LETTER: Help In Datil

To the editor:
Everyone around here has said that the amount of snowfall is really quite unusual this year. What I have found unusual is the amount of help and reaching out people have done here in Sugarloaf. I am originally from New Jersey, where people don’t know their neighbors very well, nor do they check on people.
There were only two days last week that gave us the opportunity to get to Socorro for necessities. We thought we could get out on Tuesday but the snow was too deep, my car is a Toyota Corolla, and the SUV’s battery was dead. Our neighbor made it out and brought back groceries for us. Then the next day he brought his tractor over and plowed the drive, then lent us a charger to charge the battery so we could get to Socorro ourselves.
Maybe this isn’t news in the vein that usually makes news but I appreciate all of the friendly, caring, and wonderful people I have met in Datil, especially Sugarloaf. When I describe what life is like out here to my friends and family back east they cannot understand the beauty of this place, and considerate nature of the community. Small things make a world of difference daily, whether it is the joke I hear at the post office or the friendliness at the new café where they know our names, I deeply appreciate and express gratitude for being able to live here.

Shirley Edmonson
Datil

LETTER: Help In Datil

LETTER: Big Fan

To the editor:
Congratulations on finding such an entertaining new columnist as Paul Krza. His article "Finding Out the Cold Hard Truth" was entertaining and funny. I'll look forward to reading his material again.
Incidentally, Paul, how about a story about yourself --- beginning with how to pronounce your name. I'm sure we'd all love to know.
The Mountain Mail gets better all the time.

Keep it up.
Audrie Clifford
Socorro

LETTER: Big Fan

LETTER: Looking For Help

To the editor:
We are writing about the cows that have been killed and maimed in the Rio Grande Estates on Hwy 60 East.
This has been happening for several years. When it’s not the people killing the cows, it’s the dogs.
We have called the Sheriff’s Office on several occasions. There are several cases pending which have not been followed up by either by the Sheriff’s Office or the District Attorney’s office.
One blames the other. It goes back and forth between the two offices. One claims it does not have the reports.
The sheriff’s office says it needs more evidence. We don’t know what else we can give them. We have several witnesses on different cases but they still say there is not enough evidence.
It takes them forever to follow up on anything. I don’t want to blame the whole Sheriff’s Department. Those deputies know who they are.
All we get from the DA and Sheriff’s Department is that they don’t have enough evidence. We have given them photos, witnesses, suspects, still nothing.

The Barela family
La Joya

LETTER: Looking For Help

LETTER: Nice profit?

Dear Editor,
Well, we guess the two vehicles bid on by Vince De Marco of Magdalena were NEVER intended for Fur & Feather. Word around is that the big vehicle was sold for a handsome profit. There is nothing illegal about selling something for a nice profit. However, it is not princely to dupe people into thinking one is a magnanimous donor to a local charity group.
The happy news is that the good people of Magdalena are working in something special for FFAA. We hope it comes to fruition, and we will be most grateful.

Respectfully,
Jae Senych, Treasurer FFAA

LETTER: Nice profit?

Lady Warriors Romp

By Nicky Romero
For the Mountain Mail

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES -- The fourth-ranked Socorro Lady Warriors (16-5, 1-0) traveled to No. 10 Hot Springs (10-10, 0-1) for its district opener and came away with a 63-41 victory Tuesday, Feb 2.
Socorro coach Joseph Garcia was concerned going into the district matchup.
“This is a good team and they’re ranked. I don’t remember the last time they were ranked. They beat Deming bad earlier in the year and lost to undefeated Cliff by only four points.
Socorro got off to 12-4 start with senior Roxanne Silva providing nine points. Kianna Gonzalez added a three-pointer. With Socorro playing a full-court trap defense, Hot Springs scored its first points with 4:45 left in the first quarter. Hot Springs scored six straight points, but Socorro point guard Tristen Peralta drove the lane for a layup as the first-quarter buzzer sounded to give the Warriors a 16-10 lead.

In the second quarter, Hot Springs still tried to defend Socorro with its man-ot-man defense, but to little avail. Socorro’s defense began to wear down Hot Springs, forcing numerous turnovers and steals for easy layups. Silva poured in 20 points to help the Lady Warriors to a 31-19 halftime lead.
Socorro extended its margin in the third quarter. Midway through the quarter, Jaden Jones, Samantha Sedillo, Jones and Jasmyn Jaramillo scored on consecutive layups to help the Lady Warriors to a 49-28 lead.
Garcia, though, was not pleased because his team had some ballhandling problems.
“We had not been turning it over since earlier in the year,” Garcia said. “It cost us in some games. That’s something we will work hard on tomorrow in practice.
“A win is a win. In district, this is a good way to start. Friday, we go to Cobre. There’s one we can’t stumble on either. We’ll be prepared for that.”
Hot Springs coach Walt Sanchez wasn’t too happy either.
“It’s a situation where they were not ready to play and Socorro did a heck of a job. Garcia always has his team ready to play. I can’t speak enough about Silva.
“ I don’t know if there’s anyone on our boys club that can guard her. She’s a special player and gave us headaches. She’s just tough and gave us a lot of problems. Socorro’s defensive pressure gave us a lot of problems too.”
Silva finished with 32 points, Jones added 10, Brittany McDaniel added eight points and Samantha Sedillo had six. Sam Trujillo had 14 for Hot Springs. Socorro will be at Cobre Friday and will return home Tuesday to play Hatch Valley.

Photo: The Socorro girls basketball tean had no problem winning its district opener at Hot Springs. (Pictured: Socorro junior Samantha Sedillo)

Lady Warriors Romp

Socorro Boys End Six-Game Losing Streak By Beating Hot Springs

By Michael Olguin Jr.
For the Mountain Mail

SOCORRO -- Coach Lawrence Baca has been optimistic about the young Socorro boys basketball team as of late, even with a six-game losing streak heading into their first district 3-3A matchup Tuesday night.
Socorro snapped its losing streak against the Hot Springs Tigers Tuesday night with a 79-53 win. Last Friday, the Warriors fell to the Valencia Jaguars, 57-51, followed by a 75-63 Saturday night loss to the Belen Eagles
“It does feel good to get back in the winning column,” Baca said. “The regular season was tough and it was good preparation for the remainder of the season,”
Socorro will continue their pursuit of a district championship on Friday, Feb. 5 when it hosts the winless Cobre Indians in the Warrior Dome. The Warriors will then hit the road to Hatch Valley on Tuesday, Feb. 9 to take on the Bears.
The Warriors look to be the odds-on favorites in District 3. District 3-3A has a combined 19-47 record this season including the Warriors’ 7-13 record. Heading into Tuesday night’s game, the Tigers (8-11) had the best overall record in the district, but the Warriors showed they were the better team.
“I don’t think it is going to be any where near as tough as our regular season schedule,” Baca said of District 3-3A play. “We still need to stay focused and do our thing. We can’t have any lapses and we need to do what we need to do to get ready for the post season.”
Tuesday night the Warriors handled the Tigers with ease. Socorro jumped out to an early first quarter lead and never trailed. Socorro led 36-23 at halftime. With the Warriors up 74-41 in the fourth quarter, Baca rested his starters and allowed every Warrior player to see playing time.
Junior Jared Marquez had 20 points followed by senior Erik Garcia with 19.
Friday night, former head coach Dominick Romero paid a visit to the Warrior Dome where he was able to turn a struggling Warrior program into district champions. Both Baca and JV coach Robert Mata were picked by Romero to assist him during his four-year stay in Socorro.
“It was a good experience, I have a lot of respect for him (Romero), I have learned a lot from him and he got me into coaching,” Baca said of Romero. “It was kind of weird because we use a lot of the same stuff he used in Socorro.”
“I think we are two evenly matched teams and that Socorro has a solid team this year,” said Romero. “They will do well in district and make another deep run at state.”
The game was a close back-and-forth game with the Warriors having a 27-26 halftime lead.
The Jaguars (7-14) took control of the game in the third quarter, outscoring the Warriors by eight.
Valencia maintained control in the fourth quarter giving the Warriors their fifth straight loss.
Garcia led the Warriors with 13 points and five assists. Senior Andrew Contreras contributed 12 points and seven rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the floor. Junior Zach Esquivel rounded of the Warrior scoring with 10 points. The Jaguar defense was able to hold leading scorer Marquez to just 5 points.
The Belen-Socorro rivalry has been ongoing for decades and has included many heated, close battles in almost every sport. Saturday night was no exception. The Warriors looked to have an early advantage in the first quarter taking an early 19-15 first quarter lead behind three, three-pointed from Marquez.
Belen countered, going on an 11-2 run to take a 26-21 lead in the second quarter. Three more three-pointers by Marquez gave the Warriors the lead once again at 30-28.
The Eagles went an anther 10-0 run, this time giving them the lead for good. Belen led the rest of the game and took a 75-63 win.
“This was another one of the close competitive games and we just came out on the short end of the stick,” said Baca.
Marquez led the Warriors with 18 points followed by Esquivel with 12 and Contreras had 10 points and seven rebounds.

Socorro Boys End Six-Game Losing Streak By Beating Hot Springs

Magdalena Girls Remain Unbeaten, Rolls Past Menaul

By Nicky Romero
For the Mountain Mail

MAGDALENA – The third-ranked Magdalena Steers (16-0, 5-0) remained undefeated by beating district foe Menaul (13-6, 3-2) 69-36 on Jan. 30.
Coach Wally Sanchez and his team were glad to get back to playing again after a number of games had been postponed or canceled recently. Sanchez felt his team being a “little bit flat.”
Magdalena opened the first quarter with balanced scoring and full-court pressing. Nicole Hardy, Camille Mansell and Kameron Armstrong contributed four points or more as Magdalena raced to a 17-5 lead.
The Lady Steers built their margin to 28-15 at halftime as Magdalena’s defense kept Menaul’s top scoring threat Haleigh Glass away from the basket and in early foul trouble.
“The first quarter we looked pretty good and then we let it go to our head,” Sanchez said. “We started getting sloppy and throwing the ball away. We started substituting. Some of the girls needed a wakeup call and they responded. The kids that went in there did a good job, even added a few extra points.”
Magdalena’s starters in the third quarter and responded too. Karly Chavez (10 points) and Nicole Hardy (eight points) led the way with their scoring and defense. The Lady Steers outscored the Lady Panthers 26-4 in the quarter to build their lead to 54-20.
Sanchez substituted freely in the fourth quarter as the Lady Steers cruised to the win.
Saanchez told his players: “In the third quarter, you play some defense and you’ll be in there until you’re tired. We stepped it up a couple of notches and took it to them.
“I got a great feel for this team. I think this team can go a long way. We’ve started in district playing pretty tough. We’ve just got to come every night to play and not get surprised by one of these other teams.”
Menaul’s first-year coach Elijah Shackelford said: “We handled their pressure better than they thought. We just didn’t have the bodies to keep up with the constant barrage of players that they sent at us. We’re a young team, so it’s a learning process.”
Shackleford commented on the rematch, which will be the last game of the regular season later this month.
“Hopefully, we’ll gain a little bit more on them. Magdalena is a quality team with a nice long tradition. We’re just trying to start and catch up with these types of teams.”
Magdalena had four players in double figures – Keanda Chavez (16 points), Hardy (14 points), Karly Chavez (11 points) and Camille Mansell (10 points).
Glass had 11 points to lead Menaul.
On Jan. 29, Magdalena defeated Ramah 79-34.
The Lady Steers will be home against Temple Baptist on Feb. 4 and against the Bosque School on Feb. 6. On Feb. 9, they will play at the Alamo Navajo School.

Magdalena Girls Remain Unbeaten, Rolls Past Menaul

Steers Rebound With Victory

By Nicky Romero
For the Mountain Mail

MAGDALENA – The Magdalena Steers (10-4, 4-1) dealt the Menaul Panthers (14-5, 4-1) their first district loss, winning 58-34 on Jan. 30.
The previous night, Magdalena fell to Ramah 56-55 and on Feb. 2, the Steers defeated Mountainair 54-16 in a makeup game.
In Saturday’s game against Menaul, the Steers sprinted to an 18-3 lead and never looked back. Reg Peralto led the assault with 12 points, including two threes and Ryan Alguirre hit a three-pointer as Magdalena led 23-5 after the first quarter.
Magdalena coach Jory Mirabal, obviously, was happy about the fast start.
“I thought the kids did a good job of coming out and making adjustments based on the game last night,” Mirabal said. “We had a hard loss. The kids knew better with the silly mistakes we made and tonight was evident in making those adjustments. So I give all the credit to our boys.”
Magdalena continued its tight defensive play in the second quarter, holding Menaul to five points and Peralto continued his hot shooting with seven more points as the Steers led 35-10 at halftime.
The Steers kept up the defensive pressure, holding Menaul to four points in the third quarter. Mirabal substituted freely in the fourth quarter as the Steers rolled to the win.
After the game, Mirabal said, “Tonight we played a tougher team than we played last night. We just played solid basketball. In 24 hours, we looked like a different team. Mentally, we just came in more focused.”
Mirabal liked the play of Peralto.
“Reg is a leader. When he steps up and fills that role, we’re a tough team. The other kids feed off his leadership.
Menaul coach Kelvin Scarborough, a former point guard for the New Mexico Lobos, complimented Magdalena’s play.
“They just got on us in the first half. They took us out mentally, emotionally and they were more physical and quicker to the ball,” he said. “It was an uphill battle for the rest of the game.”
Scarborough also talked about his team.
“I told them everybody’s going to have a bad game. This was our bad game and put it behind us,” Scarborough said.
“We’ll play them again on our Senior Night so that might be good because it might be for the district championship. So right now, you have to take care of your home court and they took care of their home court tonight.”
Peralto led Magdalena with 24 points and Daniel Hand and Brice Milligan added nine points each. Alguirre and Abie Pino had six points each. Jayseph Griego had 14 points to lead Menaul.
Magdalena plays Temple Baptist at home on Thursday and at the Alamo on Feb. 9.

Steers Rebound With Victory

Sylvia Quibbles At State Of The Union Speech

Sylvia
By Anne Sullivan

““Do you think I’m fat?” Sylvia asked.
Though it was early morning, I was fully aware that this was a loaded question. As I stared at Sylvia’s rotund body stuffed into her inside dogbed, I realized that tears could well be the result of a totally honest answer.
“Why do you ask?” I played for time, hoping to distract her.
“Well,” said Sylvia, taking a deep breath, “when we were watching the President’s State of the Union Address the other night, he introduced his wife, Michelle Obama, and said she was working against obese children.”
“I think what he meant was that she was against obesity in children, not against the children themselves.”
“Oh. Well, do you think I’m fat?” Sylvia asked again, pinning me with her eyes.
“I suppose you and I could both afford to lose a pound or two,” I replied in as neutral a voice as I could muster.
“Oh, I see,” said Sylvia, plunking herself down with her back to me.
Seeking to change the subject, I asked, “Did anything else about President Obama’s speech strike you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, something did.” She sat up and looked at me to say, “President Obama talked a lot about people, about what they had done, what they should do and how they were going to work together. BUT he never said a word about dogs. Didn’t he know that millions of dogs all over America were listening to his speech? Come to think of it, I didn’t see Bo in the audience. Wasn’t he invited?”
“I shouldn’t think so. I doubt if even Fala went to President Roosevelt’s speeches.”
“I’ll bet he went to his Fireside Chats. And what about that dog of Nixon’s? Anyhow a little thing like not being invited shouldn’t have stopped Bo. It didn’t stop that silly couple that wanted to be on a Reality show from going to the Obamas’ State Party last month. Bo could have disguised himself and gotten through security easily.”
“Maybe Bo didn’t want to hear the speech. After all, he’s just a puppy,” I pointed out. “He might have found it boring.”
“It’s never too soon to get serious about life and keep abreast of what’s going on in the world,” proclaimed Good Citizen Sylvia.
“You might tell that to Gordo,” I said, looking out the window to see my calico cat bumping in and out of snowdrifts with no visible purpose in mind.
Oddly enough Sylvia defended Gordo. “He has the disadvantage of not being allowed in the house because of your allergy so he can’t watch TV. You could, of course, fix him up with a small TV in his apartment under the house.”
“I think not. He’d probably watch junk and soap operas and then I’d have to take his TV privileges away from him.”
Sylvia was silent after this for so long I was sure she was asleep. I used the time to enjoy reading one of the books I’d received for Christmas.
Like a Jack-in-the-Box Sylvia’s head suddenly popped out of her bed. “You didn’t answer my question. Do you think I’m too fat?”
“That’s something I don’t spend much time thinking about,” I said from behind my book. “I’m much to busy for that. I need to study. I have a test in Fire Class tomorrow.”
“Coward,” whispered Sylvia, followed by, “And, now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to go out and bark.”

Sylvia Quibbles At State Of The Union Speech

Quemado: Senior Center And Valentine Party

Quemado News
By Debbie Leschner
For the Mountain Mail

The Quemado Senior Center Pool Tournament will be at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9 along with a “Clean The Closet” craft day. A movie with popcorn will be Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. The movie is “Night in Rondanthe.”
Datil seniors will join Quemado seniors on Thursday, Feb. 11, for a Valentine Party. Quilting will still take place on Thursday. Come exercise on Fridays to a One Mile walk video. Lunch for the week will be Monday – Salsa chicken, Tuesday – Taco soup with flour tortilla, Wednesday – Chicken fried steak Thursday – Swiss steak and Friday – Bean burrito supreme with red chile. Please call the center at 773-4820 to make your reservations.
For information on the February Men's Fellowship Breakfast in the Cowboy Church off Highway 32 near Quemado , please call 773-4739.

The Quemado Homecoming celebration took place on Friday, Jan. 29, where Queen Mia Cauzza and King Manuel Garcia were crowned. Also in the royal court are Princess Arissa Klumker and Prince Garret Williams. In other school news, spring pictures will be taken on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
Quemado District Basketball games will see varsity, junior varsity and girls varsity, junior varsity basketball teams playing Cliff on Thursday, Feb. 11 at 4 p.m. On Saturday, Feb. 13, Quemado will play against Reserve at home at 4 p.m.
Catron County Democratic Party will be having a meeting Saturday, Feb. 13 at 1:30 p.m. in Reserve at the County Courthouse. For information contact Gary Clauss at 575-539-2044 or Cindy Wasserburger 575-533-6917.
Santo Nino Church will be holding their Fundraiser Bingo on Sunday, Feb. 14 at 1 p.m. in the Reserve Community Center. For information contact Flora Najar at 575-533- 6389.

Photo: Manuel Garcia and Mia Cauzza recently were named homecoming king and queen at Quemado High School.

Quemado: Senior Center And Valentine Party