Reich: Trump the Fascist
Transcription
Reich: Trump the Fascist
VOL III, Issue 6, March 23 – April 5, 2016 Serving Up Journalistic Justice Since 2014 Reich: Trump the Fascist Page 14 Monahan: N.M. GOP’s Looming Civil War Five TV Shows Seek ABQ Extras Page 7 Behind the UNM Health Sciences Coup Page 26 Page 10 Bites of Burque Debuts page 22 2 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS ABQ Free Press Local Briefs NEWS BY ABQ FREE PRESS STAFF Food stamps A federal court judge barred the New Mexico Human Services Department from reimposing work requirements on food stamp recipients through the end of the year, a move that keeps 17,500 people from losing their benefits. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Gonzales’ injunction stops the imposition of the requirements through Dec. 31. Gov. Susana Martinez had sought to impose work requirements on non-disabled people ages 18-49 receiving food stamps. New Mexico has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. As of the end of January, 514,298 New Mexicans received food stamp assistance, a 9.7 percent increase from the same time last year. Leg traps Animal Protection of New Mexico and The Humane Society of the United States filed state and federal challenges to the validity of New Mexico’s expansion of cougar trapping. The New Mexico Game and Fish Commission approved a new rule to allow cougar trapping on 9 million acres of state trust land and trapping on private land without a permit. It’s the first time in 50 years the state has allowed cougar trapping with steel leg holds. They say the new rule will endanger Mexican wolves and jaguars. In February, federal game officials estimated only 97 wolves remain in New Mexico. Single moms Albuquerque ranks 54th on the list of the 150 best cities for single mothers, according to a study by WalletHub. Scottsdale, Ariz., and Madison, Wis., are the best while San Bernardino and Fresno, Calif. are the worst, the study found. The company measured incomes and cost of living, housing affordability and access to childcare, healthcare and welfare benefits. Dying young New Mexico Department of Health statistics show that the counties with the lowest rates of premature death are Harding, Los Alamos, Doña Ana and Sandoval Counties, while the leasthealthy counties are Rio Arriba, Sierra, McKinley, Quay and Mora counties. Despite a high rate of violent crime, Bernalillo County ranks seventh on the healthy counties list. Santa Fe ranked eighth. The list was derived by calculating the number of people who died before age 75 between 2010 and 2014 against the county’s population, then calculating the number of years of life lost based on the age of the person. Leading causes of death were cancer and heart disease; violent deaths, such as suicide and homicide; and chronic liver disease. Zoo run The 31st annual Run for the Zoo, an event to raise money for the Albuquerque BioPark, will be held May 1. Runners and walkers will course through the Huning Castle, Barelas, Raynolds and West Park neighborhoods, which will be closed to non-emergency vehicular traffic starting at 6 a.m. The cost for the run ranges from $15 to $55 depending on the event. For more information, visit: runforthezoo.org Food trucks The Great New Mexico Food Truck & Beer Festival returns to the Albuquerque International Balloon Museum on Saturday, April 9. At least 15 food trucks, many with local craft beers, will operate from noon to 6 p.m. General admission tickets are $5. www.freeabq.com Editor: [email protected] Arts: [email protected] News: [email protected] Advertising: [email protected] Editor’s a&e Pick ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 3 A&E: Three to See On Twitter: @FreeABQ On Facebook: facebook.com/abqfreepress Want to Help New Mexico’s Wildlife? [Page 22] #TheGraduate #theater Editor Dan Vukelich (505) 345-4080. Ext. 800 Mrs. Robinson seduces at Aux Dog Associate Editor, News Dennis Domrzalski (505) 306-3260 Managing Editor/Arts Editor Samantha Anne Carrillo (505) 345-4080 ext. 804 Online Editor Juani Hopwood (505) 345-4080 ext. 816, [email protected] [Page 28] #BoomBox #music New Thao & TGDSD, M. Ward, Heron Oblivion Circulation Manager Steve Cabiedes (505) 345-4080 ext. 815 Design Terry Kocon, C.S. Tiefa [Page 22] #BitesOfBurque #nom Photography Mark Bralley, Mark Holm, Juan Antonio Labreche, Liz Lopez, Adria Malcolm All the ABQ food news that’s fit to eat Staff Reporter Rene Thompson Photo © Steven DeRoma Photography Enroll in Wildlife Rescue New Mexico ANNUAL VOLUNTEER TRAINING Contributors this issue Emily Ashby, Ty Bannerman, Andrew Beale, Barry Gaines, Gary Glasgow, Juani Hopwood, Ariane Jarocki, Bob Klein, Dan Klein, Ian Maksik, Joe Monahan, Sayrah Namasté, Greg Payne, Joey Peters, Robert Reich, M. Brianna Stallings, Richard Stevens, Rene Thompson, Tom Tomorrow, Christa Valdez Blanket Statement BY SAMANTHA ANNE CARRILLO Copy Editors Wendy Fox Dial, Jim Wagner We can use your help in returning injured and orphaned animals back into the wild. If you want to help, we have THREE TRAINING SESSIONS this year: Saturday, April 2, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Sales Director (505) 345-4080 Pam Gutierrez x803 Saturday, April 9, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 16, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. ABQ Free Press Pulp News Sales Representatives (505) 345-4080 Abby Feldman x802 Cory Calamari x810 Sherri J. Barth x813 Come to the Wildlife Rescue Clinic, 2901 Candelaria Rd. N.W. (located at the entrance to the Rio Grande Nature Center) Slam Bam Operations Manager Abby Feldman (505) 345-4080, Ext. 802 Water and snacks provided but we encourage you to bring your own lunch. Each session has a half-hour break. Published every other week by: Great Noggins LLC P.O. Box 6070 Albuquerque, NM 87197-6070 Cost of training manual: $25 compiled by abq free press staff Professional wrestler Joey Ryan was grappling with his girlfriend, Laura James in an intergender pro wrestling match in San Diego when he dropped to one knee, presented an engagement ring and proposed. To the cheers of the crowd, James said yes. The couple embraced, and kissed, Ryan put the ring on her finger and promptly bodyslammed James to the mat. He not only gained a fiancée but a win in the ring, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail. Petcock A German researcher says he has developed a male contraceptive — a tiny valve in the scrotum that diverts semen from the penis back into the testicles. The valve has an even tinier rocker switch to allow normal flow during sex. The implant is 1.8 cm long and weighs 2 grams. The user can flip the switch through the thin skin of the scrotum. The inventor, Clemens Bimek, says the valve can be surgically implanted in a half hour while the patient is under local anaesthetic. He hopes the device will make vasectomies, which cannot always be reversed, a thing of the past. Going prehistoric The carbon emissions rate is ten times greater today than during the prehistoric hot period that is the closest precedent for today’s greenhouse warming, Marianne Lavelle wrote in National Geographic. That period, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, was marked by a massive release of the Earth’s natural carbon stores into the atmosphere. It’s not clear what caused the PETM, but eruptions in an intense period of volcanism and methane gas release are suspects. The excess carbon triggered a 5°C (9°F) temperature increase, along with drought, floods, insect plagues, and extinctions. The new analysis of the sediment record concludes that the carbon rush at the start of the PETM extended over at least 4,000 years, she wrote. Publishers Will Ferguson and Dan Vukelich Cover Illustration Gary Glasgow Corrections policy: It is the policy of ABQ Free Press to correct errors in a timely fashion. Contact the editors at the email addresses on this page. Where to find our paper? List of more than 550 locations at freeabq.com S (mammal training) Courtesy of artist cott Daniel Williams debuts outdoor installation “From Pink, To Blood Red” at Downtown exhibition space Off Lomas (602 13th Street N.W.) on Wednesday, March 30. Williams’ new work takes the form of 10 four-foot-by-six-foot flags. Fashioned from disaster blankets, these flags present a de-contextualized stanza of Williams’ poetry: “This Valley is filling with the blood of ghosts, and we are as close to drowning in blankets as we have ever been.” “From Pink,” the site’s second installation, will be on display through June 19. Get more details at: bit.ly/FromPink Corrections: In the March 9 issue, the following quote was misattributed. It was Ed Harness, head of Albuquerque’s Civilian Police Oversight Agency, who said that APD Lt. Glenn St. Onge, who oversees crisis training for the department, “did express his preference for the Portland model as opposed to the Memphis model” of policing during a presentation that Harness attended. In the March 9 issue, in an article about the Albuquerque Rapid Transit project, the name of Maria Bautista was misspelled. Reserve your spot at [email protected] Join in Wildlife Rescue New Mexico’s efforts. Last year we cared for more than 2,000 wild animals. JOBS INCLUDE: • Feeding the animals • Receiving injured and orphaned animals • Transport • Cleaning cages, enclosures • Releasing birds back into the wild • Office and telephone help • Manning booths at shows, events SIGN UP TODAY! For more info, call: (505) 344-2500 ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 5 NEWS Santolina Seeks $2 Billion in Road, Sewer Subsidies BY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI W as it a lie, lawyer talk, extreme hair-splitting or double-speak? Last May, attorney John Salazar told the Bernalillo County Commission that the proposed 14,000-acre Santolina master-planned community would not seek a public subsidy to build the roads, sewers, water lines and other infrastructure the project will need. “The developer has committed to pay 100 percent of the project infrastructure,” Salazar told the five commissioners during hearings on the Santolina master plan. “And there’s no request for a subsidy. There’s been no request that the county provide incentives to bring this project to the county,” he said. Later, Salazar added, “There will be no subsidy for the developer.” Just eight months later, though, Santolina officials are asking the county to divert $2 billion of future county gross receipts and property tax money to the project to reimburse it for any infrastructure it builds. That request came in the form of a Feb. 29 application by Santolina for 40 tax increment development districts, or TIDDS, within the project to be built west of 118th Street and south of I-40. TIDDS funnel $2 billion in property tax revenue generated by the project to its developers to reimburse them for building roads and water and sewer lines on their projects. Salazar said TIDDs are not subsidies because the tax money that would be diverted to Santolina would come from taxpayers and property owners inside the project, and not from those in other areas of the county. “A TIDD is not a subsidy. A subsidy would be if taxpayers outside Santolina were subsidizing something,” Salazar told ABQ Free Press. Once all that infrastructure is built, Santolina will turn it over to the county. ‘A TIDD is not a subsidy. A subsidy would be if taxpayers outside Santolina were subsidizing something’ — Santolina attorney John Salazar County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley, a Democrat who voted against the Santolina master plan last summer, disagrees. “It’s a subsidy. They [Santolina] are paying [for the infrastructure] up front, but they will get reimbursed,” O’Malley said. “I would say that they are twisting words and that they are not being truthful. They are hoping to get a big chunk of our taxes; it’s a money grab.” Kelly O’Donnell, an economist and former deputy secretary of the state’s Economic Development Department, was hired by Santolina opponents last year to analyze the project’s economic impact. She also thinks Salazar is being disingenuous. “They are clearly a subsidy. Any time you take a resource that would otherwise go to government, or to the larger public, and divert them to a single private enterprise, that is a subsidy,” O’Donnell said. “It’s the same as any tax incentive would be. By asserting Mark Carrel that a TIDD is not a subsidy there is the implication that the developer is entitled to this money, which speaks to a degree of arrogance that has been perpetuated throughout this process. To argue that this is not a subsidy is somewhat startling.” “If you can be dishonest at this stage of the process, what about the water and all the other assertions and consequences of this project?” O’Donnell asked. Economist Laird Graeser is considered the leading expert on TIDDs in New Mexico. “I think you have to call them [TIDDs] subsidies when you compare things against mode [of building developments],” Graeser said. In the past, developers paid for the infrastructure needed for their projects. They recovered the costs through the sale of lots, homes and commercial buildings. Developers who ask for TIDDS, on the other hand, rely on property taxes. Governments rationalize the use of TIDDS on the premise that forgoing up to 75 percent of property taxes on a development of vacant land that previously generated little in property taxes is offset by taxes on increased land values, new economic activity and gross receipts taxes. Last year’s hearings on Santolina were fraught with what O’Donnell and O’Malley consider doublespeak on the part of Santolina officials. Salazar and others repeatedly said that TIDDs were not on the table at the time, although they did say that TIDDs could be used as a future financing mechanism. What they apparently meant was that TIDDs weren’t part of the Level A master plan approval process, which was really only a zoning change hearing. And then there’s how Santolina asked for the TIDDs – 40 at once. During the May 25 hearing, Salazar made it sound like any TIDD application would be a separate process based on need. “You know, of course there are no TIDDs on the table,” Salazar told commissioners during that hearing. “Nobody is asking for a TIDD. But when and if somebody might come in and ask for a TIDD, it will only make sense to the county if it’s an economic development project.” ‘If you can be dishonest at this stage of the process, what about the water and all the other assertions and consequences of this project?’ — Santolina opponent Kelly O’Donnell “If there’s TIDDs,” he continued, “It’s going to be because it makes sense for Bernalillo County because there’s a big employer that wants to come in and make that site usable for that big employer [who says] we need the infrastructure. So it will only be done if the county wants to do it and only if it makes sense to the county.” O’Donnell takes issue with that. “I think it was dishonest and I think they chose their words very carefully so as to not be technically dishonest,” O’Donnell said. “The fact is, they disavowed that they were going to seek TIDDs while they were pursuing TIDDs. They were pursuing TIDDs at the time they were saying that TIDDs were not on the table.” Dennis Domrzalski is an associate editor at ABQ Free Press. Reach him at [email protected] COLUMNS/NEWS 6 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS The Sassy Lass Dukes It Out With the Internet One on One BY M. BRIANNA STALLINGS H ow goes it, folks? This is The Sassy Lass, your friendly neighborhood brainiac. I’m here to answer – or at least try to answer – your most curious, strange and uninhibited questions. Q: Given the number of bombings in the Middle East, how long would it take for Syria to be depopulated as a result of ISIS suicide attacks and outmigration? A: Yowza! Right out of the gate and I’m faced with a heavy one. Well, let’s give it a shot, shall we? The 2011 Arab Spring uprising against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad eventually transformed turned into a full-scale civil war that has ravaged the nation. On Feb. 1, the United Nations announced the Geneva Syria peace talks, organized in the hope that the international community might come together to find solutions. Later in the month, “The Guardian” published bleak news on casualties of the Syrian Civil War. “Confronting Fragmentation,” a report produced by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research (SCPR), indicates that 470,000 people have died since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011. Eighty-five percent of those deaths were a direct result of violent acts. That’s almost twice the figure of 250,000 reported by the UN, which stopped collecting data about a year and a half ago. It is an underestimation that SCPR report author Rabie Nasser attributes not to malice, but a lack of information access in a crisis-addled country. The Chicago Project on Security and Terrorism, created by the University of Chicago, is the home of the Suicide Attack Database. Try not to think about how depressing it is that such a thing is a necessity. According to the Database, the most common weapon used in Syria’s suicide attacks is the belt bomb. Imagine transforming your handy uncle’s reinforced framer’s rig – that tool belt with suspenders – into an over-theshoulder explosive holster, and you’ve got some idea of what the average belt City Council’s Predicament: No Power in APD-DOJ Process BY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI bomb resembles. In Syria almost 82 percent of suicide attacks are carried out by someone outfitted in a belt bomb; its lethality is 80 percent. Sadly, most of us are aware of how these work: person suits up with explosives and detonator hidden under clothes, walks into a heavily populated area, and takes their own life as well as the lives of multiple people nearby. Those not killed suffer debilitating injuries. At the time of this writing, CountryMeters.info estimates Syria’s population to be at 23,270,371, with the majority of the citizenry being between 15 and 64 years of age. Over the course of 50 years (1961-2010), Syria’s average annual population growth was 3.1314 percent. That number plummeted between 2011 and 2015, with the average population growth percentage being just 1.122 percent. According to CountryMeter’s estimations, there will be a daily population increase in Syria of just 581 people this year – a number that is based on an estimated number of births, deaths and emigration. Yet last year alone, 84,708 Syrians died, and the population of Syria declined by 257,346 as a result of emigration. With all of this data in mind, how can we accurately calculate the amount of time it would take to eliminate the entire population of Syria? Given the wide discrepancy of reported casualties, it seems difficult to determine. Data sources are all over the road, and citizens are evacuating each year by the thousands. Perhaps instead of asking how long it might take to erase the denizens of an entire country, we should continue to focus on how to provide health, aid, and stability to those who are still alive. Got a Q? She might have an A! Send your questions to thesassylass@freeabq. com today. Your question could be next. T he words from James Ginger, the independent monitor in the U.S. Department of Justice’s settlement agreement with the Albuquerque Police Department, seemed to momentarily stun the city councilors. During a March 18 study session on the progress APD is making in meeting the requirements of the settlement agreement, City Council President Dan Lewis asked Ginger what role the council has in the process to reform APD. Ginger replied, “I hate to say this, but you are responsible as an oversight board. The oversight role is critical.” Ginger added that the council has to exercise its authority to get APD moving “in the right direction.” That raises the question of what authority does the council really have over the process, and what can it do? What happens if councilors keep getting reports like that of March 18, which said that APD’s policy-writing process continues to be a disaster, and that, 14 months into the reform effort, almost no progress has been made. Depending on who you talk to, the answer is a lot, not much, and that it’ll probably take a new mayor. The council, for instance, can’t fire APD Chief Gorden Eden; only Mayor Richard Berry can. The council is barred by the City Charter from meddling in day-to-day operations of any city department. And, there doesn’t seem to be much appetite on the Council to do anything right now. “Maybe we should start looking at bringing in someone who can work within the department and have that person be a facilitator, someone who can tell the council that things aren’t going well,” Councilor Diane Gibson told ABQ Free Press. “I suppose we could find them a technical writer. And we can appeal to the mayor to make necessary personnel changes.” Councilor Patrick Davis said there were at least two options. “Some councilors have suggested that we move forward with a vote of ‘No confidence’ against Chief Eden, but that doesn’t force the mayor to make any significant changes,” Davis said. “I think the most likely place that something might tangibly change is through the budget.” Davis explained that APD’s current budget has $500,000 for two deputy chiefs and three majors to help implement the reform process. The council could take that money away and eliminate those positions in next year’s budget, he said, adding, “That is probably the most extreme option we have on the table. By the City Charter, we can’t do much.” Councilor Brad Winter said he’s hoping that the policy-writing mess will be fixed now that APD has hired retired federal court magistrate Lorenzo Garcia to take the lead on policy writing. “I don’t know, I’m hoping,” Winter The City Council can’t fire APD Chief Gorden Eden; only Mayor Richard Berry can said when asked what the Council could do if it keeps getting negative reports about APD “I think [hiring] judge Garcia is a good thing. I think that will help the policy issue.” But Councilor Gibson isn’t so sure. During the study session, she asked City Attorney Jessica Hernandez, “But has he ever written a police policy before?” Hernandez replied, “He is not a police department policy writer by trade … He is an excellent writer.” One person who thinks the Council can and should do much more is former councilor Pete Dinelli. He has long advocated that APD’s entire command staff be fired because many of them were responsible for the policing policies at APD that brought the DOJ to town. He too concedes that councilors can’t fire anyone at City Hall. Instead, Dinelli said councilors can pass a bill creating a whole new oversight process in the form of a civilian police commissioner who would be hired by the council and have to authority to hire and fire people at APD. “The City Council has the authority to create a department of public safety and put a commissioner in charge and give him or her the authority to clean house,” Dinelli said. He added that other cities have police commissioner systems that have worked well. If the Council doesn’t act in the next year, the decision about how to manage APD will be up to city voters. When asked how the city gets new people in at APD, Davis replied: “A new mayor.” Dennis Domrzalski is an associate editor at ABQ Free Press. Reach him at [email protected] COLUMNS ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 7 Never Mind Donald Trump, N.M. GOP Faces Civil War BY JOE MONAHAN T he extreme divisiveness that has wreaked havoc among Republicans nationally over the candidacy of Donald Trump has yet to reach New Mexico, but with our June 7 GOP presidential primary around the corner that relative peace won’t last. State Republicans are finding plenty to fight over. Most of it is still under the radar but it’s about to burst and spread like spring pollen. We’ve learned from Republican insiders that former New Mexico GOP Chairman Harvey Yates Jr. will take the Republican infighting public at the Republican state convention in May where he’ll challenge Albuquerque attorney Pat Rogers for the position of Republican national committeeman. Rogers is a controversial figure who has held the job since 2008. But fractures in the party created during the Martinez administration have widened, and the anti-Martinez forces are now ready to challenge Rogers, with Yates carrying their flag. Yates, who hails from a wealthy southeast New Mexico oil family, has battled fiercely with powerful Martinez political consultant Jay McCleskey. McCleskey’s hardball tactics and the stranglehold he’s had on state Republican politics – all of it sanctioned by the governor – will be at the heart of Yates’ candidacy against Rogers, McCleskey’s long-time ally. The imminent Yates-Rogers face-off will be a test of where the party goes in the post-Martinez era. Susana’s term ends in 2018. Already a GOP 2018 gubernatorial primary contest between Lt. Gov. John Sanchez and Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, a client of McCleskey’s, appears to be shaping up. A Berry primary victory, or one by another candidate McCleskey comes up with if Berry continues to sink in the polls and is deemed unelectable, could extend the grip that Rogers, McCleskey and company have had on the party since they pushed Martinez into the Governor’s chair in 2010. That would not be an ideal outcome for numerous Republicans. A recent FBI and federal grand jury investigation of McCleskey ended without indictments, but the wounds of that probe are sore and open. Two former Martinez fundraisers – Andrea Goff and Cecilia Martinez – made news when they reacted to the feds’ failure to indict by saying they fear retribution for cooperating with the probe, which focused on McCleskey’s wide-ranging campaign finance activities. Goff is a fund-raiser for southern NM GOP Congressman Steve Pearce, a member of the Yates faction. Martinez’s office reacted furiously to Goff’s statement, revealing the raw emotion behind the party split: “Goff has proven to be a liar and a fraud who will desperately say anything to smear her political adversaries. ... The fact that she is now running to the media after her latest false attacks were completely invalidated by the documented truth underscores what we have been saying all along – this was nothing more than disgruntled hacks trying to score cheap political points at taxpayer expense.” Cheap political points or not, the negatives for the McCleskey-Martinez faction are adding up: the Goff-Martinez break; the strong-arm tactics of McCleskey on fellow Republicans; the long-stagnant economy; Martinez’s widely ridiculed behavior at a holiday staff party; and the lack of any high-profile Martinez administration accomplishments these past five years – all have weakened the incumbent and her allies. Martinez will officially become a lame duck governor after this November’s election, but if Yates ousts her friend and political fixer Rogers at the May convention, Martinez’s limp could become more pronounced much, much earlier. As for Lt. Gov. John Sanchez, he seems to sense that the months ahead are his best chance to put some space between himself and a governor who might be more of a burden than a blessing when he seeks her chair. Although he ran on the same ticket with her, Martinez and Sanchez are not close, and his enmity toward McCleskey – her Rasputin-like adviser – is well known. Sanchez made his first big move away from Martinez’s side when the UNM regents – appointed by the governor – rammed through sweeping changes to the governance and administrative structure of the UNM Health Sciences Center. Sanchez said: “Not only were these changes made without input from key stakeholders including students, faculty, staff, and partners, but certain regents and Health Sciences Center staff were seemingly excluded from the process until just days before the public meeting.” Sanchez’s open split with the UNM decision, which was backed by the regents most politically connected to Martinez, is yet another sign that – with or without Donald Trump – New Mexico Republicans are about to have a fight on their hands. Joe Monahan is a veteran of New Mexico politics. His daily blog can be found at joemonahan.com If you are 62 and have owned your home since 2001, I’m pretty sure I can show you how to eliminate your mortgage payments for the rest of your life. Call me to learn about this excellent FHA insured mortgage for Seniors. 505-292-7200 [email protected] Greg Frost, Sr. Founder Regulation & Licensing Dept Financial Institutions Division, #621. NMLS# 3094 www.ruizdelatorre.com (505) 544-5400 Have you been seriously injured? Are you being charged with a crime? Have you been wrongfully convicted? WE HELP LAW MAKE SENSE Personal Injury Civil Rights Foreclosure Estate Planning Divorce Entertainment Law Family Law Criminal Defense Appeals Habeas Corpus Extraordinary Writs Drug Possession Murder DWI Se Habla Español COLUMNS/news 8 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS Celebrate César Chavez Week New Pipeline, Fine Settle EPA Case Against Water Authority by sayrah namastÉ “T he fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people,” said César Chavez, the famous Mexican-American leader and perhaps one of the best known labor organizers in US history. Chavez’s birthday on March 31 and the farm worker movement he led with Dolores Huerta will be celebrated all week in Albuquerque, beginning Saturday, March 26. The march steps off at 10:30 a.m. at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 Fourth Street S.W., and returns there. A fiesta begins at noon. The free event will feature live music, dance performances, local poets, children’s activities, and the annual “Si Se Puede” awards. This year’s keynote speaker this year is Carlos Marentes, co-founder of the Border Farm Worker Center. One of the incredible but true stories that Marentes talks about is the 1977 march from Austin, Texas, to Washington, D.C., he helped organize to pressure President Jimmy Carter for the rights of farm workers. The 1,500-mile march took the farm workers three months. When they arrived at the White House, they were told the President was meeting with a Latin American dignitary and could not see them. Carter’s guest turned out to be Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. In a virulently racist political climate where Donald Trump unabashedly degrades Mexican immigrants, show your solidarity with some of the most exploited members of our community. For more information visit: cesarchaveznm.org. People don’t realize that some UNM students come from farm worker families. Farm Worker Awareness Week is March 28-31 at the UNM Student Union Building, organized by the Campus Migrant Assistance Program, which helps migrant farm workers attend college. Enjoy music, poetry, seminars, and art while learning about farmworkers. There will be a blood drive. The university program with the most donors nationally will receive funding for scholarships. Come and donate blood between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on all three days. Find more information at: facebook.com/events/1568376523479501 Sayrah Namasté is an organizer with the American Friends Service Committee in Albuquerque. She writes about events of interest to Albuquerque’s activist community. BY ABQ FREE PRESS STAFF T he Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority has agreed to pay a $33,500 fine and build a pipeline to a South Valley wildlife refuge in a settlement with the EPA over a 2015 spill that sent 6 million gallons of partially treated sewage into the Rio Grande. The pipeline will run from the Southside Wastewater Reclamation Plant on Second Street Southwest about 4.5 miles to the 570-acre Valle del Oro National Wildlife Refuge, also on Second Street, the EPA said. Reclaimed water carried by the pipeline will be used in the refuge to irrigate: landscaping along a bike path on Second Street running from Rio Bravo Boulevard to the refuge’s entrance; parks and street median projects in the area; and landscaping at Mountain View Elementary School. The pipeline will cost $400,000 and must be completed by June 2018, ABCWUA David Morris said. The spill occurred on Feb. 27, 2015, when a power surge during a storm knocked out electricity to a pump and a sewer-lift station at the treatment plant at 4201 Second St. S.W. After power was restored to the lift station, the pump station didn’t work, causing partially treated sewage to overflow out of massive concrete retention ponds, onto the ground and into the Rio Grande. The spill caused high levels of E. coli contamination in the river, and was a violation of the federal Clean Water Act. At the time, ABCWUA Chief Operating Officer John Stomp said the spill occurred because of poor equipment maintenance. Two water utility employees lost their jobs as a result. After the spill, the EPA ordered the ABCWUA to install backup equipment so as to prevent another power outage and spill. The reclamation plant treats 55 million gallons of sewage a day. Isotopes Park Netting Going up for 2016 Season BY EMILY ASHBY T he Albuquerque Isotopes are extending their safety nets to the outfield ends of each dugout for the coming season. “Fan safety is of the utmost importance to us and we support the commissioners’ recommendations,” said Isotopes General Manager John Traub, referring to recommendations from both Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball. With the change, 22 percent of seats at the city-owned Isotopes Park will have protective netting between them and the field. The move is drawing some criticism. Isotopes fan Tom Thompson sits about seven rows behind the visitors’ dugout. “I would hate to look through a net.” Thompson said. He believes the chance of getting hit with a foul ball is small. “I have had more instances with lightning than with a baseball,” he said. Fred Creek, a season ticket holder, prefers a clear view but supports the team’s decision. “Personally, I prefer to watch a game without the protective netting. ... However, I played a lot of organized baseball when I was a young man, so I understand the risks and know the rhythm of the game better than most fans.” Creek said. Despite posted warnings that fans be alert for foul balls, some fans don’t pay attention to play on the field, Creek said. “I am willing to forgo my pleasure in having an unobstructed view of the game in order to protect the fans who find pleasure visiting with their friends rather than paying attention to baseball,” he said. Despite the netting, Isotopes spokesman Kevin Collins said players will continue to interact with fans, signing autographs and tossing them balls. Asked how players could toss balls to fans with netting between them, Collins said, “We have no specifics on that. It’s new for everyone.” The Isotopes’ season begins on April 15 when they face the Tacoma Rainiers. The following night is Holly Holm night. The first 3,000 fans to arrive at the park on April 16 will receive Holly Holm bobblehead dolls. Despite Holm’s loss of the UFC bantamweight title to Meisha Tate, “Our feelings about Holly have not changed in the slightest,” Collins said. “We’re very proud to share a home city with an incredible athlete like Holly.” Emily Ashby is an ABQ Free Press editorial intern. NEWS ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 9 Officers Worked 18-hour Shifts When Escapes Occurred BY ANDREW BEALE T wo corrections officers assigned to transport convicts Joseph Cruz and Lionel Clah worked an 18-hour shift the day the prisoners escaped, according to Secretary of Corrections Gregg Marcantel. The long shifts were necessitated because the transport van they were driving was delayed leaving the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility, Marcantel said. He wouldn’t say what caused the van’s late departure. “Until I actually have a completed critical incident review, I won’t be able to talk in definite terms. All I can tell you right now is it left later that day than it should have,” he said. Officers are assigned transport orders with a starting point, stops to make, and an ending point, Marcantel said. They are then responsible for completing the transport order, regardless of how many hours it takes to do so, before they are relieved from duty, he said. The van carrying Cruz and Clah left the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility near Los Lunas before stopping at the Penitentiary of New Mexico south of Santa Fe, where it picked up Cruz and Clah. From there, it traveled to the Roswell Correctional Center before making a fuel stop in Artesia, where authorities say the two men escaped. The van then traveled another 177 miles to Las Cruces, where the officers noticed Cruz and Clah were missing. In all, the officers traveled roughly 514 miles that day. Other states Marcantel told ABQ Free Press that long working hours are no excuse for the officers’ allowing the inmates to escape. “I want to underscore something. I’ve been in public safety for 30, what would it be now, at least 35 years. And I have worked frequently tired,” he said. “So one of the things I must say is while I acknowledge the long day ... I will not allow that to be an excuse for not doing their jobs.” Spokespeople for corrections departments of several neighboring states told the ABQ Free Press that transport officers are not permitted to work such long shifts. Terri Watkins, spokesperson for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, said transport officers in Oklahoma work four ten-hour shifts a week, though she did allow that there may be occasional exceptions. “I can’t say under no circumstances, Kurhan because this is corrections, and all sorts of crazy things happen. I can tell you standard operating procedure, and under most circumstances, they are assigned a four-day, ten-hour-a-day work shift,” she said. Asked why the hours are limited, Watkins said it was a safety issue. “Well, they’re driving, is part of it, and that’s for the safety of themselves and the other people on the road,” she said. Similarly, a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Corrections told ABQ Free Press via email that transportation officers are assigned to four tenhour shifts a week, though “shifts could be extended due to traffic or extreme weather conditions, but would not usually be for more than two hours.” A spokesperson for the Texas corrections department said in an email that transport shifts “do not exceed 12 hours. However, in unforeseen circumstances (emergencies, escapes, disturbances, weather, etc.) they could work up to 16 hours.” An Arizona Department of Corrections spokesman declined to comment, referring us to Department Order 512 in their online policy handbook. Order 512, which covers “Employee Pay, Work Hours, Compensation and Leave” does not appear to set a maximum time limit for corrections officers’ workdays, though it does mandate that supervisors shall “carefully monitor unscheduled work and keep overtime to a minimum.” It later notes that overtime may be approved for “an escape or disturbance.” The Utah Department of Corrections did not respond to our request for comment by press time. Low pay Marcantel said New Mexico corrections officers, including transport officers, often work long hours and overtime in the state because the department is understaffed. “Overtime has become a more-than-regular issue for the corrections department,” he said. “Given our staffing vacancy rates, not only is it overtime that staff are allowed to opt into, it’s really frequently forced overtime, based on our staffing vacancies.” Low pay for New Mexico corrections officers means most officers leave within 36 months for better pay in another state, Marcantel said. In February, the Legislature approved a $4.5 million appropriation for the Corrections Department to “implement an occupationally based salary structure that brings custody staff salaries to the minimum of the pay bands and to provide targeted salary increases to custody staff for the purpose of reducing compaction and improving employee recruitment and retention.” Marcantel said the pay raises will go into effect in July. He hopes staffing levels will increase. As for the transport officers’ 18-hour shift, he said the long hours are part of the reason they use two transport officers. “That’s one of the advantages of a two-man team, is one can drive while the other just rests and watches,” he said. Both escapees were found in Albuquerque and back in custody in less than 72 hours. Cruz was captured near Central Avenue and University Boulevard and Clah was captured a day later in an apartment in Northeast Albuquerque after resident Michelle Abeyta turned him in. Abeyta is now being charged with harboring or aiding a felon and will not receive the $10,000 reward promised by the U.S. Marshals for information leading to Clah’s capture. Andrew Beale is an Albuquerque freelance writer. newS 10 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS HSC Overhaul Shifted Power from Community, CEO BY JOEY PETERS New Mexico Political Report A sudden overhaul in governance of the state’s largest public medical institution has left several people questioning the motivations behind the changes. One such skeptic is Mel Eaves, a now-former community member of the board of directors that made recommendations on the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. HSC operates the university’s medical school, nursing school, two hospitals and the cancer center. To Eaves, the motivation for the overhaul stems from other entities wanting a piece of HSC’s $220 million sitting in reserves, earmarked in part for the construction of a new hospital to replace UNMH, which was built in the 1950s. Eaves, an outspoken proponent for the new hospital, saw his position on the board abruptly eliminated following last week’s controversial 4-2 vote by regents. “I have no question in my mind that control of those reserves is a major impetus for this reorganization that is under way,” he said in an interview. $50 million at issue State government made at least one recent attempt to get a large sum of money from HSC. In early February, the New Mexico Human Services Department, which handles Medicaid and food stamps for New Mexico, met with HSC leadership. “They wanted $50 million from the UNM hospital to cover the Medicaid shortfall,” Ava Lovell, senior executive for finance and administration at HSC, said in an interview. New Mexico faces a $417 million deficit in the federal health program for the poor. This came amid a dire budget situation that resulted in cuts throughout the state budget. It’s not unusual for HSC to provide Medicaid money to the state. Each year, HSC gives the state roughly $20 million in what are called “intergovernmental transfers” for Medicaid. In those cases, matched federal money for Medicaid then goes back to HSC. But this time the state was asking for something unusual – $50 million that wouldn’t flow directly back to HSC. Lovell, who was not at the meeting, told NM Political Report that her information came from HSC Chief Executive Officer Paul Roth. Following the vote, Doughty told reporters that he didn’t alert Quillen or Hosmer about the proposed changes because he “felt it would violate the [state] Open Meetings Act,” which requires public bodies to discuss matters in public when in quorum. A “rolling quorum” is when members of a public body meet one on one, without a quorum, to discuss a certain issue and reach consensus. Doughty added that he spoke about the proposal with Lee and Regent Jack Forner before it went public. He also denied that regents were blocking building a new hospital. The HSC chancellor File Photo UNM Hospital is one of the facilities a new three-member committee of the UNM regents will control. Both HSD Secretary Brent Earnest and state Finance and Administration Secretary Tom Clifford made requests for the money at the meeting, according to Lovell. Also present at the meeting were Roth, UNM President Bob Frank, UNM Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer David Harris and UNM Hospital CEO Steve McKernan. UNM Regent Rob Doughty joined in on the phone. Roth and McKernan told the others that they could not simply fork over $50 million without the hospital’s board of trustees, the HSC board of directors and the UNM regents approving the exchange. Earnest and Clifford then dropped their request. “The state folks didn’t want that request to be public, so it never went anywhere,” Lovell said. Spokespeople for both agencies didn’t respond to requests for comment for this story before press time. “That $220 million is a major reason for them to block the new hospital,” Eaves said. “The governor wants it for HSD.” The overhaul Until the controversial regent vote took place last week, the HSC board consisted of five regents and two regent-appointed community members. The board made recommendations on HSC issues to the regents, who had the authority to accept or reject them. But the changes, authored by regents Rob Doughty and Marron Lee, eliminated the HSC board and instead replaced it with a committee of three regents. Documents obtained by NM Political Report show that an attorney with UNM’s Office of University Counsel started making draft changes to the guidelines governing HSC’s board of directors on Feb. 5 – just two days after the state’s failed request for $50 million. UNM spokeswoman Dianne Anderson confirmed that the university’s legal counsel started making the revisions on requests from Doughty and Lee. Eaves contends the quick timing of the proposed changes after the state’s $50 million request is no coincidence. Doughty and Lee’s formal proposal didn’t become public until March 11, just three days before the regent meeting where the controversial vote took place. Regent Suzanne Quillen, who voted against the overhaul, said she and Regent Bradley Hosmer didn’t hear that a proposed overhaul was underway until March 9. “It was being worked on and nobody brought it up for a month,” Quillen said. “We didn’t know anything until we requested it in writing.” During the March 14 regent meeting, roughly 50 people spoke publicly against the overhaul, asking regents to either reject it outright or at least delay the vote. Local lawmakers, students and HSC staff spoke against the proposal for three hours. More ambiguous is how the changes affect Roth, who also serves as dean of the UNM School of Medicine and is the state’s the second-highest paid public employee. Roth’s existing employment contract with HSC gives him “full authority” over “all revenues, personnel including deans and faculty” and “operational matters associated with the HSC’s research, clinical and educational programs as necessary to exercise his responsibilities as Chief Executive Officer of the HSC.” A provision in Roth’s contract reads that he will “accept no other employment that would be inconsistent with such responsibilities.” But Doughty and Lee’s authored changes removed Roth’s full oversight authority over HSC property, finances, staff and legal matters and subjected them to approval of UNM President Frank. Shortly before the Regents made a vote, Roth told the public that UNM President Frank would immediately reinstate Roth’s role as CEO. After the vote, Roth said in a statement that he was “grateful” to Frank “for clarifying that I will continue as CEO of the UNM Health System, with all of the responsibilities and authorities commensurate with that.” Doughty also told reporters after the vote that Roth stays in charge of the “day-to-day operations” of HSC. An HSC spokesman told NM Political Report that HSC’s press office was in the process of learning “what that entails.” Joey Peters is a reporter for NM Political Report, which is online at nmpoliticalreport.com NEWS ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 11 N.M. Enviro Chief: Leave ABQ Nuke Waste As Is BY bob klein C itizens Action New Mexico, a local environmental group, is condemning the New Mexico Environment Department’s decision to leave a Cold War-era Sandia National Laboratories nuclear and chemical waste landfill basically undisturbed in covered shallow trenches south of Kirtland Air Force Base. With the addition of a bio-intrusion barrier to keep water and animals out, the 2.6-acre remnant of lab nuclear experiments will remain in place at the south end of the base – with no clear understanding by state or local officials of what it contains. The CANM group argues that the landfill poses a threat to groundwater that when the volatile chemical waste within it comes into contact with water, it could explode and send a radioactive plume into the atmosphere. The mixed-waste landfill (MWL), surrounded by three-strand barbed wire, is located in a piece of windswept desert about 4.8 miles from the Albuquerque Veterans Administration Center. It’s roughly equidistant from Gibson Boulevard Southeast and Isleta Pueblo. Ryan Flynn, secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department, decided on Feb. 12 that with proper monitoring, the landfill poses no threat to Albuquerque’s groundwater, even as he acknowledged no one knows what’s in it. “The public has a right to know what is buried in the MWL,” Flynn wrote. He stated that advocates for more disclosure have a point – that records, some of which go back to 1959, “don’t accurately reveal what’s in the barrels of waste.” New Mexico Environment Department Secretary Ryan Flynn decided on Feb. 12 that with proper monitoring, the landfill poses no threat to Albuquerque’s groundwater, even as he acknowledged no one knows what’s in it In his decision to leave the waste under a dirt cover, he acknowledged that CANM, which sued to get 5,000 documents about the landfill under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), had reason to doubt the veracity of federal and state officials. CANM “understandably harbor[s] feelings of distrust toward both NMED and DOE,” Flynn wrote. “While NMED has provided CANM all of the records regarding the contents of the MWL in its possession, custody or control, the issue regarding the material disposed in the MWL needs to be unequivocally addressed once and for all.” The group has argued that Flynn’s decision to leave the waste undisturbed – the least expensive option – ignored documents and testimony that leaving it as is poses a significant threat to health and safety. “It’s the usual whitewash,” said Dave McCoy, executive director of CANM. In its FOIA request, CANM found internal memos the group argues point to a conspiracy among lab and Department of Energy officials during the 1960s to conceal the contents of the landfill. More recently, a 2010 EPA Office of Inspector General report raised questions about the groundwater monitoring network around the landfill and how the public may have been misled about its effectiveness. In addition to a hodge-podge of low-level radioactive waste, CANM alleges the landfill contains high-level nuclear waste, including 119 drums of plutonium- and americium-contaminated waste. The landfill also contains thorium, cesium-137, strontium-90, and hundreds of tons of depleted uranium-238 and even a radioactive fire truck. The landfill has been leaking radioactive and hazardous chemicals for decades. In 1974, there were two depleted uranium fires, records show. Sandia denies there is any high-level waste in the landfill, which contains the debris of early nuclear reactor meltdowns and everything from soil brought back from Pacific nuclear tests to plutonium-contaminated medical debris from testing on animals, nor was anything withheld during the review process. “All technical information and opinions presented about the Mixed Waste Landfill were included in the administrative record for consideration by the NMED Secretary,” said James Danneskiold, a lab spokesman. “This is based on regulatory procedures that include issuing public notice, inviting public comment, and holding a public hearing.” NMED has declined to respond to repeated requests for comment from ABQ Free Press for this and previous articles about the landfill. McCoy said that in his decision, Flynn failed to examine the significance of documents showing that the groundwater monitoring network was known to be defective. Additionally, documents for 19601964 were destroyed, McCoy said, “during the period when chemical waste was being dumped into the MWL. So they have no idea of the real extent of the problem.” “This is not something you find in your grandfather’s dump,” said Eric Nutall, a University of New Mexico professor emeritus in chemical and nuclear engineering who has worked with CANM to review the 5,000 documents obtained through Stock Image its FOIA request. “It’s dangerous waste material and highly toxic. In regards to future land use, you can’t build on it, you can’t even construct a parking lot on it,” Nutall said. CANM said the potential danger the landfill poses was demonstrated when a nuclear landfill in Beatty, Utah, exploded and caught fire this past October. Utah environmental officials concluded that metallic sodium in corroded steel drums came in contact with water and exploded. This is not something you find in your grandfather’s dump … It’s dangerous waste material and highly toxic’ – Eric Nuttall, University of New Mexico professor emeritus in chemical and nuclear engineering CANM alleges that Flynn, in his decision to basically maintain the status quo, ignored records showing that the partially known contents of the landfill are dangerous enough to require more extensive measures, such as full encasement in a concrete coffin or moving the 119 of drums to a deep, underground storage site. “He doesn’t address the amounts of mercury documented in the disposal sheets and clearly didn’t want to deal with the volatile metallic sodium listed on the sheets,” the same material that spontaneously ignited and exploded in Utah “under conditions frighteningly similar to what we have here in the MWL,” Nutall said. In 2003, the cost of digging up the radioactive material and moving it for storage elsewhere was estimated at between $545 million and $702 million. That cost, plus the potential exposure to workers, is why Sandia says excavation was rejected. Bob Klein is an Albuquerque investigative journalist. EDitorial 12 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS Ministers of Propaganda BY DAN VUKELICH T hrough the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, I’ve discovered the City doesn’t have a written news media policy. Records show that last July, during the mayor’s brief stab at transparency, a city employee emailed municipalities across the country asking how they treat the news media. By and large, the answers went something like this from Portland, Ore.: “I’ve never said no to anyone who wants to receive our press releases or press alerts.” You can imagine that getting information from the city about breaking police and fire news, the mayor’s and top city officials’ availabilities, news conferences and the like would be important to us. Well, we get none of that. We learn about news conferences when we see them on TV. Same with Gorden Eden on the steps of APD headquarters taking questions from reporters. Do we have questions for the mayor and Eden? You betcha. Instead, we get news releases entitled, “Collaborative Spirit Defines New City – ACVB Contract,” and “Video Launched to Encourage 311 App Downloads” and similar pablum. We routinely received news alerts until January, when we were dropped from the list. When we inquired of Rhiannon Schroeder, the mayor’s spokeswoman, she promised to look into it but never replied further. That happens a lot with her. When we emailed APD spokesman Tanner Tixier, he did not respond. On March 7, I appeared before the City Council to alert councilors of the mayor’s and APD’s disparate treatment of this newspaper. Under questioning by councilors, City Attorney Jessica Hernandez revealed there are multiple news media notification lists. I told the City Council there is an almost identical case in Santa Fe District Court against Gov. Susana Martinez, filed by the Santa Fe Reporter. The suit alleges that the governor has frozen the Reporter out of everything. No phone calls, no emails, no notices of news conferences, zero, zippo, nada. Mayor Richard Berry and Martinez share a scorched-earth political adviser, Jay McCleskey, who adheres to a policy of rewarding friends while punishing enemies. Perhaps our Dec. 30 cover of a 911 dispatcher fielding a call from a drunken woman saying “Pizz-zah” pissed off Jay and he called down to Berry and said, screw ‘em. We’ve gotten the same freezeout from the governor as the Reporter, by the way, although some state agency spokespeople put their jobs on the line by occasionally calling us back – or maybe they never got the memo. At City Hall, there is evidence of enmity toward us. Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry, in response to a story we broke last year, told KOAT-TV’s Nancy Laflin to discount what we wrote because we’re “an underground newspaper.” We’re not newbies, nor are we unaware that relations between politicians and the media can get unpleasant at times. But in 34 years in the business here, covering eight City Hall administrations and six governors, we’ve never seen anything quite like this. In all, between this writer and Associate Editor Dennis Domrzalski, we’re something like 0-for-50 in calls, emails and texts to City Hall seeking comment. It’s their right not to talk to us if they don’t want to tell their side of the story, but we believe they’ve gone too far. There is federal case law that a government entity can’t engage in “viewpoint discrimination” against a media outlet because of its religious affiliation or critical news coverage. Doing so violates the news outlet’s First Amendment right. That’s the premise of the Reporter’s case against Martinez. On May 8, the Reporter’s case goes before District Judge Stephen T. Pacheco. We’ll soon find out then whether the Susana-Berry practice of choking off public discourse, rewarding friends and punishing enemies with tax dollars, and turning public information officers into ministers of propaganda will be tolerated. Dan Vukelich is editor of ABQ Free Press. Reach him at [email protected] editorial/cartoons Your Guide to the APD Reform Process, or Not BY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI P ete Dinelli is on track when he asks, “Should we all laugh or cry together?” The former city councilor is talking about the APD reform process, which has become both a tragedy and a comedy, and which is ever so close to becoming a farce. The Albuquerque Police Department can’t, or won’t, write policies that meet national standards. The independent monitor in APD’s settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice has accused APD of using delaying tactics in an effort to derail reform. City councilors seem to lack the will to challenge the APD brass or Mayor Berry’s administration, although based on their recent questions to the chief and city attorney, some are beginning to smell a rat. The latest act in this strange play came on March 18 when City Attorney Jessica Hernandez made a statement that would cause anyone with just even few working brain cells to convulse in disbelief and laugh and cry at the same time. One reason APD hasn’t been able to write acceptable policy, Hernandez told city councilors, was that its leaders – Chief Gorden Eden and Assistant Chief Robert Huntsman — felt they were forbidden by the DOJ from asking for help. Albuquerque’s two top-ranking cops believed they could not adapt successful policies from other police departments. Nor did they believe, they say, that they could crib model policies developed by professional police organizations. In other words, they felt APD staffers had to write their own policies from scratch and in a vacuum, no matter how lacking in expertise and training, and no matter how much expertise and how many successful policies were out there simply for the asking. This fundamental misunderstanding of APD’s reform mission is especially ironic when you think about how Berry’s administration lectured us about how crucial Eden, Huntsman and other APD command staffers are to reforming the department and getting our cops to stop shooting so many people. They’re so damned indispensable that we had to give them retention bonuses to stay and continue their important work. As one observer said, “These are the geniuses that we can’t afford to lose?” It defies all logic until you take a more cynical view. Maybe they’re not so dumb. Maybe it’s a ploy to do nothing and wait Ginger out and send him packing with $4 million of our money. The play gets sadder when you think of what Ginger did or didn’t say to APD’s brass months ago. His team and APD went back and forth for months over APD’s inept, time-consuming and expensive effort to develop a use-of-force policy. The haggling cost $100,000 of Ginger’s team’s time. It’s unknown what the cost to APD was in wasted staff time. And then there are other proposed policies that Ginger said he almost immediately tossed in the trash — because they were useless. Our two top-ranking cops believed they could not use successful policies from other police departments. Nor did they believe, they say, that they could adapt model policies developed by professional police organizations Ginger has been here since last summer. You’d think that after getting bushels full of bad policies, he would have picked up his phone, called APD and said, “Hey goofballs, this is nutty. If you don’t know how to write this stuff yourself, copy some policies from departments that have gotten it right, or some model policies that are online. It’s not that hard. All it takes is a couple of phone calls and a couple clicks of a mouse.” Apparently something like that finally did happen, but not until earlier this month. What the hell have we been paying for? And then there’s Ginger’s recent statement to city councilors that it is they who are responsible for ensuring that the reform effort succeeds. But last year when councilors asked to meet with Ginger, the DOJ wouldn’t allow it. So, councilors were supposed to exercise their oversight authority when the guy who had the information wouldn’t meet with them? It’s all so charmingly dysfunctional. It’s a delightfully entertaining play — if you don’t care. But if you do, you know the answer to Dinelli’s question. Dennis Domrzalski is an associate editor at ABQ Free Press. Reach him at [email protected] ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 13 14 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS opinion Donald Trump and the Rise of Fascism in America BY robert reich I ’ve been reluctant to use the “f” word to describe Donald Trump because it’s especially harsh, and it’s too often used carelessly. Trump has finally reached a point where parallels between his presidential campaign and the fascists of the first half of the 20th century – lurid figures such as Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Oswald Mosley, and Francisco Franco – are too evident to overlook. It’s not just that Trump recently quoted Mussolini (he now calls that tweet inadvertent) or that he’s begun inviting followers at his rallies to raise their right hands in a manner chillingly similar to the Nazi “heil” salute (he dismisses such comparison as “ridiculous.”) The parallels go deeper. As did the early 20th-century fascists, Trump is focusing his campaign on the angers of White working people who have been losing economic ground for years and who are easy prey for demagogues seeking to build their own power by scapegoating others. Trump’s electoral gains have been largest in counties with lower than average incomes and among those who report their personal finances have worsened. As The Washington Post’s Jeff Guo has pointed out, Trump performs best in places where middle-aged Whites are dying the fastest. The economic stresses almost a century ago that culminated in the Great Depression were far worse than most of Trump’s followers have experienced, but they’ve suffered something that in some respects is more painful – failed expectations. Many grew up during the 1950s and 1960s, during a postwar prosperity that lifted all boats. That prosperity gave their parents a better life. Trump’s followers naturally expected that they and their children would also experience economic gains. They have not. Add fears and uncertainties about terrorists who may be living among us or may want to sneak through our borders, and this vulnerability and powerlessness is magnified. Trump’s incendiary verbal attacks on Mexican immigrants and Muslims – even his reluctance to distance himself from David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan – follow the older fascist script. That older generation of fascists didn’t bother with policy prescriptions or logical argument, either. They presented themselves as strongmen whose personal power would remedy all ills. They created around themselves cults of personality in which they took on the trappings of strength, confidence and invulnerability – all of which served The U.K. Independent as substitutes for rational argument Nazi rallies in the German city of Nuremburg drew hundreds of thousands of Adolf Hitler’s followers. or thought. Trump’s entire “people who are following me are behind a steel barrier. (After his win campaign similarly revolves around very passionate. They love this counin Florida, they were confined to the his assumed strength and confidence. try, and they want this country to be back row at his victory rally.) He tells his followers not to worry; great again.” Viewing Donald Trump in light of he’ll take care of them. “If you get laid After a handful of White supporters the fascists of the first half of the 20th off … I still want your vote,” he told punched and attempted to choke a century – who used economic stresses workers in Michigan last week. “I’ll Black Lives Matter protester at one to scapegoat others, created cults of get you a new job; don’t worry about of his campaign rallies, Trump said, personality, intimidated opponents, it.” “Maybe he should have been roughed incited violence, glorified their nations The old fascists intimidated and up.” and disregarded international law, threatened opponents. Trump is not There are further parallels. Fascists and connected directly with the above a similar strategy. To take one glorified national power and greatmasses – helps explain what Trump is example, he recently Tweeted that ness, fanning xenophobia and war. doing and how he is succeeding. Chicago’s Ricketts family, now spendTrump’s entire foreign policy consists It also suggests why Donald Trump ing money to defeat him, “better be of asserting American power against presents such a profound danger to careful, they have a lot to hide.” other nations. Mexico “will” finance a the future of America and the world. The old fascists incited violence. wall. China “will” stop manipulating Robert B. Reich, chancellor’s professor of Trump has not done so explicitly, but its currency. public policy at the University of Califorhis supporters have attacked Muslims, In pursuit of their nationalistic aims, nia at Berkeley and senior fellow the homeless, and African-Americans the fascists disregarded international at the Blum Center for Developing – and Trump has all but excused their law. Trump is the same. He recently Economies, was secretary of labor in the behavior. proposed using torture against terrorClinton administration. Time magazine Weeks after Trump began his ists and punishing their families, both named him one of the 10 most effective campaign by falsely alleging that in clear violation of international law. cabinet secretaries of the 20th century. Mexican immigrants are “bringing Finally, the fascists created their He has written 13 books, including the crime. They’re rapists,” two brothers mass followings directly, without bestsellers “Aftershock” and “The Work of in Boston beat with a metal pole and political parties or other intermediarNations.” His latest, “Beyond urinated on a 58-year-old homeless ies standing between them and their Outrage,” is now out in paperback. He Mexican national. They subsequently legions of supporters. is also a founding editor of the American told the police “Donald Trump was Trump’s Tweets and rallies similarly Prospect magazine and chairman of right, all these illegals need to be circumvent all filters. The Republican Common Cause. His newest film, deported.” Party is irrelevant to his campaign, “Inequality for All,” is available on Instead of condemning that bruand he considers the media an enemy. Netflix, iTunes, DVD and On Demand. tality, Trump excused it by saying Reporters covering his rallies are kept His blog is robertreich.org opinion/columns Stench of APD’s Skate Park Cover-up Overwhelms ABQ M BY GREG PAYNE ost everything the Albuquerque Police Department has said about the Los Altos Skate Park shootings is false. The worst mass shooting in city history occurred there March 22, 2015. That part is true. Seventeen-year-old Jaquise Lewis was killed there that night. That’s also true. The rest? Public relations manure. APD has spread stink on this case and on Jaquise for a year now, and it’s time to call bullshit bullshit. APD’s most vile lie is that Jaquise – the dead African-American teenager – is to blame for the shootings and his own death. APD knew that Jaquise died after being shot twice in the back but withheld that information, leaving the impression that Jaquise was facing his killer when he was shot APD’s version goes something like this: Jaquise stole a skateboard (because, you know, Black people like to steal), then began shooting indiscriminately into the crowd – wounding six – after the rightful owner tried to get his board back. Jaquise was then gunned down in an act of self-defense. This self-defense shooting resulted in lives being saved, so, there, Albuquerque. Case solved and closed. Move along now. Nothing to look at here. Your skateboards are safe, even though the skate park isn’t. APD once claimed “self-defense” before, most infamously when APD officers killed homeless camper James Boyd. Self-defense didn’t seem right then, and it didn’t seem right to Munah Green, Jaquise’s mom. Munah fought APD to get the truth, and we now know APD has been involved in a deliberate effort to mislead our community about what happened at Los Altos and how Jaquise was killed. APD has also pulled out all the stops to protect the man who they know shot him: 24-year-old Gregory Buchanan, who is currently facing drug trafficking charges (cocaine) and was facing those charges the night he killed Jaquise. The APD cover-up started within hours of Jaquise being killed. APD claimed for 90 days that it had no leads in the shootings. Chief Gorden Eden even posted a YouTube video begging for the public’s help in solving the case. Thanks to the public records lawsuit that Munah Green filed, a Bernalillo County District Court judge ordered APD to release information it wanted to keep from the public, such as: • Despite claiming it had no leads, APD knew that very night that Buchanan had shot and killed Jaquise. • APD knew that Jaquise died after being shot twice in the back, but withheld that information, leaving the impression that Jaquise was facing his killer when he was shot. • The skate park video shows Buchanan initiating a physical altercation with Jaquise and pursuing Jaquise out of the skate park and into the parking lot. New Mexico law states: “an individual who provokes an encounter, as a result of which he finds it necessary to use deadly force, is guilty of an unlawful homicide and cannot avail himself of the claim that he was acting in self-defense.” • Jaquise did not bring a gun to Los Altos, a fact even APD acknowledges. APD never retrieved a gun from Jaquise, and it has not disclosed whether they tested his hands or gloves for gun shot residue. • Buchanan brought a loaded gun to the skate park that he hid in his right back pocket. Buchanan also had an extra magazine. Approximately 27 shots were fired at Los Altos. Most of the shots fired can be attributed – not to Jaquise – but to Buchanan. • Jaquise had his back turned to Buchanan and had been walking away at a distance of almost 50 feet when Buchanan fired eight rounds at Jaquise. • Buchanan was interviewed by APD detectives on three occasions after the shootings. Buchanan lied to APD about bringing a loaded gun to the skate park each time. When APD finally confronted Buchanan with evidence that he had indeed brought a gun, Buchanan ‘fessed up. APD then thanked Buchanan for his “cooperation.” • APD has never retrieved the gun Buchanan used to kill Jaquise or demanded that Buchanan turn it over. One has to wonder: If a 24-year-old Black man with cocaine trafficking charges took a loaded gun to a city skate park and shot a 17-year-old White kid twice in the back, would the White teenager’s family have to fight for justice the way APD forced Munah Green to fight for justice for Jaquise? Of course we know the answer. And while that answer doesn’t say anything good about APD, it also doesn’t say anything good about Albuquerque. Greg Payne is a former Albuquerque city councilor and recent graduate of the UNM School of Law. He works with the lawyers who represent Lewis’ mother, Munah Green. ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 15 APD Chief Needs to Step Up, Do the Right Thing for Shot Cop BY dan Klein I t’s painful when a police officer is killed or wounded in the line of duty. It hurts even more when the injury is done by another officer. AAlbuquerque experienced our own blue-on-blue shooting when Detective Jacob Grant was shot repeatedly by Lt. Greg Brachle during a botched drug sting. I didn’t know Grant when I was with APD because he didn’t get hired until after I retired, but I have gotten to know him over the past year. When I was a sergeant, Brachle and I worked together. I know him, and I like him. I am sure he feels great anguish over his actions. But this incident has nothing to do with friendship. It has everything to do with the current state of APD. Cops are angry. They’re angry that Chief Gorden Eden didn’t fire Brachle after the shooting. They’re angry that the Civilian Police Oversight Commission instead of Eden had to make the decision to fire Brachle. Eden allowed Brachle to sit in an administrative position for 14 months, checking off the days until he could retire, something these officers say Eden would never have done for a beat cop. They point to quick termination decisions on officers Steve Hindi, Dawne Roberto and Jeremy Dear. They say there is a double standard on the fifth floor, where Eden and the top brass work. I agree with these cops. Eden has shown a serious lapse of judgment by not making a decision before POC did. This chief seems to have forgotten, or he never has known, that his oath to the citizens and to the integrity of the department is paramount in his duties. His decision-making ability is again called into question by his delay in the Brachle case. I’m not saying Eden needed to terminate Brachle, simply that he needed to step up and make a timely decision. Is Eden the chief, or is City Attorney Jessica Hernandez running APD? There’s a counterargument that I have heard from some city officials who say that I should stop demanding that Brachle’s police certification be reviewed by the New Mexico Law Enforcement Board. They’ve said that Brachle feels horrible about what happened and now that he is retired, I should just let it go. Revoking his certification is “piling on” and kicking him when he is down, one A Cop’s View official said. That’s the wrong argument. The oath I took to the department and citizens demands that rules and laws be followed, no matter the rank or popularity of those involved. The integrity of the department must be above reproach. I asked one official how he would feel if a doctor amputated the wrong foot? Would he just “let it go” because the doctor surely must feel badly? Or would he file a complaint with the licensing board? This shooting is no different. Eden must make a decision on this shooting and he must, by statute, submit a complaint to the New Mexico Law Enforcement Board for a review of Brachle’s fitness to be a cop – here or anywhere. Is Eden the chief, or is City Attorney Jessica Hernandez running APD? Doing anything less violates state law and tears at the fabric of public and department trust in their police chief. Eden makes $170,000 a year to make these decisions. If he can’t, then he should step aside for the betterment of the city and police department. I wish that the people running the city would take care of Grant in the same way they took care of Brachle. Hernandez tells the public that the city is paying Grant’s medical bills and lost wages. She shouldn’t claim generosity when the city is only doing what the law requires. In fact, workers’ compensation only provides Grant 66 percent of his salary. Since he was shot in the line of duty, the city has to pay his medical expenses. The city’s court filings suggest the city still suffers from the malady that the federal Department of Justice federal monitor James Ginger recently complained about: delay, deflect and divert. If you agree that the city should treat Grant at least as well as the city treated the family of James Boyd, another victim of a wrongful APD shooting – a $5 million settlement – then call Mayor Richard Berry at (505) 768-3000, and let him know. Dan Klein is a retired Albuquerque police sergeant who writes about conditions street cops face at the Albuquerque Police Department. Reach him through Facebook. feature 16 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS W Why Did We Shoot This Photo? hat’s this photo about? Why did we shoot it? This feature is about places and things around Albuquerque that may have some sort of significance — historical, cultural, or notorious. Whether locations or details from “Breaking Bad” or “Better Call Saul” or just close-ups of everyday things an observant Burqueño should recognize, we’ll be out there with our smartphones. Your job is to identify “it” and send us your answer, plus a little bit of detail and context. Each issue’s winner will be the person who our judges believe provided the most entertaining explanation in 150 words or less. We’ll publish the winning answer the following issue. Send your entries to [email protected] with the subject line “Mystery Photo” by 5 p.m. the Wednesday after each issue’s publication date – in this case, March 30. The winner receives two tickets to the April 3 Duke City Gladiators game at Tingley Coliseum. This issue’s mystery photo Dan Vukelich Last issue’s mystery photo In our March 9 issue we asked readers to tell us why we shot this photo. Some readers took to writing us short fiction involving the scene in the photo. Nice to read, but not the winners. The winner was Steve McCracken who explained the following: The reason that you took the photo is it contains the pay phone on Central and Solano where in April of 2005 the infamous “Runaway Bride,” Jennifer Carol Wilbanks, phoned her fiancé to inform him that she had not left him at the altar in Georgia but was instead kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a Hispanic man and a Caucasian woman in their 40s driving a blue van. When asked if she knew what direction her captors went after setting her free, she said, “I have no idea. I don’t even know where I am.” The calls were traced to the pay phone in the photo Jennifer Wilbanks at the 7-Eleven at Central and Solano in Albuquerque where she was picked up by local police. Later, during police interrogation, Wilbanks admitted that she had not been abducted, but needed time and space to escape the pressures of her upcoming wedding. CALL NOW! G SOON! SALES ENDIN File Photo news What Does it Take to Get Fired from the City? BY DENNIS DOMRZALSKI A lbuquerque taxpayers will pay $185,000 to settle a lawsuit against a city official who told a female employee that his city desk was shaped like a penis, made hand gestures mimicking masturbation, sent the woman a sexually suggestive birthday card, repeatedly hugged her, allegedly kissed her and suggested she go to his house. The defendant in the case, Mark A. Shepherd, is a retired APD cop and the manager of the Division of Security and Parking Enforcement in the city’s Department of Municipal Development. The case was filed against the city and Shepherd in April 2015. It was settled on Feb. 3, according to Bernalillo County District Court records. Attorney Michael Cadigan represented the plaintiff, Naomi Parada, and confirmed that the city agreed to pay $185,000 to settle the case. According to the lawsuit, Shepherd’s harassment of Parada began in October 2013 when she was assigned to Shepherd’s division. “Shepherd frequently and repeatedly made hand gestures mimicking masturbation while talking on the phone,” according to the lawsuit. “These gestures were directed at the attention of Parada.” ‘Shepherd frequently and repeatedly made hand gestures mimicking masturbation while talking on the phone’ — allegation in sexual harassment lawsuit ¡Plan Familiar de llamadas ilimitadas a casas y celulares de México! Sólo $9.99/ mes, más impuestos. TV Programming more than 200 channels only $29.99/mo! Home Internet only $29.99/mo! Stand alone, no bundling required. NEW LOCATION! 2325 San Pedro NE Suite 1A2 Albuquerque, NM 87110 ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 17 “In 2014,” the lawsuit continued, “Parada was filing something away in a filing cabinet. While her back was turned, Shepherd sneaked up behind her. When Parada turned around, Shepherd kissed her on the lips, against Parada’s will.” The lawsuit alleged that in 2014, when Parada informed Municipal Development Director Michael Riordan that Shepherd had kissed her, Riordan did nothing. In October of that year, after Shepherd sent Parada a sexually suggestive birthday card, again Parada went to Riordan. On Oct. 24, Parada was transferred to a different department, a move the lawsuit alleged was retaliation. An internal city investigation determined in early 2015 that Shepherd had indeed committed many of the harassing acts that Parada had accused him of. “He [Shepherd] admitted to making ‘wanking’ gestures to customers and complaints he found annoying,” the hearing officer’s report said. “These gestures have been offensive to some female employees.” The hearing officer recommended that Shepherd receive a three-day suspension that was to be held in abeyance. “I do think that Mr. Shepherd used poor judgment in some of the behavior described by women in the office (not just Ms. Parada), including inappropriate hugging, remarks and gestures, and giving an employee an inappropriate birthday card,” the hearing officer found. “However, I did not find any of the allegations, separately or collectively, amounted to enough evidence to prove a violation of the [city’s sexual harassment policy].” Shepherd, who makes $93,059 a year, did not return a telephone message left with his assistant in his office in the city’s Municipal Development Department. History of problems It wasn’t the first time Shepherd had been in trouble for violating city policy. In April 2008, he faced a four-week suspension for improperly allowing four to five Security Division supervisors to use city vehicles as take-home cars, according to the city’s investigative report. ‘I do think that Mr. Shepherd used poor judgment in some of the behavior described by women in the office (not just Ms. Parada), including inappropriate hugging, remarks and gestures, and giving an employee an inappropriate birthday card’ — city hearing officer In 2004, an internal city investigation found that Shepherd made “misrepresentations” on his application for the job of DMD security manager. He got the job but resigned after an investigation found several problems with the hiring process. Shepherd stated in his application that he had worked full-time as the manager of security services for a private company, ACMI, from June 1993 through September 2004, when he was a fulltime Albuquerque police officer. But an investigator called the firm and was told that the company had actually hired Shepherd in July 1994 as a part-time route merchandiser – a person who “services vending machines and collects money from them,” the investigator’s report said. “This does not appear to be security-related work,” the investigator wrote. “I find that Mr. Shepherd did not truthfully represent his work experience.” The investigation found other problems with the hiring process. “Reviewing city officials should have scrutinized Mr. Shepherd’s statements regarding his work experience more carefully,” the investigative report said. “His application representation that he worked two full-time jobs simultaneously from 1993 to his retirement from APD appears on its face improbable, yet it was accepted at face value by both the original DMD qualifying individual and the Human Resources analyst.” Shepherd listed then-city Public Safety Director Nick Bakas as a reference on his resume. But Bakas was one of the people who interviewed Shepherd for the job he was applying for, which was another irregularity, the investigation said. The investigator concluded that Shepherd “knowingly made false statements in his application.” ABQ Free Press emailed City Hall spokeswoman Rhiannon Schroeder and asked why Shepherd is still employed by the city and if the city condones his behavior regarding Parada. Schroeder said she was looking into the matter but did not get back to the newspaper. Dennis Domrzalski is an associate editor at ABQ Free Press. Reach him at [email protected] sports ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 19 A Tale of Two Coaches, And the Guy Who Hired Them R BY RICHARD STEVENS ip Van Winkle once dozed off for 20 years. Paul Krebs’ nap wasn’t so long. He woke up after just five years. The burning question around Lobo Land lately is whether Krebs, New Mexico’s vice president of athletics, should have fired Lobo women’s basketball coach Yvonne Sanchez. A better question is why Sanchez was hired in the first place. And here’s another sweet one: If Paul “Mr. Hindsight” Krebs would have fired Sanchez – as he should have and almost did – after her 1-7 start in 2014-15, he would have saved UNM $150,000. Sanchez’s initial contract ended at the close of the 2015 season. It’s a sad decline for a once-promising program that could have been avoided five years ago when Don Flanagan resigned What was this man thinking? Instead of firing her back then, he gave an extension to a coach he knew wasn’t the coach for the job. And riddle me this: Why did Sanchez sign a four-year extension that included a paltry $150,000 buyout on a job that pays $266,240 a year? What was this coach thinking? The curious thing about this firing is that it is bringing heat on Krebs. He fired a coach who ended up being Coach of the Year (2015) in a gosh-awful conference. He fired a born-and-raised New Mexican. He fired a minority. It’s also pathetic that a local minority voice has tried to claim this firing was racially motivated. This is a disservice to anyone actually discriminated against by an employer. Sanchez was fired, simply, because she is not a good D-I coach and her Lobos were not a good D-I team. Krebs knew this a year and a half ago. Sanchez, after the firing, complained to the local media that Krebs did not attend a lot of her team’s games. Had he, he might have noticed how poorly the Lobo women performed. He also might have noticed all the empty seats in The Pit – uh, kind of like men’s basketball! It’s a sad decline for a once-promising program that could have been avoided five years ago when Don Flanagan resigned. Back then, the women’s program was on the cusp of becoming one of the premier programs in the West. Rather than conduct a search, Krebs hired the local favorite. He was lazy. It’s not the first time. Krebs gave Craig Neal an extension after Neal won big with Steve Alford’s players. UNM didn’t have much of a buyout with Sanchez ($150,000), but dumping Neal comes with a $1 million buyout. Here’s a suggestion: Cut $100,000 from Krebs’ salary and come contract time cut $100,000 from Neal’s salary and lure a big-time women’s coach. Which brings up another burning question: Despite the cost, can Krebs afford not to fire Neal? The community is rapidly turning against this coach who, amazingly, said in a news conference that motivation and effort are not things a coach can coach. Tell that to Vince Lombardi, John Wooden – or George Patton. There is good reason to suspect The Pit’s attendance will fade even further in 201617. Neal’s teams are about as much fun to watch as Sanchez’s teams. Heck, despite her poor performance overall, Sanchez’s teams has had better Februarys. Neal, like Sanchez, was moved from an assistant’s position into the hot seat. (Wasn’t Neal really an Alex Kirk hiring?) Looking at the record, there are at least two reasons to suggest it was a move Neal wasn’t ready to make: the 2014-15 season and the 2015-16 season. The Lobos aren’t even a Sweet 16 NIT team. Time to book some court time in Johnson Gym? Here’s a suggestion: Cut $100,000 from Krebs’ salary and $100,000 from Neal’s salary and lure a big-time women’s coach Krebs fired Sanchez saying the program had fallen into mediocrity. Well, Neal’s teams have not made the postseason in the past two seasons. If that’s not mediocrity, what is? Krebs gave Sanchez five years to put her mark on the program. It was not a good mark and Krebs finally pulled the plug. But is there any accountability for Krebs? Neal probably won’t be flushed this season, but he’s circling the drain. And Krebs? He’s sitting on the rim. Richard Stevens is a former sports writer for The Albuquerque Tribune. More recently, he was an insider at the Lobo athletic department. Reach him at [email protected] CALLING ALL PETS Helen Leavy sent us this photo of her Heeler-mix rescue dog Maggie. “She is very sweet. She has a great smile and is relaxing at our favorite campground at Villanueva State Park. She is a devoted companion to my husband. We are also very happy to be able to say that she is a cancer survivor!” Send it to [email protected] Include your name, phone number, and your pet’s name, and we’ll try to reserve their spot in the pet parade. Albuquerque’s Premier Facility - for - Mock Trials & Focus Groups • Trial planning and issue spotting, in-house facilitators • Mock jury services • Witness preparation • Simulated court and deliberation venues • Political polling Call 505-263-8425 or email [email protected] 6608 Gulton Court NE, Alb. 87109 trialmetrixnm.com 20 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS How to Survive a Taxing Time HOW TO iling our taxes is an unavoidable annual chore. Most of us dread the task, but the payoff is crucial for many in such a tight economy. ABQ Free Press researched what resources are available and how filing taxes this year differs from last for people with or without health insurance. Many free services available locally and online can help with electronic filing for folks who make less than $50,000 a year. For those age 50 or older, Albuquerque sites featuring AARP Tax Aide can assist with spe- Free Tax Resources Tax Help New Mexico At CNM through April 6 Single adults with income of $55,000 or less and adults over 65 cnm.edu/depts/taxhelp VITA Volunteer Income Tax Assistance irs.gov AARP Tax Aide aarp.org TCE: Tax Counseling for the Elderly irs.gov myfreetaxes.com taxprephelp.org turbotax.intuit.com cific needs like social security, IRAs and pensions. At Central New Mexico Community College, Tax Help New Mexico is an excellent resource for people who made less than $56,000 last year. That said, be prepared to wait at CNM for the better part of a day. Free means you’re sharing these resources with a lot of people. Tax Help N.M. runs through April 15 at various CNM campus locations. Visit cnm.edu/ depts/taxhelp to learn what to bring along. Other services are provided by the United Way’s My Free Taxes and programs like Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) or Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE). The State Taxation and Revenue Department offers free assistance throughout the year and free electronic filing of New Mexico Personal Income Tax returns for people with an annual income of $22,000 or less. Visit tax.newmexico.gov for more info or contact the local office. The Internet boasts several free filing QUESTIONING CHRISTIANITY ? COME JOIN US FREEDOM FROM RELIGION, ALBUQUERQUE FOR AN EASTER SATURDAY DISCUSSION OF CHRISTIANITY By Bill Zuersher, author Erna Fergusson Library, 3700 San Mateo Blvd. NE 505-907-9926 Find us on Meetup.com CC Got Credit via Flickr sites, like myfreetaxes.com, taxprephelp.org and turbotax.intuit.com; the latter even has a tax calculator that estimates your refund before you get started filing your return. If you’re uninsured and didn’t get around to buying health insurance, you will have to pay Affordable Care Act penalties that could significantly reduce your return. This fact emphasizes an important tax maxim: learn what penalties and exemptions to prepare for to ensure a healthy refund. Karen Lee of CJB Tax and Bookkeeping Services says the new ACA regulations can be rather confusing for people who are filing for the first time with marketplace insurance. “That has actually impacted a lot of people. If they answer the wrong questions, their return can get held back or stuck, because they didn’t fill out the form that really no one was prepared for this year,” Lee said. “It is mandatory to fill out the 1095-A form.” Lee also said that while some free services listed above are well intentioned and useful for individuals who only claim income from a W-2, those services’ volunteers may only have minimal training on coping with new health care-related tax regulations. “Everybody gets a form through the insurance marketplace. Some people qualify for subsidies, which in turn allows them to get some money back if they overpaid on their premium based on income; if their insurance ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 21 taxing time, Page 20 BY RENE THOMPSON F How to gave them too much in subsidies, they might have to pay that back,” Lee said. Mistakes on your return can substantially delay your refund, and a professional can help you avoid such error. Lee also recommends avoiding quick-cash lenders that are solely out to get a percentage of your tax return. Instead, find an established tax office with certified tax preparers or public accountants who can provide tax services and answer your questions throughout the year. Lee advises consulting tax professionals who can optimize deductions and get you prepared for the following year. “It’s nice to get accurate information about things like taking money out a 401k or contributing more, and some people won’t know til the end of the year if that’s going to benefit their taxes or not.” To find a professional, visit IRS.gov for a list of certified local tax preparers. On healthcare penalties According to calc.taxpolicycenter. org, individuals must obtain health insurance coverage that meets minimum standards for themselves and their dependents, or they’ll be penalized via their tax refund. For 2016, individuals must have enrolled by Jan. 31, 2016. You can claim exemption from coverage when you file your tax return, but certain exemptions must be granted by the Health Insurance What to bring with you Marketplace in advance. These coverage exemptions revolve around certain hardship situations and members of certain religious sects, according to IRS.gov. If the least inexpensive marketCC Pictures of Money via Flickr place plans available to you in 2015 ways, either as a percentage of your cost more than 8.05 household income or per person; peopercent of your household income, ple pay whichever amount is higher. you had medical expenses you That percentage would be 2.5 couldn’t pay or your income is less percent of your household income, than the federal poverty level, you with a maximum total premium of could qualify for a health coverage exthe national average price plan sold emption. To find out if you qualify for through the marketplace. For adults, exemption from ACA penalties, visit that’s $695 and for each child unhealthcare.gov/exemptions-tool. der 18, it’s $347.50, culminating in a You must claim at least 100 percent penalty max of $2,085. To estimate of the federal poverty level to qualify what your healthcare penalty might for tax credits through ObamaCare. be, visit taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/ In 2015, the federal poverty level was acacalculator.cfm. $11,770, and it rises by $100 per year. According to healthcare.gov, the Rene Thompson is a staff reporter at fee for not having health insurance ABQ Free Press. in 2016 is calculated in two different Sometimes Going Green Isn’t About Going Green . Take advantage of our xeriscape rebates! Water Authority customers can earn $1.00 per square foot in rebates when they replace high-water-use turf areas with xeriscape. A Water Authority inspector must approve your plan and your completed project, so call now or visit our website for more information. CALL 842-WATR (9287) Option 4 or VISIT www.abcwua.org Cont. on page 21 GoingGreen_AlbFreePress.indd 1 3/15/16 12:31 PM • Last year’s tax return(s) • Social Security cards and other official documentation for yourself and all dependents • Photo ID • Checkbook (for direct deposit of refund) • W-2(s) from employers • Unemployment compensation statements • SSA-1099 form, showing total Social Security benefits paid for the year or Form RRB-1099, Tier 1 Railroad Retirement benefits • 1099 forms, reporting interest (1099-INT), dividends (1099-DIV), proceeds from sales (1099-B), as well as documentation showing the original purchase price of assets • 1099-R form, if you received a pension, annuity or IRA distribution • 1099-Misc forms • Information about any other income • State or local income tax refund • 1098 form showing any home mortgage interest • 1098-T and 1098-E forms, tuition and student loan interest payments • A list of medical, dental expenses, including doctor and hospital bills, insurance premiums, prescription medicines • Summary of contributions to charity • Receipts or canceled checks for quarterly or other tax payments • Property tax bills and proof of payment • Form 1095A, if you purchased health insurance through marketplace • Any ACA exemption correspondence from marketplace • Dependent care provider information (name, employer ID and Social Security number) • 1098 forms for continuing education, related receipts and canceled checks 22 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS Bites of Burque: Inaugural Edition food/ARTS by TY BANNERMAN Keep truckin’ Last year, the City Council passed a controversial ordinance that prohibited food trucks from setting up within 100 feet of an existing brick-and-mortar restaurant. After a barrage of complaints that the rule made it impossible for popular mobile eateries to find a place to park, especially Downtown, the Council revised the rules on March 7. Now food trucks must maintain a reduced 75-foot buffer zone from restaurants and can ignore the zone if said restaurant is closed. As the city continues to seek a solution that satisfies both food truck owners and restaurants, expect the Council to revisit these rules again soon. Electric youth Dion’s Pizza, the ubiquitous Albuquerque pizzeria where it’s always 1992 and the cashiers exude perpetual Dion’s Pizza youth, has been awarded Sandelman & Associates’ 2015 Quick Track Award of Excellence due to the institution’s high marks on customer experience surveys. Dion’s was number 4 on this national list, behind Chik-Fil-A, In-‘n’-Out Burger and a Chicago eatery called Portillos. Way to go, teenagers! EDo goes Whole Hog Formerly home to Gravy and, before that, Milton’s Café, the iconic diner at Central and Elm is changing hands and identities once again. This time around, Arkansas-based Whole Hog Café BBQ restaurant will set up shop within the next few months. Gravy closed in December, after being a hotly anticipated addition whose middling reviews on Yelp sealed its fate early on. It seems to me this local joint got an undeserved bad rap. That said, an out-of-towner taking up space is always better than a vacancy. Blake’s gets around Sometimes New Mexico restaurants get to be the out-of-towner. Blake’s Lotaburger has a satellite location opening in Tucson, Ariz., on April 1. It will be the Albuquerque-founded chain’s fourth out-of-state location; there are three in El Paso, Texas. National Geographic reported that the chain serves the “best green chile cheeseburger in the world.” A second Tucson location is slated for a May debut. And Santa Fe-based Vinaigrette has also ventured out of state with their new location that sprouted up in Austin, Texas, at the end of February. Let the New Mexican domination commence! Getting Bearded? In Northern New Mexico news, one of my favorite restaurants in the state has snagged a prestigious nod from the James Beard Foundation. Rancho de Chimayó, a sprawling, pastoral ranch house in Chimayó, N.M. – where yours truly got married – has made it to the final round of nominees for a James Beard Award in the “America’s Classics” category. Winners will be announced at the Chicago Lyric Opera on May 2. In the meantime, who’s up for a road trip? Rancho de Chimayó seriously serves the best margaritas and red chile in New Mexico. Ty Bannerman loves to eat and to write, and those interests frequently collide. ‘The Graduate’ Scores High Marks by BARRY GAINES S et in the 1960s, “The Graduate” tells the story of an aimless young college grad, a seductive older woman, that woman’s daughter and the Gordian knot of their forbidden relationships. “Plastics” are the ultimate symbol of sell-out commercialism, and the sky is and isn’t always blue in Aux Dog Theatre’s thoughtful production of Terry Johnson’s “The Graduate.” Nearly 50 years ago, the late Mike Nichols’ 1967 filmic version of “The Graduate” burst on to the screen. Nominated for Best Picture, Nichols also won the Oscar for best directing. As great as the flick is, Aux Dog’s stage adaptation brings new perspective to audiences, even those who are familiar with the movie. Based on Charles Webb’s 1963 novella, the narrative is tricky but not all that complicated. Having graduated from a college back East, 20-yearold Benjamin Braddock returns home to upscale southern California and his doting, if clueless, parents. He doesn’t want a successful but predictable life like his father. Simon & Garfunkel lyrics are showcased in both the film and the play, and they ably express Ben’s disillusioned mindset: “People talking without speaking / People hearing without listening / And the people bowed and prayed / To the ‘The Graduate’ Aux Dog Theatre, 3011 Monte Vista NE Through April 10 Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. Tickets: $20-$25, auxdog.com Russell Maynor Benjamin Braddock (Matt Pruett) and Mrs. Robinson (Bridget Kelly) share some pillow talk in Aux Dog’s “The Graduate.” neon god they made.” At a celebration given by his parents, Ben encounters Mrs. Robinson, the neglected, alcoholic wife of his father’s best friend. When she gets Ben alone, Mrs. Robinson gets aggressively suggestive, leaving no doubt that she’s available for a sexual relationship. Both perplexed and aroused, Ben engages in an affair with Mrs. Robinson. In postcoital conversation at a fancy hotel, Ben brings up her daughter Elaine, a college student at Berkeley; the mother’s protective hackles are raised, and she forbids Ben from having any contact with Elaine. Prodded by his parents, who are blissfully unaware of the affair, Ben takes Elaine out. And then he likes her. No, he loves her. He wants to marry her. Mrs. Robinson is furious. While the film “The Graduate” is visually stunning, this live stage performance directed by Victoria J. Liberatori concentrates on characters and their interactions. Ryan Jason Cook’s set design boasts a central revolve that allows for rapidfire scene changes. Sound designer Martin Andrews neatly matches music to mood while Jonathan Lightcap’s lighting design focuses our attention. Kathy Gomez’s costume design transports us back to the mid ’60s. The performances here are generally strong. Certain ensemble players deserve special mention: Elizabeth Langston, who plays three roles; Tristana Gonzalez, whose striptease is memorable; and J. Ryan Montenery, who brings four characters to life. Marc Comstock is a convincing Mr. Braddock. His transition from pride to anger is powerful. Lisa Fenstermacher makes her mark as a ditsy, mugging Mrs. Braddock. Lanky thespian Shad Adair plays the relatively uptight Mr. Robinson, who seems willfully insensitive to the needs of both his wife and his daughter. Kir Kipness’ portrayal of the complicated character of Elaine Robinson emphasizes her distress over making the decision between bending to her parents’ dreams or prioritizing her own desires instead. Kipness effectively conjures Elaine’s confusion upon meeting the unusual yet strangely appealing Ben Braddock, who’s played by Matt Pruett. His acting highlights both Ben’s self-loathing and illogical optimism, lending him a clueless, cute nature. This is the third sensual, older woman I’ve seen Bridget Kelly play, and she’s been wonderful as each. Kelly’s Mrs. Robinson is unsatisfied with her marriage of convenience, and her considerable torment evokes our sympathy. Ben and Mrs. Robinson’s scenes in bed are darkly funny. Kelly skilfully conveys Mrs. Robinson’s vain attempts to maintain some dignity by keeping her daughter away from her clandestine lover. Who do we root for in this play? Whether you’ve seen the film or not, Aux Dog’s production of “The Graduate” will challenge and amuse. Barry Gaines, a Professor Emeritus at UNM and Administrator of the American Theater Critics Association, reviews Albuquerque theater for ABQ Free Press. ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 23 HOW TO 24 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS On Service: A Trail of Breadcrumbs M Professor of Service Ian Maksik’s “On Service” in our print edition is just the beginning. We can and do host Maksik’s etiquette, fine dining and catering content in an expanded version online. Visit us at freeabq.com and click the Living/How To category for hyperlinked content and downloadable diagrams. bent on a segment of a circle of about 120 degrees.” Miller’s table crumber was interpreted in various materials and designs. One sleek, faithful, early design is still on the market; snag one at crumber.com. This service magic happens after clearing the main course. These handsome table crumbers (especially the silver ones) are sadly not used as much these days, but they remain an affordable option, and vintage versions are plentiful for sale on eBay and other resale shopping websites. Here’s a simple DIY crumber method. Fold a napkin in fours (see included diagram), before centering it on a dinner plate. Use a butter knife (or your new table crumber) to clear debris into the napkin’s waiting folds; safely sweep them up and securely cover them over, allowing movement while ensuring errant specks don’t make it onto guests’ person or clothes. Here’s the websclusive bit: Visit an expanded version of this column, including the Professor’s primer on how to pour everything from water to wine plus advice on winning the love of lefties, at freeabq.com. Address any questions you have on service, etiquette or catering via email to ian@usawaiter. com. The Professor will reply via email or in this column. That’s an “86” aka “I’m out,” from Ian Maksik, “Professor of Service.” Ian Maksik is a Cornell Hotel School graduate and a former Hilton general manager and catering editor for New York magazine CUE. Known as “America’s Service Guru,” Maksik has keynoted, lectured and trained owners, management and staff of hospitality facilities in 21 countries and at notable industry conferences. Contact him at [email protected] or (954) 804-5413. FREE FERTILITY FAIR High Quality Affordable Fertility Care, It's That Simple... April 16, 2016 from 1pm to 5pm* Embassy Suites, Albuquerque Address: 1000 Woodward Pl NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102 Why You Should Come: Onsite Educational Seminars on Infertitly Conditions and Treatments Who Should Come? Couples and Singles of All Types (A special armed services IVF will be announced) Egg Donors and Surrogates Meet other associated HQA companies that believe in the vision of making IVF Affordable, Accessible and Acheivable Free IVF Treatment Drawing! *RSVP: www.HQAFertilityFair2016.com or call 877-475-2229 to reserve a seat. Seating is limited so reserve your spot now! Beer Town: Aliens & Jackalopes H A F C H IGH Q UALITY A FFORDABLE F E R T I L I T Y C A R E Got a hot tip on Albuquerque’s beer scene? Know of a seasonal draft I’ve simply got to try? Drop me a line at [email protected] Pub stop at Alien I visited the newly rebranded Alien Brew Pub the other day, mainly to try the beer and food although I also wanted to clarify my stance on the 1947 Roswell crash. The redesigned space, which used to house ABQ Brew Pub, is now bedecked with gray and green bugeyed humanoids presumably from the region of Chiron Beta-5. The moody lighting gives the joint an appropriately cosmic vibe. It’s a welcome change from the typical generic brewpub décor. The menu here has been spruced up too. We started with bacon-wrapped dates — a lovely mix of sweet and savory with cranberry-balsamic reduction drizzled all over — and a pile of Buffalo wings. Both appetizers went beautifully with my massive 22-oz. Black Hole IPA, a dark “pale ale” with a touch of floral hops that evaporate quickly in favor of a strong bitter bite. My wife tried the Galaxy lager, which was surprisingly malty and made for a perfectly refreshing, bolstering springtime pour. The redesigned [Alien Brew Pub], which used to house ABQ Brew Pub, is now bedecked with gray and green bug-eyed humanoids presumably from the region of Chiron Beta-5 �i�� �uality A�or�able �er�lity �e�ters� is please� to a��ou��e our �rst a��ual A�� �er�lity �air Learn how HQA is offering the first of its kind High Quality Affordable IVF ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 25 by TY BANNERMAN BY IAN MAKSIK y last column left off with serving your boss and their spouse coffee and dessert. I promised my readers pizzazz, so let’s make that coffee or tea service truly memorable. I love a good crumber. Wait — let me explain. The table crumber was invented in 1939 by John Henry Miller, who owned a fine dining establishment in Baltimore. Before the crumber’s invention, the only option for clearing away dinner remnants was a clunky brush and pan. Miller’s patent application provides a concise explanation of the tool: “It consists of a simple narrow piece of transversely curved strip of metal, plastic or like, DRINK TM For my entrée, I ordered the Alien burger, a bacon, beef and cheese monstrosity with red chile aioli and strips of breaded, deep-fried green chile. My wife tried the Atlantic cod fish tacos and was pleased though the slightly-sweet breading made her apprehensive about her wheat allergy. All in all, our experience at Alien Brew Pub made for a nice change of pace for Uptown dining. Although, I must admit, I didn’t get any answers about the Roswell crash. Hoppy biking Albuquerque loves both bikes and Bosque Brewery has major expansion plans in the works. The company plans to spearhead the redevelopment of the old Jackalope Pottery location in Bernalillo sometime this spring beer, so it’s no surprise that the folks at Routes Bicycle Tours and Rentals found a way to combine the two. On April 3, they’ll host a 10 to 12 mile brewery tour wherein cyclists will ride their way to Canteen, Marble, Red Door, Rio Bravo and Santa Fe Brewing Company’s taprooms. The route will feature thirst-quenching samples and backroom tours aplenty. It’s $60 per biker, and you can rent a bike for just $5. For more info and tickets, visit routesrentals.com. Beer bellies Every Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m., get your tipple on while basking in the sensuous, serpentine stylings of the Desert Darlings Belly Dancing Group. Admiring the performance is free and there’s nothing better than observing skilled belly dancers doing their thing while you pour back a pint. Bosque meets Jackalope Bosque Brewery has major expansion plans in the works. The company plans to spearhead the redevelopment of the old Jackalope Pottery location in Bernalillo sometime this spring. Once home to the largest pottery and outdoor décor center in New Mexico, the building will provide Bosque with space for a new canning and bottling operation in addition to a taproom, and will also host a restaurant, a retail space and a humbler Jackalope. It’s all part of the Riverpointe Vista mixed-use development. Meanwhile, Ale Republic is one step closer to unfurling their banner at an East Mountains location. According to the Mountain View Telegraph, this “democratic” brewery — where drinkers will vote on additions to the tap lineup — has taken its final permitting steps and will soon be serving pints. Brewer Patrick Johnson’s plans to cultivate and use wild yeasts for some truly unique ale flavors are also mentioned in the article. Another brewery has announced its intentions toward Albuquerque, but this one won’t just be serving beer. New Mexico Craft Brewery plans to open our city’s first “cidery” focused on fruity fermentables — think apples, peaches, that sort of thing. The Sandia Hard Cider and Craftroom will have between 10 and 15 taps dispensing cider and beer, although the former will take the lion’s share. Its owners expect to open the Craftroom by late spring. Brew of the fortnight Rio Bravo Brewing’s barrel-aged barley wine is no joke. This 10.5 percent ABV monster is a trickster. The interplay between subtly fruity and sweet flavors and tantalizingly bitter hops makes it easy to down two glassfuls; fortunately, they’re only 10 oz. apiece. Rio Bravo Brewing’s barrel-aged barley wine is no joke. This 10.5 percent ABV monster is a trickster. The interplay between subtly fruity and sweet flavors and tantalizingly bitter hops makes it easy to down two glassfuls This barley wine is a treat to imbibe on a windy spring afternoon, when you’re in need of a bit of insulation. It’s also a great excuse to ponder the inscrutable questions of life, like, if those Roswell bodies were dummies, why the cover-up? It just doesn’t make any damn sense. Ty Bannerman is a beer drinker, co-host of City on the Edge podcast, and author of “Forgotten Albuquerque” as well as a forthcoming memoir. He most recently served as managing, feature and food editor at Weekly Alibi. film by CHRISTA VALDEZ ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 27 music Playing Against the Wind: The A.J. Woods Interview A A 26 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS N.M. Film Focus: On Class, Casting BY M. BRIANNA STALLINGS s a global audience eyes the growth of New Mexico’s film and emerging media industry, locals are regularly presented with opportunities to “get into the business.” Here are some resources and events to get you started. Class acts The acclaimed Chubbuck Acting method, studied by Brad Pitt, Halle Berry and Sylvester Stallone, will be taught by Rebekah Wiggins in an intensive weekend course through Southwest Sceneworks. The next beginner intensive is scheduled for March 26. Visit southwestsceneworks.com to learn more. Area casting director Jo Edna Boldin is currently enrolling students for her Audition 101 workshop. Open to the 18-and-over set, Sol Acting Academy has become a theatrical instruction institution here in town. Managed by Vivian Nesbitt, the training resource and performance space offers classes for aspiring performers of all ages and skill levels. A perennial favorite for budding actors is the Albuquerque Actors Studio class taught by renowned local Lora Cunningham. Get cast! Start and end your day with us! KSFR fm 101.1 santa fe public radio Award winning news, public affairs & talk radio Eclectic music streaming live @ ksfr.org Listener supported public radio Albuquerque-based casting companies are looking for fresh faces for the following series pilot and television series: “Preacher,” “The Night Shift,” “Longmire,” “From Dusk Till Dawn” and “Midnight, Texas.” Visit the websites of White Turtle Casting, EG Casting and Lorrie Latham Casting for more details. To be considered for background work on these shows, submit your interest to Robert Baxter via email at [email protected]. But before you do, read the next paragraph. No experience is needed to apply for background roles. The information casting directors find most valuable is an accurate physical description of yourself, including height and weight, hair and eye color, ethnicity, a clear current photo, accurate contact information and any special skills or physical characteristics you have. For your schedule of availability, I advise Thursday through Monday and every day after 5 p.m. Physical attributes like full-body tattoos or no tattoos at all are important to note. Save yourself and the casting director time and effort by being thorough. Skills like horseback riding, firearms training and all sorts of sports, musical and other specialized training can help get you cast; sometimes, what makes you, well, you can even bump you from the background into a featured role. Photo courtesy of APA Jennifer Beals (“Flashdance,” “The L Word”) has joined “The Night Shift” in a recurring role as Dr. Syd Jennings, an Army Major. And, remember, casting companies do more than places, faces and types: they also need your car or truck. One of the casting directors listed above asks people to include a photo and detailed description of all the vehicles you own, and that’s sound advice. Get exposure The New Mexico Film Foundation’s annual Actors Showcase is a prime opportunity to see local talent in action. This year’s showcase is scheduled for Saturday, March 26, at the South Broadway Cultural Center. Visit nmfilmfoundation.org to learn more. Sponsored by Cine Magnifico, The Indie Scene is a quarterly film showcase at the National Hispanic Cultural Center featuring some of the best short films, video segments and music videos by filmmakers from all over the state. Submissions of shorts and videos are open now at facebook.com/ theindiescenene. Dubbed the “little Sundance of New Mexico,” the Taos Shortz Film Fest happens April 7 through 10. Get info at taosshortz.com. On April 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the state film office hosts its annual Albuquerque Film & Media Education Summit at CNM. Visit nmfilm.com to learn more. And save the date for AFME 2016, slated for April 18 through 24. The experience takes place at multiple venues along historic Route 66. Visit abqfilmx.com for details. A new Southern New Mexico film community effort will take root when the first Film T or C festival kicks off on May 6. Go to facebook.com/FilmTorC to ask questions or get involved. It’s also time to make plans for the Roswell Film Festival. Submissions are open through April 18 at roswellfilmfestival. com. The fest itself happens May 19 through 21. New Mexico film expert Christa Valdez, of OneHeadlightInk.com, reports on movie industry news for ABQ Free Press. s a songwriter, Albuquerque native A.J. Woods possesses the rare gift of direct eloquence. He says what needs to be said in clear language that’s also poignant and powerful. Fleshed out with minor-key acoustic guitar and feathery drums, the resulting work is populated by narratives and atmospheres he conjures up. Nature’s fingerprints are all over Woods’ latest release “The Fence,” out now on TinyAmp Records. On tracks like “The Water,” “Movement in the Grass” and “Against the Wind,” melody lopes, twangs, wails and moans through riverbeds run dry, a world dusty with quartz sand and haunted by tumbleweeds. On A.J. Woods tracks like “The Water,” “Movement in the Grass” and “Against the Wind,” melody lopes, twangs, wails and moans through riverbeds run dry, a world dusty with quartz sand and haunted by tumbleweeds Woods releases “The Fence” and limited-edition live album “Movement In the Grass” at the Guild Cinema (3405 Central NE) on Friday, April 8, starting at 11 p.m. Tickets are $5. The evening also features a reading by writer George C. Moreno and photo projections by Johnny Gomez. Johnny Gomez Albuquerque musician A.J. Woods in his natural habitat I met Woods for an interview at the South Broadway Library. We initially set out to do an outdoor interview at Kit Carson Park — in the middle of March in Albuquerque. As I feared, the notorious March winds got the better of us. Nature cares not for deadlines. People ask me where I went to school, and I tell them. But if people ask me where I got my education, I tell them that I got it at the Guild Cinema — A.J. Woods By the time we actually met, it was so blustery out that I half-expected to see Winnie-the-Pooh flying Piglet by his scarf like a kite. Like the kindhearted bear, Woods was a good sport throughout our “Windsday” chat. Haley English Cover art for “Movement in the Grass” Woods is also slated to do a live spot on KUNM’s “Music to Soothe the Savage Beast” program on Tuesday, April 5. The show starts at 10 p.m. on KUNM 89.9 FM. Tell me about “The Fence.” What were some of the influences for your songs? It’s a collection of songs. Some are new, some of them I’ve been working on for 10 years almost. It’s hard to say where they come from. It’s kinda like I put an antenna out, and then they come. Why did you want to meet at the park at first, and what significance does the natural world have on your creative process? I mentioned the park because it’s a beautiful place with big old-growth cottonwood trees and decent shade. I definitely pull some influence from the natural world. I grew up in New Mexico, I’m from Albuquerque and I feel like I have a definite connection with the land and the natural world here. Why’d you choose the Guild as the venue for your album release? I love that theater, and I thought it would be cool to release my material in a place that has such distinctly wonderful intellectual property coming to it. They’re very selective about the films they show and about putting good things on there. I’ve seen so many wonderful films there. People ask me where I went to school, and I tell them. But if people ask me where I got my education, I tell them that I got it at the Guild Cinema. What do you appreciate most about the Albuquerque music scene? The diversity of everything. There’s a wonderful noise music scene here that I really appreciate. There’s so many layers to our scene. It’s cool because a lot of it happens on the underground level, in houses or art spaces. It’s not Los Angeles or another one of these big entertainment district cities. It seems like we’ve been protected from the kind of corruption that comes from big money entertainment here. The people who make music and art in this city are more interested in self-expression and the genuine aspects of creating art, rather than using art as a vehicle to make money. The best thing I see here is a healthy blend of competition, collaboration and cross-genre support. George C. Moreno is giving a brief reading as part of your album release. Other than your friendship, how did you get him to participate? There’s so many layers to [the Albuquerque music] scene. It’s cool because a lot of it happens on the underground level, in houses or art spaces — A.J. Woods He has such a brilliant mind. I know his interest in literature and his genuine pursuit of greatness, so I thought it would be good complement to the set. My friend Johnny Gomez is also showing photography that night. He does his own prints at home; he’s an analog photographer. In all of the places he’s lived, he’s always had his own makeshift or DIY darkroom. He’s also going to be doing some projections. He’s very prolific, has an enormous amount of photos and just has a great eye. M. Brianna Stallings writes so you don’t have to. 28 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS Within Range: Of a Spring Day music CALENDAr DEFINITIVE DOZEN by M. BRIANNA STALLINGS Melt-Banana + Melvins Extreme metal grindcore from England; grunge ancestors awash in that Washington alt.rock sound; dizzying, disjointed noise rock straight outta Tokyo. All three bands are known for revolving doors of past studio or live members and for destroying eardrums of legions of loyal fans. Emerging from England’s early ’80s punk scene, Napalm Death is the Irish hammer of extreme metal — though it’s been building a strong foundation of brutal grindcore tunes for generations, none of its original parts remain. Still, singer Mark “Barney” Greenway, Shane Embury (bass), Mitch Harris (guitar) and drummer Danny Herrera are Napalm Death’s most consistent members. Contrariwise, Melvins’ frontman/ guitarist Buzz Osborne and drummer B by M. BRIANNA STALLINGS Dale Crover have been the band’s only ongoing members since 1984. From Nirvana to QOTSA to Boris, Melvins’ influence can be heard everywhere. In addition to palling around with Merzbow, Mike Patton and John Zorn, Melt-Banana has something of a reputation for eclectic covers, ranging from jazz and holiday standards by Nina Simone to jams by reggae legends Toots and the Maytals, and of course, wall-rattlers from The Birthday Party and Dead Kennedys. Wikipedia may bill Japanese master of dissonance Melt-Banana as the opener for Napalm Death and Melvins, but let’s face facts: this is a triple header of equal titans. The Savage Imperial Death March Tour visits Albuquerque on Monday, March 28, at Sunshine Theater (120 Central SW). Doors are at 7 p.m., and a night of power-loud starts at 8. Tickets for this 13-and-up show are $20 via holdmyticket.com. The Cave Singers In Irish folklore, it takes just one banshee to keen out high, warbling songs of mourning. On The Cave Singers’ latest “Banshee,” it takes: singer/ guitarist Pete Quirk’s wild, reedy voice; Derek Fudesco’s dexterous guitar; Morgan Henderson’s solid bass work; and the coursing roll of Marty Lund’s percussion to tie these 10 songs of reminiscence, pensiveness and a relinquishing of control together. Recorded in six days last July, “Banshee” is another foot-thumping, hand-clapping chapter in this neo-folk group’s history. Rising from the ashes of Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Cave Singers released four albums before taking a sabbatical year. The group hooked back up in 2015 to crowdfund “Banshee.” The Cave Singers are joined by the dreamy harmonies of mellow psych-pop foursome Dræmhouse. Give a listen to the group’s latest EP, “Only Friends,” at their Bandcamp page. Lead singer Chris Cheveyo teeters effortlessly from nonchalance to defiance, sometimes within the same song. Wail, sway, clap and swoon along with The Cave Singers on Tuesday, April 5, at Launchpad (618 Central SW). Doors are at 8 p.m., and the 21plus show begins at 9. Tickets are $12 via launchpadrocks.com. M. Brianna Stallings makes work work. m Box: New albums by M. Ward, Heron Oblivion and Thao & The Get Down Stay Down delivery on “Temptation” melds with the surfy lead guitar, calling The Go-Gos’ “Vacation” to mind. Ward’s warm, welcoming vocals and lyrical finesse artfully unifies all this genre-hopping. M. Ward: “More Rain” (Merge) M. Ward has been wicked prolific with She & Him, Monsters of Folk and other projects recently, but his last solo album was 2012’s “A Wasteland Companion.” Now he’s rewarding patient indie-folk fans with “More Rain,” a vibrant record that rapidly breaks through the clouds to sunny pop. “Pirate Dial” would fit in on Paul Simon’s 1972 self-titled solo album. “Time Won’t Wait” sounds ’90s altweird (think Meat Puppets) with its hearty piano and sweet T.Rex-esque guitar riff. The harmonies on “I’m Listening (Child’s Theme)” hearken back to Ward’s original idea for a straightup doo-wop album. His lilting lyrical Heron Oblivion: “Heron Oblivion” (Sub Pop) Stream “Funeral Funk ’49,” a dirgey shout-out to The James Gang’s ’70s rocker “Funk #49m,” at Heron Oblivion’s Bandcamp page. While it’s not a straight-up cover, savvy listeners will recognize a comparable, albeit slower rhythm loping throughout Heron Oblivion’s eponymous full-length debut. The San Francisco quartet — avian soprano and drummer Meg Baird; guitarists Noel Harmonson and Charlie Saufley; and bassist Ethan Miller — self-identifies as “funeral folk,” “fuzz burn” and “Albion dirge,” and its members hail from an assortment of psych, new folk and noise rock bands like Espers and Six Organs of Admittance. Recorded by lo-fi producer Eric Bauer (Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees), the release’s seven rumbling, febrile tracks prove a dark, psychedelic trip. Standouts include “Oriar,” “Rama” and “Seventeen Landscapes.” Thao & The Get Down Stay Down: “A Man Alive” (Ribbon Music) Our parents’ deaths are as inevitable as our own but the abandonment can feel unbearable. When the people who created us die, can we ever fill the hole in our hearts? Thao & The Get Down Stay Down’s new album “A Man Alive” asks this heavy question. Thao Nguyen’s father ditched her family early on. Despite creative and critical success, Nguyen has been walking wounded ever since. Thao & TGDSD’s last album “We The Common” focused on outreach, human connection and Thao’s volunteer work with the California Coalition for MARCH 25–27 Jen DePaolo Noon, Free, Civic Plaza, 1 Civic Plaza NW, 3rd St NW and Marquette Ave NW, cabq.gov 2 Events: 23rd Annual César Chávez Day 10:30 am, National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th St SW, 724-4771, nhccnm.org 3 Shows: 10th Annual 4 Artspree: GRAFT at the Balloon 5 pm, Anderson Abruzzo Balloon Museum, 9201 Balloon Museum Dr NE, 768-6020, graftgallery.com See freeabq.com for an extensive list of shows. SHOWS THROUGH MARCH 27 Albuquerque Little Theatre, 224 San Pasquale Ave SW, 242-4750, albuquerquelittletheatre.org THROUGH APRIL 10 The Graduate Aux Dog Theatre, 3011 Monte Vista Blvd NE, 254-7716, auxdog.com The Quality of Life Keshet Center for the Arts, 4121 Cutler Ave NE, 227-8583, motherroad.org THROUGH APRIL 17 Caesar‘s Blood The Adobe Theater, 9813 4th Street NW, 898-9222, adobetheater.org Terra Nova The Vortex Theatre, 2900 Carlisle NE, 247-8600, vortexabq.org SATURDAY, MARCH 26 Bloodstone 5 pm, Burt’s Tiki Lounge, 313 Gold Ave SW Brooklyn Hard Bodies Male Revue 9 pm, Effex Nightclub, 420 Central SW, 842-8870, effexabq.com Chris J Arellano feat. Brenda Ortega & Studio B 7:30 pm, KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Ave NW, 768-3544, kimotickets.com Cirque de la Symphonie 6 pm, Popejoy Hall, UNM Main Campus, 203 Cornell Drive NE, 925-5858, nmphil.org 11 Shows: To Feel Is In Question: Isabelle Kessler Noon, New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W. Palace Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5072, nmartmuseum.org WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 THURSDAY, MARCH 31 MARCH 26–APRIL 8 10 Shows: Elvis on the Plaza Noon, Old Town Plaza, Albuquerque, facebook.com/MACA.ABQ 8:30 pm, El Rey Theater, 622 Central Ave SW, elreyabq.com CLUBS & PUBS 9:30 am, New Mexico Natural History Museum, 1801 Mountain Rd NW, nmnaturalhistory.org SATURDAY, APRIL 2 March Against Child Abuse Moustachio Bashio Museum: Landing Party Mexico’s Native Medicinal Plants: Maria Thomas 5 pm, Old Town Gazebo, 303 Romero St NW, 311, cabq.gov 7 Community: 4th Annual Million FRIDAY, APRIL 8 8 Eats: Frybread Making Workshop 6 pm, Pueblo Harvest Café, 2401 12th St NW, RSVP: 724-3510, indianpueblo.org Lisa Lopez & Bob Gusch Duo Part of Art in the Afternoon 2 pm, Free, Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, 2000 Mountain Rd NW, 242-4600, cabq.gov/museum Max Gomez 6pm, New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W Palace Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5072, nmartmuseum.org New Mexico Actors Showcase Competition 3 pm, South Broadway Cultural Center, 1025 Broadway Blvd SW, 848-1320, southbroadwaytickets.com Stephanie Miller’s Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour 8 pm, Lensic Theater, 211 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe, (505) 988-1234, ticketssantafe.org Stratus Phear 6 pm, Pueblo Harvest Café, 2401 12th St NW, 724-3510, indianpueblo.com/puebloharvestcafe Tabularasa 8 pm, Taos Mesa Brewing, 20 ABC Mesa Rd, El Prado, (575) 758-1900, taosmesabrewing.com The Temporary Tattoos 6 pm, Marble Brewery Westside, 5740 Night Whisper Rd NW, 508-4368, marblebrewery.com MARCH 26–27 Southern Slam Dancers (Zuni) Noon, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th St NW, 843-7270, indianpueblo.org SUNDAY, MARCH 27 Peri Pakroo Part of Bloody Sundays Brunch and Bloody Mary Bar 11 am, Distillery 365, 2921 Stanford Dr NE, 221-6281, distillery365.com Solo Piano with Bob Tate 6 pm, Free, Vernon’s Speakeasy, 6855 Fourth St NW, 341-083, thehiddensteakhouse.com Solo Violin and Voices 10:30 am, Las Puertas Event Center, 1512 1st St NW, chatterabq.org in the 9 Word: A Curandera Garden — New 6 Shows: Local Band Showcase SATURDAY, MARCH 26 List you r THURSDAY, APRIL 7 5 pm, 516 ARTS, 516 Central Ave SW, 242-1445, 516arts.org Guild Cinema, 3405 Central Ave NE, 255-1848, guildcinema.com West Side Story Thao & The Get Down Stay Down Launchpad (618 Central SW) Tuesday, April 26, at 8 p.m. 5 Artspree: Across the Table: Film Festival 2016 Rodey Theatre, UNM Main Campus, 203 Cornell Drive, 925-5858, unmtickets.com M. Brianna Stallings writes so you don’t have to. FRIDAY, APRIL 1 1 Screens: Sin Fronteras My Fair Lady Women’s Prisoners; their new release looks inward, poking at the dadshaped hole in Thao’s heart. “Millionaire” opens with warped loops eerily reminiscent of a carousel before its lyrics kick you in the chest: “Daddy I broke into a million pieces / That makes you a millionaire.” “A Man Alive” is like a full-back tattoo: It’s not for everyone and it’s gonna hurt like hell, but the result is breathtaking. ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 29 12 Word: Friends of the Library of Rio Rancho Book Sale 10 am, Loma Colorado Main Library, 755 Loma Colorado Blvd NE, Rio Rancho, 891-5013x3033, riorancholibraries.org MONDAY, MARCH 28 OSHWA 7:30 pm, Tortuga Gallery, 901 Edith Blvd SE, 369-1648, tortugagallery.org TUESDAY, MARCH 29 Santa Fe Desert Chorale: Ailyn Perez and Gary Matthewman 6 pm, Lensic Theater, 211 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe, (505) 988-1234, ticketssantafe.org WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 Walter Trout 7 pm, Taos Mesa Brewing, 20 ABC Mesa Rd, El Prado, (575) 758-1900, taosmesabrewing.com THURSDAY, MARCH 31 Chris Lightcap’s Bigmouth ABQ Free Press calendaR Email even t info, including event nam e, date, time, addr ess and co ntact phone num ber or website , to calendar@ freeabq.co m one month in advance of publica tion. Memphis P-Tails 6 pm, Pueblo Harvest Café, 2401 12th St NW, 724-3510, indianpueblo.com/puebloharvestcafe Stand Up for Kids: A Night of Comedy to benefit NM Voices for Children 7 pm, by donation, African American Performing Arts Center, 310 San Pedro Dr NE, 244-9505, donate.nmvoices.org/standup APRIL 1–2 Alchemie 10 pm, Isleta Resort & Casino, 11000 Broadway Blvd SE, 724-3800, isleta.com Francis Menotti Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 466-5528, jeancocteaucinema.com 7:30 pm, Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale Blvd SE, 268-0044, outpostspace.org SATURDAY, APRIL 2 MARCH 31–APRIL 10 6 pm, Pueblo Harvest Café, 2401 12th St NW, 724-3510, indianpueblo.com/puebloharvestcafe Yo Soy Joaquín! National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th St SW, 724-4771, nhccnm.org FRIDAY, APRIL 1 Andy Zadrozny Jazz Trio Part of Music at the Museum 5:30 pm, Free, New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W. Palace Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5072, nmartmuseum.org Aspen Santa Fe Ballet 7:30 pm, Lensic Theater, 211 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe, (505) 988-1234, ticketssantafe.org The Haymarket Squares Marble Brewery, 111 Marble Ave, 243-2739, marblebrewery.com Lewis Winn and George Langston Part of Noontime Guitar in the Galleries Noon, New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W Palace Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5072, nmartmuseum.org Masta Ace, Wake Self, Def-i Sister Bar, 407 Central Ave SW, 242-4900, sisterthebar.com e venT Bad Kats Eric Cuerno Part of Noontime Guitar in the Galleries Noon, New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W Palace Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5072, nmartmuseum.org Grainne Hambly & William Jackson 7:30 pm, Historic Old San Ysidro Church, 966 Old Church Rd, Corrales, brownpapertickets.com SUNDAY, APRIL 3 Danger Muffin: Taos Ski Valley Closing Day Bash 7 pm, Taos Mesa Brewing, 20 ABC Mesa Rd, El Prado, (575) 758-1900, taosmesabrewing.com The Pirates of Penzance Popejoy Hall, UNM Main Campus, 203 Cornell Drive NE, 925-5858, unmtickets.com Quietly Kept Part of Bloody Sundays Brunch and Bloody Mary Bar 11 am, Distillery 365, 2921 Stanford Dr NE, 221-6281, distillery365.com APRIL 3–10 Opera Southwest: Il Turco in Italia National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th St SW, 724-4771, operasouthwest.org MONDAY, APRIL 4 Comedy’s Best Kept Secret Tour: Andrew Frank, Dan Frigolette, Sonya Vai 8 pm, Aux Dog Theatre, 3011 Monte Vista Blvd NE, 254-7716, auxdog.com TUESDAY, APRIL 5 Comedy’s Best Kept Secret Tour: Andrew Frank, Dan Frigolette, Sonya Vai 9 pm, Effex Nightclub, 420 Central SW, comedysbestkeptsecret.com Recycled Percussion WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 8 pm, Popejoy Hall, UNM Main Campus, 203 Cornell Drive NE, 925-5858, unmtickets.com 6 pm, Duke City Sound, 2013 Ridgecrest Dr SE, 267-0192 APRIL 2–3 Big Thunder Dance Group Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th St NW, 843-7270, indianpueblo.org Nicolas Jaar DJ Set Meow Wolf, 1352 Rufina Cir, Santa Fe, (505) 395-6369, meowwolf.com Idlehands, So Say We All, Wolfpack Weekend King & Country Santa Ana Star Center, 3001 Civic Center Circle NE, (888) 694-4849, santaanastarcenter.com THURSDAY, APRIL 7 Dena Derose Trio 7:30 pm, Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale Blvd SE, 268-0044, outpostspace.org 30 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS Raising Puebloan Voices BY ARIANE JAROCKI The Maltese Falcon CALENDAr CALENDAr KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Ave NW, 768-3544, kimotickets.com WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 Peace Officer Part of Indie Lens Pop-Up 7 pm, Free, KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Ave NW, 768-3544, kimotickets.com FRIDAY, APRIL 8 The Birth of Film, Faust, The Fall of the House of Usher Part of The New Mexico Philharmonic Music & Arts Festival 6:10 pm, KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Ave NW, 323-4343, nmphil.org Courtesy of IPCC B ig changes are afoot at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center. In celebration of the center’s 40th anniversary, IPCC reveals their first new permanent exhibit in as many years. Aptly titled “We Are of This Place: The Pueblo Story,” the exhibit represents all 19 Pueblos and strengthens IPCC’s history of sharing Pueblo peoples’ history in their own voices. Artifacts and stories told by artists and elders in Pueblo languages are available for visitor interaction. Puebloan stories are woven into a sensory experience that speaks both to history and traditions shaping modern Native lives. A museum member preview happens from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, April 1, and the exhibit opens to the public on Saturday, April 2. Learn more at indianpueblo.org SATURDAY, APRIL 2 ‘We Are of This Place: The Pueblo Story’ 9 a.m., Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th Street NW, 843-7270, indianpueblo.org THURSDAY, APRIL 7 MARCH 31–APRIL 14 Pat Malone Jean Cocteau Cinema Part of Noontime Guitar in the Galleries Noon, New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W Palace Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5072, nmartmuseum.org 418 Montezuma Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 466-5528, jeancocteaucinema.com Through March 31, Mountain Men April 1–7, Journey in Sensuality, The Last Man on the Moon, Remember April 8–14, Mermaid SCREENS MARCH 26–APRIL 8 CCA Cinematheque 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, (505) 982-1338, ccasantafe.org March 26–27, Trapped Starts April 1, Cemetery of Splendor Starts April 8, Marguerite, City of Gold Guild Cinema 3405 Central Ave NE, 255-1848, guildcinema.com March 26-27, Facets Kids Vol 3 – Family & Community March 28–30, Ingrid Bergman – In Her Own Words April 1–2, Rise of the Legend April 1–4, Mountains May Depart April 2, The Girls in the Band April 3, All the Time in the World April 5–10, Experiments in Cinema v11.4 — A Basement Films Event April 7, Theory of Obscurity April 8, AJ Woods Album Release WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 Punk’s Dead: SLC Punk 2 7:30 pm, KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Ave NW, 768-3544, kimotickets.com THURSDAY, MARCH 31 Las Maestras de la República w/english subtitles 6 pm, Free, National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th St SW, 724-4771, nhccnm.org Silver Ochre: Who Are US 2016-Observations from the 21st Century American Road 7 pm, Guild Cinema, 3405 Central Ave NE, 255-1848, silverorchre.com The Q’s OUTstanding Awards 7 pm, Sandia Resort & Casino, 30 Rainbow Rd NE, 873-8084, abqpride.com MARCH 26–27 Rio Rancho Home & Remodeling Show Santa Ana Star Center, 3001 Civic Center Circle NE, 891-7300, santaanastarcenter.com WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 Spring Break Family Day: Celebrate the Sky 9:30 am, Anderson Abruzzo Balloon Museum, 9201 Balloon Museum Dr NE, 768-6020, balloonmuseum.com COMMUNITY THROUGH MARCH Conquer Anger Thursdays, 7 pm, Kadampa Meditation Center, 142 Monroe St NE, 292-5293, meditationinnewmexico.org THROUGH JULY Volunteers needed for NM Veterans’ Museum New Mexico Veterans’ Memorial, 1100 Louisiana Blvd SE, 256-2042, nmvetsmemorial.org Saturday Night Swing Dance Coffee Education and Tasting Kids Rock Geology 10 am, Free, Mama’s Minerals, 800 20th St NW, RSVP: 266-8443, mamasminerals.com Certifications for Federal Government Contracts OUTDOORS 2ND SATURDAYS 1 pm, Free, CNM Workforce Training Center, 5600 Eagle Rock Ave NE, nmtap.org SATURDAY, MARCH 26 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 6 pm, National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th St SW, 724-4771, nhccnm.org 2ND TUESDAYS Korean War Veterans Open Meeting 1 pm, New Mexico Veterans Memorial, 1100 Louisiana Blvd SE, 256-2042, nmvetsmemorial.org 1ST WEDNESDAYS Book to Art for Kids 10 am, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th St NW, 843-7270, indianpueblo.org 2ND WEDNESDAYS Drinking Liberally — Albuquerque Chapter SATURDAY, APRIL 2 Creative Salon-Tricklock Theatre Company Part of Women & Creativity 2016 5:30 pm, Free, National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th St SW, 724-4771, womenandcreativity.org 1:30 pm, Free, Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors Blvd NW, RSVP: 897-8831, [email protected] 1ST AND 3RD THURSDAYS Drinking Liberally — Cedar Crest Chapter 5 pm, Greenside Café, 12165 NM-14, Cedar Crest, 264-1368, drinkingliberally.org THURSDAYS Latin Gold: Salsa Lessons & Dancing First Friday Fractals New Mexico Natural History Museum, 1801 Mountain Rd NW, nmnaturalhistory.org 1ST SATURDAYS The Organ Transplant Awareness Program of New Mexico 10:30 am, Erna Fergusson Library, 3700 San Mateo Blvd NE, 344-0512 3RD SATURDAYS Lyme Get Together 12, Free, location varies, more info: 304-9411 SATURDAYS Santa Fe Farmers Market: Railyard 9:30 am, ABQ BioPark Zoo, 903 10th St SW, 768-2000, abqbiopark.com SUNDAYS THROUGH MARCH MONDAY, MARCH 28 April Fool’s — Zoo Style 10 am, ABQ BioPark Zoo, 903 10th St SW, 768-2000, abqbiopark.com FRIDAY, APRIL 1 The Great Ape-ril: Gorillas 10 am, ABQ BioPark Zoo, 903 10th St SW, 768-2000, abqbiopark.com APRIL 2–MAY 1 Spring Pastels Flower Show Home Composting Basics 5 pm, Free, Lizard Tail Brewing, 9800 Montgomery Ave NE, lizardtailbrewing.com/home 10 am, 6718 Rio Grande Blvd NW, farmersmarketsnm.org Easter Enrichment WEDNESDAYS ABQ Jazz Trio Open Jam Los Ranchos Growers’ Market 8 am, 1607 Paseo de Peralta at Guadalupe, Santa Fe, farmersmarketsnm.org SUNDAY, MARCH 27 ABQ BioPark, 2601 Central Ave NW, 764-6200, abqbiopark.com 1ST FRIDAYS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 Bokashi Bucket Composting 6 pm, O’Niell’s NE Heights, 3301 Juan Tabo Blvd NE, 264-1368, drinkingliberally.org A Night in the 40’s: Big Band Swing Burque Noir — Networking Event ABQ Food Fridays 6:30 pm, Prosum Roasters, 3228 Los Arboles Ave NE Ste 100, 379-5136, prosumroasters.com SATURDAY, MARCH 26 7 pm, New Mexico Veterans’ Memorial, 1100 Louisiana Blvd SE, 256-2042, nmvetsmemorial.org International Folk Dancing FRIDAYS 7:15 pm, Rhythm Dance Company, 3808A Central Ave SE, 250-6146, abqswing.com 8 pm, Free, Q Bar-Hotel Albuquerque, 800 Rio Grande Blvd NW, 225-5928, qbarabq.com KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Ave NW, 768-3544, kimotickets.com Lensic Theater, 211 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe, (505) 988-1234, ticketssantafe.org TUESDAY, APRIL 5 7 pm, Lloyd Shaw Dance Center, 5506 Coal Ave SE, 299-0332, abqfolkdance.org 4 pm, Civic Plaza, SW Section, 1 Civic Plaza NW, 3rd St NW and Marquette Ave NW, civicplazapresents.com Casino del Rueda Dance Class Dial M For Murder The Met: Live in HD Madama Butterfly 10 am, Free, meet at Central and 1st by Century Theater, 289-0586 Women & Creativity 2016 7 pm, Las Puertas Event Center, 1512 1st St NW, (303) 901-3021, facebook.com/burquenoir FRIDAY, APRIL 1 11 am, Free, Mama’s Minerals, 800 20th St NW, RSVP: 266-8443, mamasminerals.com TUESDAYS Mama’s Minerals, 800 20th St NW, RSVP: 266-8443, mamasminerals.com Noon, UNM Bookstore, 2301 Central Ave NE, 277-5827, bookstore.unm.edu Downtown Walking Tours with Albuquerque Historical Society ONGOING Mama’s Minerals Annual Easter Egg Hunt 11 am, 88 Louisiana Blvd SE Basic Necklace & Earring Making Class THROUGH MARCH 31 SATURDAY, MARCH 26 David Wilde: A Cafe in Space Vol 13 SATURDAYS EVENTS Various locations, Albuquerque, more info: womenandcreativity.org Talin Market Food Truck Round Up SATURDAY, APRIL 2 THURSDAY, APRIL 7 9:30 am, Free, Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE, RSVP: 767-5210, [email protected] EATS SATURDAY, MARCH 26 Algodones Distillery Tasting and Tour: Slow Food ABQ 2 pm, Free, 15 Calle Alfredo, Algodones, RSVP: 382-5322, facebook.com/SlowFoodAbq SATURDAY, APRIL 2 Santa Fe Beer & Food Festival Noon, Buffalo Thunder, 20 Buffalo Thunder Trail, Santa Fe, (505) 455-5555, buffalothunderresort.com THURSDAY, APRIL 21 Salud y Sabor: Cuba 5:30 pm, National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th St SW, 724-4771, nhccnm.org Pints & Planks Yoga Class 11 am, donation, Rio Bravo Brewing Co., (937) 671-8917, riobravobrewing.com WORD MARCH 26–APRIL 7 Bookworks 4022 Rio Grande NW, 344-8139, bkwrks.com March 26, James Anderson, The Never Open Desert Diner March 27, Shelley Armitage, Walking the Llano: A Texas Memoir of Place March 28, Loretta Hall, The Complete Space Buff’s Bucket List April 1, Brian Staveley, The Last Mortal Bond April 2, John McWilliams, Against the Wind: Courageous Apache Women April 3, Bev Magennis, Alibi Creek April 5, Dale Harris, Love of a God April 7, Lynn Miller, The Day after Death THROUGH MAY 3 IAIA Library Readings Various dates and times, Institute of American Indian Arts, 83 Avan Nu Po Rd, Santa Fe, iaia.edu SATURDAY, MARCH 26 Albuquerque Old Town to Albuquerque, 1846-1949: David Schneider Part of Stories of the Middle Rio Grande 10:30 am, Gutierrez-Hubbell House, 6029 Isleta Blvd SW, RSVP: 314-0398, gutierrezhubbellhouse.org Italian Opera: Maestro Anthony Barrese 11 am, Main Library, 501 Copper Ave NW, 768-5170, abclibrary.org/mainlibrary ONGOING SUNDAY, MARCH 27 TUESDAYS Women in Restaurants: Blue Corn Live Truckin’ Tuesdays 11 am, Civic Plaza, 1 Civic Plaza NW, 3rd St NW and Marquette Ave NW, albuquerquecc.com WEDNESDAYS Red Willow Farmers Market 10 am, 885 Star Rd, Taos Pueblo, farmersmarketsnm.org 11 am, Free, Therapy, 119 Gold Ave SW, bluecornlive.com TUESDAY, MARCH 29 Lightning Speak: Raven Chacon 5:30 pm, Free, UNM Art Museum, 203 Cornell Drive, 277-4001, unmartmuseum.org WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30 Grotowski’s Bridge Made of Memory-Embodied Memory, Witnessing and Transmission in the Grotowski Work: Dominika Laster Noon, UNM Bookstore, 2301 Central Ave NE, 277-5827, bookstore.unm.edu The Killer President of Guatemala — Reconsidering Ambassador Frank Ortiz: Michael Cangemi Part of Brainpower & Brownbags Lunch Lectures Noon, New Mexico History Museum, Meem Community Room, 113 Lincoln Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5200, nmhistorymuseum.org Nadeem Aslam with Phil Klay Part of Readings and Conversations series 7 pm, Lensic Theater, 211 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe, (505) 988-1234, ticketssantafe.org Rough Riders — Theodore Roosevelt, his Cowboy Regiment, and the Immortal Charge up San Juan Hill: Mark Gardner 6 pm, New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W. Palace Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5072, golondrinas.org THURSDAY, MARCH 31 MFA Fast Fire Series: What is There We Cannot See? Part of Meeting of the Minds Noon, Free, UNM Art Museum, 203 Cornell Drive, 277-4001, unmartmuseum.org FRIDAY, APRIL 1 ABQ Slam Grand Slam Championships WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 Juan Cole with Phyllis Bennis Part of In Pursuit of Cultural Freedom lecture series 7 pm, Lensic Theater, 211 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe, (505) 988-1234, ticketssantafe.org ABQ FREE PRESS • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • 31 Antici … Pation BY ARIANE JAROCKI THURSDAY, APRIL 7 Does Not Authenticate: Art, Identity, and Artifact Part of Meeting of the Minds Noon, Free, UNM Art Museum, 203 Cornell Drive, 277-4001, unmartmuseum.org El Santuario de Chimayo in History and Today: William Wroth Noon, Museum of Spanish Colonial Art, 750 Camino Lejo, Santa Fe, (505) 982-2226, spanishcolonial.org Loading the Dice — the Influence of Oceanic Anomalies on NM’s Weather and Climate: Deirdre Kann PHD (encore) 12:30 pm, Aquarium, ABQ BioPark, 2601 Central Ave NW, 764-6200, abqbiopark.com Reframing Resources — Water in the Contemporary Pueblo World 5:30 pm, Free, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th St NW, 843-7270, indianpueblo.org FRIDAY, APRIL 8 Research Symposium — Recovering the Story and Music of Manuel Areu Part of The New Mexico Philharmonic Music & Arts Festival 2 pm, Frank Waters Room, UNM Main Campus, 323-4343, nmphil.org Risk: Rose B Simpson Part of CreativeMornings 9 am, Free, New Mexico History Museum, 113 Lincoln Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5200, nmhistorymuseum.org ONGOING Wikimedia Commons W henever I think “time travel,” in pops “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” glam-rock earworm “Time Warp.” All hokeyness aside, Emerge ABQ — of Danger Carnival fame — presents an event that’s at least as fun and entertaining as Tim Curry in a corset. ShowOff 5.0: Time Travel is an adulting-up of the science fairs of our youth. This thoroughly grown-up event boasts art installations, interactive science fair booths, talent show acts, circus performances and great music at Sister on Saturday, April 9, at 8 p.m. Beatbox aficionado Zack Freeman and a DJ set by REIGHNBEAU soundtracks the 21-plus happening. A time travel-themed costume contest calls for brainstorming and crafting a steampunk, “Back to the Future” or “Time Warp”esque outfit. For ten bucks at the door, your golden ticket to the space-time continuum is assured. SATURDAY, APRIL 9 ShowOff 5.0: Time Travel 8 p.m., Sister, 407 Central Ave SW, 242-4900, sisterthebar.com, facebook.com/emergeabq 7:30 pm, Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale Blvd SE, 268-0044, outpostspace.org 1ST WEDNESDAYS APRIL 1–30 APRIL 2–29 A Fragile Legacy — Earthen Architecture in New Mexico: Jake Barrow Poetry and Beer The Paintings of Kathy Dillon 7 pm, Tractor Brewing Wells Park, 1800 4th St NW, 243-6752, getplowed.com Reception April 1, 5 pm–8 pm Sierra Club Office, 2215 Lead Ave SE, 243-7767 Masterworks of NM 18th Annual Fine Art Show WEDNESDAYS APRIL 1–MAY 1 APRIL 2–SEPTEMBER 11 Crazy Wisdom Poetry Do You See What I See?: Lyndia Radice Assumed Identities: Photographs by Anne Noggle Self-Regard: Artist Self-Portraits from the Collection 6 pm, Free, New Mexico History Museum, 113 Lincoln Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5200, nmhistorymuseum.org SATURDAY, APRIL 2 Loading the Dice — the Influence of Oceanic Anomalies on NM’s Weather and Climate: Deirdre Kann PHD 12:30 pm, Aquarium, ABQ BioPark, 2601 Central Ave NW, 764-6200, abqbiopark.com Small Press and Local Author Fair 11 am, Page One Books, 5850 Eubank Blvd NE Ste B-41, 294-2026, page1book.com SUNDAY, APRIL 3 Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America — Working Together to Revive Our Democracy: Bruce Berlin 3 pm, Page One Books, 5850 Eubank Blvd NE Ste B-41, 294-2026, page1book.com 4 pm, Free, OffCenter Arts, 808 Park Ave SW, 247-1172, offcenterarts.org ARTSPREE Reception April 1, 6 pm–7:30 pm Macey Center Gallery, New Mexico Tech Socorro, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, (575) 835-5342 MARCH 26–SEPTEMBER 11 APRIL 1–MAY 15 Back to Life: The Community of Historic Fairview Cemetery Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, 2000 Mountain Rd NW, 242-4600, cabq.gov/museum FRIDAY, APRIL 1 Beyond the Flesh: Jodie Herrera 6 pm, The Small Engine Gallery, 1413 4th St SW, thesmallenginegallery.com Johnpaul Gutierrez Art Opening 6 pm, Archetype Tattoo, 529 Adams St NE Ste A, archetypetattoo.com Art for the Earth OFFCenter Community Arts Project, 808 Park Ave SW, 247-1172, offcenterarts.org SATURDAY, APRIL 2 James Barnes Art Opening 7 pm, Distillery 365, 2921 Stanford Dr NE, 221-6281, distillery365.com APRIL 2 We Are of This Place: The Pueblo Story permanent exhibit opening 9 am, Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th St NW, 843-7270, indianpueblo.org Expo New Mexico, 300 San Pedro Dr NE, 260-9977, masterworksnm.org New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W Palace Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5072, nmartmuseum.org Puzzle on page 32 32 • March 23 – April 5, 2016 • ABQ FREE PRESS Crossword Day in Court by Myles Mellor and Sally York Across ONGOING THROUGH MARCH 26 Alcoves 2016 5:30 pm, New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W. Palace Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 476-5072, nmartmuseum.org The Figure in Clay Santa Fe Clay, 545 Camino de la Familia, Santa Fe, (505) 984-1122, santafeclay.com THROUGH MARCH 27 Gods and Fools: Brandan Styles & Ellie Rusinova Soft Serve: Kelly Tunstall Stranger Factory, 3411 Central Ave NE, 508-3049, strangerfactory.com New Mexican Portraiture Now National Hispanic Cultural Center, 1701 4th St SW, 724-4771, nhccnm.org THROUGH MARCH 30 Essential Visions: John Farnsworth and Michael Tatom Sorrel Sky Gallery, 125 W. Palace Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 501-6555, sorrelsky.com THROUGH MARCH 31 Fiber Rocks! Solo Exhibition: Frank Buffalo Hyde Hacienda de Los Martinez, 708 Hacienda Rd, Taos, (575) 758-1000, taoshistoricmuseums.org Tansey Contemporary, 652 Canyon Rd, Santa Fe, (505) 995-8513, tanseycontemporary.com Natural Forces — The Wild THROUGH APRIL 2 South Broadway Cultural Center, 1025 Broadway Blvd SW, 848-1320, southbroadwaytickets.com RSVP: James Joseph The Small Engine Gallery, 1413 4th St SW, thesmallenginegallery.com Taylor Oliver Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave, Santa Fe, (505) 466-5528, jeancocteaucinema.com THROUGH APRIL 1 Chasing the Cure: Tuberculosis Came to Albuquerque Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, 2000 Mountain Rd NW, 242-4600, cabq.gov/museum Fire and Ice: Alan Friedman & Douglas Lever photo-eye Gallery, 541 S. Guadalupe St, Santa Fe, (505) 988-5152, photoeye.com THROUGH APRIL 3 No More Stories: David D’Agostino Akummittinni: A Kinngait Family Portrait Open Space Visitor Center, 6500 Coors Blvd NW, 897-8831, cabq.gov/openspace Forward: Eliza Naranjo Morse THROUGH APRIL 4 Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Helen Hardin Media Gallery, 108 Cathedral Pl, Santa Fe, iaia.edu/museum The Artistic Odyssey of Higinio V. Gonzales: A Tinsmith and Poet of Territorial New Mexico Albuquerque Museum of Art & History, 2000 Mountain Rd NW, 242-4600, cabq.gov/museum 1. Recipient 6. Winston Churchill’s “___ Country” 10. Be a kvetch 14. Flip 15. Latest thing 16. Carbamide 17. Cross query 20. Misjudge 21. Emolument 22. ___ out a win 23. Not req. 24. City in Central China 25. Stage item 27. It’s given on the stand 33. Long bones 34. Flat-bottomed boat 35. Fancy neckwear 36. ___ box 38. Didn’t hold 41. 100 kobos 43. Approval 45. No cross allowed for him 50. Furnace button 51. Berry 52. Hotel sign Day in Court 53. Rel. leader 28. U.N. working conditions agcy. 29. Messenger ___ 30. Swift work 31. Word with bum or bunny 32. Square one? 36. Central 37. Web browser entry 38. Kvass ingredient 39. Balaam’s mount 40. Figs. 41. Watchman ___, Chinese Christian author 42. Bone cavities 43. Booster ___ 44. Singer DiFranco 45. Gelid 46. Enumerate 47. Gets revenge 48. Black Marias, e.g. 49. Locks up 54. Irascible 55. A constellation 57. Pastry dough 58. Buck passers? 59. Part of A.M. 61. German spa 62. Nave bench 63. First prime 56. Affect, with “to” 57. Kind of approval 60. Testify out of court 64. Bookkeeping entry 65. Canyon in Utah 66. Young hooter 67. Hollows 68. Swerves at sea 69. Choker Down 1. Cry softly 2. Takeoff artist 3. Four quarters 4. Word with loose or back 5. Skyscraper, e.g. 6. Silver, in heraldry 7. Query list, for short 8. Fit of fever 9. Need a bath 10. Injured 11. Melodic passage 12. Look into again, as a cold case 13. Buttery 18. Kempt 19. Printing flourish 24. Swell place 26. Global fin. overseer 27. Name By Myles Mellor and Sally York 1 2 3 4 5 6 14 7 8 9 22 13 38 39 40 57 58 59 23 24 25 29 30 33 31 26 32 34 35 36 41 46 37 42 43 47 48 50 44 49 51 52 60 12 19 21 28 11 16 18 20 45 10 15 17 27 Answers on page 31 53 54 61 55 56 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69
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