Archive for April, 2011
Public Service Announcement: Community Substance Abuse Prevention Forum
by John Weckerle
Checking in on our friends at Mountainair Announcements, we find that there will be a community substance abuse prevention forum held on April 18 from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m at the Moriarty Civic Center. A light breakfast will be provided. The forum will explore alcohol and other drug problems in the community and strategies for addressing these issues. An RSVP is requested – to respond, call the DWI Victims’ Memorial of Perpetual Tears at 832-4495.
Fuelwood Permits Available By Drawing
by Karen Takai, U.S. Forest Service
ALBUQUERQUE, NM. April 12, 2011 – The Sandia Ranger District will be offering registration for fuelwood permit drawings
ONE DAY ONLY
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
Registration for permits will be accepted ON THAT DAY ONLY.
Register by call in, fax, or walk in that day.
Walk In Office Location: Tijeras, 11776 Hwy South 337, one mile south of I-40 (EXIT 175)
Call In: (505)-281-3304 ext: 0
Fax In: (505) 281-1176
If your name is drawn you will be allowed one permit per household, that includes two cords for $20.00. Permits will be drawn as wood becomes available throughout the season.
For additional information contact the Sandia Ranger District at (505) 281-3304 ext: 0
Fire Restrictions begin for Cibola National Forest
by Arlene Perea, U.S. Forest Service
ALBUQUERQUE, NM., April 8, 2011 – Beginning April 11, 2011 at 8:00 a.m., Stage 1 Fire Restrictions will be placed on public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service – Cibola National Forest. The restrictions will cover the following Ranger Districts: Magdalena, Mountainair and Sandia (three mountain districts). These restrictions will remain in force until rescinded.
Conditions this year are similar to the 2008 fire season with no end in sight to the dry conditions, above normal temperatures and winds. Weather predictions are indicating limited precipitation and above normal temperatures for the coming months, which could bring about an early fire season. Forest officials will continue to monitor the conditions on the ground daily.
STAGE 1 FIRE RESTRICTIONS
The following acts are prohibited on public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service – Cibola National Forest until further notice:
1. Building, maintaining, attending, or using a fire, campfire, or stove fire except in U.S. Forest Service developed campsites and picnic grounds where grills and stoves are provided.
2. Smoking, except within an enclosed vehicle or building, a developed recreation site, or while stopped in an area at least three feet in diameter that is barren or cleared of all flammable materials.
3. Possessing, discharging or using any kind of firework or other pyrotechnic device.
The following persons are exempt from this order on public lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service – Cibola National Forest:
1. Persons with a permit that authorizes actions specifically prohibited by this order.
2. Any Federal, State or Local Officer or member of an organized rescue or firefighting force in the performance of an official duty.
3. Owners or lessees of land within the restricted areas are exempt from prohibition 1 stated above, provided such fires are within their residence.
Visitors to the Cibola National Forest should always be aware of weather conditions and be careful with the use of fire outdoors. If visitors have questions or concerns please feel free to contact the U.S. Forest Service offices. You may also visit our website at http://fs.usda.gov/cibola or follow us on TWITTER @ Cibola_NF.
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
District City Phone
Magdalena Ranger District Magdalena, NM 575-854-2281
Mountainair Ranger District Mountainair, NM 505-847-2990
Sandia Ranger District Tijeras, NM 505-281-3304
Grow Your Own – The Thing In The Middle
Circular bed for vegetables and flowers.
by John Weckerle
Well, it wouldn’t be Spring here at New Mexico Central if we weren’t trying to come up with new and interesting ways to grow things that – we hope – will end up taking a trip through our digestive systems. This week, we began work on a new type of bed, this time one that we adapted from something we saw in Sunset Magazine. It’s a two-tiered, sort-of-circular bed that is intended not only to produce vegetables, but also to provide some ornamental value. In our version, we used 5.5-inch tall, wood-grained, plastic edging (the Sunset version used corrugated aluminum, which also looked good, but we saw the plastic first and thought it would look nice). There were other, somewhat less expensive edgings, but we liked this one because it was taller than most – also, it contains a good bit of recycled plastic.
Senior Gardening Correspondent Wilson and his crew waited until after lunch to get started. With the help of Assistant Editor Lucy, we did a “quick and dirty” (get it?) layout, and then your editor began digging. Using a turning fork, we loosened up the soil around the central feature to a diameter of about 9 feet and a depth of 8 inches to a foot, give or take a bit, breaking up dirt clods as we went along (we’ve got a bit of clay in the ol’ New Mexico Central soil). We then turned in two bales of peat moss and one bag each of steer manure and composted cotton burr, first turning in one bale of peat moss, and then doing another turn with the rest. Why the multiple turns? Well, for one thing, it helped further break up the clods. For another, this helped us achieve a nice, even mix of native and organic material.
A Discussion Elsewhere
by John Weckerle
Your editor has found himself in a discussion of free speech and other issues at Gadabout-Blogalot.com.
The “Master Naturalist Program” Sprouts For A Second Time
by Brianna Anderson, Bernalillo County Public Information Specialist
Bernalillo County – Bernalillo County Master Naturalists are volunteer educators, citizen scientists, and stewards helping to conserve and manage natural resources on Open Space. The program, being spearheaded in New Mexico, is in its second pilot year and the County is offering training this summer for incoming volunteers. The program is ideal for individuals who love the outdoors and are interested in supporting land health conservation measures. This unique and free opportunity presents participants with a wealth of knowledge, experience, and an accreditation for their resumes.
“This program is an exciting venture for our state, focusing on natural resource management and the human relationship to our local environment,” says Open Space Coordinator Colleen McRoberts. “I believe this program will help to enlightening our community by connecting citizens to the natural world, which we are intrinsically part of, while improving the environment.”
The deadline for receiving applications has been extended to April 15th. People interested in applying should go to www.bernco.gov/openspace and click on the “Master Naturalist Program” link. Applicants must be adults; at least 18 years of age, preferable have some field experience, and live within Bernalillo County. The 55 hours of hands-on field experience will be offered from June through July.
Space is limited to only 25 applicants, so apply today!
Public Service Announcement – Fire Preparation Class
by Karen Takai, U.S. Forest Service, on behalf of the East Mountain Fire Protection Association (EMIFPA)
WE ARE IN FIRE SEASON ……. WHAT DO YOU DO NOW?
Reservations Necessary
The East Mountain Interagency Fire Protection Association ( EMIFPA) will be hosting a Defensible Space and Fire Preparedness program for the East Mountains, Albuquerque Foothill Communities, Bosque and Placitas areas.
This is a practical training. You will leave the class with:
- Defensible space plan
- Personal evacuation plan
- Please Respond – RSVP by E-Mail only to bhelmich@flash.net
- Write the following information:
- East Mountain or Albuquerque Program,
- Name
- Number of people
- Your e-mail address
ALBUQUERQUE program 1: Limited Space 50 People
April 12, 2011 Tuesday
Manzano Mesa – Westside Social Hall 501 Elizabeth St
Take Eubank south past Central, left on Southern, right on Elizabeth
6pm to 8:45pm
Bring water, snacks, paper and pen.
East Mountain Program 2: Limited Space 100 people
April 14, 2011 Thursday
San Antonito Elementary School located approximately 7 miles north of 1-40 on NM Hwy 14
6pm to 9pm
Bring water, snacks, paper and pen.
EMIFPA Partners include:
City of Albuquerque Fire & Emergency Operations – US Forest Service – Bernalillo, Santa Fe, & Sandoval County Fire and Sheriff’s Department- New Mexico State Forestry – CERT -America Red Cross – Village of Tijeras – La Madera Fire Department – Kirtland Fire Dept – Cuidad Soil and Water Conservation Districts- NM State Department of Homeland Security
Economics Explained
by John Weckerle
We received a link to an entertaining little video, Quantitative Easing Explained, from one of our readers. We followed it through to the sequel, Bank Bailouts Explained. We can’t vouch for the accuracy of the statements or the validity of the analyses in the videos, but they are, if nothing else, entertaining.
Public Service Announcement – St. Vincent de Paul Society Sale
Checking in on our friends at Mountainair Announcements, we find that the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is holding a sale at their location in Mountainair (208 Broadway) from April 5 through April 9, with a number of special donations not previously available in their store for sale on April 9. For more information, see the Mountainair Announcements article.
Mountainair Farm & Garden Market Opening
by Kristine Lauritsen
Hi Again Everyone – count down has started for the Mountainair Farm & Garden Market opening, Thursday May 5, Cinco de Mayo, so we’re planning on some Latin themed food and music to celebrate this exciting day! We’re trying to get an approximate tally of those planning to be vendors at the opening (fresh produce, plants, home-made art/crafts, one-time event permitted prepared food, organization with an informational booth). Our headliner will be Mary Childers unveiling a new food offering from Alpine Alley! Don’t miss this opportunity to get in on the fun!
Contact me here (Kristine Lauritsen), or Rebecca Lueras by phone: 505. 847-0973
follow our own farmers market info on the web at:
Are You There, Matt?
by John Weckerle
This morning, our Qwest DSL service was out for a few hours. After a brief chat with technical support, we were informed that there was an outage in the area and Qwest’s engineers were working on the problem. They were unable to project the duration of the outage, but said that we’d get a call letting us know when it was over.
After a while, the service came back on, and some time later we received a phone message from Qwest. The message began with “Hi, this is Matt with Qwest…” and proceeded to tell us that the service was back up. The only thing was, it seemed pretty likely to us that this was a computer generated message. Now, we’ll apologize in advance to Matt if we’re wrong, but the little breaks and stops seemed pretty symptomatic of the standard electronic notification method – suggesting that, at best, “Matt” is just somebody whose voice is used as the basis for the e-speaker. If that’s the case, then we’d advise Qwest that most of us don’t need to pretend that the digital voice at the other end of the line is actually a person, and we’re impressed enough that the system is sophisticated enough to call us up and keep us posted on its own.
Of course, there might have been a Matt that actually called – and if there is, we’d just like to say: Matt, you sound a bit like a computer. Throw in a joke or something next time!
Enough With The Gotcha
by John Weckerle
Today we find ourselves a bit behind the news – as we try to be when we think a situation should be given time to develop before commenting on it. We refer, in the current situation, to the most recent video hoax perpetrated by James O’Keefe, this time a purported “sting” against Ron Schiller, a National Public Radio fundraiser, resulting in yet another doctored video that supposedly depicts the target doing something horrible – in this case, harshly criticizing the Tea Party. For information on the situation, we provide the following links from NPR and Glenn Beck’s The Blaze:
- Questions Raised About O’Keefe’s Editing Of NPR Sting Video
- NPR: O’Keefe ‘Inappropriately Edited’ Video; Exec’s Words Still ‘Egregious’
- Elements Of NPR Gotcha Video Taken Out Of Context
- Ends vs. Means: The Ethics of Undercover Journalism
- Does Raw Video of NPR Expose Reveal Questionable Editing & Tactics?
Not surprisingly, neoconservative “news” outlets and blogs both local and national gleefully and immediately pounced on the “story” as either confirmation of longstanding claims of liberal bias or yet another reason to cut all funding to NPR and/or public broadcasting, and perhaps only a little more surprisingly the “mainstream” news media jumped right on the bandwagon. To the latter: the fact that something sells advertising space doesn’t mean it’s news. Nice job on the verification.
East Mountain Tea Party Connections
Editor’s Note: We regret that we do not have time to do an April Fool’s article, as many other publications do on this particular date. Time does not permit at present.
by John Weckerle
Some time back, we came across some interesting information on the East Mountain Tea Party, set it aside for future use, and – embarrassingly – forgot about it. A recent statement on the EMTP web site – that there is no affiliation between the East Mountain Tea Party and the First Baptist Church in Moriarty, at which their recent event was held – jogged our memory, and we decided to take a look. We found no evidence of a direct link between the Church and the EMTP; however, our previous research (including some reported in earlier articles [click on the Tea Party-gate category for a list]) does provide some insight into the East Mountain Tea Party’s relationships, both sectarian and commercial.
In our earlier articles, we demonstrated a certain “commonality of leadership” between the East Mountain Tea Party and a group called The Table of The Remnant, now Operation Jesus Pictures. We located a web page bearing the EMTP logo, references to the web site, and a list of business supporters. Listed are the following: