Sangre de Cristo Chronicle: 2013 Year in Review

Sangre de Cristo Chronicle: 2013 Year In Review 1

2013

Year in Review:

2 Sangre de Cristo Chronicle: 2013 Year In Review

The year 2013 was filled with ups and downs for Cimarron Municipal Schools, which is the school district for Angel Fire, Eagle Nest, Cimarron and the surrounding area.

On the bright side, the district was one of the few in New Mexico that received either an A or B grade from the New Mexico Public Education Department for each one of its schools. The most recent grades represented a significant improvement over the school district’s report card for the prior year, which included a C and a D. In addition, Moreno Valley High School in Angel Fire ranked among the top schools in the United States on the Washington Post Challenge Index, Newsweek’s America’s Best Schools, and the U.S. News & World Report’s Best High Schools in 2013. Cimarron High School received a lot of attention in 2013 for its athletics, as its boys’ track team placed first and its boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams both placed second in the Class A state championships.

The school district experienced many leadership changes in 2013, with the introduction of a new superintendent and two new board of education members. New Superintendent Adan Estrada replaced James Gallegos, who retired in summer 2013 after five years at the helm. Bret Wier was elected to the board in February, and Annie Lindsey was appointed to fill a vacancy on the board in August. The board is now looking to fill another vacancy left by Owen McCulloch, who resigned in December.

The school board stirred up controversy in 2013 when it agreed to pay more than $700,000 for a 100 kilowatt solar array at Eagle Nest Elementary and Middle Schools. For some people, including Wier, the price tag was a concern because Kit Carson Electric Cooperative previously received a bid to build a 100 kilowatt array at the school for less than half the price approved by the board. School district officials said they did not know whether they could legally move forward with a bid provided to Kit Carson, but they would not accept a separate bid from the company that provided it. As a result, Wier proposed and the school board approved a new policy requiring a competitive bidding process for any purchases in excess of $60,000.

The school district remains in the hot seat for circumstances surrounding its 2013 decision to hold a $7 million bond election in March 2014. The Moreno Valley Education Foundation proposed the bond election in an effort to generate money to replace the deteriorating classrooms at the Angel Fire school. But instead of just letting voters decide whether to fund this specific project, the school board plans to hold an election for a general operating bond that would give the district enough for the classrooms plus several million dollars more for other needs including improvements to Cimarron schools. After facing some backlash from the community about the vague wording that will appear on the actual ballots, the school board revised the language in an attempt to better explain how the money would be used. Although school district officials have said they would use some of the funds on classrooms in Angel Fire, which was the original purpose of the bond initiative, the new ballot language still says nothing about them. n

Village of Angel FireThe year 2013 was a busy one for the village of Angel Fire, which spent a lot of

time working to resolve crises from years past and dealing with a few new ones. Angel Fire’s attorneys probably didn’t get much rest in 2013, as the village

continued work on many liability claims against the municipality throughout the year. Perhaps the most prominent one that resolved in 2013 was initiated by former Angel Fire police officer Michael Smith, who sued the village in 2012 for allegedly firing him in retaliation and received $25,000 through a settlement reached in July. Former Angel Fire employee Deborah Bredthauer received $30,000 through a settlement reached in April to drop a discrimination charge she filed against the municipality with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Records from the New Mexico Self Insurers Fund show the insurance provider paid a 12-year high of $269,703.15 for all liability claims against the village that closed during fiscal year 2012-13, which ended in June.

Angel Fire’s governing body also added, increased or started enforcing a variety of fees in 2013. Throughout the year, village officials announced they would begin collecting a residential development fee for new-home construction, and they increased the rates for refuse, water and sewer service as well as bulk water and the installation of water meters. Per a July decision, the village council replaced a monthly slash fee with a new wildfire protection fee that the owners of all land in Angel Fire are required to pay. That decision came shortly after village officials announced they planned to begin enforcing existing ordinances that require certain trees and other potential fire hazards to be removed from private lots at the landowners’ expense.

Angel Fire’s water crisis was another hot topic in 2013, as the village and its water users were able to use only about 489 of the 947.72 acre-feet of water rights the municipality owned that year. The village lost the additional 458.72 acre-feet because of mandatory cutbacks to its annual allocation from Eagle Nest Lake and because it was not allowed to use any of its junior priority rights that year. The village and its water users consumed more than 300 acre-feet of water in the first half of 2013.The village had about 684 additional acre-feet stored at Eagle Nest Lake for emergencies at the beginning of the year, though it is not yet known how much of that was used. Angel Fire officials kept busy in 2013 trying to eliminate the need for their water “bleeders,” which reportedly spilled about 60,000 gallons per day each winter during years past to keep it from freezing in municipal waterlines. n

BearsWhether they were attacking others or being attacked, bears were at the

center of many local news stories in 2013. Perhaps the most prominent incident occurred in Eagle Nest in August,

when an officer with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish accidentally killed a bear with rubber bullets outside a bar. Wildlife officials said the officer was only trying to make the bear uncomfortable around humans, but outraged witnesses

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said the animal suffered for hours as it slowly bled to death as a result of its wounds. The incident prompted an apology from the Department of Game and Fish and action from the Eagle Nest Village Council, which is considering new rules to better protect animals in the municipality. Another Game and Fish officer made local and state headlines with his attempt to kill a problematic bear with a rifle intended for a much smaller animal in September in Raton. Some witnesses were reportedly upset, but an investigation by the department determined the officer did nothing wrong.

In June, Game and Fish officials killed a bear suspected of breaking into a home about two miles north of Cimarron and attacking a bedridden woman, leaving her with scratches on her nose and head. In July, wildlife officers killed a black bear that tore open a tent with two campers inside at a campground northeast of Raton. Game and Fish officials received three calls about bears entering Cimarron homes and one about a bear that mauled a dog in the village in July. Wildlife officials also said they also received many reports about bears getting into trash bins throughout the area in search of food during summer 2013. n

CattleA long-standing problem that came to a head in 2013, wandering cattle in

Angel Fire gave us plenty to write about in 2013. Homeowners have reported the animals have eaten flowers, knocked

down rock walls, broken sprinkler heads and left manure in their yards. In a desperate attempt to protect his roughly $1 million investment in an Angel Fire property, one man put up a barbed-wire fence in summer 2013 even though that may have violated the restrictive covenants on his land.

Roaming cattle and the by-products they leave behind were also abundant at the new Angel Fire Visitor Center Park throughout the summer. Angel Fire Resort built the park to be a place for visitors to rest and take in the sights, which was hard to do with a herd of 700-pound animals standing in the way.

Angel Fire police have resorted to citing the owners of the offending cattle, though that doesn’t seem to be helping much. The Angel Fire Municipal Court dismissed one of the charges in July for a lack of evidence, and Angel Fire Police Chief Warren Morey said “the bar is set pretty high regarding proof of whose cattle they are.” The municipal court upheld an earlier charge against another cattle owner, but the defendant took his case to the New Mexico Court of Appeals in September. Because of New Mexico’s fence-out laws, the rancher is challenging the Angel Fire ordinance that prohibits wandering animals within village limits.

In late 2013, the Angel Fire Police Department announced the village might hire local cattle rustlers to deal with the livestock problem. n

Commnet WirelessAlthough Commnet Wireless was an unfamiliar name in the Moreno Valley

at the beginning of 2013, that’s no longer the case. The company’s name started coming up frequently around the end of

August, when the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission received a rash of complaints about poor cellular telephone service in the Angel Fire area. The PRC does not have jurisdiction over cellular service but forwarded the complaints to the company responsible for the problems, which was identified as Commnet Wireless.

Commnet owns most of the cellular towers in the Moreno Valley and the transmitting equipment on all of them. As such, the company’s Vice President of Network Support Services Mark Hansen said, “we’re the ones that follow up on trouble tickets and drive this stuff to resolution.” Hansen vowed that the company would fix the service problems and even said it planned to implement 3G service for AT&T customers in the area.

The company caused an even bigger stir in October, when its proposal to build a new cellular tower in an Angel Fire subdivision drew a rare standing-room-only crowd to a meeting of the Angel Fire Planning and Zoning Commission. Village officials received about six letters from nearby residents opposed to the proposal, citing mainly health and aesthetic concerns. More than a dozen other people supported the project through letters or verbally at the meeting, pointing to the tourism and safety benefits the tower is expected to provide. The planning and zoning commission and village council both approved the construction of the tower, which is expected to begin in spring 2014. n

ChRonICle Photo BY eRIC heInz

A black bear cub hides in a tree July 27 between the Lucky Shoe Bar and Grill and Great Escapes Motel in Eagle Nest. It is believed that this cub belonged to the sow an officer with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish accidentally killed in Eagle Nest in August.

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Angel Fire plane crash kills four Texans

Airport manager says staff warned pilot of high winds

Published March 7By Eric HEinzStaff writer

ANGEL FIRE — Four people from Texas died in a single-engine airplane crash that occurred shortly after takeoff Sunday (March 3) afternoon about 500 yards from the end of the runway at Colfax County Angel Fire Airport, authorities said.

The crash occurred at about 1:24 p.m. Sunday, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Lynn Lunsford.

“At this point, it’s really too early to speculate on what might have happened,” Lunsford said Sunday, adding that there were strong wind gusts during the time of the takeoff. “Whether that played a role in the accident … investigators will determine.”

The N-Number on the plane that crashed is 3484X. A search on FAA.gov shows the plane was registered to Verhalen Flyers LLC in Scottsville, Texas. The plane was a Mooney M20E built in 1966.

In a press release issued Monday (March 4), the New Mexico Department of Public Safety identified the pilot as 33-year-old John Phillip Verhalen III. Also on board were the pilot’s 41-year-old sister Sara Verhalen, Sara’s 13-year-old daughter Chloe Marie Jameson, and the pilot’s 26-year-old girlfriend Jennifer Woodward, according to the release.

Department of Public Safety spokesperson Tony Lynn said he believes the four victims were from the San Antonio, Texas area.

In April 2011, a photo of the airplane that crashed was posted to the Facebook page of a man named John Verhalen of San Antonio. In a Feb. 26 post to the Facebook page, John Verhalen stated that he had logged more than 500 hours of flight time.

New Mexico State Police and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the cause of the crash.

View from belowColfax County Angel Fire Airport Manager Harvey Wright said wind in the area can be

unpredictable and swirling in all directions at times. The airport sits about 8,400 feet above sea level.

“On this airport, it can be blowing three different directions,” he said. “...Chances are he was fighting (the wind) all the way for sure.”

Wright said a crosswind was probably too much for the small Mooney airplane to overcome.

“It was a big discrepancy from what the plane can handle and what he was trying to make it handle,” Wright said. “You have to consider the load (four people) and that old of an airplane (built in 1966). That thing probably had about 180 horsepower at sea level, and up here probably about 165 horsepower.”

Wright said individual pilots have the authority to decide whether they will take off or land at the Angel Fire airport.

“The only thing I can do is close the airport, and we do that when we’re plowing,” Wright said. “That does not stop a guy from taking off and landing. I can report the tail number to the FAA, but there’s nothing I can do to prevent them from flying.”

The Angel Fire airport’s weekend manager Carl Shilcutt, who was in charge of the airport the day of the crash, did not want to speak to the Sangre de Cristo Chronicle about the incident. However, Wright said Shilcutt questioned the pilot’s decision to take off in the strong winds.

“When the pilot and his three passengers indicated they were going to fly out, he asked the pilot, ‘You’re really going to fly in this weather?’” Wright said. “The pilot said ‘Yes. It wouldn’t be a problem.’ He agreed the winds were strong, but he said he thought he could handle it.”

Wright said the pilot then did the preflight check, and the passengers boarded for takeoff.

Wright provided the Chronicle with information from Shilcutt’s report to the National


Authorities look over the flaming wreckage that resulted from an airplane crash March 3 in Angel Fire.

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“On March 3, 2013, a Mooney crashed in heavy winds. Wind speeds were about 31 knots, gusting at 48 knots (about 55 miles per hour) per the Automated Weather Observing System. The altimeter was 29.98, and the air density 9,600 feet. So the airplane would think it’s at 9,600 feet already trying to take off,” Wright dictated from the report.

In the document, Shilcutt said he was unable to see the plane take off. But when he saw the aircraft, he could tell that the pilot was struggling to maintain control.

“The aircraft was not gaining altitude and struggled to maintain the 100 feet it had,” Wright dictated from the document. “As it continued, the flight became erratic, at one point descending rapidly. A few seconds later the aircraft began another climb. The right wing rose rapidly, the aircraft rotated left, the nose rose rapidly, the aircraft wing got caught by a gust and it rolled over, stalled and went straight down.”

John Nelly of Taos said he was driving in the area when the plane went down. “It appeared the plane was trying to build altitude leaving the runway and caught

the wind wrong and took a nosedive for the ground,” Nelly said, adding that there were more witnesses to the incident. n

Report: Loose magnet caused Eagle Nest helicopter crash

Published May 23By Eric HEinzStaff writer

EAGLE NEST — According to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, the helicopter crash that occurred March 14 near the Enchanted Circle Gateway Museum in Eagle Nest was caused by a magnet that came loose and disrupted the flight.

The report states that the magnet was part of the equipment used to provide rotor RPM indications.

“We have concluded that this magnet came loose in flight as indicated by the bang heard by the pilots and subsequent low rotor RPM warning horn and loss of indication,” Travis Warthen, vice president of Leading Edge Aviation, Inc., stated in an email to the board. “The remedial action for low rotor indication is to lower the collective and apply aft cyclic. As the collective is lowered, the correlator rolls the throttle down to help maintain RPM. At nearly 9,500 feet density altitude, rapid throttle changes in the R44 can result in the engine fuel/air ratio becoming too rich or too lean to sustain operation.”

The report states there was probably a “bang” coming from the release of the magnet attached to the forward side of the flex plate assembly.

“We discovered one of the magnets used to provide rotor RPM indications was missing from the transmission yoke,” Warthen’s email states. “There was scaring on one of the sensors opposite this magnet, indicating it had made contact with the magnet while the yoke was rotating. We talked to Robinson Helicopter Corporation about this, and they indicated that if one of the magnets or sensors opens, the rotor RPM indication will drop and the low rotor RPM warning horn will activate. The magnet was found affixed to a bolt just aft of the yoke and a small dent was found on the horizontal firewall.”

The helicopter was damaged to the point where it was inoperable after the hard landing.

“The aircraft sustained substantial damage to the tail rotor Monocoque design boom driveshaft, anti-collision light, anti-torque tail rotor push/pull tube, flex plates and yoke assemblies,” the report states. “Main rotor blades were damaged along the outboard three fee, spanwise. Fuselage, skid system, and remainder of helicopter remained intact and undamaged.”

The two pilots inside the aircraft, Erick Hicks and Aaron Vane, walked away from the incident uninjured. n

ChRonICle Photo BY jeSSe ChaneY

Cindy Coss of Eagle Nest EMS, center, and the two pilots of the helicopter damaged in a crash landing March 14 in Eagle Nest look over the broken tail on the aircraft.

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Philmont moves scouts as fire burns roughly 200 acres nearby

Published June 13By Jesse ChaneyManaging editor

CIMARRON — With an estimated 200-acre wildfire burning roughly three miles south of Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, about 100 people near the camp’s southern border were being moved to other areas Thursday (June 13) afternoon.

“We’re moving folks to different program areas. It’s not an evacuation, because we really don’t have an evacuation reason right now,” the camp’s Public Information Officer Owen McCulloch said at about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. “...We’re still at the very beginning of our summer season, so we’re just starting to get people into the back-country.”

The Whites Peak fire is burning on private, forested land about 10 miles north of Ocate, or roughly 15 miles southeast of Angel Fire. On Thursday afternoon, officials said the fire was moving northeast.

“It’s moving east, and it’s moving quick at this point,” Colfax County Fire Marshal Larry Osborn said at about 4 p.m. Thursday.

About 60 people were helping to fight the blaze at about 4 p.m. Thursday, New Mexico State Forestry Spokesman Dan Ware said. The resources on the scene at that time included nine engines, two hand crews and two air tankers, he said.

“We have a lot of resources on this thing, and we’re bringing in a Type 3 incident command team,” he said Thursday afternoon. “I would imagine they’ll take over the fire tomorrow.”

Ware said the fire was caused by lightning sometime Thursday. At about 4 p.m. Thursday, he said no structures were threatened and no evacuations had been ordered because of the fire. n

Editor’s Note — The Whites Peak Fire burned about 1,275 acres from June 13-18. Nearly 200 people helped fight the blaze, and no injuries were reported. No evacuations were ordered and no structures were damaged because of the fire.

8-year-old girl dies in Angel Fire sledding accident

Published Jan. 10

By Jesse ChaneyManaging editor

ANGEL FIRE — An 8-year-old girl from Houston, Texas died after she was struck by a vehicle while sledding at about 5 p.m. New Year’s Day (Jan. 1) in Angel Fire, Angel Fire Police Department officer Jarod Kornelson said.

The girl was sledding down a driveway in a neighborhood about four miles west of Olympic Park before a vehicle driven by a 69-year-old man from Angel Fire hit her in the street, Kornelson said. The accident occurred on Sierra Blanca Trail about four-tenths of a mile away from the intersection of Santo Domingo, he said.

The girl died from internal injuries, Kornelson said.“She had no visible injuries,” he said. “It was the chest and

abdominal (area) where she sustained her life-taking injuries.”The girl arrived at Holy Cross Hospital in Taos via ambulance

at 6:05 p.m. and was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m., Kornelson said.

“Unofficially, she was basically dead here,” he said.The girl’s father was the only witness, according to the

narrative in a police report. Kornelson said the family of the girl has not filed charges,

and “at this moment, we’re probably not going to pursue any type of criminal charges.”


A helicopter responding to the Whites Peak Fire flies over an entrance to the Express UU Bar Ranch near Philmont Scout Ranch south of Cimarron June 14.

CouRteSY Photo

Dakota Hawkins, 8, of Houston, Texas, died in a sledding accident in Angel Fire on New Year’s Day 2013.

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Sangre de Cristo Chronicle: 2013 Year In Review 7He said he will not release the name of the girl who died or the driver of the vehicle

until the district attorney reviews the case. As of Monday ( Jan. 7), the Angel Fire Police Department had not released the names.

Anyone who would like to send cards or notes to the girl’s family may leave the materials at the Sangre de Cristo Chronicle office.

“As a community we have felt the pain of all families involved with the tragic event that occurred last week, and to show our support we would like to put together a care package to be sent to them,” Lisa Sutton of Angel Fire said. n

Editor’s Note — After this story was published, police identified the victim as Dakota Hawkins of Houston, Texas and reported that the driver of the vehicle involved in the accident did not do anything wrong. The family of the girl is now raising funds for a new playground in her honor.

Police suspect arson in Cimarron motel fire

Published Nov. 21

by gabriel weinsteinStaff writer

CIMARRON — A teenager might be charged with arson and multiple counts of attempted murder in connection with the fire that destroyed the Canyon Inn in Cimarron in October.

In an email to the Sangre de Cristo Chronicle Monday (Nov. 18), Cimarron Police Chief Paul May wrote that he is waiting for the district attorney’s office in Raton to press charges against a 15-year-old White male suspect. The possible charges include one count of arson and four counts of attempted murder/non-negligent manslaughter.

According to a police report, a secretary at Cimarron High School called police on Oct. 7 and told them that students at the school wanted to speak with officers about the fire.

When police officer Casey Woodis arrived at the school that day, the report states, he obtained permission to speak with a woman who knew about the fire. The woman told Woodis that the suspect had told her he was going to blow up or burn down the Canyon Inn even if the motel had tenants inside, it states. Later that day, Woodis spoke on the phone with another person who knew about the fire, it states.

According to the report, Woodis returned to Cimarron High School Oct. 8 to speak with more people about the suspect’s alleged involvement in the fire. One person said the suspect said he poured gas in an open window and threw a match on top of the gas, the report states.

The report states that Woodis later returned to the school and located the suspect, who agreed to go to the police department.

At the police station, the report states, Woodis and State Fire Investigator Jeff Hill spoke to the suspect about his relationship with Eric Perea and Amy Cordova. The manager of the Canyon Inn, Cordova lived in an apartment at the motel with her boyfriend, Perea, and her son. According to the report, the authorities told the suspect during the meeting that Perea had spotted him driving around the inn that night in a white pickup truck.

Investigators from the state fire marshal’s office were unable to determine the cause of the fire during their investigation. In his report, State Fire Investigator Sammy Anaya ruled out the boiler, chiller, washing machine, dryer, and three gas water heaters in the maintenance room as the source of the fire. He did not exclude the fluorescent ceiling light as a possible cause of the fire because the fire had a high origin point.

An area near the window had burn damage, but Anaya wrote that he could not determine the cause.

“In reference to the low burn area in the window area I could not determine if this was due to drop down or a person or persons unknown to me introducing ignitable liquids or ordinary combustibles in through the window and then setting it on fire,” he wrote in a report.

“Based on my training, experience, observations I made at the scene, interviews I conducted and all information I gathered, it is my opinion that the cause of this fire is undetermined,” Anaya added.

The Canyon Inn burned down early in the morning on Oct. 2. Cordova called 911 around midnight to let authorities know about a fire in the boiler room. Police arrived at 12:05 a.m., and emergency teams arrived a few minutes later. Fire crews put out the fire later that morning after spending hours battling the blaze. n

Editor’s Note — As of press time, no charges had been filed in connection with the fire.

ChRonICle Photo BY gaBRIel weInSteIn

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People dive into the new year Jan. 1 during the Polar Bear Plunge at Eagle Nest Lake State Park. The plunge is usually held in the lake, but participants dove into a portable water holder provided by local fire departments in 2013 due to the low water level in the lake.

ChRonICle photo bY eRIC heInz

2013 In Pictures

A participant in the 2013 Shovel Race Championships shoots down a ski run on a grain shovel Feb. 9 at Angel Fire Resort.

ChRonICle photo bY jeSSe ChaneY

Children help hold up an oversized U.S. flag during a march from the intersection of U.S. 64 and N.M. 434 to Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park for Memorial Day May 27.


D’wan Grimes of Amarillo, Texas hops through tires at an obstacle course during Oktoberfest in Red River, which was held in mid-October.

ChRonICle photo bY gabRIel weInSteIn

Children attend Breakfast with Santa Dec. 21 at the Angel Fire Community Center.


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Sangre de Cristo Chronicle: 2013 Year in Review

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