that would continue price controls on natural gas. If the bill fails to be revived on the House floor, and if other, more far-reaching price-control legislation meets a similar fate, New Mexico would be without some form of price controls for the first time since 1977. Taos County Moves To Upgrade flood Planning By Merilee Dannemann JOURNAL CORRESPONDENT Cisneros said the county presented a tentative version of its "tactical plan" to the agencies and will now wait for comment and responses. Participating agencies, he said, included the Army Corps of Engineers, State Highway Department, State Police, Bureau of Reclamation, Soil Conservation Service, State Engineer, Interstate Streams Commission and local emergency damage to watersheds, agricultural lands and acequias. The county is scheduled to receive $1.5 million in disaster funds as a result of last spring's flooding.

Cisnernos said that money is virtually all spent. The commission recently divided the county into three "flood zones." Each zone is eligible for half a million dollars in disaster funds. by the office of U.S. Rep. Bill Richardson, county commissioners met with representatives of state and federal agencies to formulate a planned response to the floods.

"Some bridges have been replaced almost annualy," said commission chairman Carlos Cisneros. He said the new plan is aimed at preventing repeated damage to bridges as well as controlling TAOS Taos county government took a preliminary step Monday toward controlling damage from the spring floods that afflict the county almost annually. In a work-study session coordinated.