Wheelchair-bound man dies near trail

ALBUQUERQUE — Police say an Albuquerque man died, apparently of exposure, after his wheelchair became stuck near a bike trail and he had to spend a night out in the cold.

The man was identified as 36-year-old Roland Werito, a paraplegic who lived at Paloma Blanca Health and Rehabilitation.

Werito checked out of the center Thursday.

Police spokesman Robert Gibbs says it was common for him to go out for fresh air along the trail nearby.

Staff members reported him missing when he didn't return by nightfall.

Police searched the trail on foot and by helicopter, but didn't find him.

A guest at a nearby motel spotted him sitting in his wheelchair Friday morning and called police.

Police: Woman dies in rollover

MCINTOSH — A Moriarity woman was found dead inside her pickup along N.M. 41 near here early Sunday morning, apparently the victiim of a one-car crash overnight, state police said.

Garcia said Montoya's 2001 Ford pickup apparently was eastbound when she drifted of the right side of the road. It appears she tried but failed to regain control and the vehicle rolled over several times coming to rest on its side in a ditch, not easily visible from the road.

A passing motorist noticed the overturned vehicle about 7 a.m. and called 911,

Garcia said the state medical investigator's office today will attempt to determine the time of death.

Crash kills one, injures five

SANTA ROSA — A 19-year-old Iowa man was killed and five other people critically injured Saturday when the vehicle they were riding in overturned on westbound Interstate 40 near Santa Rosa, state police reported.

Tyler Danielson, of Carlisle, Iowa, was pronounced dead at the scene. Five others, also believed to be from Iowa, were flown to The University of New Mexico Hospital with critical injuries.

Lt. Eric Garcia said the driver, Anand Patel, drove into the median, then overcorrected sending the 2003 Saturn into a counterclockwise slide. It hit the median again and flipped over, ejecting four of the passengers, Garcia said.

He said no one was wearing a seat belt and that alcohol was not considered a factor in the 7 a.m. crash.

Pueblo gets funds for water system

SAN ILDEFONSO PUEBLO — San Ildefonso Pueblo is receiving $783,000 to improve its drinking water treatment facilities and the distribution system for Pajarito Village and Battleship Mesa.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Udall says the money also will go to upgrade the drinking water system in the Main Village and Black Mesa.

The project will include reducing arsenic in drinking water. Arsenic is a naturally occurring groundwater contaminant in several areas of New Mexico.

Udall says the project will improve public health and safety for the pueblo's approximately 1,400 residents.

The funds are part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Drinking Water Infrastructure Grants Tribal Set-Aside program.

Humphries, Rio Chama areas to be closed

CHAMA — The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is closing some wildlife areas to activities such as hiking and horseback riding during birthing season for deer and elk.

The department's northwest area game manager, Bill Taylor, said wildlife management areas are purchased to allow wildlife a safe place during their crucial breeding and wintering times.

Areas closed include the Rio Chama Wildlife Area and the Humphries Wildlife Area in Northern New Mexico.

The only exception to those closures are for hunters who draw for a special April 15-30 turkey hunt.

The Humphries and Rio Chama areas will reopen Memorial Day weekend for shed hunting, horseback riding and hiking.

Pesky wild turkeys get new home

SAN MARCIAL — Wild turkeys that were causing problems on a farm near Tucumcari in Eastern New Mexico have been trapped and removed to a new home.

The 71 troublesome turkeys were recently moved to the Rio Grande Valley in the central part of the state.

The state Game and Fish Department says the Rio Grande subspecies turkeys will join existing flocks near San Marcial.

Game and Fish biologists inspected the birds after they were trapped.

The turkey then were out in individual transport boxes and loaded on a trailer donated by the National Wild Turkey Federation.

New Mexico has three native subspecies of wild turkey — Merriam's, Rio Grande and Gould's.




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