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Local News

  • Resident seeks school bus for neighborhood

    Mike Garcia and his grandson live on the east side of town, but the grandson attends West Las Vegas High School.

    Garcia, who lives with his grandson, says he or his wife take their grandson to school every day. They live in the Country Acres subdivision north of town and would like to have a West bus to be able pick up children in that area.

    He said he even has received an assurance from a West board member that the district could take a bus to Country Acres but that West would need approval from the Las Vegas City Schools to cross the districts’ common boundary.

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  • HU group makes illegal donation

    The Highlands University Foundation has violated federal tax law by donating to a political campaign. Now, the group is trying to get the money back.

    Recently, the Optic discovered that the foundation, whose main purpose is to provide scholarships to students, gave $250 last September to the campaign of state Rep. Thomas Garcia, D-Ocat.

    The foundation is a charitable nonprofit in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service. To enjoy that status, such groups are forbidden from donating to political campaigns.

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  • Earth-driven

    For the last several years, students at Memorial Middle School have become tuned in to a variety of earth-friendly ways of growing food and harnessing energy.

    Using the Agricultural Science Center as a learning tool, kids have built wind turbines, studied solar power and methods of composting, and used their greenhouse for experiments.

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  • College plans to improve trades

    Gilbert Loera has been taking vocational classes for nine years at Luna Community College. He’s not taking them to start a new career; he just wants to pick up new skills.

    “I’ve been taking classes over and over. I’m not here to profit. I’m doing it for myself,” he said.

    He was one of 30 residents who take carpentry, welding and automotive classes who met with Luna’s president, Pete Campos, last week.

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  • Shopping center in the works

    The old Kmart building in Las Vegas is undergoing renovation to develop a new retail center and office complex named Legion Plaza.

    Carlos M. Lopez, owner and president of Northern Builders LLC, said last week that he is beginning construction.

    “We anticipate that the building will be fully occupied and open for business by the end of the year,” Lopez said in a press release.

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  • Players accused in second incident

    Two Robertson High School football players accused of sodomizing younger players with broomsticks during a football training camp last month have also been accused of bullying a fellow student last year.

    The victim reported the bullying incident to his parents in the last couple weeks after the football camp hazing allegations were made, Las Vegas Schools superintendent Rick Romero said.

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  • 720th helped with Gustav relief

    Las Vegas was among a number of New Mexico towns welcoming home more than 400 National Guardsmen returning from a 12-day deployment to Louisiana, where they distributed food, water and other supplies to the victims of Hurricane Gustav.

    Brigadier General Kenny Montoya said the mission began as the governor of Louisiana asked New Mexico’s governor for help. He said after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, officials wanted to be prepared, so the National Guard went to the president and asked if the troops could be federalized.

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  • City manager seeks long-term plan for streets

    Street crews have been busy filling potholes, and the city manager wants a long-range plan for city streets.

    “Our four-person street crew has been out in this last month filling in tons and tons and tons of holes in our streets. I have a list to share with you instead of reading it,” City Manager Sharon Caballero told the City Council at a recent meeting.

    Caballero said that after safety issues, the No. 1 issue during calls she receives every day are about the condition of city streets.

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  • Report: Coaches knew about hazing

    Ray Woods, the former coach of the Robertson High School football team, knew about alleged hazing during a team camp last month, but the athletic director told him to keep law enforcement out of the matter for the time being, according to a top state police official’s report.

    The reports state that parent volunteers expressed concern about the alleged misconduct with the coaches, but the Monday-through-Thursday team camp continued.

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  • Denver man dies in train collision

    A car and an Amtrak train collided on Rio Arriba Road north of Las Vegas early Thursday afternoon.

    Las Vegas Police Chief Gary Gold said that there was one occupant of the car and that the occupant was killed. The driver was Fred Stark of Denver.

    The investigation was begun by the Las Vegas Police Department, but was handed over to the state police when it was determined that the site of the accident was just outside the city limits.

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The Las Vegas Optic is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in San Miguel County and Las Vegas, NM, and the surrounding area.