Today's Features

Sapello-Rociada Fire Chief Kayt Peck says she believes she is the first woman to hold that title in San Miguel County.

She said she has checked records and could find no indications that other women have served in that role in the county.

Peck learned her firefighting skills at one of the U.S. Navy’s renowned firefighting training school. After the disastrous fire aboard the USS Forestall during the Vietnam War, sailors received extensive training in putting out all types of fires.

Gabriel Garcia has a passion for art that has lived in him since he was a young child. Now he wants to help others by expressing themselves through art.

Garcia, the youngest child of Ralph and Frances Garcia of Las Vegas, is a humble and gentle soul who expresses his inner emotions and imagination on everything he creates. His life has always been filled with some form of art — drawing, crafts and music.

Beatrice Maestas-Sandoval and George Ulibarri are master artists in their own right — judging from the array of artifacts tastefully arranged in George’s home and from the works in progress in the adjacent workshop area the two share.

Beatrice remarks that some of her work is on display at her brother Jose Maestas’ business on Sixth Street.

Judy Cordova-Romero had big dreams when she first came to Highlands University, and many of her dreams to make campus life better for students came true during her tenure.

As Highlands University vice president for student affairs, Cordova-Romero was an advocate for the new residence hall that students enjoy today. She pushed for a new student center that had its groundbreaking ceremony Monday. And her dreams of refurbishing the Felix Martinez building into a one-stop shop for students’ needs came true during a ribbon-cutting ceremony this week.