La Jicarita

Text and photos by ERIC SHULTZ East of Tesuque in the Sangre de Cristo foothills, the villages of Chupadero and Rio en Medio have received little attention by historians of New Mexico. This is not altogether surprising. A few mentions can be found in acequia-related writings, usually in reference to a rather uncommon relationship: an … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS It’s already all over the news, in both New Mexico and the nation. Mora County has taken a stand: “It shall be unlawful for any corporation to engage in the extraction of oil, natural gas, or other hydrocarbons within Mora County.” With that statement northern New Mexico’s Mora County becomes the first … Continue reading »

Photo Essay by DAVID CORREIA Scores of marchers paraded down Central Avenue yesterday, nearly all dressed in anarchist red and black, to mark May Day, or International Workers Day. In flyers announcing the rally, (un)Occupy Albuquerque and La Raza Unida, the organizers of the march, asked “are you dying for a living wage?” And many … Continue reading »

In February of this year the United States Forest Service (USFS) released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Roca Honda Mine, which proposes to mine uranium. The mine is located on Jesus Mesa three miles northwest of San Mateo near Mount Taylor. Two sections of the proposed mine are on USFS land and one … Continue reading »

Photo Essay by NICK ESTES Last Friday, April 19th, hundreds of scholars, community activists, and students gathered at the University of New Mexico to attend a symposium to honor the life and work of John Redhouse. The symposium, titled  “Indigenous Liberation and the Grounds of Decolonization” was co-sponsored by La Jicarita along with the UNM … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS As April slides into May in the upper Sangre de Cristo watershed I’m thankful for whatever green I get: the pasture grass first, emerging almost overnight into clumps of mixed brome, rye, timothy, and various unidentified shoots. The apricot trees in the orchard are just breaking into bloom, with an intrinsic knowledge … Continue reading »

Reviewed by: Eric Perramond, Colorado College David Correia, Properties of Violence: Law and Land Grant Struggle in Northern New Mexico, Athens (GA): University of Georgia Press, 2013, 220 pages, $69.96 hardcover/$24.95 (paper or e-book version). David Correia, in his book Properties of Violence, focuses on the old Tierra Amarilla land grant and themes of social and environmental … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS Revisions to the Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act dragged on for two years as the parties to the settlement had to go back to the drawing board and make the language in the 2006 act conform to the 2010 federal act that approved it (as well as the Cost Sharing and System Integration … Continue reading »

By STEPHANIE HILLER In a world with few heroes, Dave McCoy is a warrior for environmental justice who never gives up. For seven years he has been fighting for public protection from the toxic brew that fills the two and a half acre pit on the property of Sandia National Laboratory. He believes that the … Continue reading »

Photo Essay by NICK ESTES The National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque hosted the twentieth annual César Chávez Day march and festival this past Saturday, April 6, 2013. This year’s celebration was titled “Luchando, Educando, Celebrando: Recuerda a César Chávez,” and it drew more than one thousand marchers who joined with guest of honor and … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS I recently sat down with a teacher from Santa Fe High who is taking early retirement because, in the immortal words of Peter Finch in Network, she is “mad as hell” and “can’t take it anymore.” What this teacher—one of my son’s favorites, smart, dedicated, fair—can’t take anymore is the bureaucratic nonsense … Continue reading »

Update by ERIC SHULTZ As previously reported, the Vallecitos-area Jarita Mesa and Alamosa grazing associations have sued the Forest Service over grazing permit reductions. But the 18 percent cut in grazing isn’t the only issue. These micro-scale ranchers contend that when she was El Rito District Ranger, Diana Trujillo made the cut in retaliation for … Continue reading »

By DAVID CORREIA The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s department announced today that it has prepared a criminal complaint against Albuquerque Police Department Sergeant Adam Casaus for vehicular homicide in the February 10 death of 21-year old Ashley Browder. At the time of the accident, the off-duty Casaus claimed to be in high-speed pursuit of a DWI … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS In the seminal book of essays Uncommon Ground, Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, published in 1995, editor William Cronon wrote about the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver, Colorado, a Department of Defense manufacturing facility, one of the most toxic sites waste dumps in the United States, that became a wildlife refuge: … Continue reading »

Report and Photos by ERIC SHULTZ At its March 19 meeting, the Santa Fe School Board unanimously approved a resolution opposing plans to site a cellphone tower next to Gonzales Community School. At least one board member, Steven Carrillo, said he was unconvinced until he heard community members speak at the meeting. Federal telecommunications laws … Continue reading »

Commentary and photos by ERIC SHULTZ Was such a temper of mind likely to accompany that wise estimate of consequences which is the only safeguard from fatal error…? —George Eliot A recent exchange in the columns of The New Mexican sheds light on the debate over electro-magnetic radiation (EMR). But the light it sheds is … Continue reading »

By DAVID CORREIA An Albuquerque jury awarded the family of Iraq War veteran Kenneth Ellis III more than $10 million in a civil case brought against the City of Albuquerque and Albuquerque police officer Brett Lampiris-Tremba, who shot Ellis in the neck in January of 2010. State Judge Shannon Bacon had allowed the suit to … Continue reading »

By DAVID CORREIA On March 1, 1973 a 19-year old University of New Mexico student named Larry Casuse kidnapped the Mayor of Gallup. At 4:10 pm Larry, a political science major and president of UNM’s Kiva Club, a Native American student group at UNM, burst into the office of Mayor Emmett Garcia and hauled him … Continue reading »

By DON HANCOCK, Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC) Although the world’s first geologic repository for military nuclear waste does not have room for all of the hottest waste it is supposed to handle, the federal government is proposing to disregard legal limits and expand the types and amounts of waste destined for the site. … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS Editor’s Note: Senator Peter Wirth e-mailed a response to this article after its initial publication: “I do not support SB 440 [Lower Rio Grande water bill] or 463 [preemption of local governments from regulating oil and gas development]. I voted against 440 twice in Conservation and would have done so again had … Continue reading »

We pass on to our readers this update on the sentencing of the LANL 6 (Wind Euler, Cathy Sullivan, Summer Abbott, Janet Greenwald, Barbara Grothus and Pam Gilchrist), who had locked arms across one lane of  a road to the Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear weapons facility on Hiroshima Day last August. Provided by Nuke … Continue reading »

By DAVID CORREIA Ashley Browder was 21 years old, a member of the Air National Guard, and a passenger in a car driven by her sister that was rammed by a police cruiser driven by APD police Sgt. Adam Casaus. Casaus, off duty at the time of the accident, claimed he was in pursuit of … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS Last week Senate Bill 440, Senator Joseph Cervantes “Lower Rio Grande Water Rights” bill to address water shortages in the Lower Rio Grande basin was reduced to its elementary language by the Senate Conservation Committee and then passed out of committee. It now reads: “One hundred twenty million dollars ($120,000,000) is appropriated … Continue reading »

Photo essay by ERIC SHULTZ Last Friday at the busy Alameda and St. Francis intersection, drivers waved and emphatically honked their horns to support the dozens of Gonzales School community members holding picket signs in front of the Burger King. Their issue was a health concern but—perhaps surprisingly—not about the food. The owners of the … Continue reading »

Editor’s Note: This is the third and final week of our fundraiser and we’re $445 shy of our $2,500 goal. Please contribute using the “donate” button or mail a check to La Jicarita at HC 65, Box 206, Chamisal, NM 87521. Help us if you can. One of the most bizarre interviews in New Mexico legislative … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS The most recent National Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) report predicts that Elephant Butte Irrigation District will have 38 percent of its normal spring run-off flows this year and won’t even begin the irrigation season until June; it “normally” begins in February. The report also says that “While it is painful to contemplate, there is … Continue reading »

Today we end the second week of our three week fundraiser with $1930 toward our goal of $2500. Please contribute using the “donate” button or mail a check to La Jicarita at HC 65, Box 206, Chamisal, NM 87521. Help us reach our goal today! Memoir and photos by ERIC SHULTZ It was the fall of … Continue reading »

By DAVID CORREIA Aaron Swartz committed suicide nearly a month ago, almost two years to the day after he was arrested by federal authorities for “illegally” downloading millions of scholarly articles from the academic database JSTOR. Despite JSTOR’s request that no charges be brought against Swartz, US Attorney Carmen Ortiz of Massachusetts charged Swartz with … Continue reading »

Editor’s note: As of today we’ve received $1,145 toward our goal of $2,500. Our fundraiser continues and below we offer an example of our expansion into multi-media reporting. Please consider making a small donation to help us reach our goal and keep La Jicarita alive. You can donate online via Paypal (just click on the … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS La Jicarita kicked off its February fundraiser last week with an appearance on KSFR’s “Living on the Edge” and an appeal online. Our modest goal is $2,500, and as of today, February 3, we have raised $870. Many thanks to all who have contributed thus far. We will continue with the fundraiser … Continue reading »

By STEPHANIE HILLER Long ago, in January 1999, the Department of Energy stated in an Environmental Impact Statement that a new pit-production facility in Los Alamos was not needed, according to a 2005 article by Frank von Hippel, Princeton Professor of Physics: In 1999, when the Energy Department completed its previous comparison of the alternatives … Continue reading »

Update by ERIC SHULTZ In Norteños Suing for Survival, we reported on a controversy concerning former El Rito District Ranger Diana Trujillo, whose unilateral decision to reduce permitted grazing in her district sparked outrage among Hispano residents of the Vallecitos valley. Permittees viewed Trujillo’s decision as the culmination of a long line of actions—including arranging … Continue reading »

By DAVID CORREIA Over the past six months, we at La Jicarita have closely monitored, and frequently reported on, the unfolding and unprecedented war on environmental regulation waged by Governor Susana Martínez. She fired members of the Environmental Improvement Board who approved climate change mitigation plans and replaced them with industry lackeys who quickly repealed … Continue reading »

Update by ERIC SHULTZ Over beef tips and noodles at the community center last Thursday, Chupadero and Rio en Medio seniors reminisced about the cold snap of 1971. I have my memories, too: somehow the minus-20 degree air came down the exhaust flue and froze furnace pipes in the very core of our home. The … Continue reading »

Report and photos by STEPHANIE HILLER In just two months, a new youth protest movement spurred by social media has swept across Canada and poured into the United States, with resounding support from such far flung places as Ukraine, London and Chile. Idle No More reached the Santa Fe Roundhouse on January 15 with a … Continue reading »

By DAVID  CORREIA Environmental determinism is the theory that the physical environment, including the climate, sets hard limits on human society. Scholars and authors who subscribe to this theory, most notoriously Jeffrey Sachs and Jared Diamond (more on them later), argue that we can look to patterns of environmental change or geographical difference as a … Continue reading »

Reported by KAY MATTHEWS, photos and audio by ERIC SHULTZ In a filled-to-capacity courtroom on January 9 Los Alamos Municipal Judge Alan Kirk found the LANL 6 guilty on two counts of “criminal activity”: obstruction of a public thoroughfare and refusal to obey an officer (they were found not guilty of a third count of … Continue reading »

Text and Audio by ERIC SHULTZ Six peace and anti-nuclear activists blocked a road at Los Alamos National Laboratory on Hiroshima day last August. Five of the LANL 6 go on trial tomorrow, January 9 2013 (the sixth, Dr. Wind Euler, has chosen to represent herself and will be tried separately). At a legal-defense fundraiser … Continue reading »

By LOS ALAMOS STUDY GROUP The President today signed the FY2013 National Defense Authorization Act (FY2013 NDAA; click here for the text of the Act). The Act is significant for a number of reasons, one of which can be found in section section 3114, pp. 539-541. This section requires construction of a proposed multibillion dollar plutonium laboratory … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS The promulgation of Travel Management Plans for northern New Mexico’s Carson and Santa Fe national forests ended with a whimper, not a bang: the Carson National Forest Supervisor “opted to not consider any changes to the existing designated motorized trails on the Camino Real R[anger] D[istrict] during this travel management NEPA process.” … Continue reading »

By DAVID CORREIA Mining is big business in New Mexico. Coal, molybdenum, silver, potash, aggregates like gravel dirt, and industrial minerals such as gypsum, brick clay and silica are removed in the millions of tons each year. The bonanza of mineral extraction in New Mexico follows one of two procedures, either through pulverizing rocks with … Continue reading »

By SUZY T. KANE To illustrate the complication of water, take the case of the El Valle de los Ranchos Water & Sanitation District (El Valle) vs. Jose Venito Martinez Acequia (JVM Acequia). John Miera, Tom Trojnar, and John Hall are commissioners of the JVM Acequia, which gets its water from the Rio Fernando. All … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS I sat down to write this article on December 9; we got three inches of snow at 8,000 feet. During these last few months of no precipitation and temperatures between 50 and 60 degrees, lawyers have been meeting in Santa Fe and Albuquerque to rewrite the Aamodt settlement (to conform to federal … Continue reading »

By STEPHANIE HILLER Los Alamos National Laboratory has abruptly ended its contract with the New Mexico Community Foundation (NMCF), which served as the independent monitor of the Lab’s vast environmental database. This action has disturbed many stakeholders who saw this data management process as a valued improvement in the Lab’s accountability to the community, making … Continue reading »

Review by ERIC SHULTZ The mayordomo and I agree on many things. The other day we agreed that a lower-cholesterol diet should include burritos de chicharrones, at least occasionally. We created such an occasion down at the Parasol in Pojoaque. And my anticipation of a delightful luncheon was heightened by my intended topic of conversation: … Continue reading »

By DAVID CORREIA Each day at its massive Grasberg mine on the Indonesian province of Papua on the island of New Guinea, Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan, the world’s largest gold, copper and molybdenum mining company, removes 3 million pounds of copper and 5,000 ounces of gold from what has become, after decades of strip mining, an eleven-square … Continue reading »

By KAY MATTHEWS As is true in many cases of resource extraction and development, the lines of demarcation between those who would profit—corporations— and those whose lives are negatively impacted by the process—communities— are often muddied by economic concerns: how many jobs will be provided, do they pay a living wage, and who will get … Continue reading »

By DAVID CORREIA The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Tuesday that its Civil Rights Division will investigate the Albuquerque Police Department. Over the past three years APD officers have killed 17 people in 25 different officer-involved shootings. In addition, APD has been involved in a string of high-profile brutality complaints. According to a statement … Continue reading »

By DAVID CORREIA Sam Walton founded Walmart in 1962. Today his trinket-selling retail outlet is the world’s third largest corporation and the largest employer in the United States with earnings last year in excess of $16 billion. Walton’s children dominate Forbes’s list of the richest Americans. Christy Walton is the sixth richest American worth nearly $28 … Continue reading »

Update by ERIC SHULTZ Since our report last April (Norteños Suing for Survival), government lawyers have been hard at work to gut a historic suit for social justice and cultural survival before it even goes to trial. While the lawsuit charges that Carson National Forest El Rito District Ranger Diana Trujillo violated various environmental and … Continue reading »