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Local News

  • Sheehey's main goal: Boosting retail

    Third in a three-part series

    Municipal Judge Alan Kirk swore in new councilors Steve Girrens, Kristin Henderson and Pete Sheehey, along with new county clerk Sharon Stover last week.

    The priorities each of the new councilors has established as they prepare to take up the reins may point to some shifting alliances as the council is reformulated after the first of the year and it may also shed some light on how these new councilors will reshape local governance during the next four years.

    Pete Sheehey
    “The thing that I was talking about all through the campaign and people were telling me about as I was knocking on doors was priorities,” Sheehey said. “Can we really afford all the things we’ve committed to and are they the most important things that we should be spending our money on?”

    Sheehey’s priorities are public safety, infrastructure and support for public education, economic development and recreational amenities — in that order. He asserts that most of the people he has talked to have similar priorities and questions whether the previous council followed those priorities when they decided on CIP funding.

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  • Lujan service draws hundreds

    A memorial service for House Speaker Ben Luján drew hundreds of politicians of all stripes to the state Capitol. About 400 people honored the 77-year-old, during Thursday’s service in the Capitol rotunda. Luján died of lung cancer Dec. 18. Representatives from Los Alamos, including former Sen. Steve Stoddard and Representative-elect Stephanie Garcia Richard, attended the service. Former Gov. Bill Richardson called Luján a small, gentle guy, but a political giant. A second visitation and rosary will be tonight in Pojoaque. A funeral Mass is set for 9 a.m. Saturday at St. Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe, with interment to follow at Sagrado Corazón de Jesus Cemetery in Nambé. 

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  • Music program could benefit from bond issue

    If residents give the Los Alamos School District permission to purchase the next $20 million in general obligation bonds this January, Aspen Elementary School won’t be the only facility that will benefit. Los Alamos High School’s music wing may also get a serious revamp.

    According to an itemized list of projects set aside for the next round of bond funds, $400,000 has been set aside for redesigning the music wing.

    To Zane Meek, the high school’s band director, the money can’t come fast enough. Along with high school orchestra leader Michael Gyurik and choirmaster Jason Rutledge, the three have big plans for the money and how to use it, if voters give the bond issue a thumbs up.

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  • 1010 Central near fruition

    As work progresses on the new municipal building, the county is also moving closer to reaching agreement with a group of local businesses interested in developing commercial property on the municipal complex site.

    Known as 1010 Central, the prime location is on a parcel of land nestled between the municipal building and the Bradbury Science Museum.

    “The history of the 1010 project is very much related to the history of the municipal building project,” said outgoing Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation Executive Director Kevin Holsapple. LACDC is a member of the group negotiating with the county to purchase the 1010 Central property and will manage the development if the deal is finalized.

    When the old municipal building had to be demolished due to a lack of structural integrity, the LACDC was among those who urged the county to build a new municipal center in the commercial district.

    “The idea was that placing that activity in the middle of town would help be a catalyst for other activity to take shape around it that would help fill in, improve and densify that part of town, which is a big part of the downtown plan,” Holsapple said.

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  • Kirk leads Lobos past No. 8 Cincinnati

    CINCINNATI (AP) — Several games of stagnant offense finally caught up with No. 8 Cincinnati.
    Sean Kilpatrick had his shot swatted away just before the buzzer Thursday night, allowing New Mexico to hold on for a 55-54 victory that handed the Bearcats their first loss.
    And none of them was all that surprised.
    “The last two games, we’ve been in a (shooting) drought and it came down to that,” Kilpatrick said. “But we’ll get through it. You can’t go undefeated throughout the whole season.”
    Cincinnati (12-1) moved up to No. 8 this week — its highest ranking in nine years — and was trying to go 13-0 for only sixth time in school history. The Bearcats couldn’t salvage a tight game against a team known for knocking off top teams.
    The Lobos (13-1) have won six of their last seven games against ranked teams, leaving them 14-6 against the Top 25 during coach Steve Alford’s six seasons. They beat Connecticut earlier this season.
    Cincinnati’s loss left Duke, Michigan, Arizona and Wyoming as the only unbeaten teams in Division I.

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  • Today in History for December 28th
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  • Suspect in NM double homicide found dead

    ESPANOLA, N.M. (AP) — Authorities in Rio Arriba County say a man considered the prime suspect in a double homicide case in the community of Hernandez is dead.

    County Sheriff's officials say 20-year-old Tomas J. Sanchez was one of two people found dead inside a trailer that had been set on fire in Medanales last weekend.

    Sheriff Tommy Rodella told KRQE-TV that Sanchez was the top suspect in the Dec. 10 deaths of two Hernandez men.

    Rodella says 53-year-old Matthew Maestas and 47-year-old Joseph Eugene Valdez both were shot at least five times.

    Authorities say the men were found dead in Maestas's trailer home north of Espanola and the victims appear to have been targeted by someone they knew.

    They say deputies identified Sanchez as a suspect through tips and confidential sources.

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  • Desert Storm commander Norman Schwarzkopf dies

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Truth is, retired Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf didn't care much for his popular "Stormin' Norman" nickname.

    The seemingly no-nonsense Desert Storm commander's reputed temper with aides and subordinates supposedly earned him that rough-and-ready moniker. But others around the general, who died Thursday in Tampa, Fla., at age 78 from complications from pneumonia, knew him as a friendly, talkative and even jovial figure who preferred the somewhat milder sobriquet given by his troops: "The Bear."

    That one perhaps suited him better later in his life, when he supported various national causes and children's charities while eschewing the spotlight and resisting efforts to draft him to run for political office.

    He lived out a quiet retirement in Tampa, where he'd served his last military assignment and where an elementary school bearing his name is testament to his standing in the community.

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  • Ala. Gov: 'We Know of Six Tornados'

    Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley says officials aren't sure whether the state will qualify for federal aid to help with recovery from the Christmas Day tornado outbreak.

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  • Recurring meetings

    Recurring meetings

    The Atomic City Corvette Club meets at 6 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month at Time Out Pizza in White Rock. For more information, contact Chris Ortega at 672-9789.

    The Los Alamos Table Tennis Club meets from 7:30-10 p.m. Tuesdays; and from 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturdays, at the Betty Ehart Senior Center, lower level. On Tuesday, there is a fee of $2 per player. There is no charge on Saturday. For more information, contact Avadh Saxena at AVADH—S@hotmail.com or Ed Stein at 662-7472.

    The Lions Club meets at 84 Barcelona in White Rock on the first and third Thursdays. For more information, call 672-3300 or 672-9563.

    The Rotary Club of Los Alamos meets at 11:45 a.m. every Tuesday at the Dixie Girl restaurant.

    Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos meets Tuesdays from Noon-1 p.m. at the Masonic Lodge.  

    The Military Order of World Wars hosts a monthly dinner meeting  on the third Tuesday of each month. For more information, contact Lt. Col. Norm Wilson, USAF retired, at 662-9544.

    The Los Alamos Photography Club meets the third Tuesday of the month upstairs in the Fuller Lodge Art Center. The meetings are from 7-9 p.m. Annual dues are $12 per year. For more information, visit tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/la-photoclub/.

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