Asphalt firm owner pleads not guilty

Attorney Matthew Ortiz has entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of Advantage Asphalt owner Joe Anthony Montoya in a case charging that Montoya violated the Santa Fe County code by storing construction equipment and materials on his property in a La Cienega residential area.

The case was filed in Magistrate Court after Montoya failed to rectify the situation after being notified of the violation by Santa Fe County.

Ortiz — who is a Santa Fe city councilor — also waived his client's right to an arraignment. The arraignment had been scheduled for Sept. 9. A pre-trial conference in the matter is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2011.

Investigators have seized cash and documents from the offices of Advantage Asphalt as part of an ongoing Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office investigation into allegations of theft and fraud in the county's Public Works Department.

Paraders take to streets on Saturday

Downtown Santa Fe is the site of two parades planned for Saturday.

In the morning, the children's pet parade, Desfile de los Niños — a part of the annual Fiesta de Santa Fe celebration, will kick off at the parking lot adjacent to Cathedral Park around 9 a.m. and travel a loop that includes Palace and Grant avenues and Marcy Street before ending again on Paseo de Peralta.

That afternoon, the Santa Fe Firefighters Association and city Fire Department plan their annual "Day of Remembrance" commemorating those who died in the line of duty on Sept. 11, 2001.

A meet and greet at Fire Station 1 on Camino Murales lasts from 11 to noon, with a ceremony planned at 12:45 p.m. and a parade beginning at 1 p.m. from the fire station to the Plaza. Firefighters from various agencies across the state plan to bring apparatus for the parade, which will also feature the one the city's earliest fire engines from 1934.

Regional transit bus ridership peaks

Ridership on regional transit district buses hit an all-time high in August, district officials announced this week.

The North Central Regional Transit District is a consortium of governments that includes the cities of Santa Fe and Española, counties of Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Los Alamos and five area Indian pueblos. Its bus service began three years ago and has steadily expanded to 21 fixed routes.

In August, a total of 11,300 riders took trips on the blue buses. Executive director Josette Lucero said that figure represents a ridership increase of about 5 percent over the previous high in April, when 10,782 trips were reported.

Lucero said she attributes the increase largely to new routes added to Rio Arriba and Santa Fe County this year. Other factors, she said, include high gasoline prices and the fact that service on the regional buses is free.

Crisis center changes its name

The Santa Fe Rape Crisis and Trauma Treatment Center has announced a name change to The Solace Crisis Treatment Center.

The new name more accurately reflects the nonprofit's full mission of helping survivors of sexual assault and other traumatic events, according to a statement.

Solace, 6601 Valentine Way across from the Southside Library, is hosting an open house at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 28 to unveil a new sign, celebrate its national accreditation, and reintroduce its services to the public.

"We are so excited about our new name; we found people don't want to be labeled when they are in crisis and then carry a stigma around," said Diana McWilliams, executive director. Some clients who receive a variety of services have parked around the corner to come into the center because they are afraid somebody might see them come into the building, McWilliams said.

The center offers PTSD, stress, anxiety treatment and training, advocacy services for navigating the judicial system and community resources, and education and prevention programs of sexual violence.

Police arrest man indicted on murder

Police have arrested the fourth and final man indicted on murder charges stemming from the 1998 shooting death of Mitchell Hanrahan in his South Meadows Road apartment.

Christopher Gilbert Garcia, 33, was arrested without incident Wednesday night in Rio Rancho and is now being held in the Santa Fe County jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond. He and three other men were indicted by a Santa Fe grand jury last week on a count each of first degree murder, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit murder.

Sting targets alcohol sales

Thirty-six adults around New Mexico were either arrested or cited Wednesday as part of an undercover police operation targeting people selling alcohol to minors.

The Department of Public Safety’s “Operation Gold Star” was a success, but a full listing of who was cited or arrested and the businesses involved won’t be available until next week, according to New Mexico State Police Lt. Eric Garcia.

The operation included minors working with DPS agents to either attempt to purchase alcohol themselves at various businesses or to approach adults in parking lots or stores and ask them to purchase alcohol for them. Police refer to this as a “shoulder tap” operation.

Of the 80 adults asked to buy alcohol for a minor, six did so and were arrested.

Of the 159 businesses in which a minor attempted to purchase alcohol, 145 received a “Gold Star” rating for declining to sell to a minor. Associated with those noncompliant businesses were 14 store clerks who were either arrested or cited and 16 store owners who were issued administrative citations against their liquor license.

Navajo Code Talker dies

WINDOW ROCK — Allen Dale June, one of the 29 original Navajo Code Talkers who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language, has died. He was 91.

The death was announced Thursday by Navajo Nation officials. They said June died Wednesday night at the Veteran Assistance Hospital in Prescott. The Code Talkers took part in every assault the Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945.

They sent thousands of messages without error on Japanese troop movements, battlefield tactics and other communications critical to the war’s ultimate outcome.

Several hundred Navajos served as Code Talkers during the war, but a group of 29 that included June developed the code based on their native language. Their role in the war wasn’t declassified until 1968.

Man arrested in N.M. rapes

ALBUQUERQUE — Albuquerque police say a suspect has been arrested in the rapes of a physically disabled woman and a young girl.

Police say DNA evidence links 23-year-old Bennie Lovings to the double rape at an Albuquerque apartment in May.

They say Lovings is accused of breaking into a neighbor’s apartment and then forcing the 24-year-old woman and the 5-year-old girl to cover their faces with a blanket before he allegedly sexually assaulted them. Lovings appeared before a judge Thursday and was ordered held on a $200,000 bond.

Police say Lovings ransacked the apartment, stealing two cell phones so the victims couldn’t call for help.

Ariz. sheriff named chairman

ALBUQUERQUE — An Arizona lawman has been named the new chairman of the Southwest Border Sheriff’s Coalition.

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever was elected to the position at a meeting Thursday in Albuquerque. The coalition is comprised of sheriffs from 26 counties along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Dever says his main goal will be to improve coordination, communication and response between local, state and federal agencies. He has been an outspoken supporter of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law and is critical of the federal government’s failure to secure the border.

Authorities destroy Colo. pot

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Authorities have destroyed about 4,400 marijuana plants growing on the Pike National forest in central Colorado.

The U.S. Forest Service and Douglas County sheriff’s office removed the plants near Deckers on Wednesday.
Authorities say four men were seen fleeing the area as officers arrived. Officers didn’t find the men.
Authorities say the growing operation had an extensive drip irrigation system. They say firearms were found at the site.

The Gazette in Colorado Springs reports that Colorado Army National Guard helicopters helped haul the plants out of the area.

Boulder County and federal authorities got help from the Guard to remove thousands of marijuana plants found growing in the mountains north of Boulder in August.

Colo. escapee bypassed fence

DENVER — Colorado’s top prison official says an inmate escaped from a maximum security prison by grounding himself and crawling under an electric fence.

State corrections chief Ari Zavaras told Denver’s KUSA-TV that Douglas Alward used a homemade ladder to scale one fence and devised a way to bypass an electric fence that will stun someone on first contact and has enough electricity to kill anything that touches it twice.

Zavaras declined to say how Alward grounded himself.

The 48-year-old Alward was serving time for attempted murder, assault, kidnapping and burglary when he escaped from the Sterling Correctional Facility in northeastern Colorado on Aug. 22. He surrendered three days later at a home near Yuma, where he held a woman hostage for a couple hours.

Staff and wire reports.