Today's Features

Major Gen. Kenny Montoya of the New Mexico National Guard told the audience at the 2009 Employer Appreciation Day luncheon last week that New Mexico soldiers are as busy as ever around the state. He also said fewer men and women from the state are being sent to Iraq.

Montoya said a year ago, about 1,000 area troops were in combat. Now, there are 550 New Mexicans deployed.

Obviously proud of his family, heritage and service to his country and his fellow man, Erminio  “Ermie” Martinez radiates satisfaction and gratitude for the various opportunities afforded him during his 80 years of life.

Born in Holman May 18, 1929, Ermie recalls his early years of schooling at Agua Negra Presbyterian School. Noting that his parents, aunts and uncles had attended this school, he says, “ It was not only the imposed discipline of the atmosphere” that impressed him, “but that they got the students interested.”

Local food is on the rebound, and I'm glad.

We have an independent, mom and pop produce market on Grand Ave. They are selling local, free range eggs, and hope to be offering more local produce as they get established.

Two years ago I couldn't find local, free range eggs.  Last year they were sporadically available at the Tri-County Farmers Market and through the Barter Hours program.

For the past six years, Highlands University Spanish Professor Lillian Gorman has been taking a group of students on an adventure that is partly academic and partly an exploration of a new world.

And it’s with an intense focus on the Spanish language. 

Each summer, Gorman and about a dozen students spend two weeks immersed in the Spanish language at Casa Xalteva, a small orphanage and school in Nicaragua.

Each year, the students return home with many stories and fond memories of the special time they spent there.