News in brief

| The New Mexican and wire services

1/31/2008 - 2/1/08

DPS: Finding sex offenders easier

The Department of Public Safety has upgraded a state Web site to make it easier for residents to find sex offenders living nearby, according to a news release.

Residents can sign up to be notified if a convicted sex offender moves into their neighborhood, but they can search by address and find out if one does, using Google maps, where sex offenders live within a one-, three- or five-mile radius, the release says. Previously, residents could search using name, zip code, city or state.

All states must provide the same notification feature by 2009, the release says.

Sex offenders must notify their local sheriff's department within 10 days of changing addresses. The Department of Public Safety updates the Web site — nmsexoffender.com — daily.


Longer drilling ban sought

Johnny Micou, founder of the anti-drilling group Drilling Santa Fe, has asked the Santa Fe County Commission to extend it's three-month moratorium on oil and gas drilling.

The county called the moratorium Nov. 27 to give itself time to prepare new regulations after Tecton Energy announced intentions to drill for oil in the Galisteo Basin.

The moratorium is set to expire at the end of February, but Micou is asking the county to extend it through July, when Gov. Bill Richardson's six-month ban on drilling will expire. Commission Chairman Jack Sullivan said the commission will consider Micou's request this month.


Ex-councilor opposes design

Former City Councilor Steven Farber, who pushed to limit building heights in Santa Fe historic zones in the 1990s, is urging county commissioners to reduce the size of the proposed 52-foot-high courthouse complex.

"The proposed courthouse is simply too high, too large, too intrusive, and too massive for its location," he wrote in a letter to the commissioners Thursday.

Farber, a lawyer who served on the City Council from 1992 to 1996, said he wrote the amendment that gave the Historic Design Review Board discretion over heights and then helped craft the specific height restrictions.

The state Court of Appeals upheld the ordinance in a challenge from developer Henry Mandel, Farber said. He also disputes the contention by some county commissioners that the county is exempt from city zoning statutes due to a state Supreme Court ruling in the "pump-jack case." Farber said that decision was limited to "state land."


Officer accused of killing bobcat

The state Department of Game and Fish has filed charges against an off-duty conservation officer, alleging he was involved in the illegal killing of a bobcat Jan. 25 near Raton.

Officer Levi Irwin, 26, allegedly shot and killed a bobcat from a vehicle while the animal was feeding on a road-killed deer within the right-of-way of N.M. 555 west of Raton, according to Department of Game and Fish officials. Shooting from a vehicle and shooting a protected animal in a highway right-of-way are illegal in New Mexico. Irwin has not been arraigned on either charge.

Reports said Irwin, a two-year department employee, admitted shooting the bobcat in the right-of-way from his personal vehicle.