Absentee voting begins today

Absentee voting for the March 2 municipal election begins today.

City residents registered to vote may mark absentee ballots in person by coming to the City Clerk's Office, Room 215 of City Hall, 200 Lincoln Ave., during regular business hours. These ballots will be held in a locked ballot box until March 2.

Registered city voters also can request absentee ballots sent to them by mail by calling 955-6519, 955-6520, 955-6521 or 955-6326. Absentee ballots must be returned to the City Clerk's Office by Feb. 26.

You need not be absent on election day to vote absentee.

Early voting is from Feb. 10 to Feb. 26. Early voters also should come to the City Clerk's Office to mark their ballots which will be inserted into a tabulator.

Absentee and early voting used to start the same day. This is the first year the two types of balloting begin two weeks apart.

Free parking for absentee and early voters is available in the Santa Fe Community Convention Center's underground parking garage. Voters must present their parking stub to the City Clerk's Office for validation.

The last day to register to vote in the municipal election is Feb. 2.

Choir raising money to travel to competition

The Santa Fe High School Choir will present two concerts to help raise money so it can go to a competition at Disneyland.

The performances are 7 p.m. Thursday and Saturday in the school theater, 2100 Yucca Road. The theme will be songs from Disney movies.

A contribution of $7 for adults and $5 for teens is requested. Those under age 12 will be admitted free.

Teens arrested in stabbing of local man

Santa Fe County sheriff's deputies arrested two men Monday and charged them with stabbing and attacking a 22-year-old local man Saturday night, according to a police report.

Hugo Morales-Chacon, 17, and Irving Quintero, 17, were each charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Morales-Chacon admitted to stabbing the 22-year-old in the biceps and other places with a folding pocket knife during an altercation at a Camino Tierra Real residence, a police report states.

Morales-Chacon said he used the knife after another unidentified person used a baseball bat during the altercation. Quintero admitted to punching another person after he was hit with a baseball bat, but denied he used a weapon, the report states.

The victims in the case told deputies they were unarmed when Morales-Chacon and Quintero came to their residence "looking for an altercation," the report says.

Both Morales-Chacon and Quintero were arrested and taken to the Santa Fe County juvenile jail.

Judge restricts prosecutors' access in Lovato case

Prosecutors in the case against Carlos Fierro's passenger won't get access to internal affairs investigations into the former state police sergeant or his personnel file, a state District judge ruled Monday.

Judge Michael Vigil, however, will look through a large number of e-mails from former Sgt. Alfred Lovato's state police account — some of which are between Lovato and Fierro — and determine if any are relevant to the state's case, the judge told prosecutors, Lovato and Lovato's attorney, Sam Bregman.

Lovato has pleaded not guilty to vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident — the same charges Fierro faced. Lovato's prosecution is based on a New Mexico Court of Appeals decision upholding the state's ability to charge a passenger where there is evidence of "shared conscious wrongdoing." His trial is set for May.

Lovato, a member of Gov. Bill Richardson's security detail at the time of the crash, was sitting in the passenger seat of Fierro's BMW on Nov. 26, 2008, when Fierro struck and killed William Tenorio, 44, who was crossing Guadalupe Street downtown.

A jury convicted Fierro, whose blood-alcohol content was more than double the legal driving limit, of vehicular homicide in October, and he pleaded no contest to leaving the scene of a fatal accident in November. He was sentenced to seven years in prison in November.

Shuttle speeds up scheduling

The Santa Fe Pick-up, the city's free downtown shuttle, will begin offering rides every five to 10 minutes, in addition to the regularly scheduled times, beginning today.

The shuttle began a year ago with 15-passenger vans making stops at the Santa Fe Depot 19 times on weekdays and four times on Saturdays.

Previously, the weekday shuttle ran about once an hour with seven stops between 3 and 4 p.m. on weekdays. Stops are synchronized with the arrivals and departures of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express.

Parking Division Director W.P. Hon said the five- to 10-minute service will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The Santa Fe Pick-up does not operate on Sunday.

"People who want to shop, eat or stroll around the Guadalupe District can do so knowing that a free shuttle will pick them up at the stop on Montezuma (Avenue) and take them to the Plaza, the state Capitol, Canyon Road or local hotels," Hon said.

'Knockout' to shoot in spring

The Steven Soderbergh film Knockout will shoot in the Santa Fe area for about 30 days in March and April.

The movie, from Relativity Media and Lionsgate, is expected to hire about 100 New Mexicans for the cast and crew.

Soderbergh (Oceans 11) is directing the film, which stars mixed-media artist Gina Carano. The cast includes Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Channing Tatum and Michael Angarano. It is the story of a spy who works for a Blackwater-style security contractor and is betrayed by one of her teammates. The production is currently shooting in Europe, according to a news release from the Governor's Office.

Petraeus to speak in Duke City

Four-star Gen. David Petraeus will be the keynote speaker at the 2010 annual meeting of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce this year.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. July 21 at the Sandia Resort Hotel.

Petraeus is the commander of the United States Central Command, a position he assumed in October 2008 after serving for more than 19 months as the Commanding General of the Multi-National Force in Iraq.

Tickets are $75 per person for members and $100 for nonmembers. To register, go to www.abqchamber.com or call 505-764-3722.

Claimants to get IRS forms

ALBUQUERQUE — The state of New Mexico has mailed IRS documents to people who are receiving unemployment insurance.

The state Department of Workforce Solutions said Monday it has mailed the documents, known as IRS 1099 forms.

Those receiving unemployment benefits also can view and print their form online on the department's Web site, www.dws.state.nm.us.

Aspen to host cannabis festival

ASPEN, Colo. — It's like a beer competition for marijuana.

A cannabis festival in Aspen this spring will be the first in Colorado for approved growers to put their strains in a contest. The Western Slope Cannabis Crown will have about 50 medical marijuana growers enter their strains of weed. The marijuana strains will be diagnostically tested for their THC levels.

"We want to get the best of the best in there," said the festival's organizer, Bobby Scurlock. The festival is being patterned after Amsterdam's Cannabis Cup competition held each November.

Growers at the Colorado contest will also be able to sell to medical marijuana patients, who will vote on a "people's choice" strain. There will also be entries for edible forms of marijuana, such as cannabis-infused brownies.

Only Colorado registered medical marijuana users will be able to buy products from vendors, which will have to occur outside of the conference at an Aspen hotel. Scurlock said the marijuana sampling will most likely be in a private condo or room where the providers are staying.

"This is not about pot heads running around the streets," Scurlock said. "This conference is to enlighten people and talk about the benefits, and its economic impact."

Scurlock said the event April 17-18 is nearly sold out, with 1,500 tickets sold. Tickets are $25.

Nathan Traul, co-owner of High Country Caregivers, said as many as 400 strains could be featured at the conference. His company will enter 40 strains.

"The reception has definitely been great," Traul told the Aspen Times newspaper.




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