Local News

Four months after a fire that took the life of Laurencio Via, the state fire marshal has yet to release a report, but his grandson and some of his neighbors believe they know what caused it.

Via, 82, died from smoke inhalation in a blaze that started around 9 p.m. on Feb. 8 in his mobile home in Watrous. Power had been out the better part of that day, and when it came back on at roughly 8:45 p.m., it did so with a power surge that neighbors say destroyed some electrical appliances and caused others to catch fire and even explode.

The Luna Community College Leadership Camp is a weeklong endurance test for high school juniors and seniors filled with physical fitness, instruction and lectures. In the end students see rewards in increased self-confidence, new friendships — and a brand new laptop computer.

“We have a full week of instruction on leadership,” said Art Abreu, camp director. “We have talks, classes and actually live and breathe leadership, with a special emphasis on respect.”

They call themselves “deadbeats” and their convention theme is “from here to eternity.” It could only be the International Association of Obituarists, meeting in Las Vegas, N.M. for their 10th annual Great Obituary Writers’ International Conference.

You might be tempted to stereotype obituary writers. It is easy, given their chosen careers, to imagine them as a somber, even funereal bunch, but nothing could be further from the truth.

New Las Vegas City Schools Superintendent Richard Romero will get $105,000, but board president Patrick Romero says he will earn it.

“I don’t envy the incoming superintendent because he’s going to have his job cut out for him,” Romero said.

Plans are for Richard Romero to begin work July 1, with the contract running through June 30, 2010.