The Santa Fe New Mexican from Santa Fe, New Mexico • A5

A-5SANTA FE NEW MEXICANSaturday, May 22, 2021 Design and headlines: Andrea Tinning, SA TA I A By Sean P. Thomas One of the strangest eras in Santa Fe city government could be nearing its expiration date. The Santa Fe City Council will discuss whether to return to in-person council and committee meetings, as well as lay the groundwork for city employees to return to on-site work, during a special meeting Tuesday. City Clerk Kristine Bustos-Mihelcic said she and City Manager Jarel LaPan Hill will provide presentations on the topic at the meeting. The council will look at multiple return options, including a full return to council chambers and a hybrid model in which the council would meet in person and the public would participate online.

The council also will discuss how to safely reintegrate city in various departments and at sites like the public libraries. City Council and committee meetings during the pandemic have been held via Zoom, with most livestreamed on YouTube. Most city services have shifted with most employees working from home. The potential to return to return to in-person meetings was welcomed by many members of the City Council. think it is good news that we can begin to move back toward some nor- malcy, and certainly having in-person council meetings will be important for not only the council but for the Council to discuss in-person meetings Jury convicts Melendez on second-degree murder charge; defense to appeal By Jessica Pollard A miniature puebloconstructed by seventhgraders at the Academy forTechnology and the Clas- sics is teaching students large-scale lessons about New Mexico history.

The project, headed by history teacher Joaquin Martinez, is alive with farm animals, yucca plants, the recreation of a Catholic church and even a graveyard. a lot of people, history is boring. And for me, just so said Mar- tinez, who devised the pueblo project as part of his curriculum 21 years ago when he was teaching at now-defunct De Vargas Middle School. Next spring, the village will be washed-out ruins ripe for arche- ological exploration conducted by next batch of seventh graders. But for now, a deep and narrow trail carved into the land at the school leads to the vibrant community.

This seventh graders celebrated their work during the schoolwide Frontiers Day event Friday afternoon. people made with adobe molds. We used dirt, and some people used hay or straw to make it explained seventh grader Luis Gomez, standing alongside a group of peers. PHOTOS BY GABRIELA NEW MEXICAN Kim Davis, a French teacher at the Academy for Technology and the Classics, wears a costume Friday at the Frontiers Day event and poses with Pumpkin, a miniature horse owned by math teacher Jessica Victor. ATC students showcase lessons about New past with adobe, animals and costumes at Frontiers Day event By Will Hooper The Taos News TAOS Nearly two years after father and son Antonio Romero and Buck Romero were slain in their home at Taos Pueblo, the FBI is still seeking help from the public to identify a suspect and has doubled the reward.

FBI spokesman Frank Fisher said the reward has been increased to $10,000 from $5,000 for that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the The father and son were found dead June 1, 2019, in Buck home, where they both lived. According to a police report, from the Taos Pueblo Department of Public Safety arrived at the Romero res- idence on Goat Springs Road after being asked to perform a welfare check on the men because family and friends heard from them in over a day. According to Fisher, the FBI which joined the investigation shortly after the Romeros were found dead has received tips and conducted FBI doubles reward in Taos Pueblo homicides Agency offers $10,000 to identify suspect in 2019 killing of father and son Theater closed due to unpaid rent, property owner says By Teya Vitu The Regal Santa Fe Stadium 14 cinema in San Isidro Plaza on Zafarano Drive did not open Friday and likely will not open at all. locked the doors the day before yesterday said Branch, CEO of Santa Fe-based Columbus Capital, which owns San Isidro Plaza and the Regal building. taken over possession of the Earlier Friday, Regal Cine- mas indicated the originally scheduled Friday opening would be delayed until Thurs- day, but there was no from operations on Regal spokeswoman Hannah C.

Whitson wrote in an email. was completely unfore- seen circumstances that take more than a few days to Whitson wrote Friday morning. received a this morning that a few processes were delayed to ensure we were able to provide the high- est quality picture, sound and audio in all of our Branch dismissed the Regal explanation Friday evening. Regal Stadium 14 was set to open Friday; Zafarano doors stayed locked LUIS NEW MEXICAN Henry Pacheco and his wife, Emily Pacheco, of Santa Fe walk into the Regal Santa Fe Place 6 to watch Godzilla vs. Kong on the day of the theater being open Friday.

The theater at Santa Fe Place is operating at 33 percent capacity, but Santa Fe Stadium 14 remains closed. Judge agrees to release records in CYFD case By Victoria Traxler A lawsuit involving the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department reached a turning point Friday when a judge agreed to release records the defen- dant argues are essential to her case. The lawsuit is tied to a case involving four children who became the subject of a nationwide search after the state returned them to their allegedly abusive parents, Andrei Ducila and Luiza Badea. The family disappeared last spring, and the Hobbs couple were suspected of leaving one of their children a girl around 2 years old at a hospital in North Carolina with head injuries that left her permanently blind. The U.S.

Marshals located the couple and three of their children in Houston in the fall. In October 2020, CYFD sued Jill Jones, who was the foster parent of two of the children, after she posted a censored photo of her and the youngest child on her Facebook page and criti- cized CYFD for its handling of the case. The agency argued Jones released information in her Face- book posts and violated her memoran- dum of agreement. It also revoked her foster parent license. Jones, who fostered 10 children over 11 years, a countersuit arguing CYFD violated her First Amendment rights and the Whistleblower Protection Act by retaliating against her.

The countersuit, which was made public after a judge denied request to keep it sealed, asked the court to release nearly 500 pages of records related to the involve- ment in the disappearance. CYFD argued such a move would violate its rules. In a hearing Friday morning before state District Judge Kathleen McGarry, attorneys argued releasing the records is vital to moving the case for- ward. Not all of the records need to be made public, but they should be shared with the defendant, they argued. McGarry said she would examine the documents and decide which should remain sealed and which could be released to Jones under a order.

a broader viewpoint, this is a very important case for the public because the way that the court comes down on claim will have important implications for what information the public is allowed to see with said Matt Beck, one of attorneys. CYFD spokesman Charlie Moore-Pabst said: primary objective or goal is to adjudicate this properly. Whatever the judge decides to do, go along Former foster mother says files vital to suit against state after children returned to parents went missing By Victoria Traxler A Santa Fe County jury found Beverly Melendez, 65, guilty of second-degree murder Friday in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Rodrigo Enriquez-Garay in September 2019. After a weeklong trial, jurors deliberated Thursday evening and most of Friday before convicting Melendez of intentionally shooting Enriquez-Garay while he was at a small party in the backyard of a home on Hopewell Street with his twin brother and friends. Witnesses who at the trial said the brothers and a small group of friends were sitting outside that Saturday night, drinking and listen- ing to music from a cellphone speaker.

Suddenly, multiple shots rang out from the direction of backyard, prompting the group to scatter. When they looked back, Enriquez-Garay was on the ground. The young man, a 2018 graduate of Capital High School, said he had been shot. His brother and others rushed him to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Melendez was accused of grabbing her loaded and a stepladder to look over the 5-foot-tall cinderblock wall in the backyard of her Quapaw Street home, which faces the back of the Hopewell Street property. Prosecutors said she then at the group of partygoers. Along with the charge of sec- ond-degree murder, Melendez was found guilty of negligent use of a family members wept at the courthouse as the ver- dicts were read. State prosecutors said they were happy with the outcome of the trial but expect an appeal from defense attorneys. always view the jury as the com- munity, and they did the right prosecutor Ramon Carrillo said in an interview.

extra time they took shows that they actually deliberated, they considered all Police they found a ammu- nition and a bag of empty vodka bottles in home, which sits just across an arroyo from the Hopewell property. They also found spent shell cas- ings in her yard near the wall. In an interview with police, Melendez told she had become frustrated with people living at the property after months of parties and loud generator noise that kept her from sleeping. She told Detective Jacob Parrish she was by the men sitting in a circle behind her home on the Woman found guilty in death Seventh grade students at the Academy for Technology and the Classics built an adobe church complete with a cemetery as part or their minia- ture pueblo. Beverly Melendez Please see story on Page A-6 Please see story on Page A-6 Please see story on Page A-6 Please see story on Page A-6 Please see story on Page A-6 State history comes alive.