One:

ABQjournal: Bill Would Fund New Coors Rules By Andrea Schoellkopf, Journal Staff Writer

City Councilor Michael Cadigan, who represents the upper West Side, has introduced a bill that would fund a $150,000 update of the Coors Corridor Plan? adopted by the council in 1984.

The council is scheduled to consider the resolution at its March 7 meeting.

Under the resolution, the updates would establish high-quality design standards regarding development, open spaces and other public areas and increase “visual harmony” between new and existing buildings and the natural environment.

Last year, West Siders called for a revision of the plan after walls began appearing on both sides of Coors. As it turned out, the area on the west side of Coors and the area south of the La Luz neighborhood did not have view protections built into the Coors Corridor plan.

“A lot of those empty parcels are starting to fill up,” Cadigan said….

Coors “was supposed to be more of a parkway, more like Tramway,” Valles said. “… People that were involved in creating the Coors Corridor plan are nothing but disappointed with the way the city has enforced it.”

Rae Perls, president of the La Luz Landowners Association, which is southeast of Monta?o and Coors, said the other issue is whether the view from Coors is inclusive of the bosque and the city lights, or is limited to the mountain range.

“We have some major concerns about huge walls and double story buildings being built flush up to Coors and totally blocking all views,” she said. “… It’s a tragedy to those of us who live on the West Side, to see it destroyed by the greediness of developers.”

She said unless the Coors Corridor plan is updated, developers will be able to build however they want.

Two:

ABQjournal: 3 Six-Story Buildings in Project By Rory McClannahan, Journal Staff Writer

The West Side could be home to three six-story buildings in the next couple of years.

Interstate Development Co. is proposing to develop a 426,000-square-foot village center called Fountain Hills Plaza on 36 acres near the intersection of Paradise and Eagle Ranch. The development, which would be done in six phases would include retail and office space, a hotel and two condominiums. The hotel and condos are proposed to be six-story buildings, according to plans submitted to the city’s Planning Department.

The developers plan to unveil their plans and take comments at a public meeting scheduled at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Taylor Ranch Community Center.

Three:

ABQjournal: Wal-Mart Purchases 20 Acres for Store By Joshua Akers, Journal Staff Writer

There has been no announcement and no fanfare from retail giant Wal-Mart’s corporate office. But all indications are the company is coming to Rio Rancho.

The mega-retailer recently purchased just over 20 acres of commercial land from AMREP Southwest in the northwest corner of Unser and Southern Boulevard, according to documents filed at the Sandoval County clerk’s office.

The land purchase comes as the company’s building permit is under review in the city’s Development Department.

According to that plan, Wal-Mart is planning a 214,000- square-foot Supercenter for the site. …

Because the land is already zoned commercial, no public hearings are planned for the project.

Let’s summarize this recent legislative activity (details below): we will continue to allow people to attach razor blades to roosters to fight to the bloody death. We will allow anyone to kill cougars indiscriminately. We will hand over public wildlife for easy slaughter and the profit of a few (including a Senator). mjh

—–
ABQjournal: 2 Cockfighting Bans May Die By Kate Nash, Journal Capitol Bureau

Sen. Phil Griego, D-San Jose, said … “To do away with cockfighting is to do away with a major part of our culture, of our Hispanic heritage,” he said. … [mjh: supporters include Ed Lowry, Ray Westall, Wilford Brimley]

Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Do?a Ana, a sponsor of one of the bans, said … she doesn’t consider cockfighting part of her Hispanic culture. …

Cockfighting is already illegal in 13 of the state’s 33 counties and in 29 cities.

A fall 2004 Journal poll of 402 registered voters statewide showed that two-thirds of registered voters surveyed would support a law banning cockfighting in New Mexico. …

“There’s an undeniable link between children who witness violence and their participation in it later in life,” said Bill Jordan of New Mexico Voices for Children. “We need to break the cycle of violence.”

[Track HB878
PROHIBIT COCKFIGHTING
Sponsor: Peter Wirth
Current Location: House Agriculture Committee]
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ABQjournal: Open Cougar Hunting in Bill By Deborah Baker, The Associated Press

SANTA FE? Cougars could be shot on sight under a proposal headed to the House for a vote.

The bill, backed by livestock growers, was endorsed Tuesday by the House Government and Urban Affairs Committee.

It would take the cats? also called mountain lions or pumas? off the list of big-game animals whose hunting is regulated by the state Game and Fish Department.

Rep. Brian Moore, R-Clayton, the bill’s sponsor, told the panel it could help balance the deer population, prevent losses by ranchers and provide more protection for children and pets. …

The bill would take away the Game and Fish Department’s ability not only to set hunting limits, but to monitor and manage the cougar population, she said.

“The mountain lion population is a valuable resource to the state,” former department director Bill Huey said in a letter that was read to the committee.

The declining number of deer is a problem throughout the West, and there is no single cause for it, said Huey, who opposed the legislation.

[Track HB47
REMOVE COUGARS FROM REGULATED GAME LIST
Sponsor: Brian K. Moore
Current Location: House Government & Urban Affairs]
—–
ABQjournal: Game Parks’ Size May Rocket By Jeff Jones, Journal Staff Writer

SANTA FE? New Mexico ranchers could build high fences around massive swaths of private land and claim the state-owned wildlife inside as their own if a bill moving through the state Senate becomes law, a conservation group leader said Tuesday.

“The language is very innocuous. . . (But) it privatizes our public’s wildlife,” said New Mexico Wildlife Federation president Oscar Simpson.

The measure by Sen. Timothy Jennings, D-Roswell, would dramatically increase the legal size limit on so-called game parks, where hunters pay big money to shoot fenced-in game animals. …

Jennings, a rancher and member of the finance committee, appeared to suggest he might be interested in starting a game park of his own. …

Under current New Mexico law, individual game parks can be no larger than 3,200 acres. Jennings’ bill would boost the maximum legal acreage of a private game park to 20,000 acres, or about 31 square miles.

The owners of game parks normally stock their enclosures with game animals purchased from breeders. They then charge a fee to people who want to shoot the animals as trophies.

A Legislative Finance Committee report said Jennings’ original bill would “allow private landowners to fence in significant numbers of state owned wildlife and convert them to private ownership.” …

Many hunters object to game parks, questioning the ethics of shooting an animal behind a game-proof fence of any diameter.

[Track SB337
INCREASE GAME & FISH PARKS MAXIMUM ACREAGE
Sponsor: Timothy Z. Jennings
Current Location: Senate Finance Committee]

Whether you’re familiar with this case or not, please compare the following quote from today’s Albuquerque Journal (2/19/05) with the next quote from the Clovis News (2/15/05).

ABQjournal: Clovis Man’s Devilish Decals Raising Hellfire By Jeff Jones, Journal Staff Writer

The case started back in December, when a police officer was dispatched to the Clovis restaurant where Young works as a waiter to check into the “inappropriate display of sexual material.”

The officer found Young’s Ford Focus, took a look at the cartoon stickers on each side of the car and wrote Young a citation, according to the police report.

The report does not specify who made the complaint that brought the officer to the restaurant.

[VERSUS]

Battle brewing over devilish stickers By Mike Linn: CNJ news editor

Chandler said the case came to light after the young son of Clovis police Detective Kirk Roberts saw the stickers. Roberts saw his son staring at the images during a family outing to an area restaurant, where Young works as a waiter, Chandler said.

Young said he would have removed the stickers if Roberts hadn?t threatened to charge him with a felony. He said Roberts told him to remove the stickers, and came back to the restaurant two weeks later. When they weren?t removed, police issued the citation to Young, who said Roberts is the first person to approach him with concerns over the stickers.

?The only reason I?m getting charged with this is because some overzealous, church-going detective got offended by it, and got even more offended by it by the fact that I didn?t take it off after he threatened me,? Young said.

Roberts sees things differently.

?He apparently believes we?re violating his First Amendment rights … that right ends at my nose,? said Roberts, who said he?s heard some complaints about the stickers.

Notice how the story has ‘evolved.’ The original story strikes me as an abuse of power — where a cop sees something he doesn’t like and threatens a citizen. That’s completely missing in the latest version.

I don’t want cops deciding where my First Amendment rights end. That’s for courts (increasingly stacked with conservatives). And I don’t want the media cleaning up the story to hide an abuse of power. mjh

the image itself

ABQjournal: Rep. Introduces Cougar Hunting Measure, By Jeff Jones, Journal Staff Writer

A northeastern New Mexico lawmaker wants to declare open season on mountain lions.

Rep. Brian Moore, R-Clayton, is sponsoring legislation to remove cougars from the state’s list of game species, meaning they could be shot year-round and a hunting license would no longer be required to kill them. …

“We’re not trying to eradicate them. We’re just kind of bringing it into some kind of balance,” Moore said.

Lisa Jennings, executive director of Animal Protection Voters, criticized the bill, saying it “asks the people to support a free-for-all.”

We only have the vaguest idea how many cougars live in New Mexico, in spite of a 10 year study that was shelved on receipt. Now, we’re going to let anyone kill any cougar anytime without any record of that killing — smart, Rep. Moore, real smart. Let’s not even consider that environmental degradation is responsible for the decline of deer and elk. Let’s blame the cougar. Cougars kill the weakest, making the herd stronger; men kill the strongest, making the herd weaker.

Here we are, debating whether to allow cock-fighting to continue, while we open the slaughter of this magnificent beast. Show your humanity — tame the beast in your heart. mjh

—–
Representative: Brian K. Moore
District: 67
County(s): Cur,Hard,Quay,Roose,S.M. & Union
Party: Republican
Occupation: Grocer
Address: Box 56
Clayton, NM 88415
Capitol Office Phone: 986-4467
Office Phone: 374-9681
Home Phone: 374-2312
E-mail: brian@ranchmkt.com

Track HB47
REMOVE COUGARS FROM REGULATED GAME LIST
Sponsor: Brian K. Moore
Current Location: House Government & Urban Affairs

ABQjournal: Forest Service Plans Cut Both Ways By Tania Soussan

The Forest Service’s Tajique plan calls for thinning with tree cutting and prescribed burns over 10 years starting this summer. The project also would create a series of 300-foot-wide fuel breaks and build 28 miles of temporary roads.

The $5.9 million effort would boost local economic development, creating 11 jobs and $600,000 in income.

The project is aimed mainly at protecting the Forest Valley and Sherwood Forest subdivisions and a private youth camp. It could help Torreon and Tajique, which are outside the forest in pi?on-juniper lowlands and less at risk.

The agency is taking public comments through March 21. [See below.]

The goals are to improve watershed health and wildlife habitat and to reduce fire danger by returning the forest to early 1800s conditions. …

[Neighbors] working with Forest Guardians, submitted an alternative plan with no new roads, no prescribed burns and a 12-inch-diameter cap on tree cutting. …

After hearing from the public, the Forest Service reduced new roads from 37 miles to 28 miles and said the temporary roads could be gated to keep out all-terrain vehicles and illegal woodcutters. The roads would be revegetated and obliterated after the project.

Still, the Forest Service plan acknowledges the potential for problems, including increased erosion and the spread of invasive plants and weeks.

So much for preserving roadless areas. Thirty miles of new roads in 17,000 acres. No way will they all be “temporary.” This “Healthy Forests” plan needs to be re-thought. mjh

Cibola National Forest – Contact Us

Send postal mail to:

Cibola National Forest
2113 Osuna Road, NE, Suite A
Albuquerque, NM 87113

Phone:
(505) 346-3900

Fax:
(505) 346-3901

Cibola National Forest – Contact Us (form)

Roadless Area Conservation

The Albuquerque Tribune: Columnists

Jeffry Gardner: Poor, miserly liberals

Ah, those socially and economically advanced blue-region inhabitants – enlightened, wealthy and miserly. There isn’t a blue state in the top ten [on the Catalogue for Philanthropy’s Generosity Index]. …

There are genuine cultural and values differences between blue state progressives and red state conservatives. The Generosity Index details them in black and white.

Great values like feeling superiour and smug?

Anyone who has read just a little of Jeffry Gardner has to wonder what he knows of “generosity.” To say the man is a pitbull maligns that species. Gardner is a tiny representative of the foaming-at-the-mouth Rabid Right.

Come on, Jeffry, show us your canceled check! Everything is a competition-to-the-death for these punks. Thanks to his ilk, we must all *prove* our worth to those who judge us constantly. Show your flag, show your ribbons, show your stamped papers, prove you are a citizen-of-worth! Expect ridicule and abuse if you don’t conform. Jawohl. Christ himself would punch this guy.

Quick question: just how liberal was Ebenezer Scrooge? Was Bob Cratchet a red-stater? Come on, Jeff, let’s start judging and dividing everything. Another great uniter bringing the world together. mjh

Props to sister Pika for standing first against this Limbaugh-wannabe.

Quirky Burque: Jeffry Gardner’s Gross Inaccuracies

I, for one, refuse to accept your notion that being American means being afraid. I refute your idea that Red and Blue don’t mix. That Red & Blue can’t be friends or lovers or coworkers. To me, and to so many others, the fertile dialogue of PURPLE is exactly what America is all about. And your belligerent scribblings only aim to destroy the day-to-day unity that keeps the real America — a PURPLE America — harmonious. Purple is beautiful, purple is proud, purple is the REAL and feisty America.

Now get off my back, Jeffry Gardner….

So, Greg Payne has joined the blovisphere (see bloviate) — these really are the times that try men’s souls.

The aptly named Payne insists he’s never been called boring — just wait a couple more days. In a week’s time he’s fallen from calling the Journal “ruffians” to posting about Zoolander. His well will run dry soon. Will his Alibi column become a rehash of blog entries?

Like most in celebrity-obsessed America, where notoriety equals importance, Payne loves his role on our small stage. He plays the bad-boy Republican, tough enough to throw coke cans at cops, smooth enough to talk the panties off Pika (he thinks). The kinda guy Zell Miller calls a wimp.

It’s not just that “witty Right Winger” is an oxymoron, it’s that wit is despised by his ilk. The Red-faced Right takes everything seriously here at the End-of-Days.

Thank Payne for warning us that the Radical Right will have its revenge for Bernie Kerik at the next opportunity. It’s good to see another Republican for adultery and misrepresentation. Nevermind that Kerik was so feckless.

Anyone who thinks Zell Miller is right about Payne should note how harshly Payne puts down fellow Republican Brad Winter for his “frustrating middle-of-the-road style.” Yeah, I hate moderation in Republicans — not that I’ve seen it in 20 years.

Payne, an outsider whose ancestors have been here fewer than 150 of the last 13,000 years, writes about the humilation he suffered at the hands of a ‘weird, weaselly, funny-looking lawyer from NEW YORK‘ (gasp!). Huh. GP doesn’t mean “Jew,” does he?

Clearly, the “unfiltered” Payne is as good for the community as untreated sewage. But, then, why treat the blogosphere any differently than the biosphere? God gave it to us to poison as we like.

Turns out reading is just too much work for his audience — it’s easier to listen to Lush Limbaugh all day and stare at Pravda, er, Fox News, all night. Someone should start a pool as to when he quits. mjh