OBITUARY: Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee
Sept. 6, 1925-March 19,2010

Robert "Bob" E. Lee, 84, passed away on Friday, March 19, 2010 in Belen, NM. He was born September 6, 1925 in Denton, Texas to Charles and Ruth (Chapman) Lee. Bob served in the US Navy during WWII and was a rancher in the Datil area for many years. He is preceded in death by his wife, Anah Grace (Heckman) Lee. He is survived by his sons: Dan Lee and wife, Cyndi of Pie Town; and John Lee of Datil; daughters: Carol Lee of Hondo, Texas; Becky Hansen and husband, Mike of Utopia, Texas; Mary Hudson and husband, Melvin of Quemado; Nancy Hammons of Buchanan Dam, Texas; and Susan Sanders and husband, Buck of Datil; sisters: Betty Jo Cobb of Midland, Texas; and Theresa Glidden of Estes Park, CO; 18 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren; and 1 great great grandchild. Memorial Services will be held on Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at the Datil Baptist Church with Rev. John Sirman officiating. Inurnment will be in the Juniper Haven Cemetery in Pie Town. Cremation arrangements are under the care of Steadman-Hall Funeral Home, 309 Garfield, Socorro, NM. 87801. (575) 835-1530

OBITUARY: Robert E. Lee

Magdalena Marshal's Blotter

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

Mar. 3
An officer was called at 5:30 p.m. to 14 miles north on Highway 169 where a subject was passed out on the roadway. The subject was arrested for being intoxicated and charged in Magdalena Municipal Court.

Mar. 4
An officer stopped a vehicle at 8:30 p.m. at First Street and Kelly Road. During the stop, two female subjects were arrested on outstanding arrest warrants from Socorro Magistrate Court. The driver was charged with driving on a suspended or revoked license.

Mar. 8
An officer stopped a vehicle at 9:20 p.m. for speeding on First Street. The driver was arrested for driving on a suspended or revoked license, and on an outstanding arrest warrant from Bernalillo County District Court. During the arrest a controlled substance was found on the subject, and in the vehicle. The vehicle was impounded, and the suspect charged with possession.

Mar. 9
Officers from New Mexico Game and Fish, the Marshal’s office, and volunteer citizens conducted a grid search at 9:30 a.m. for a missing female near mile marker 2 on Highway 169. Several items were located, including a possible murder weapon. The body of a female was found in 1994 at that location. The search was conducted after DNA was submitted to a federal crime lab with assistance from the FBI out of Albuquerque.

Mar. 11
An officer was called at 12:28 p.m. to a rollover accident on Forest Road 354 north of Magdalena. The driver was treated by Magdalena EMS and transported to Socorro General Hospital. The driver was charged with several crimes by New Mexico State Police, which included three felonies and a DWI. Two other juveniles and one adult were injured in the accident and treated at Socorro General Hospital.

Mar. 13
An officer took a criminal fraud report in the amount of $5,000 at about 5 p.m. The officer is attempting to get an arrest warrant for the defendant, who is residing in Albuquerque.

Magdalena Marshal's Blotter

Socorro County Sheriff's Blotter

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

Feb.28
An officer noticed a vehicle on Interstate 25 with a burned out tail light at 2 a.m., and initiated a traffic stop, but the driver failed to pull over. The vehicle was pursued from the interstate into the city, and finally pulled over on Bullock Avenue. The officer detected an odor of burnt marijuana emitting form the vehicle, and noticed that the driver had red, bloodshot eyes, and had trouble making complete sentences. The driver was placed under arrest, and refused to submit to a blood draw. Next stop: the county jail.

Vehicle 1 was southbound on Box Canyon Road at 4:30 p.m. when it rounded a curve and met vehicle 2. Vehicle 1 struck vehicle 2, causing damage to both vehicles. Vehicle 2 had to be towed form the scene, but vehicle 1 was drivable.

An officer was dispatched at 5 p.m. to Veguita, where the victim reported that the suspect got into an argument with him, and produced a weapon, firing it in his direction. Contact was made after the suspect ran from the officer and entered a residence. He claimed that he did not mean to fire the weapon and that it went off accidently. It was learned that the suspect had a warrant for his arrest. He was arrested and transported to the detention center. The weapon was logged into evidence.

Mar. 1
A vehicle was westbound on Bullock Avenue at 7:20 a.m. when another vehicle was exiting a business and failed to yield to traffic. It was struck by the westbound vehicle when it entered the roadway, causing moderate damage to both.

Vehicles 1 and 2 were eastbound on Highway 380 at 9:30 a.m. Vehicle 2 was hauling items in the bed on the truck. One of the items fell off the truck and vehicle 1 ran over the item, causing damage to its undercarriage. Vehicle 2 drove off.

A San Antonio man came to the Sheriff’s Department at 10 a.m., saying that he learned that there was a warrant for his arrest. He then produced an order to quash the warrant.

Socorro County Sheriff's Blotter

EDITORIAL: Members can not show apathy toward the SEC

By John Severance
Editor

It’s been a week since the Socorro Electric Cooperative unveiled proposed bylaw changes on its web site (http://www.socorroelectric.com).
On Saturday, the SEC will hold an informational meeting at Finley Gym for its member-owners to discuss the upcoming resolutions that will be voted on April 17 at the annual meeting at the same facility.
Trustee Donald Wolberg, who attended all the committee meetings and has been an advocate for trying to turn around the SEC trustee image, said the process was pure when it came to the discussion and the wording of the proposed resolutions.
Wolberg insisted there have been no shenanigans or ulterior motives when the committee met to come up with the board-sponsored resolutions. And Wolberg also is well aware that member-owners may have other views besides the status quo and what members in District 3 and District 5 passed.
The process might have been pure and I am all for democracy and giving people choices.
But it does not take much brainpower to realize that the majority of the SEC trustees would like nothing better than to keep business as usual.
The biggest issue that members will vote on will concern the number of trustees on the board. Originally, the two options were to keep the same amount at 11 or a member-sponsored resolution of having five trustees run the co-op. That sounds simple enough. But the board decided to give the members two more options. The other two options would be to have seven trustees or nine trustees.
With two more options, that would give the SEC a better chance of splitting the vote and keeping the status quo.
The board did the same thing with the trustee compensation issue. Originally, the two choices were for no change and the member-sponsored resolution called for a $10,000 limit on trustees and $15,000 for the president. The board added an Option C, which would be a $20,000 limit for trustees and a $25,000 for the president.
But here is the real kicker that indicates to me the majority of the SEC trustees want to keep things the same.
When it comes to the resolution about how the board conducts its business, check out Option A, which is a board-sponsored resolution.
It reads: “First item of business at meetings of the board shall allow members and the press to be present and address the board after which members and the press must leave while the Board conducts its business.”
The member-sponsored resolution, passed in District 3 and District 5, states that this meeting shall be open to member/owners and representatives of the press with timely notice of the meeting advertised in monthly bill mailings and local newspapers. A section of the meeting agenda shall be reserved for member participation during which member/owners may address the Board without prior approval of the board.
When the board unveiled its changes, the committee split the member resolution into two parts on the ballot. So instead of two options on this resolution, there are now three.
There should be plenty of questions to be asked of the trustees at Saturday’s informational meeting. And they will have answers. Whether members like the answers remains to be seen.
But the most important meeting members have to attend is the annual one in April. That is when they can decide how their co-op is run. And it’s important for the members to make informed decisions.
It’s also imperative the members show up and vote because if not enough do, there will not be a quorum and the co-op will keep the status quo.
And if that happens, the members have nobody to blame but themselves.

EDITORIAL: Members can not show apathy toward the SEC

Si! Hispanic Is Not A Race

Magdalena Potluck
By Margaret Wiltshire

The 2010 Census, a formal organization of our government, has made it clear that “Hispanic” is not a racial designation. It also made it clear that Hispanics are a “people of interest”. European competition over the Americas is not a dead issue.
According to DNA anthropologists, if you are not African you are a mutation of the African. We are one people, but some of us fell further from the tree.
In 1963, I had to be very tactful telling my Conservative mom I needed to take Sociology 101. I confessed, “yes, Mom, I think my instructor is a liberal.” What I didn’t say, was she was one of the best teachers I ever had. I was introduced to a wonderful world of study, people.
It was an “A” that my Mom didn’t celebrate. I didn’t tell her about the final. Not all tests then were multiple choice, nor were they graded by machines. I had to write a ten page paper on one of three subjects. I knew nothing of two of them and that would mean a lot of research and reading the week before test week. One was made for me, but dare I do it?
“How Could the Extreme Right Take Over the United States?” Never taking orders well, I wrote a short story with historical references. A plus.
Has that happened, am I a Jules Verne? No. Much of what I said has been and is being tried now. The truth is the Extreme Right has not taken over the United States, corporations have.
If you think that the Extreme Right and Corporations are the same thing. Well, I would give you a B. Corporations will never hand the country over to the Extreme Right, Conservatives or Republicans. We probably agree they are not going to hand it over to Liberals, Democrats and Environmentalists.
It seems to me now that my Economics teacher had his finger on the pulse. He was from India and personally believed in socialized economics. When he went into Canada to renew his visa he was denied re-entry to the US. He taught an introduction to all forms of economics and did not try to prove to us his point of view. I guess the problem was he said there were all kinds of economics and Capitalism is just one of many.
In 1963, he pointed out how well Capitalism was working for U.S. He hinted there could be problems down the road. There were a lot of heated student-teacher arguments in that class. Perhaps someone “reported” him.
In the 1970s, President Jimmy Carter gave a wonderful but difficult speech. Carter’s speech was about the American people, energy and capitalism. He warned we were seeing ourselves by what we own instead of by what we do. Don’t remember, or too young? You can hear most of his speech in extra features of “Capitalism, a Love Story.”
This film essay is one of Michael Moore’s best and could hold interest for most Americans.
Essays give us something to think about and we don’t have to swallow them whole or even in part. The Opinion Page is a page of essays, newspaper style.
In the 1980s, Unions were brought down. Originally, Unions saved thousands of lives. However, they had become Big Business. If management behaved better then slave owners, I would not be a union supporter. Unfortunately, all that trickles down from management is blood, sweat and tears and it is not theirs.
By the 1990s, you could not expect to get a decent raise for good work and loyal years. Your pension may have been sold off. Upward mobility was taking a strong hit from the corporate caste system. Benefits were eliminated for millions as they became “sub-contractors.” College costs were soaring and the poor were becoming “indentured” if they tried to better themselves with student loans.
We were told to save for retirement ourselves, buy our own health care and consider technical schools in service fields because we weren’t building much. Then refinance our homes for spending cash. If not, get a credit card, ‘cause you are going to buy what other countries sell.
Right jab or a left jab as long as we fight each other the multi-national corporations win.
Michael Moore has a labor and union orientation. His essays are from his experience and research. My essays come from my studies and experiences.
No one’s opinion has more value then yours.

Margaret Wiltshire can be contacted at Wshireoldadobe@yahoo.com. Her views do not necessarily represent those of the Mountain Mail.

Si! Hispanic Is Not A Race

Spring forward, into political twilight

Leftish Drivel
By Paul Krza

This year, spring arrived in Socorro at almost exactly the same time as snowflakes blew in from the north, mixing with blossoms tossed from apricot and plum trees. Strange, but true.
Not many hours later, political weather shifted and something else strange happened -- Congress actually passed healthcare reform!
That’s the way it is, I guess. What you see is not always what you get. Welcome, to our Twilight-Zone world, as Rod Serling said, “a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind ... a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas.”
I’ve noticed numerous examples of this wackiness, both political and otherwise, which I’ve tucked into my mind shadows or stuffed into files. With apologies to Mr. Ripley, here’s my list of what you can believe -- or not.
• I’ll start out with something really outrageous (or maybe not) that I found in the Albuquerque Journal obits, where you learn all sorts of things about New Mexico. The person who died was a former Sandia Labs engineer, where he worked on a small-scale nuke reactor.
But more bizarre was his earlier research, according to the obit, “on how high to drop fake palm trees outfitted with listening devices ... used during the Viet nam War ... along the Ho Chi Minh trail so that we could hear what the North Vietnamese were saying.”
Googling this yielded nothing, but then again, it was probably really secret stuff.
Perhaps this was the forerunner of disguised cell towers.
• But if you think that’s outrageous and weird, how about this:
Back in the day, the guys (and they virtually were all males) who put vinyl on turntables were called “disc jockeys” who chattered about the music. Nobody cared about their political opinions. Both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are former disc jockeys, but for some strange reason some people nowadays actually take seriously what they have to say.
• More weird stuff, this time on the road. Just off I-25 in Albuquerque, past the Big I, the new Carpenters Training Center is going up, made, appropriately, of wood. No, wait! The main features are ... lots of concrete, and glass!
• Speaking of wood, and trees, well, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. In what could be a Ripley’s entry from New Mexico, you may have noticed that the timber management officer for the New Mexico Forestry Office is Nick Smokovich of Socorro. His boss is Butch Blazer, Forestry director.
• OK, let’s get back to politics, with a quiz: What government-funded program attempts to extend its services to everyone, doesn’t make a profit and has an alleged goal of making life better for all involved? That’s easy, the tea-bag right would say -- it’s that communistic, big-brother healthcare reform pushed by Obama.
Wrong. I’m talking about the Socorro Electric Cooperative, our friendly local electric provider that uses federal money, is owned by locals (some call that “socialism”) and goes out of its way to connect everybody. In the January issue of Enchantment, the co-op paper, we learned that “building 90 miles of line to electrify government buildings, a few stock wells and a ranch owned by a Texas family might not make sense to some folks, but that’s the typical role of electric cooperatives.” The Texan, by the way, is a Houston lawyer with a ranch at Beaverhead in Catron County.
A great idea, this rural electrification, proposed and enacted by ... President Franklin Roosevelt, part of the New Deal, then and now reviled by some (see tea bag, above) as a socialist plot. Likewise, extending healthcare to all humans across the country has to be as important as an electric pole in every backyard, don’t you think?
• Speaking of Catron, I noticed two candidates in the Reserve election actually campaigned on bringing “grants” to the town. Nothing wrong with that, except something was missing -- where those grants came from. In Catron County, “federal” is never used when money arrives, only mysteriously-sourced “grants.”
• Back again, to healthcare reform. Rush, Glenn and the boys in the Republican club tried to derail it, but failed. Who won it? A woman: Nancy Pelosi, reviled by the teabag/GOP fringe as an evil character. Turns out she’s a hard-charging, hard-working savvy legislator, described accurately as a “strong speaker.” Once upon a time, it wasn’t strange to give high marks to government folks who got things done.
Oh -- as for our cool weather, consider the “Arctic Oscillation,” which Earthweek Diary in the Journal notes occurred in December and was a “rare disruption of Northern Hemisphere circulation ... (that) dislodged almost all of the frigid air around the Arctic, sending it thousands of miles to the south.”
This, of course, made it difficult to brew tea, thus leading to healthcare reform. Really.

Paul Krza lives in Socorro where he is a writer. He’s never been on the government payroll except when the Army paid him for two years.

Spring forward, into political twilight

New Mexico Roads Rank Fourth In Nation

Mountain Mail reports

New Mexico has ranked fourth in a recent Reader’s Digest publication noting the best roads in America. According to a press release form the New Mexico Dept. of Transportation, the magazine article used data from the Federal Highway Administration to determine rankings based on safety, congestion and conditions of roads and bridges in each state.
Kansas, Wisconsin and Montana preceded New Mexico in the list and Utah rounded out the top five. Transportation Secretary Gary L.J. Girón said his department strives to improve mobility throughout the state.
“Our transportation infrastructure has been recognized continuously over the last several years for its smoothness and performance,” Girón said. “In addition, our roadways have become increasingly safer.”
The Reader’s Digest article added that New Mexico also ranked 19th in the category of the country’s most dangerous roads, including the top 10 deadliest for DWIs and speeding.

New Mexico Roads Rank Fourth In Nation

Teague Can’t Stand The Heat

From the Publisher
By Gary Jaramillo

You had to be vacationing on Pluto not to have noticed all of the boiling passion and craziness that surrounded the Healthcare question last week, and I have to say it scared me a little.
But now that we know the big stew is just about done and has been turned down to a slow simmer in order for all of the potatoes, carrots, onions and celery to soften and hopefully taste really good, we should all sit down and take a deep breath. Whether you like the Democrats’ recipe for stew or not, have a little taste, then make your decision as to whether it was put together by hamburger jocks or congressmen with the culinary skills of a Julia Child.
The puzzling part was that there were those (like Harry Teague) that stayed away from the stove and his party altogether because he couldn’t stand the heat. Yup. Never even put an apron on, and refused to chop one onion.
Heck, I understand that there were even a few courageous republicans in the kitchen everyday dipping a finger or two into the pot to at least have a taste and see how the stew was coming along. I suppose we’ve found out that Teague is a peanut butter and jelly congressman. He played it safe, and kept all of his action way over by the cupboards and fridge and never had to worry about getting burned.
There must have been peanut butter and jelly everywhere by the time Teague and the 33 other congressman who can’t or refused to cook, were finished making their messy sandwiches on the cool side of the kitchen with Boehner, Cantor, McCain and the like cheering them on.
It’s a little confusing when Mr. Teague explains in his press release that he knew from personal experience how horrible it was to live without health insurance when he was a young man, and that most of what is in the new healthcare bill is really good, but not good enough?
Isn’t a start better than the status quo?
You’d think Mr. Teague would love the idea that 32 million people would not have to live the nightmare he lived as a child? Saying that the bill was great, but not enough, and voting against it, showed a lack of courage and respect to the ideals of the party to which he is a member. At least the Republicans had the courage to say it was bunk from the beginning and every member stuck to their party’s ideals.
In the end, the die has been cast and either the greatest thing since peanut butter and jelly will not be a part of Harry’s legacy, or it could turn out that he could be one of the few people named in the history books that knew when to stay out of the kitchen. In any case, his next campaign cycle will be interesting for sure.
Whether you’re a D, I, R or the New Tea Thingy in this great country, the debate will and must continue because that is what moves our world forward. I hope that the ugliness and violence stops and the adults in this country perpetrating those dumb things finally realize that absolutely nothing gets done if some insist on acting like jackasses while our children sit and watch.

Teague Can’t Stand The Heat

Socorro Off To Good Start

By Nicky Romero
For The Mountain Mail

Socorro softball coach Gary Apodaca is looking forward to a much better season than last year. Last year, his team ended with a 13-14 record, but still qualified for the state tournament. They lost their only two games in the tournament.
So far this season, the team is off to a 7-4 record. The four losses came from Class 4A and Class 5A schools -- Eastwood El Paso, El Paso Jefferson, Espanola, and Grants.
Wins have come against Morenci High Arizona, Espanola, Estancia twice and Laguna-Acoma, which it has defeated three times.
The Lady Warriors placed third in the Grants/Laguna-Acoma Tournament this past weekend.
This year Apodaca, who is beginning his fifth year as head coach, is sounding much more optimistic.
“This year we're really looking forward to a much better season,” Apodaca said. “We finally have all the freshmen and eighth graders that we had four or five years ago. They are finally seniors so they're well-seasoned and more experienced. It's starting to show on the field so we're very happy with that.
“This year, we have Amberli Benavidez catching. We have Maureen Trujillo as our mainstay for pitching. Courtney Edmister is at first base. Vanessa Jojola is at second base. Gina Rico is at shortstop. Kristen Gonzales is at third base.”
“In the outfield, we have Brittany McDaniel who just came out a week ago because of basketball. Myra Acosta who will also be backing up at third base. Chantilly Gallegos, who will also be our backup pitcher, will play centerfield. Danielle Valadez will be our backup catcher, who stepped in quite well at the tournament this weekend. Amber Bennett will be our starting right fielder.”
“Ashley Pyke is an up and coming player and will be playing some at third base and outfield.”
Coach Rick Trujillo assists with the team and has been with the program for five years. His daughter and former four-year letterman with Apodaca, Natasha Trujillo, also assists for the first time this year.
Apodaca said, “Hopefully, we can continue our ways in winning and doing well.”

Pictured: The Socorro softball team. Front row (left to right): Savannah Padilla, Natiele Paz, Vanessa Jojola, Maria Alderete, Damianna Contreras. Middle row: Tasha Trujillo, Kyre Delcarlo, Maureen Trujillo, Kristen Gonzales, Amber Bennett, Chantilly Gallegos, Aston Monette, Steffany Sandoval. Back row: Coach Rick Trujillo, Jocelyn Carmona, Ashley Pyke, Courtney Edminster, Gina, Rice, Amberli Benavidez, Myra Acosta, Brittany McDaniel and Coach Gary Apodaca. Missing: Bryn Botko, Danielle Veladez.

Photo by John Severance

Socorro Off To Good Start

Lady Warriors Top Estancia

By Nicky Romero
For The Mountain Mail

The Lady Warriors Softball Team added another win to their record as they hosted and defeated the Class 2A Estancia Bears 15-5.
This was the second win against Estancia in the last week. It was also Socorro's highest scoring game this season.
“ I think we started off kind of slow,” Apodaca said. “We warmed the bats pretty much in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings. We hit the ball very good today. We did some good base running. Once our defense warmed up, we did very well. I was proud of the team.”

Socorro did start off slow, falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning.
Socorro quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the inning. Courtney Edmister hit a double to right center field scoring Kristen Gonzales who had walked. Brittney McDaniel also hit a double to center field and Edmister scored the tying run. Gina Rico singled down the right field line to bring in McDaniel and give her team a 3-2 lead.
Estancia tied the game in the third inning. But the bottom of this inning proved to be Socorro's big inning. McDaniel opened the inning with a standup triple to center field. She later scored on a wild pitch.
The Lady Warriors loaded up the bases and Liann Carrillo scored on a wild pitch. Pitcher Maureen Trujillo helped her cause by hitting a sharp single to center field to bring in two more runs.
With two outs in the third inning, Gonzales hit a triple and scored Vanessa Jojola from second base. Gonzales scored on a wild pitch for the last run of the inning. This gave Socorro a 9-3 cushion.
Trujillo allowed six hits and finished with nine strikeouts.
“I was pleased with Maureen,” Apodaca said. She pitched well and threw a good game.”
Socorro will be playing a double header at home Thursday against Laguna starting at 3 p.m.

Pictured: Maureen Trujillo works in the first inning for Socorro against Estancia.

Photo by John Severance

Lady Warriors Top Estancia