Revival opens city convention center

The first major event at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center will be a seven-day evangelical Christian revival that begins 10 days before the center's grand opening.

Kyle Martin, a 29-year-old associate pastor at the Dallas Bible Church, is spearheading Revive Santa Fe, which begins Sept. 15 with a morning prayer service, includes free musical entertainment each night and ends with a concert by the Texas rock group Los Lonely Boys.

Martin said the revival is organized by a group from Dallas and Santa Fe, including the Revs. Martin Ban at Christ Church Santa Fe, Rob Sebesta of Light at Mission Viejo and Eva Gonzales at Fruit of the Spirit Ministries.

Martin, author of Reviving the Church, wrote on the Web site www.revivesantafe.com that after a Dallas couple first suggested he put on a revival in Santa Fe similar to one he did in Dallas last year, he visited Santa Fe and met with the Santa Fe Watershed Association to learn why the Santa Fe River had been designated as the most endangered river of 2007.

"To me, this was a huge spiritual sign of the Holy Spirit not being present in the city," he wrote. "And as we discovered, the river began to show signs of drying up because of mankind's sins."

Flood damage closes monument

Officials have closed Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument because of flood damage. The monument, located 40 miles southwest of Santa Fe, will remain closed until at least Monday, when U.S. Bureau of Land Management staff will re-evaluate conditions.

Recent rains and subsequent flooding damaged roads and trails in the monument. Updates on the monument reopening will be posted on the BLM Web page at www.blm.gov/nm.

Palace of Governors free on Saturday

The Palace of the Governors will offer free admission Saturday in honor of the Santa Fe Fiesta celebration in downtown Santa Fe.

"The Palace, built by the Spanish 400 years ago, has been witness to the historic events that Fiesta celebrates," Frances Levine, the museum's director, said in a news release.

The downtown museum and three other state museums in Santa Fe have returned to their post-Labor Day hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

In May, the Palace of the Governors will be incorporated into the New Mexico History Museum, a 96,000-square-foot cultural institution now under construction behind the Palace.

SFCC has new dean of arts, design

Douglas Barkey joined Santa Fe Community College this fall as dean of the School of Arts and Design. Barkey stepped in Aug. 25 after a national search.

Barkey is an artist, educator and administrator. His portfolio includes photography and digital multimedia work, and his exhibits include a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and a show of digital photographs at FotoNoviembre in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.

Barkey has been involved in higher education for more than 20 years. After teaching art at North Iowa Community College, he directed a school of design in the Dominican Republic and helped found an international studies program in southern Mexico.

As dean, Barkey leads an offering of more than 100 courses this fall. Nearly 100 full-time and adjunct faculty teach in the art programs, and more than 1,000 students are enrolled. Students can pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts through The University of New Mexico on the SFCC campus.

Tickets all gone for McCain rally

ALBUQUERQUE — If you planned on seeing Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, on Saturday, it may be too late. The tickets have all been taken.

State Republican Party spokeswoman Shira Rawlinson says more than 6,000 tickets for the rally at the Albuquerque Convention Center have been handed out over the past two days.

Rawlinson says the phones at the campaign's state headquarters were shut down Thursday because of supporters trying to get tickets.

McCain was in Las Cruces last month and talked before a veterans ceremony in Albuquerque in May.

Chorale chooses new director

The Santa Fe Desert Chorale has named a new music director: Joshua Habermann, who conducted the ensemble's Northern Lights repertoire this past summer. He is the group's fourth and youngest music director in its 26 seasons, succeeding founder Lawrence Bandfield, Dennis Shrock and Linda Mack.

The California native, newly named as director of choral studies at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, was one of four finalists for the SFDC position. Besides conducting one of the 2008 repertoires, Habermann was extensively interviewed by members of the chorale ensemble, the search committee and the board of directors.

Besides his wide experience in the Western choral tradition, Habermann's interests include works for chorus and orchestra and music from the Hawaiian, Latin American and Nordic choral traditions. He and SFDC general director Don Scott Carpenter will begin working Oct. 1 on repertoire for the 2009 summer season and beyond.

For more information on the chorale and future concerts, call 988-2282 or visit www.desertchorale.org.

New Mexico fair begins today

The New Mexico State Fair Commission will officially open the fair at 10 a.m. today in the newly remodeled Indian Village.

Opening ceremonies and the rededication of Indian Village will be presided over by New Mexico State Fair Commission Chairman Luke Otero of Santa Fe and others.

The 70th anniversary fair runs through Sept. 21. For more information, visit www.exponm.com or call 505-222-9700.

Gila Cliff Dwelling reopens

SILVER CITY — The Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument has been reopened, four days after it was closed because of an eroded roadway.

Monument Superintendent Steve Riley says two months of constant light rain caused a sinkhole at the northern approach to the only bridge that allows vehicle access to the monument.

The monument was closed Sunday morning while crews worked to temporarily repair the N.M. 15 roadway leading to the Gila West Fork Bridge, which is a mile from the cliff dwellings.

The work was completed Wednesday, and the monument was reopened Thursday.

The monument — established in 1907, 40 miles north of Silver City — includes the ruins of stone structures built by American Indians between the 1270s and early 1300s.

Social Security debit card offered

New Mexico is one of a dozen Western states where the Treasury Department is introducing a Social Security debit card.

It can be used to pay bills or draw cash. There is no sign-up fee, and no bank account is required.

About 2 million Social Security recipients are getting sign-up information with their September checks. The states are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Recipients can sign up by phone, 877-212-9991, or online. For more information, go to www.USDirectExpress.com.

Unclaimed-goods owners sought

ALBUQUERQUE — The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department is trying to use the annual state fair to find an estimated 748,000 owners of nearly $110 million in unclaimed property.

Taxation Secretary Rick Homans urges people to visit the department's booth at the fair, which starts today and runs through Sept. 21.

In less than five minutes, he says, New Mexicans can see if the state might have something of theirs.

State law requires holders of unclaimed property to turn it over to the state after a specific time, and the state holds it until an owner claims it. Money or property might have been turned over by utilities, insurance companies or banks and includes everything from refund checks to jewelry.