Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 18

AILEY EINZ Journal Staff Writer lessen poverty, communities must band together across ethnic lines and reach out to young people. This was the recurring message at a town hall meeting Tuesday night featuring Martin Luther King III, son of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr The meeting was one of stops on his and Learning a trek across America to hear about challenges facing the poor, to spread awareness and to brainstorm solutions. Earlier in the day King led about 150 children on a march from the Alamosa Neighborhood Association headquarters to the Alamosa Multipurpose Center. King also met with local officials and toured neighborhoods. The conversation Tuesday night began with struggles in the community such as crime, unemployment and racism but shifted to solutions and things that are working.

King said this positive tone was unique in his tour, calling Albuquerque, community on the brink of started out talking about all the challenges, and by the end we were talking about the things that were King said. Jasper Matthews, principal of the Ralph J. Bunche Academy charter school, emphasized the importance of education. really think education is where we need to he said. you have your black lawyers and doctors and congressmen, and they can change the But the problem with that, according to some at the meeting, is that as soon as minorities get their education, they leave their communities without giving back.

of bringing knowledge back to the they turn their back on said resident Sheila Thomas. METRO NEW MEXICO C2 A LBUQUERQUE OURNAL EDNESDAY UNE 13,2007 AROUND THE METRO AREA City, State Seek Kids for Medicaid State and city officials are teaming up to enroll more kids in Medicaid by targeting community centers, the Rio Grande Zoo, libraries and other summer hangouts for young people. About 40 city employees were trained to identify and enroll kids, age 18 and younger, who qualify for the state- and federally-funded health care plan, Mayor Martin said. An estimated 15,000 uninsured children in Albuquerque would qualify for Medicaid if officials could identify them, said at a news conference to announce the program. Medicaid eligibility is based on family income.

Kids in a family of four are eligible if the family annual income is less than about $37,000. For more information about Medicaid and other programs for kids, call the New Mexico Human Services Department, toll free, at (888) 997-2583. Panel To Meet Over al-Mar The city Planning Department says plans to build a store on Osuna NE are contrary to zoning regulations, the comprehensive plan and the North Valley Area Plan. Planners also contend there is a site plan in place for the land and proposal does not fit in with it. The issues will be argued during a special Environmental Planning Commission meeting Thursday at the Albuquerque Convention Center The commission will consider a proposed site development plan for the center.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. in the room. The proposed Supercenter came under fire from the nearby Vista del Norte subdivision and hot-air balloonists, who say the site is where they land during the annual fiesta. In April, the City Council appropriated more than $6 million and passed a resolution instructing the Office to try to buy the property. The council gave the mayor the power to condemn the property if necessary.

Highlands aken Off Censure List The American Association of University Professors has removed New Mexico Highlands University from its list of censured administrations, finding that Highlands has made progress toward addressing problems with academic freedom and tenure. The lifting of the censure comes almost a year to the day after the censure was imposed. are pleased to put this situation behind Highlands President James Fries said in a release posted on the Web site. want to thank the faculty, administration and board of regents for their efforts to help resolve censure was based largely on the actions against two professors who were among four white, non- Hispanic faculty members denied tenure in February 2005 during the Manny Aragon administration. Smoking Bans Are Good, Right? hy is there a part of me that always wants to find a loophole for the smokers every time a new ban is announced? Not that I disagree with the ban.

Every one of them has been a good thing. all for them. But that inconsistency keeps showing up. been 27 years since I quit smoking. I remember exactly how it happened.

After the usual failures, it just stopped. The smoking lamp went out. To this day I know how or why. agreed with every smoking ban come along since, up to and including the one the mayor announced on Monday when he signed an order banning outdoor smoking on all city-owned property. Smoking indoors is already prohibited.

good, too. Indoors, outdoors, firsthand secondhand no good. So how come a part of me that always sides with the smokers? Every new ban, I want to find a loophole. Why is that? Is it because smokers are so outnumbered not a fair fight anymore? Is that it? I heard a woman on talk radio say her to was being violated. I wish she gone with the defense.

not sure what the strict constructionist argument would be for smoking. I wish I could remember how I quit. I went through the Mark Twain period smoking is easy. done it a thousand I chewed nicotine gum until my jaw ached. I cut back on the number of cigarettes I smoked in a day, which is a little joke you play on yourself when trying to quit, because you either smoke or you no in-between.

Then one day I stopped. Just like that. Like a light switch had been flipped. I explain it. I remember my first cigarette better than my last.

I was 9 years old. I stole a Chesterfield from the pack in my purse. When she went to work, I went in the bathroom, lit up and stood in front of the mirror, trying to look like Sgt. Joe Friday. I could think of nothing on Earth cooler than Sgt.

Joe Friday with a Chesterfield dangling from the corner of his mouth. tell me TV and movies influence kids. The order the mayor signed goes into effect on Friday, timed to coincide with new state regulations that prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants and work places, which is another good thing. Thirteen New Mexico communities have some kind of smoking ban in place. When Albuquerque debated its ban, opponents predicted the demise of restaurants, despite evidence to the contrary from around the country.

Now we have our own evidence. State tax records show gross receipts for eating and drinking establishments in Albuquerque are up 25 percent since the first quarter of 2004. The mayor said the smoking ban might give a boost to those who want to quit. right. When the smoking ban went up in my work place, it helped that I smoke much of the day even if I wanted to.

Still, after all these years of not smoking and agreeing with every ban on the books and knowing cigarettes are godawful for you and everyone around you, I still want to find a loophole for the smokers. Why is that? JIM Martin Luther King III enters the Alamosa Community Center with the children who joined him Tuesday morning in a march against poverty. Fight Against Poverty Son of civil rights leader calls Alb uquer que community on the brink of hang KING: Tour looks into troubles facing the poor Lockup Packs In 2,725 Inmates AN AY Journal Staff Writer Overcrowding at the Bernalillo County jail reached new heights this week when 2,725 inmates crammed into the lockup. The Metropolitan Detention Center is designed to house only 2,236 inmates, county officials say The local jail system has been overcrowded for more than a decade sparking a lawsuit over jail conditions that is still pending. The number of inmates released into house arrest is also rising.

The county is now overseeing about 410 inmates in They are subject to drug tests and must meet other requirements to be eligible to enter and stay in the program. dealing with people who are not a threat to County Commission Chairman Alan Armijo said. The community-custody program has previously handled around 315 inmates. That figure rose in recent months as county executives worked with judges to expand the ability to release inmates into community custody. At a commission meeting Tuesday, Armijo blasted the city government for contributing to jail overcrowding.

He called Mayor Martin a too eager to put people in jail. Armijo said city police are arresting people on minor charges, such as not wearing a seat belt. Crowded jail conditions could lead to and harm inmates and staff, Armijo said. In an interview, city Police Chief Ray Schultz said officers arrest people on minor charges only when there is a public-safety reason for doing so. Instead, he said, officers issue hundreds of misdemeanor citations that require the suspect to go to jail.

we make an arrest, we need to we have Schultz said. could make a lot more arrests, but we A police spokesman said the number of adults arrested by city police actually went down in 2006 compared with 2005. The jail has been a source of tension between the city and county governments for years, spawning arguments over how to run and pay for it. County commissioner says crowding could spark jail unrest JIM BELSHAW Of the Journal Bernalillo County Commission Chairman Alan Armijo called Mayor Martin a too ea ge to put people in jail. MARTIN LUTHER KING III TOWN HALL Regents Side With Associate Professor Over Promotion ARTIN ALAZAR Journal Staff Writer The UNM Board of Regents says an associate professor in the School of Public Administration was wrongly denied a promotion to full professor in 2005.

Bias and improper considerations came into play in the review of Santa application for promotion, regents said in a decision unanimously approved Tuesday. Falcone who has been on the University of New faculty since January 1992 was denied a promotion to full professor by the provost two years ago. Since then, been fighting the decision at various levels, most recently filing an appeal with the regents. Among her complaints was that a fellow colleague who was promoted had a research record no better than hers. In their written decision, regents sent complaint back to Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, ordering that she be promoted to full professor with the appropriate salary adjustments effective July 1, 2005.

UNM spokeswoman Susan McKinsey said the amount of back pay has yet to be determined. The committee previously reviewed complaint and determined there were shortcomings in the promotion review process. Among the findings was that the good-faith effort of the provost to impartially judge record was compromised by flaws in the promotion review at lower levels. Regents agreed with that find- ing. Falcone, meanwhile, appears poised to move to another department.

The Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee recommended she be transferred. Regents agreed, but said the move must first be approved by that department. Messages left for Falcone on her office telephone and UNM e-mail immediately returned. Richard Holder, acting director of the School of Public Administration, declined to comment on the decision. In other business: Regents approved an agreement with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe for an endowed chair in Roman Catholic studies.

The agreement requires a contribution in cash and pledges $500,000 more than was required in the draft proposal. Archdiocese officials said they would have information about their fundraising effort at a signing ceremony June 26. Regents signed off on an agreement transferring ownership of the LodeStar Astronomy Center to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science. UNM will have free use of the facility for research and educational programs. In his first meeting as president, David Schmidly announced that a search is being conducted for interim vice presidents for institutional diversity and enrollment management.

National sear ches will begin in the fall, Schmidly said. Back Up Ordered by Panel The committee previously reviewed Santa complaint and determined there were shortcomings in the promotion review process. Actions Man Convicted In 2003 Slaying der and another six years for the tampering with evidence conviction. He must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence. Several of siblings were in the courtroom for most of the trial.

One sister, Marilyn, said she was too emotional and could not sit in the courtroom when the verdict was read. She said the entire case was a rush to judgment. is she said, on the verge of tears. was not enough evidence for a guilty Prosecutors argued that all of the evidence pointed to Williams ambushing Chacon because he felt if could not have her, then nobody They pointed to his fingerprint, smudged in blood, found on side window. In addition, they said cell phone was found near the bloody knife used in the murder and he had aban- doned his job and apartment before the murder.

Williams fled the state after the slaying and was on the run for two years before he was spotlighted nationwide as being one of the top 15 most wanted fugitives on Most In May 2005, U.S. Marshals agents caught up with him at a Philadelphia homeless shelter where he had been living under an alias. Defense attorneys argued that State Police officers rushed to judgment, quickly pinned the murder on Wi lliams and did not follow other leads that pointed to a robbery gone wrong. Defense attorneys said while there was no eyewitness to the murder, the van driver who dropped Chacon off at her car that morning said he had seen a white man in the parking lot. Williams is black.

Williams is tentatively set to be sentenced on Aug. 13. from PAGE C1 Phillip Anthony Wi lliams is facing a maximum of 15 year for second-de gr ee mur der and another six year for the tampering with vidence conviction..