News in brief June 26

| The New Mexican and wire services

6/25/2008 - 6/26/08

City delays decision on transit district

City councilors will wait until at least next week to decide whether to withdraw from a regional public-transportation group.

Santa Fe County postponed discussion of the matter on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, the City Council did the same, instead planning a special meeting at City Hall at 5 p.m. Monday.

Councilor Rebecca Wurzburger is sponsoring a resolution that calls for the city to pull out of the North Central Regional Transit District. She said Wednesday that she wants to meet with members of the County Commission before continuing debate.

Local officials have expressed concern about the transit district's effort to ask voters in four counties for a gross-receipts tax increase on the November general election ballot. Los Alamos County voted Tuesday night to put the question on its ballot, and Taos and Rio Arriba counties plan to hold hearings this week.

If Santa Fe County does not withdraw from the district by July 7, attorneys say, the question must go on the ballot. The county has a meeting planned for that date.

Couple sues coach over truck wreck

A Santa Fe couple is suing a rugby coach over the death of their son who was killed three years ago in a truck accident on the way to a rugby tournament in Denver.

David and Eileen Funck accuse Richard Morris, coach of the Santa Fe Area Rugby Football Club, of negligence leading to the death of their 16-year-old son, David "Lil' Dave" Funck.

The Funcks say they were led to believe Morris would drive their son and other players to the tournament on June 24, 2005. However, according to their suit, Morris decided that day to take another player in his car and allow Lil' Dave Funck to go in a pickup driven by 17-year-old teammate Hans Paap.

"Morris compounded his error by heading out in front of Paap's truck, instead of affording the modest supervision a caravan would have provided," says the lawsuit filed Friday by attorney Jerry Todd Wertheim. It says when Paap tried to grab a cup while driving on Interstate 25 near Las Vegas, N.M., he lost control of the truck, which rolled over and killed Funck.

Morris did not respond to a message seeking comment. Also named as defendants are the Santa Fe Rugby Football Club, the New Mexico Youth Athletic Association, the Rio Grande Rugby Union and the U.S.A. Rugby Football Union.

State trying to fix voice-mail glitch

The state Department of Information Technology and a contractor are trying to fix a problem that has left callers unable to leave voice-mail messages for state government employees in Santa Fe.

The problem affects "nearly all voice-mail accounts for state government offices located in Santa Fe," the department said.

The offices of the Regulation and Licensing Department and the Aging and Long-Term Services Department were not affected.

A computer hard drive crash on Sunday affected about 6,800 voice-mail users, state officials said. Technicians have replaced the hard drive and reloaded the software. The department expects to continue restoring service through the week.

Some employees have forwarded their desk phones to their cell phones, which aren't affected.

Secretary Roy Soto said Wednesday that the department and Altura Communication Solutions LLC, which has a contract to maintain the phone system, "are working around the clock to restore this service as soon as possible."

Feds study state’s solar potential

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and Department of Energy are launching an assessment of the potential for solar energy development on BLM-managed public lands in New Mexico and five other Western states.

The public is invited to comment on the joint Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement laying out alternatives for supporting solar development while reducing potential impacts. The BLM will focus on 125 applications it has received for rights-of-way to develop solar energy projects. The applications cover 1 million acres of BLM land and propose enough solar power to generate 70 billion watts of electricity.

A public meeting on the subject will be held 6 p.m. today at the Drury Inn, Interstate 25 and Jefferson in Albuquerque.

The Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement will establish a process for accepting applications, which is considered likely to attract companies with the experience and resources necessary to quickly build solar energy projects.

A public comment period on the scope of the statement ends July 15. More information on the public meetings and the process is available at http://solareis.anl.gov.

Obama names N.M. campaign director

The director of Barack Obama's Texas primary campaign will direct his New Mexico general election effort, the campaign announced Wednesday.

Adrian Saenz, who is chief of staff for Texas Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, was the "base-vote" director for John Kerry's New Mexico campaign in 2004, an Obama spokeswoman said.

As far as his record goes, Saenz has won some and lost some. In 2004, President Bush beat Kerry by less than 1 percentage point in New Mexico. But in 2006, when Saenz was national field director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democrats wrested control of the House from Republicans.

In late 2006, he ran Rodriguez's successful special election campaign.

As director of Obama's Texas campaign, Saenz saw his candidate lose a close primary race to Hillary Clinton in March but win the Texas Democratic caucuses the same day.

Fishing program starts in Pecos

Pecos National Historical Park is launching a pilot fishing program along the Pecos River in the park.

The catch-and-release program will run 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays from Sept. 4 to Nov. 3.

Under the program, the river will be divided into three sections with up to three anglers allowed in each. Two sections, or up to six anglers per day, will be available on a reservation system; the remaining section will be available first-come, first-served.

Anglers can start making reservations by mail or fax at 8 a.m. Tuesday, with applications processed in the order received. Or they can show up at the park's visitor center on the day of fishing for the first-come, first-served section.

Each angler must pay $25 for a fishing permit in addition to the $3-per-person park entrance fee, both payable the day of fishing.

The park fax number is 505-757-7207; the address for applications is Fishing Program, Pecos National Historical Park, P.O. Box 418, Pecos, NM 87552. The park Web site is www.nps.gov/peco; the fishing line number is 505-757-7272.

Despite fires, Manzano Park open

Manzano Mountains State Park remains open although parts of the nearby Cibola National Forest Mountainair Ranger District are closed.

"We've had a lot of calls from the public who thought we were closed because of the forest closures, but we will remain open," said Park Superintendent Joe Christopherson.

Manzano Mountains State Park, at 7,600 feet, offers fishing, bird watching, photography and hiking among ponderosa pine, Gambel oak and alligator juniper. There are five miles of trails, a visitor center and developed and primitive camp sites.

Level 3 fire restrictions are in effect, which prohibit open flames such as campfires and charcoal grills but allow white gas, propane and kerosene stoves and lanterns. Personal fireworks are always prohibited in all state parks.

Parts of the Mountainair Ranger District have been closed since June 13 because of extreme fire danger.

State gets funds for checking papers

New Mexico will get $500,000 to augment its efforts to verify documents presented by residents applying for driver's licenses.

The money will come from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as part of its efforts to help states comply with the Real ID Act.

However, Ken Ortiz, director of the Motor Vehicle Division, said accepting the money doesn't mean the state has agreed to meet the act's requirements.

The division will use the money to verify documents such as passports and birth certificates, he said. As part of a new way of issuing licenses, the state recently stepped up its scrutiny of other documents presented to MVD clerks for licenses. About 12 applications have been flagged as needing more information before the license will be issued, Ortiz said.