Police rescue Chihuahua from drug trade

Police recovered a 5-pound Chihuahua mix named Sparky on Saturday, only hours after he was stolen from a car and minutes before he might have been traded for drugs, according to Santa Fe Police reports.

Susan Page said she left her beloved dog in her car parked outside the Friendship Club at 1915 Rosina Street for about an hour Saturday morning. She returned to find the car had been broken into and Sparky was missing.

After making a report to the police about 9:30 a.m., she said, she drove around town, looking for her pet to no avail. About 11 a.m., she said, the police called her to say they had found Sparky in a stolen truck at an Allsup's on Airport Road.

Two men who had stolen a truck the night before stopped to buy gasoline when police recognized the truck and arrested them. Page said the police thought Sparky belonged to the owner of the truck until she informed them otherwise.

"The guys who snatched him, they told the police they were 10 minutes from selling him for drugs," she said. "These big rings, they're stealing little dogs because they're easy to hide. ... We went to Lotaburger afterward and celebrated. I got him a little burger."

Watershed burn to cause smoke

Smoke will rise from the Santa Fe Watershed beginning today as U.S. Forest Service fire managers conduct a prescribed burn of previously thinned material over the next few days, weather permitting.

About 850 acres are scheduled for treatment using hand and aerial ignition, a Santa Fe National Forest spokesman said Monday evening.

The smoke will be visible from the Santa Fe, Tesuque and Interstate 25 areas, and is expected to drift eastward toward the Pecos Canyon area, the spokesman said.

The agency in 2002 began a project to reduce overgrowth that could fuel a catastrophic fire in the canyon east of Santa Fe, which provides a significant source of water for the community. Thinning has been completed and about 3,400 acres of slash piles already have burned successfully.

Additional information is available at www.nmfireinfo.com or by calling the Española District office at 505-753-7331 or the fire hot line at 877-971-3473.

State police target I-25 corridor

State police saturated north- and southbound lanes of Interstate 25 near Algodones during Monday morning rush hours, issuing 45 citations — mostly for speeding.

A spokesman said five officers from the Santa Fe and Albuquerque offices took part in the crackdown on aggressive driving from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., which included an officer stationed on the Algodones overpass with a radar gun.

Officers also patrolled in each direction as far north as Budaghers, watching not only for speeders but such infractions as tailgating, changing lanes without signaling and driving with defective equipment.

"We're getting tired of getting complaints of reckless drivers," Lt. Eric Garcia said. "The corridor between Albuquerque and Santa Fe is pretty bad with speeders, people passing on the shoulders."

He said such "saturation patrols" will continue without further notice. Drivers who get pulled over receive only two options: Agree to go to court or pay a fine, which for speeding can range from $64 to $234.

Transfer of Las Campanas water rights up for vote

The Santa Fe County Commission could vote today on whether to take on Las Campanas as a wholesale water customer.

Among items up for commission review at its 11 a.m. meeting is a contract by which the county would agree to provide water for residents of the luxury home development who are part of its water and sewer cooperative in exchange for monthly payments and the transfer of water rights.

Las Campanas approached the county about the deal earlier this summer. The development has faced financial challenges recently and is looking for ways to change its role in the joint city/county Buckman Direct Diversion project. Under the current arrangement, Las Campanas planned build its own water-treatment plant in order to use water pulled from the Rio Grande, but has since indicated that plan is too expensive.

The terms of the proposed agreement include that the development would provide a new 500,000 gallon water storage tank and pay other diversion costs. The county would at first provide up to 332 acre-feet per year, or about 108 million gallons, and would have to pay Las Campanas' portion of the diversion project's operating costs.

Roadwork to delay motorists near Santa Fe Waldorf

Motorists should expect delays Wednesday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Rabbit Road in the area of the Santa Fe Waldorf School continuing south for three miles on the east frontage road of Interstate 25.

The state Department of Transportation said traffic will be stopped intermittently while a pilot vehicle guides motorists through the work zone. Motorists will temporarily be driving on graveled roadway during the planned one-day pavement preservation operation.

County seeks input on wells

Santa Fe County is seeking public input on where to dig wells that will be used as a backup water supply after the Buckman Direct Diversion project comes on-line.

A meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. today at the Santa Fe County satellite office in Edgewood, 1916 Old U.S. 66. Another meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Santa Fe County satellite office in Pojoaque, West Gutierrez, Suite 9, in the Pojoaque Center.

For more information, call 992-9871.

Learn how to stay safe from flu

Santa Fe Soul Health & Healing Center is hosting a "Demystifying Swine Flu Fears" roundtable discussion with a panel of expert practitioners on how to protect yourself from the flu. The event will be held at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Santa Fe Soul Health & Healing Center, 2905 Rodeo Park Drive East, No. 3. For more information, call 474-8555.

City takes over project reviews

Development projects outside the city limits but within areas scheduled for annexation in the next four years will be reviewed by the city instead of the county beginning Thursday.

The city and county agreed on the "presumptive" city limits in a lawsuit settlement last year. That document lays out which territory is supposed to become part of the city and what will remain in the county.

In preparation for the changeover, applications for lot splits, subdivisions and other types of development are now being accepted by city staff, according to an announcement made Wednesday.

The city also will assume jurisdiction over functions that are closely related to permitting and development review, including business licenses and enforcement of the building and land development codes.

A map of the annexation areas and the new Subdivision, Planning Platting and Zoning ordinance are available at the city's Web site at www.santafenm.gov. The Land Use Department can be reached by phone at 955-6585.

C-SPAN seeks student videos

Do you think America has one particular strength, or is facing one really tough challenge?

If you're a student in grades six to 12, the cable television channel C-SPAN encourages you to produce a five- to eight-minute video on either issue using C-SPAN programming.

C-SPAN is seeking entries for its 2010 StudentCam Video Documentary Competition. Sponsored by C-SPAN Classroom — which encourages educators to utilize C-Span programming for classroom work or research — the competition offers a total of $50,000 in cash prizes to the winners, and the winning videos will air on C-SPAN next April.

Last year's winner was 10th grader Sawyer Bowman of a private school in Davidson, N.C. The deadline for entries is Jan. 20, 2010. Details and an application form are available at www.studentcam.org.

New commission member named

An Albuquerque man has joined the state Transportation Commission.

Gov. Bill Richardson last week appointed Douglas Hawkes Peterson to the commission.

He replaces Norman Assed, who served on the commission for three years.

Peterson represents Transportation Commission District 3, which includes Albuquerque, Belen and Bernalillo and surrounding areas in parts of Bernalillo, Valencia and Socorro counties.

Peterson is vice president and attorney for Peterson Properties, a commercial real-estate developer.

Hobbs man killed at tattoo shop

HOBBS — Police answering a disturbance call to a tattoo business Saturday found a 31-year-old man dead.

Officers say Orlando Martinez of Hobbs had been shot once.

They also found a woman who had been shot and another man who had been stabbed at the business.

Police say the pair were sent to a hospital, but their identifications were being withheld while the investigation continued.

Pipe bomb found at Elephant Butte

ELEPHANT BUTTE — State police say no one was hurt by a pipe bomb left at Elephant Butte Lake.

Bomb technicians destroyed the device Saturday night.

Officials at Elephant Butte Lake received a call Saturday night about a suspicious package left along the shore.

State police discovered the pipe bomb.

Sun helps clean up Quemado Lake

QUEMADO — Two metal objects resembling spacecraft sit on the surface of Quemado Lake, helping improve water circulation.

Gila National Forest officials said the solar-power reservoir circulators were recently installed on the popular fishing lake 19 miles south of Quemado.

They work by pulling colder, oxygen-deficient water from the bottom of the lake and spreading it along the surface. The colder water then falls back toward the lakebed, providing continuous mixing.

The forest installed two circulators, called SolarBees, in the Mimbres Valley in 2007.

Quemado District Ranger Janice Stevenson said that monitoring indicates water quality has improved overall.