Judge: Gorman estate case 'wholly inadequate'

A judge has thrown out Joseph Sparks' claim he is owed half the late Taos artist R.C. Gorman's $30 million estate because they had a secret business partnership.

"There is a wholly inadequate factual basis upon which a rational jury could find there to have been a partnership between (Sparks) and R.C. Gorman," state District Judge John Paternoster of Raton wrote in a Dec. 28 letter to the lawyers in the case.

Gorman, a Navajo known for his images of American Indian women, died Nov. 3, 2005. Sparks said in a complaint lodged against the estate that he worked for Gorman for 19 years, producing oil pastels, acrylics on canvas and other artworks attributed to Gorman.

Sparks said Gorman promised him half of his estate plus a small house and 1 acre of land near Gorman's personal residence north of Taos, although Gorman's will specified Sparks would receive only $10,000. Gorman's longtime gallery director, Virginia Dooley, said Sparks did only "background work" for Gorman's paintings.


State starts offering nasal form of Narcon

The New Mexico Department of Health has started offering a nasal-spray form of Narcon, the drug that reverses a heroin overdose, to drug users, their families and friends.

The change should eliminate the risk of disease transmission with the hypodermic-needle form of administering Narcon and also increase the likelihood people will use the drug to treat overdoses, the department said in a news release.

Since the agency began its Narcon program in 2001, it has documented 451 cases of Narcon use and has trained 2,337 opiate users and their friends and families in how to use it. Heroin deaths dropped 21 percent from 2005 to 2006 while cocaine and methamphetamine deaths stayed the same, the department reported.

Department spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer said people who want to obtain Narcon for free should contact the department or one of its contractors.


Councilors consider neighborhood planning idea

City councilors on the Public Works Committee want to consider changes to Councilor Karen Heldmeyer's proposal that would give neighborhoods power to ask for restrictions on density, landscaping or other traits that she said would protect the character of an area.

Heldmeyer's ordinance proposal to create neighborhood conservation districts would allow property owners to designate their own boundaries and calls for a democratic process by which the affected individuals would vote on whether overlay restrictions are warranted.

The committee Monday night postponed making a recommendation on the proposal until next month. Councilor Matthew Ortiz said he wants to see clearer language on the part of the ordinance that calls for "substantial consensus" to create a district.


Columnist will give talk on foreign policy

Bill Stewart, who writes a weekly Sunday column for The New Mexican, will discuss U.S. foreign policy at this week's Santa Fe Council on International Relations luncheon.

A summary of Stewart's talk says "foreign policy under Bush has been a disaster. Our loss of prestige around the world amounts to a national calamity."

The former U.S. Foreign Service officer and Time magazine correspondent will speak after lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Santa Fe Hilton, 100 Sandoval St. The cost is $25 for council members and $32 for nonmembers. Students and teachers are free.