Farr Chronicles His Experiences On The Magdalena Stock Driveway

Mountain Mail Reports

This is part two of a series resulting from an oral history interview with Catron County rancher Dave Farr conducted by the Bureau of Land Management in Socorro, in 2008.
As the 150th anniversary of the 1862 Homestead Act approaches, the Socorro Bureau of Land Management’s Cultural Resource Program is increasing emphasis on oral history collection, particularly as it relates to homesteading.
Farr brought in the last herd of cattle on the storied Magdalena Stock Driveway, or Magdalena Trail, in 1970. Just one of countless drives for him, this cattle drive marked the end of the 85-year history of the trail.
Collected and transcribed by Brenda Wilkinson, Archaeologist, BLM, Socorro Field Office. The following questions are asked by Wilkinson, and BLM Assistant Field Manager Mark Matthews.
This article focuses on the trail drives and the Stock Driveway.

Did you ever hire anybody on, just to help move the herd?

Dave Farr: Oh, we’d work these cattle in the fall and maybe there’d be four of us, five. And then them same fellas’d take the cattle to Magdalena. Way back there, you were talkin' about early 1900s. Why, I'd have to assume they'd have several bunches of livestock on the driveway at once. You know they could start out with the lambs and then, I don't know if they - I certainly doubt if they'd mix the old ewes with the lambs, and there’d be another bunch of sheep, and then they'd have a bunch of cattle goin' in. And then for some reason, the old cow market gets better around Christmas, so they'd always ship a load or two of old cows about Christmas. And that could be just oh, not many head, so there'd be two men with a pack horse.
Montague Stevens’ grandson told me about Montague, drivin' some big steers, you know,
4-year-old 'n up, to Magdalena. I don't know what year this was, but they were gonna load them on the train. And Montague got on his mule, and he was - you know - he's up and drivin' 'em. And a few days out of Magdalena, he pulled out ahead and got on the telegraph to the people, trying to sell these big steers. Anyway, he got in there and telegraphed Denver, St. Louis, St. Joe, Chicago, and he finally got an offer of seven bucks a head for these steers. And this was the delivery price - he had to pay the freight. So they figured with the agent that it would cost 'im nine dollars to get 'em there. So Montague got back on 'is mule, went back and met the steers, and he told them fellas, “I don't have any money to pay ya.” They all had homesteads, ya know. He said, “Take 'em back home. Divide 'em up among yourselves. That's all I can pay ya.” And he went on home. And that was on the driveway. Well, it wasn't an official driveway then. It was just open range. Eventually he went broke here, you know. I guess he was profitable for a long time. They had a good manager runnin' the ranch for them. He used to come visit my grandmother. He'd sit there all day tellin' about hounds, this hound and that hound, and, I'd get up and leave, [laughing] I'd had just about enough hound stories. But those where tough times.

Did any Indians from Alamo work for you?

Dave Farr: Oh, you bet, well, in later years. They’re good hands. You had to have somebody that would move the horses, slow. Keep ‘em quiet, so they wouldn’t want to run back home. An’ those Indians had the patience, they just take the horses so slow, keep ‘em quiet.

Can you tell us more about the cooks?

Dave Farr: I read a California book and he said they hired their cooks - not if they could cook - didn’t have nothin’ to do with it. They had to hire a man to drive the mules, so if he could cook was immaterial. And so they got some bad, bad cooks you know, and we did too. And it was hard to find a man who could hook up a team and drive the mules, and then finally we give up and used a pickup with a trailer and then we got to where we couldn’t even find a cook that way, and then my brother started cookin’. But the pickup was a bad deal. We never got stuck that way, but the team could always make it to camp you know. But you get a pickup and trailer and it gets to rainin’, why you can get stuck and you don’t have any camp when you get there, so the mules were good.
We had a Fred Harvey cook too. Well come to find out he was a Fred Harvey fry cook. He didn’t cook their extravagant meals, but he’d fry eggs in the mornin’ in the dutch oven. And he’d use a big tablespoon to get the grease over them eggs and then he’d fish the egg out and put it on your plate with a lot of grease, and sometimes he’d ask you “Do you want a extra spoon of grease?” [laughing] So man, it was greasy. But he could make sopaipillas and tortillas.

Do you remember his name, the Fred Harvey cook?

Dave Farr: Luna. I don’t remember his first name. Well, we had a cook from Roswell…what the hell was his name? He was a pretty good cook. And he told us a story - his father was a freighter, he hauled freight from Fort Sumner to Roswell and back, with an ox team, and his father happened to be in the saloon at Fort Sumner in the evening before they shot Billy the Kid. He was right with him. And that night they shot Pat Garrett, shot Billy the Kid, and this Otero - Otero was his name - so he went and looked at the body the next mornin’, and he knew Billy real well and, he swore it wasn’t Billy that they buried.

You heard the story from the cook?

Dave Farr: Well, he heard it from his father. He emphasized that they shot the wrong man, you know, and you hear that forever.
Yeah, one time Work Reed was the cook - you remember Work? He’s from Sweetwater, Texas. He’s a pretty good cook. Damn Work, pulled up in camp, and threw our beds off in a pool of water that deep, and it was foggy and, we had some corrals there that old Red Jackson had built, and had to go down this canyon and top over a ridge, and down another canyon to the corrals. So foggy you couldn’t see any landmarks, and I went down the next canyon to the right and, well, we got down there and we knew it wasn’t wrong and you could see this light coming over the hill - the fog was let up. So we went over the hill and found the corrals. The light was from the campfire and we got the cattle right up there and corralling them.
And something scared ‘em and they run, and my brother run to head ‘em off. And his horse run through a rat’s nest in the dark and fell with him, and boy, then we had a stampede. And dark, dark. Couldn’t see in the fog - no stars. We headed ‘em off as well as we could, corralled what we could, slept there in our wet blankets. And two Indians, they wouldn’t go to bed. They stood by the fire all night and they’d chatter a whole bunch of Navajo and it’d end up “Damn Morgan Salome waterproof hats!” Well, they were wearin’ staw hats and Morgan told ‘em they were waterproof. Then we got up and had a count in the mornin’ and Work didn’t wake up in time and we - all we got for breakfast was what water we could pour out of the water bucket that had rained in it. Went on and found the rest of the cattle but we’s short about 90 head. Got away in the dark. That was a miserable trip. And, anyway, we loaded the cattle and I brought the horses back to - even with Montosa. That was probably around the 1960s. Work was a pretty rough old guy. I remember one spring we went in and the wind was ablowin’ - I mean big time, and he couldn’t keep his hat on. And he took a barbed wire, a old rusty barbed wire and wrapped it around his head and twisted it. [Chuckling] Well, he could of at least found a balin’ wire! But - and he’d lisp you know - he said “Wis wimper sonofa bitch wath about ta beat me ta death.” His hat.
Sometimes the cook was drunk and he’d leave town drivin’ that team and hell, after years a lot of people knew him. He’d be so drunk he’d fall of the wagon - well that’s dangerous you know, them old iron tires run over you, but he’d used them same mules for so many years, when he’d fall off they’d just stop.
And somebody’d come along - he’d be right by the highway - a long ways from Magdalena, and they’d shake him around and wake him up and put him back in the wagon seat and he’d go on ‘til he fell off again…he’d have a bottle in his pocket. Yeah, it was a trip. We never knew where he got the whiskey you know. Well, we tried to keep it away from him you know, but he just, well, tried to fly to the moon.

In next week’s Mountain Mail, Farr talks about changes to the driveway over the years, water wells, and minor disasters along the way.

Photos courtesy of the Farr family.

Farr Chronicles His Experiences On The Magdalena Stock Driveway

Magdalena Speeder Caught Going 90

By John Larson

MAGDALENA - Officers from Magdalena Marshal Larry Cearley’s office assisted the U.S. Border Patrol in the arrest Monday of a Louisiana man who was speeding through the village at 90 miles per hour. In his vehicle were two men without documentation.
Jose Luis Caro, 37, of Crowley, La., was arraigned in Magistrate Court Tuesday on the charges of Aggravated Fleeing a Law Enforcement Officer, a fourth degree felony, and Reckless Driving, a misdemeanor. He was also charged with driving without a license, and speeding at least 35 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. The speed limit on First Street (Highway 60) in Magdalena is 30.
In an interview with the Mountain Mail, Cearley emphasized the danger the driver presented to pedestrians and other drivers.
“You don’t see car coming at 90 miles per hour when you’re pulling out onto the street,” he said.
Cearley said there were several people walking on First Street, and that midday traffic is normally busy in Magdalena.
“He passed two vehicles and almost broadsided another vehicle near the corner of First and Main,” Cearley said. “That intersection is always busy that time of day – people coming in and out of the bank, Winston’s, the bar, or coming from the Village Hall and library area.”
According to the criminal complaint, Deputy Terry Flanigan was informed by Border Patrol agents that they were eastbound on Highway 60, in high speed pursuit of a white 1997 Chevrolet Blazer heading toward Magdalena.
Flanigan radioed Cearley, who attempted to stop Caro by cutting off his vehicle at mile marker 111, at the west end of the village.
“I was driving toward him in an attempt to force him to stop, but he swerved completely off the roadway and passed me without slowing down,” Cearley said.
Cearley then followed Border Patrol units as the Blazer maintained his high rate of speed, while several people were pulling in and out of businesses along First Street.
“The roadway was heavy with traffic when the driver flew past them at a high rate of speed,” the complaint stated. “…Flanigan was coming westbound and clocked the vehicle at 90 miles per hour on his radar while the driver passed two vehicles in a no passing zone inside Magdalena.”

Magdalena Speeder Caught Going 90

Wild Winter Weather

Sustained high winds and strong gusts last Thursday night in Magdalena were responsible for downed fences, street signs, and roof damage to structures in town. Troy Mechanical suffered the most, with a large section of metal roofing blown onto the ground on Fourth Street. Roofing crews were hard at work repairing the damage by Friday afternoon.

Photo by Bill Fuller

Wild Winter Weather

Snow, Power Outages Plague Catron County

Mountain Mail Reports

Last week’s winter storm packed a wallop in Catron County that most residents won’t soon forget.
Quemado and surrounding areas were buried under two and one-half feet of snow. Areas around Armijo Springs Campground, had power outages for more than 30 hours and some phone disruption on Saturday.
“We did experience several outages in Catron County due to icing and snow build on the power lines of Friday,” said Richard Lopez, the engineering and operations manager for the Socorro Electric Cooperative. “We had outages in Alamo, Quemado, Mangus and Adobe Ranch/Beaverhead area. Crews were out late Friday restoring service to all but a hand full of customers who were restored Saturday morning. There was up to 2 feet of snow in some places.
“Our crews were having problems driving in those weather conditions and after several vehicles were stuck in snow and mud we proceeded to patrol line on foot in the snow. We had six crews working until all consumers were restored.”
It was much worse in Reserve, where electric power was down from 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 21, to Sunday, Jan. 24 at 4:15 p.m.
David Plumb, a Navopache Electric Cooperative spokesperson, said a radial transmission line broke, putting about 3,000 meters out of power. This 69,000 volt line broke in two places, causing widespread electrical outages to Eastern Arizona and Western New Mexico.
“System wide at the height of the outage, approximately 10,000 consumers were without electricity,” he said.
For the first time in recent
history, Navopache used a helicopter to identify the breaks in the line. A crew would work 16 hours straight. As one crew rested, another would take its place.
“The biggest problem they faced was snow drifts in excess of eight feet,” Plumb said. More than 46 employees in the Operations Department worked night and day to fix the problem. Up to six administrative employees manned the telephone lines during this emergency to update consumers.
“A generator was considered as a stop-gap solution, but this was not necessary as repairs were holding,” Plumb said.
“The phone calls we have received late Sunday and Monday were of congratulations. Many thanks to everyone for helping us through this situation,” Plumb said.
Reserve residents, meanwhile, did the best they could to deal with the situation.
Snow was over a foot in most places, with daytime temperature hovering around high 30s to lows in the teens after dark. The grocery store, gas stations, bank, and eateries were closed except Ella’s Café.
The post office remained open, even though it had no heat. Black Gold, a grocery/gas station, brought in a generator Sunday afternoon to pump gas. Except for ice cream, stores did not report losing meats or dairy or other food products.
Village of Reserve residents did have water, but residents surrounding the village melted snow for water.
For three days, the hum of generators could be heard throughout the Reserve area.
Neighbors hauled generators between houses for three hour periods, keeping foodstuff cold.
Those without generators placed refrigerator items in the snow. Car batteries with inverters powered computers, pellet stoves and other electrical items.
Camping items normally used in the forest were common items in the house. Flashlights, butane heaters and lights, kerosene stoves all were utilized.
As one resident said: “The only thing missing in my house is the pup tent.”
The County Courthouse, powered by a generator, served as a haven for those in need. “We opened the doors for anyone who needed a place to stay warm,” said county manager Bill Aymar. In addition, Hometown Oxygen, out of Silver City, left extra tanks at the courthouse in case any consumer needed special attention during this period.
In Quemado, storms hit the area with snow, sleet and ice. Residents reported flickering and brownouts on Friday but no total outages.
Snowfall was around eight inches on Thursday with about four inches each of the next two nights. Saturday’s basketball game against Mountainair and the homecoming festivities were canceled.
The Quemado Lake area received a little over a foot and a half of snow, and power was out for around 15 hours. Besides having to shovel off decks all weekend, several of the residents were concerned about the trees breaking from the heavy accumulation of snow and ice on the branches.
Not all fretted the weather this weekend. An area near the Quemado landfill became a playground where children and adults were sledding and driving 4x4's.
Debbie Leschner, Richard Torres and John Severance contributed to this story.

Photo: Snow, wind buffet the area around Armijo Campground in Catron County.
Photo by Debbie Leschner.

Snow, Power Outages Plague Catron County

New Mexico Tech Connects To Supercomputer

By John Larson

SOCORRO – New Mexico Tech was one of eight universities to be connected to the state’s supercomputer, Encanto, Monday, giving students and researchers access to one the most powerful computers in the world.
In a computer classroom in Tech’s computer center in Speare Hall, professors, researchers and students gathered to be part of the inaugural linkup with Encanto, featuring a live video conference with Gov. Bill Richardson and other state officials, including New Mexico Tech President Dan Lopez.
Professor Lorie Liebrock, chair of the Computer Science and Engineering Department, told the Mountain Mail the Supercomputer’s 3-D capabilities will be used for research, educational activities, training, and business modeling in the areas of energy, environment, digital film, aerospace, and biotechnology, among others.
“Economic development is also priority for the Supercomputer’s use,” Liebrock said. “This involves local Socorro businesses as well as statewide.”
She said Encanto uses 28,700 gigabytes of memory - compared to a typical home computer’s two-to-four gigabytes - and can perform 172 trillion calculations per second.
“One of the Supercomputer’s most important capabilities will be to create 3-D graphics, allowing the student or researcher to understand a concept or exercise easier,” Liebrock said. “Another very exciting application will be to study water flow in New Mexico, which could benefit local agriculture. Climate change is another area that can be modeled three dimensionally.”
In a prepared statement, Richardson said these initial “gateway” sites will be utilized by the universities and local businesses that need high performance computing for design and modeling purposes.
“The opening of these Supercomputer gateways is significant to New Mexico’s economic and high-tech future,” Richardson said. “We’re bringing the highest level of supercomputing to every corner of the state, giving New Mexicans the opportunity to tap in to its remarkable educational and economic possibilities.”
He said economic possibilities included the film industry, and that movies like “Avatar,” which relied heavily on computer animation could easily be handled by the Supercomputer.
The Supercomputer is housed at Intel in Rio Rancho at the New Mexico Computing Applications Center.
The founding institutions for the Center are New Mexico Tech, University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, and Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.
“We now have the fastest publicly available computer in the world to aid in our research and planning,” Tech President Dan Lopez said. “There are many important environmental challenges, such as the new energy grid, that will make much more significant progress with the Supercomputer.”
That confidence was supported by Jami Grindatto, Director of Corporate Affairs at Intel for the Southwestern U.S., who spoke during the live video hook-up Monday.
“The Supercomputer will provide remarkable new educational opportunities in high performance computing throughout the state at the Gateway sites," Grindatto said. "This network of sites gives supercomputer access to all New Mexicans and will help create the high-tech workforce of the future.”
The other seven gateway sites include UNM, NMSU, Eastern New Mexico University, Western New Mexico University, Santa Fe Community College, San Juan College, New Mexico Military Institute, and Eastern New Mexico University at Roswell.

Top photo: Tech officials and professors are joined through a video link with the governor and participating universities at Speare Hall Monday.
Photo by John Larson.

Lower photo:Those attending the “Connect New Mexico” event Monday were treated to a video showcasing the 3-D capabilities of the supercomputer, Encanto.
Photo Courtesy of New Mexico Tech.

New Mexico Tech Connects To Supercomputer

Tumbleweed 4-H Club Elects Officers

The Socorro County Tumbleweed 4-H Club held elections Wednesday, Jan. 20, for officers for the 2010-2011 at the Socorro County Extension Office on Neel Avenue. Tumbleweeds members chose as their new president, Madline Chavez, a student at Sarracino Middle School. Other officers include: Vice- President – Jaden Jones (Socorro High School), Secretary – DeeKota Chavez (Midway Elementary), Treasurer - Tyler Zuni (Socorro High School), Reporter – Marinarae Rosales (Midway Elementary)
Pledge Leader – Samantha Maldanado, Song and Recreation Leader – Mara Rapson (Parkview), Council Representatives – Marinarae Rosales (Midway Elementary), Savannah Rivera (Sarracino Middle School), Jose Chavez (Zimmerly School)

Tumbleweed 4-H Club Elects Officers

School Board Acknowledges Help With Projects

Mountain Mail Reports

SOCORRO -- Assistant Superintendent Anton Salome asked the Socorro Consolidated Schools Board for their approval of signage acknowledging the City, County and Socorro Electric Cooperative’s help with projects at the High School which was unanimously approved.
Salome spoke to the board and advised them that he received an email from the South Central Council of Governments stating that the Legislative Finance Committee would be meeting at 1:30 p.m. today to review documentation submitted by the SCCG to contemplate the idea of sustaining funds acquired for all projects that are already in place in Socorro for different planned projects. One of which is a new softball field for the school system.
Charter School representative Mary Cox reported that they were on budget and everything was going good. A short report was given on the schools audit completed by JJ Griego & Associates along with findings and managements response to those audit findings.
Salome advised the board that it was again time to apply for a local government road fund program from the Department of Transportation. This years funding request will be for the renovation of the Saraccino Middle School front parking lot.
The project must be completed by December 31, 2012. Board member Bob Markwell asked if the island located in the front parking lot could be landscaped with the funds and Salome stated that it could be done in the process of making repairs to the whole parking lot.
Assistant Superintendent Janice Argabright presented and requested that the board look over and consider proposed changes in several areas of school policy such as attendance, discipline, hazing, sexual harassment, health screening, self medication, maintenance of all school records and other policy updates needed and suggested by administration.
Parkview School Teacher Janice Jaramillo has been nominated for the Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico 2010 Award for Excellence in Teaching. Cottonwood Valley Charter teacher Karen Gram was also nominated. The annual award includes a $1,500 stipend, a $4,000 grant for personal development, a laptop from Intel and admission into the Golden Apple Academy of Fellow.
Two resignations were announced. Fran Hazelwood, a SMS health teacher and Lynette Phipps, a SMS Special Ed Teacher. Two new hires were announced. Thomas Culbertson will work at SHS Behavioral Modification and P.E. Teacher and Matthew Carrejo will teach P.E. at San Antonio and Midway schools.
After 37 years with the Socorro school system Linda Perdue will retire in June. The school board expressed their thanks for the many years of Ms. Perdue’s service to Socorro and its children.
Superintendent Cheryl Wilson announced and encouraged everyone to look for the first Mountain Mail Express in February which will have a full page dedicated to news at every school in the district each month and will also include important dates, school stories, photos and reports on school board activities and meetings and reports from the Superintendent. The next school board meeting will be Feb. 9.

School Board Acknowledges Help With Projects

Official: 2010 Census Much Easier To Complete

By John Larson

SOCORRO – The 2010 U.S. Census will be less intrusive this time around. That’s according to Tom Chegoya of the Las Cruces Census office, who gave a presentation to the Socorro City Council Jan. 4.
Chegoya said the Census this year is one of the “critical tests in our nation’s history, given the recession and current state of our economy.
“For every person counted it means money coming to the community,” he said. “Funding for infrastructure, education, affordable housing. Money that should come here.
Chegoya said the 2010 census questionnaire will be simplified compared with the 2000 Census.
“This year is so different. There’s only 10 questions,” he said.
“All the information collected is strictly confidential. That’s the law. It can’t be shared with any other governmental agency, even Homeland Security, for example. It’s about the count.”
He said the Census does not care about some of the detailed information that has been asked previously.
“We don’t care about the personal things. We want the count,” Chegoya said.
The City of Socorro has partnered with the county government to “make sure everybody gets counted.”
Councilor Gordy Hicks stressed that a complete count means more funding for the city and the county.
“Those cities and counties that have a higher count will have more,” Hicks said. “They don’t care about families living together or whether someone has papers. I encourage everyone to please respond to the questionnaire.”
Chegoya said the 2010 Census also means employment for local residents.
“There will be many job availabilities here in the county and surrounding areas,” he said. “We figure about 800 are needed as temporary federal workers. Enough to cover the whole county.”
The temporary positions will be needed for door to door follow-ups on those residents that did not send back the form, he said.
The 2010 U.S. Census forms will start going into the mail this week.
More information, and a sample questionnaire, can be found on the Internet at 2010.census.gov.

Official: 2010 Census Much Easier To Complete

Magdalena Marshal's Blotter

Information for the following items was provided by the Magdalena Marshal's office.

Jan. 13
U.S. Forest Service officers asked for assistance at 8:10 p.m. on an arrest at mile marker 13 on Highway 169. The Marshal’s office took a male subject into custody on a outstanding warrant from Socorro Municipal Court.
An officer took a report at 11 a.m. of a stolen power washer worth $125. A suspect was found and charged with the Burglary, Larceny, and Disposing Stolen Property.
Jan. 16
An officer took a report at 2:45 p.m. on Cedar Street where a subject reported his prescription pills had been stolen. The case is open and a suspect has been located. Charges are pending.
An officer was traveling on First Street at 6:30 p.m. when a vehicle approached from the other direction. The officer turned around and stopped the vehicle. The Arizona driver was arrested for DWI, and blew a .10 blood alcohol level.
Jan. 21
An officer attempted to stop a vehicle on Forest Road 354 near the cemetery. The vehicle was stopped near the Post Office on a back road. The driver was arrested for driving on a suspended/revoked license.
Jan. 23
An officer stopped a vehicle at 9:40 a.m. at First and Pine, and the driver was arrested for driving on a suspended/revoked license.
An officer stopped a vehicle at 5:05 p.m. at Third and Oak, and the driver was arrested for driving on a suspended/revoked license.
Jan. 25
An officer was called at 9:15 a.m. to mile marker 11 on Highway 169 on a report of an elk stuck on a fence. The officer put the animal down and contacted the New Mexico Dept. of Game and Fish. The animal was sold to a willing recipient.
An officer assisted a couple who were having car trouble at mile marker 115 on Highway 60. They were transported to a doctor’s appointment at the Magdalena Medical Clinic. The vehicle was towed to Socorro for repairs after the doctor’s appointment.

Magdalena Marshal's Blotter

Socorro County Sheriff's Blotter

The following items were taken from reports at the Socorro County Sheriff's Department.

Nov. 11
A woman from Aurora, Colo. reported at 5:15 p.m. that she was driving southbound on Interstate 25 when the left driver’s side window shattered. She thought that the window had been shot out. The officer processed the vehicle and did not find any evidence of a gunshot.
Nov. 20
A man in Veguita reported at 4:20 p.m. that the suspect brandished a hand gun and assaulted him with it. He said that the man placed the gun to his head and threatened him. He further stated that he picked up an ax in self-defense. He said the suspect then left his yard and took the ax with him. The deputy met with the suspect, who said the victim chased him with the ax and he took the ax away from him. The suspect gave the officer the ax and allowed his vehicle to be searched for a weapon. No weapon was located.
Nov. 28
A Veguita man reported at 6 p.m. that an unknown vehicle had struck his fence, damaging a fence post. The man did see dust in the air but did not see the vehicle, which fled the area.
Nov. 30
A man in Veguita reported at 8:10 p.m. that persons unknown entered his property by cutting a hole in his fence. The suspects then entered a storage shed and took two propane tanks.
Dec. 8
A man on Community Road in Polvadera reported that the suspect applied for, and obtained, credit cards using him as a co-signer. The suspect was able to accumulate a large debt and the victim is being called by companies in regards to payment.
Dec. 9
An officer responded at 8:20 p.m. to Pino Road in San Antonio on the report of a death. OMI had pronounced a man deceased, and it was learned that a heart condition was the cause of death.
Dec. 13
A vehicle was northbound on Interstate 25 at mile marker 174 when the driver fell asleep at 3 a.m. The vehicle travelled into the median and rolled, causing extensive damage. The driver was complaining of injuries but refused transport to a hospital.
Dec. 14
A Las Cruces man reported at 2 p.m. that he had rented a motor home to the suspect, who failed to pay rent and left the vehicle parked on private property in the 600 block of Second Street in Socorro. He went to pick up the motor home, but was denied by another man, who stated that the motor home was on his property and the suspect also owes him money. The owner of the motor home noticed damage had occurred to the motor home and he wanted to pursue charges against the suspect.

Socorro County Sheriff's Blotter