Mountain Mail Delivers Early Christmas Gift

The Mountain Mail ownership and staff have decided to pitch in even further during this economic slow down by rolling back the price of the only locally owned community newspaper to just “two bits”. That’s right – only one quarter. The first thing the ownership and staff decided after buying the Mountain Mail a little more than a year ago was to lower advertising prices to a more affordable level in order to help fellow businesses continue to have the ability to advertise during these tough economic times, and pass the savings on to their customers and our loyal readers at the same time. It’s no secret that the Mountain Mail offers the lowest newspaper advertising prices in New Mexico.
“We understand that the current business and job situation is tough on everyone,” said former Socorro Mayor and business partner Tony Jaramillo. “If we’re going to get through these hard times together, everyone in Socorro and Catron Counties need to work as one. This just seems like the right thing to do right now.”
Your hometown Mountain Mail begins its lower price in this edition and will continue with the new price through the holidays and into the New Year, and revisit the question of pricing again in July. Subscribers will still be charged our very low annual rate due to the fact that we still have to pay labor to have every individual subscriber’s newspaper labeled, and weekly payments for postage must still be paid to get the news and great stories to all of our loyal readers across the country.
“We wish we could cut the price for subscribers, as well, but it’s just not financially feasible, so we’ll sell all counter and coin machine papers for only 25 cents,” general manager Gary Jaramillo said. “We’re not exactly sure how long it’s been since a newspaper has sold for two bits anywhere in New Mexico, but we felt like it was a great opportunity to pass this price cut on to everyone at this time.
“It’s a matter of helping our business clients by getting more papers into potential customers hands with their advertising in it, and making it easier for our neighbors here in Socorro and Catron Counties to buy a Mountain Mail for 50 percent less and still get the same great weekly stories, columns and news to which they are accustomed. And if we can keep more quarters in our readers’ pockets, maybe they’ll have just a little bit more to save and spend at local businesses on the important things that they have to have for their own family needs. If everyone in our little corner of the world helped one another, we’ll all come through during these hard times all right – just like we’ve done so many times before.
The Mountain Mail is still – and will always be – your No. 1 news source and only locally owned community newspaper. So grab a quarter for your newspaper each Thursday, and use the other one for a down payment on the future. We’re proud of the work we do, and proud to be a part of Socorro and Catron Counties – and we count everyone as dear friends. With a positive attitude and all of us helping each other in any way we can, we’ll be just fine – even if we do it one quarter at a time.
Enjoy the holidays, everyone!
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Mountain Mail Delivers Early Christmas Gift

Scientists at Observatory Make Quick Discovery

By John Larson

A husband and wife astronomy team at the Magdalena Ridge Observatory on Nov. 16 documented the second-fastest spinning asteroid on record, missing the earth by about 20,000 miles.
Asteroid 2010 WA was tracked by Bill Ryan, the leading astronomer at the New Mexico Tech facility, using a 2.4-meter telescope. The rock measures about 10 feet in diameter and completes a rotation about every 31 seconds. By comparison, the fastest spinning asteroid, known as 2010 JL88, also discovered by Ryan, takes 24.5  seconds to complete a rotation.
His wife, Eileen Ryan, director of the 2.4-meter telescope, says that the only danger that the asteroid presented was that it had entered the path of satellites in geosynchronistic orbits, which stationary orbits generally above the equator. Those satellites are generally used for global positioning (GPS), weather forecasting, television broadcasting, and defense or intelligence purposes.
There are about 300 satellites at that altitude, according to Eileen Ryan. “If an asteroid were to hit one of those,” she said, “it would understandably cause disruption of services on which we commonly depend. And those are quite expensive pieces of equipment.”
Tracking asteroids is one of the main operations of the telescope, which first went into operation in November 2006.
“We’ve tracked four asteroids in the last month that came that close to the earth,” said Eileen Ryan. She said studying the rotation rate can help scientists understand the geology of the rock passing by.
“The rate of spin, which we are learning about for the first time,” she said, “can tell us about the material of bodies in the asteroid belt.”
In years past, she added, there wasn’t a reliable system for studying an asteroid’s rate of rotation, but her husband has since devised a method which involves spotting them early on and picking out the best candidates.
The Magdalena Ridge Observatory has been involved in a variety of asteroid studies and has built a reputation on being a leader in the field. On a recent Discovery Channel program, “Phil Plait’s ‘Bad Universe: Asteroid Apocalypse’”, Eileen Ryan discussed the observatory’s asteroid studies, explaining that 10 or 12 asteroids might be discovered on any given night.
“We have to assess are they a danger, how strong are they, how big are they,” she said during the program. “All of the work we do can be used for predictions on when or where an object will hit.”
And what about other flying objects?
“We work with NASA, the National Science Foundation, and Los Alamos National Laboratory,” said Eileen Ryan. “We’re also working with the Air Force to track satellites. And if we’re called on to track Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, we’ll do what we can.”

Scientists at Observatory Make Quick Discovery

LEPC Says Red Cross Center Needed in Socorro

By Patrick Jason Rodriguez

The chairman of the Local Emergency Planning Committee wants the Red Cross to have a resposnse center in Socorro.
Doug May made his proposal to the city council at its meeting on Monday night.
He said that the city is under prepared for any sort of catastrophic event like an earthquake, huge fire and a great deal of flooding, and gave examples of past local disasters such as the tire fire of 2000, the hail storm of 2006, and the derailment last year of a train traveling through the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge when three cars carrying fuel oil spilled.
May stressed the need for shelters in the city and said his committee is working on being able to find lodging for those who must evacuate from their homes in case of floods or other emergencies. He also said that he recently took part in a shelter management class.
Volunteers who are trained and administered by the Red Cross would provide much needed assistance for Socorro, according to May. He said that some of their training would be conducted locally but that a bulk of it would take place in Albuquerque. He also mentioned that the city, county, New Mexico Tech and other local businesses should be accommodating to volunteers and trainers.
May said that shelter management survey teams would visit shelter sites and evaluate capacity, make agreements with local business owners, and ensure that structures are free from damage, including the section of Interstate 25 that flows through the Socorro.
The Red Cross doesn’t need a formal endorsement from the city to launch these services, said May, “but I think it would be helpful if the city council passed a resolution, encouraging cooperation, to send a good message.”
Mayor Ravi Bhasker asked May if he had any conversations with other emergency planners in other towns comparable in population of Socorro that already have Red Cross teams, and whether May planned to make the same presentation to the county, the schools and New Mexico Tech. May replied that Truth or Consequences was the only city with a similar size in the state that offered these services.
Mayor Bhasker then brought up the question of whether or not the Red Cross team would duplicate emergency response services already offered by the city and the county.
May said that the Red Cross team would not duplicate services but rather would actually supplement existing local government agencies.

LEPC Says Red Cross Center Needed in Socorro

Petition To Recall Trustee Wolberg Now Underway

By Patrick Jason Rodriguez

Another recall campaign by the Socorro Electric Cooperative Reform Group is officially underway in District 3.   
A petition to recall Co-op Trustee Donald Wolberg commenced on Friday, Dec. 3. As per the co-op’s written bylaws, petitioners need at least 10 percent of member-owners signatures to remove a sitting trustee.
Wolberg is one of six current board members representing District 2, which encompasses the city of Socorro.
The petition’s proponent, Charlene Wagner, in an email sent out Friday said that Wolberg “has been granted this honor because so many members consider that he has betrayed them by running as a reform candidate and then joining the board majority in actions detrimental to the members' interests.”
Also cited in the email were concerns regarding the costs of an informational meeting in March, which, according to Wagner, was little more than propaganda disguised as a lecture, and ballot issues regarding the annual members’ meeting in April. “This ballot,” Wagner wrote, “included threatening comments and untruths and voting was held by a show of hands which limited members’ freedom of action as opposed to a secret ballot.”
Wolberg, in a telephone on Wednesday, said that he has no interest in the petition and plans to go about his business as usual. In fact, he added that if the petition comes his way, he’d add his name to it.
“If they can find 400 people to sign the petition, that’s fine,” he said. “I’ve always been independently minded.”
This most recent campaign comes less than a month after a petition with allegedly a sufficient amount of signatures to recall Co-op President Paul Bustamante, the only board representative in District 2, was presented at a regular meeting by member-owner Richard Epstein.

Petition To Recall Trustee Wolberg Now Underway

Socorroan Wins Sweepstakes’ Grand Prize

By John Larson
Christina Albeldano got a surprise visit to her home on Thursday, Dec. 2.
The Socorro resident was chosen as the Grand Prize winner of Aaron’s National Lucky Dog Days Sweepstakes and received a houseful of furniture, appliances and electronics valued at around $10,000. Atlanta-based Aaron’s, Inc. is a lease-to-own retailer with one location in the Socorro area.
The items arrived at Albeldano’s residence in one of Aaron’s delivery trucks. She’d been informed that she was one of the company’s 99 prize winners, but not specifically that she had won the top prize.
“I’m still numb,” Albeldano said afterward. “I don’t know what to think. I’ve never won anything in my life.”
Her prize package included an eight-piece living room set, an eight-piece bedroom set, a 60-inch Mitsubishi 1080p big screen TV with stand, a 32-inch Panasonic LCD flat panel TV, a Frigidaire 23 cu. ft. refrigerator, a Frigidaire front load high-efficiency clothes washer and dryer pair, a Dell Inspiron laptop computer, and an HP Mini netbook computer.
Aaron’s Inc. sent out more than 1.6 million letters with unique prize numbers during the contest, which ran from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2.
Brandon Kellogg, manager of the Aaron’s retail store in Socorro, said that Albeldano has been a customer of his store since 2008.
“We’ve become friends over the last two years,” he said. “Sometimes she comes into the store just to say hello. I can’t think of anybody who deserved to win the grand prize more than her.”
Aaron's regional manager Brooks Hartmann added, “All of us at Aaron’s hope that winning the National Lucky Dog Days Grand Prize is going to brighten the holiday season for Christina and her family.”

Pictured: Christine Albeldano reacts to being told by Aaron's manager Brandon Kellog she won the grand prize.


Photo by John Larson

Socorroan Wins Sweepstakes’ Grand Prize

5 Charged in Connection with Walmart Theft

By John Larson
Criminal complaints were filed in Socorro Magistrate Court on five people Monday on shoplifting and burglary charges in connection with an incident on Dec. 3.
Socorro police Det. Rocky Fernandez said the suspects – Elisa Montano, 23, of Socorro; Gavin Eads, 24, of Belen; Charmayne Lopez, 20, of Belen; Antoinette Martinez, 27, of Belen; and Dillon O'Brien, 24, of Los Lunas – were operating as a shoplifting team.
“This wasn’t your everyday shoplifting situation,” Fernandez said. “They left the business with two plastic bins full of merchandise, mostly children’s clothes and some other small items.”
He said the incident was similar to a shoplifting that occurred at Walmart on Sept. 21.
Antoinette Martinez and Charmayne Lopez were arraigned Monday, Dec. 6 on burglary and trespassing charges. Dillon O’Brien was arraigned Monday on shoplifting charges and possession of drug paraphernalia. Gavin Eads was also arraigned Monday on one shoplifting charge, and a criminal complaint on Montano was filed on shoplifting and criminal trespassing charges.
The total amount stolen was $633.05, said police Sgt. Richard Lopez.
Fernandez said shoplifting rings are becoming more numerous, not only in Socorro, but nationwide. “When the economy is bad, you’ll see people being recruited by ‘kingpins’ to do the shoplifting,” he said.
Fernandez said stolen items are also sold on the internet, using e-Bay, Craigslist, or any one of dozens of online sites.
“Does anyone ask why a DVD movie costs only a couple of dollars?” he said. “It’s not out of the question to think they are bootlegged movies.”

5 Charged in Connection with Walmart Theft

Animal Humane Group To Sponsor Herbal Medicine Class

By John Larson

Magdalena’s animal humane organization, The Grizz Project, is sponsoring a workshop on herbal medicine at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 11.
The class, which includes a Power Point lecture and discussion period, will be taught by medical herbalist Judyth Shamosh, Ph.D. She will be covering many of the most common questions people have about herbal medicines.
“People will learn how to use the right herbs for a specific situation,” Shamosh said. “We’ll also cover how herbal medicine was discovered, why an herb works for you and not someone else, and why herbal medicine can work so well sometimes.”
Shamosh, a part-time Magdalena resident, heads an herbal health clinic in Phoenix, Ariz., called Green Fingers Herbal Medicine.
She said if someone tells her that they tried an herbal remedy for arthritis on their own and it didn’t seem to work, she then asks what kind of arthritis they have.
“I tell them what they used may not have been right for their problem. There are four or five kinds of arthritis in eastern medicine,” Shamosh said. “That’s an example of how Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine works. We have to know our tools, the herbs, and the condition of the person’s body.”
Shamosh said herbal cures, especially from ancient East Indian (Ayurveda) and traditional Chinese medicine, go back thousands of years.
“It’s extremely well documented,” she said. “What I use in my practice is not something I came up with. It has a history going back three to four thousand years.”
Herbal medicine was more commonly used in this country up until about 200 years ago, she said.
“In the early 1800s, treating things by symptoms became the popular practice in mainstream medicine,” Shamosh said. “Using the right herbal medicine deals with the root cause of what’s going on in the body.”
Shamosh’s class is being held from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Magdalena Senior Center on Main Street, and the class costs $25 for the general public, $20 for Grizz Project members.
Proceeds will benefit The Grizz Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people find solutions to problems of unwanted, abused or neglected animals through a spay/neuter program and other help as needed.
For more information on The Grizz Project, call Marguerite Sweeney at 505-206-3565.

Animal Humane Group To Sponsor Herbal Medicine Class

OBITUARY: Florence Ruth Martin

Florence Ruth (Wesner) Martin, 98, passed away Sunday, December 5, 2010 in Socorro.
Florence was born on April 19, 1912 to Frank R. and Rose (Dalley) Wesner in Las Vegas, New Mex.
She is survived by her devoted son, James Martin and wife Cathy of Socorro; her loving daughter, Wanda Martin of Socorro; two grandchildren, Jennifer Aimone of  Socorro; and Sara Yazdian and husband, Ali of Salt Lake City, UT; her sister, Betty Schwede of Las Vegas, New Mex.; three great grandchildren; and her nephew, Danny Schwede of Rio Rancho, New Mex..
She was a lifelong resident of New Mexico.
No formal services have been arranged at this time. In Lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Socorro Hospice. Those who wish to send condolences may do so at www.danielsfuneral.com. Services have been entrusted to: Daniels Family Funeral Services, 309 Garfield, Socorro, NM, 87801 (575) 835-1530.

OBITUARY: Florence Ruth Martin

OBITUARY: Diane Dee Phillips

Diane Dee Phillips, 66, passed away Monday, November 29, 2010 at her home in Socorro, NM, surrounded by her loving family.
Diane was born on April 28, 1944 in Massillon, Ohio to Crawford and Maxine (Osborne) Isbell.
She is survived by her loving husband of 48 years of marriage, Roger Phillips of Socorro; her devoted sons, Scott Phillips and wife, Christine of Albuquerque, NM; and Steven Phillips of Socorro;  her adored grandchildren, Justin; Eric; Haley; and Ryan; and her loving mother in law, Jeanette Phillips also of Socorro.
Diane was a resident of Socorro since 1965. She enjoyed Elvis Presley music.
Diane was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. Being a Mother and Grandmother brought Diane so much joy and happiness.
She was preceded in death by her Parents.
A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 11:00 am at The Daniels Family Funeral Services Socorro Chapel. Those who wish to send condolences may do so at www.danielsfuneral.com. Services have been entrusted to: Daniels Family Funeral Services, 309 Garfield, Socorro, NM,  87801 (575) 835-1530.

OBITUARY: Diane Dee Phillips

OBITUARY: Renate H. Lange-Romero

Renate H. Lange-Romero beloved Wife, Mother, Grandmother and inspiration to all who knew her passed away peacefully November 25 to rest until the coming of our Lord.
She was born in Germany and later moved to New Mexico where she lived for nearly 50 years.
Renate resided in Polvadera, New Mexico, with her husband Roman Romero. Together they enjoyed a peaceful rural life, morning walks, and shared a beautiful garden she created and nurtured.
She is the daughter of the late Ida and Franz Lange.
Renate will forever be remembered and loved by the family she cherished, her loving husband Roman Romero; loving sons Franz Griego, Glenn Griego and wife Tonia, Ahren Griego and wife Meredith; loving grandchildren Ahren M. Griego, Leanna Saiz, Jonathan Griego, Joshua Griego, Gabriella Griego, Justin Pirtle; great grandchildren Josiah Saiz, twins Alaina Renee, Jazmin Marie Griego.
Renate is also cherished by a loving family in Germany, Uncle Siegfried Gruber and wife Ilse, Aunt Lotte Lange; Cousins Carlo Barone and wife Eva, Wolfgang Gruber and wife Birgit and Children, Dieter Doehring and wife Christa, Gisela Forrester, and Renate Lange.
Her faith in Christ was evident in her radiant smile, pure soul and gentle words.
She loved life and all its rewards, her many dear friends, Stella Cota, Frau Engelhart, Corine and late husband Tony Vigil, Nino Gonzales and wife Annemie, Joe P. Valdez and wife Frances, Archie and late husband Joe Romero, Mr. and Mrs. Zack Romero, Mr. and Mrs. Nick Romero, Mr. and Mrs. Sip Romero and family, Mr. and Mrs. Andy Romero and Family, Sokie Romero, David Griego and wife Leticia, Julia Nicklin, Gary Chrisman and wife Shirley, Ilza and Yvonne Magener, Maggie Panzer, Katie Mirabal, Helga Eiching, Ernst Brandt, Gisela Plank, Susan Miller and many more.
Renate made a difference in this world; she was an inspiration and positive influence to all who knew her.
It is with great sadness that we must grieve the loss of this wonderful woman, but we can rejoice in the love she bestowed on each of us, a love that will never fade. We can only hope we may soon put our selfish thoughts aside so that we may be overcome with joy and happiness knowing that she will be in Heaven with God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and once again in the warm loving embrace of her mother.
Memorial Service: Sunday, December 12, at 2:00 pm: First Baptist Church, 203 Spring street, Socorro.

OBITUARY: Renate H. Lange-Romero