Former Kakawa partners at odds

The majority owner of a Santa Fe chocolate business is suing his former partner who, he says, tried to close the store, lay off the staff and sell off the equipment.

Peter Wolf, who says he owns 70 percent of Kakawa Chocolate House, says Mark Sciscenti, who owns the other 30 percent, owes him $300,000.

Kakawa, which continues to operate at 1050 Paseo de Peralta across from the Gerald Peters Gallery, specializes in chocolate drinks and confections. Sciscenti was the sole organizer of the business when it was incorporated in 2005, according to state records.

According to Wolf's complaint filed in state District Court on June 29, on June 1 Sciscenti "removed, embezzled and converted ... equipment, furniture, inventory, documents and records ... rendering it impossible for Kakawa to continue business operations." Sciscenti also told employees they were no longer needed and canceled the utilities and even the business license, "effectively shutting down Kakawa's business," the complaint says.

Although Wolf retrieved some of the equipment, the whereabouts of other equipment remains unknown, says the complaint by lawyer Randolph Felker of Santa Fe. Sciscenti, who has described himself as a "chocolate alchemist," has not been available for comment.

Ska band sued in fatal head-on crash

A brother of a man killed in a head-on wreck on Interstate 40 this year is suing one of the country's oldest active ska bands, claiming a driver for the band's producer is at fault.

Kevin Gassner of Kansas died March 30 west of Gallup when a van driven by Jeremy Patton of Norman, Okla., crossed the 46-foot-wide median while driving east and struck a west-bound car driven by Gassner.

According to a complaint for damages and wrongful death filed June 29 in state District Court in Santa Fe by lawyers David Berlin and Nancy Cronin of Albuquerque, Patton was working for Megalith Records, the producer for The Toasters. Berlin said he believes Patton was returning from a Toasters concert in California and possibly fell asleep at the wheel.

The band began performing ska, a Jamaican music genre, in New York City in 1981. Robert "Bucket" Hingley, founder of both the band and its record-producing firm, and lead guitar player and vocalist, is named as a defendant as are Patton, The Toasters, Megalith Records and the New Mexico Department of Transportation, which designed the roadway.

According to The Toaster's Web site, the band has been touring Italy with concerts in other European countries through September.

Tour company faces suit in death

Relatives of a California woman who died 5 1/2 months after being struck by a tour bus in Santa Fe last fall are suing the tour company, the driver and an insurance company.

According to the complaint filed in state District Court on Monday, Doreen Wood was hit at 10:50 p.m. Oct. 4 by a passenger bus owned by Follow the Sun Inc. and driven by Brian Claywell, both of Albuquerque, as she crossed West Alameda Street at Old Santa Fe Trail.

Claywell was north-bound and turning left from Old Santa Fe Trail onto West Alameda when the passenger bus struck Wood, knocked her down and dragged her 20 feet, says the complaint. It says Wood was treated at St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, then taken to California for several surgical procedures, multiple hospitalizations and home care with extensive monitoring and living assistance.

On March 22, the complaint says, Wood died from multiple organ failure, septic shock and other injuries and conditions that resulted from the collision. Frank Wood and Tamara Wood, described as Doreen Wood's next of kin, seek unspecified damages from Lancer Insurance Co., Claywell and Follow the Sun in the complaint by lawyers Brian Egolf Jr. and Slate Stern of Santa Fe. Rose Bleth, the sole director of Follow the Sun, declined comment.

Hearing set for pedestrian crossing

What sort of pedestrian crossing would you like to see at St. Francis Drive just north of Cerrillos Road? Overpass? Underpass? At-grade?

A city contractor will host a public meeting on the subject from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight at Alvord Elementary School, 551 Alarid St., just west of the Santa Fe Railyard on Paseo de Peralta.

According to a news release from Parametrix, which will conduct the open hearing, information will be presented on the preliminary engineering conditions and the potential environmental impacts, and conceptual sketches will be available on all crossing alternatives.

People who attended the last such meeting in February had widely divergent opinions of what should be built there to link the Santa Fe Railyard with the Acequia Madre Trail.

Trial set for football players

Four former football players from a Las Vegas, N.M., high school are scheduled to go to trial in October on charges of assaulting several other players with a broomstick during a football camp last summer.

Fourteen days have been set aside to try Michael Gallegos, Lucas Martinez, Marcus Gutierrez and Steven Garcia, beginning Oct. 14, said former District Attorney Henry Valdez, who is prosecuting the case for the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office in Las Vegas. That translates to nearly three weeks of trial in front of Judge Mark Macaron, a retired state District Court judge from Albuquerque, who will hear the case in Santa Fe, he said.

Two other players have pleaded guilty to charges connected to the case. State District Judge Jim Hall recused himself from the case in May after a lawyer for one of the remaining defendants accused him of making improper statement during the sentencing for those two players.

The players were accused of assaulting several freshmen and sophomores and one junior at the Western Life Camp near Las Vegas between Aug. 11 and 14.

Comment sought on lab's waste permit

The New Mexico Environment Department is asking the public to comment on a revised draft hazardous waste permit for Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The permit governs the lab's operation of 26 hazardous waste management units and the closure of three disposal units at the Northern New Mexico facility.

The department said Wednesday that it received many comments on the draft permit issued in August 2007. The revised draft issued this week is the result of nearly a year of addressing those comments.

Deputy Environment Secretary Jon Goldstein said the department worked hard to create a revised draft that protects human health and the environment.

The 60-day comment period began Monday. The deadline for written comments and requests for a public hearing is Sept. 4.

Board member seeks Kentucky job

A member of the New Mexico Public Education Department is a finalist for the job of Kentucky Board of Education commissioner.

Catherine Cross Maple, a deputy Cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Public Education Department, is one of four finalists, said Department of Education spokeswoman Lisa Gross.

The other candidates are Dennis Cheek, a senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Missouri; Terry Holliday, a school superintendent in North Carolina; and Michael Sentance, a former regional representative at the U.S. Department of Education.

Courthouse player gets prison

ALBUQUERQUE — An Albuquerque architect who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and mail fraud in a courthouse corruption scandal has been sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison.

U.S. District Court Judge John Conway on Wednesday also ordered Marc Schiff to pay $136,000 in restitution and said he was liable with other defendants for another $541,000.

Schiff, in his plea agreement, said he submitted false invoices for work on the $83 million Bernalillo County Metropolitan Courthouse as part of a scheme with former Senate President Pro Tem Manny Aragon and others to defraud the state.

Schiff said part of the money went to pay kickbacks, including to Aragon.

Aragon is serving a 5 1/2-year prison term after pleading guilty to three felony counts of conspiracy and mail fraud.

Senators seek drought declaration

ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico's two U.S. senators are seeking a drought declaration for seven Southern and Eastern New Mexico counties.

A disaster declaration would help provide access to federal disaster assistance.

Democrats Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall wrote U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Tuesday, asking him to quickly approve the state's request for a disaster declaration because of severe drought and high winds.

They say farmers and ranchers in Otero, Lincoln, DeBaca, Roosevelt, Lea, Eddy and Chaves counties have suffered losses since last October.

The senators say the most recent drought monitoring shows southeastern New Mexico under moderate or severe drought conditions. They also say all the state's dry winter wheat crop and 80 percent of its dry sorghum are rated poor or very poor.

Commissioner won't face charges

SILVER CITY — Prosecutors have decided not to pursue charges against a Grant County commissioner over questions about double-billing.

A routine audit of county finances last year found Commissioner Mary Ann Sedillo requested reimbursement four times from the county and the New Mexico Association of Counties for travel expenses for the same meetings. The county was billed $1,122.

That prompted a special audit, and state Auditor Hector Balderas referred those findings to the district attorney.

Sedillo calls the billings an oversight and says she repaid the money when the audit brought it to her attention last November.

She says she's glad the issue is behind her and hopes citizens are satisfied with the investigation.