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Local News

  • Eight men vie for city manager

    Eight men, half of whom live in the area, have applied to be Las Vegas’ next city manager.

    The candidates are Rey Herrera of Rociada; Paul Skotchdopole, Patrick Alarid and Alex Tafoya, all of Las Vegas; William Sheridan of Billings, Mont.; Roberto Salazar of Alexandria, Va.; Dan Stovall of Murrieta, Calif.; and Fred Stephens of Cameron, Texas.

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  • Cleanup day set for Saturday

    Tired of litter around town? On Saturday, you’ll get the chance to take part in a community effort to clean up the city.

    The Keep Las Vegas Beautiful Committee is holding its annual spring cleanup day from 9 a.m. to noon. Participants can go to Carnegie Library Park to get gloves and trash bags and then pick up litter. Lunch will be served to volunteers at noon.

    The committee holds cleanups in the fall and the spring, alternating its base between the west and east sides. Volunteers choose the areas of town they clean.

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  • East leader taking his annual leave

    Las Vegas City Schools Superintendent Pete Campos won’t be taking the reins as president of Luna Community College until July, but he’s already working to promote the college.

    During March and April, he has gone to several northern New Mexico high schools as part of his work for Luna. Campos said he has the time to do it.

    He said in a statement that he has used his annual leave to counsel students in communities such as Wagon Mound, Raton, Maxwell, Cimarron, Santa Rosa and Pecos. He said he is listening to the needs of students and constituents.

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  • LV bank expands to other states

    It’s fairly common knowledge locally that the Bank of Las Vegas has branches in Mora and Pecos.

    But who knew that the bank also has a presence in Albuquerque and three other states? In those places, the Bank of Las Vegas has what it calls “loan production offices.”

    The bank’s owner maintains that these offices help Las Vegas, but a local competitor isn’t buying it.

    Locally, the Bank of Las Vegas doesn’t publicize the out-of-town loan production offices in Albuquerque; Mount Kisco, N.Y.; Phoenix; and Orange County, Calif.

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  • Agency decides to keep three pines

    Lorenzo Herrera has lived near the three tall pines along N.M. Highway 434 all of his life. As far as he is concerned, they should stay.

    When he was 6, he remembers walking with his grandmother, Epimenio Vigil, and the two of them took shelter under the pines during a severe windstorm.

    The day — Oct. 13, 1951 — was significant in Herrera’s life. He and his grandmother were walking to his parents’ house to visit on the day his brother, Francisco, was born.

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  • Internet, cell phones out

    Most cell phones and Internet services were not working for much of the business day Thursday.

    That happened after a contractor damaged a fiber optic line in the Santa Fe area around 9:30 a.m., said Gary Younger, spokesman for Qwest Communications, the phone utility for much of New Mexico. Land lines weren’t affected.

    Younger said Qwest crews immediately located the problem and started to make repairs to the line. He said cell phone towers are fed off off land lines.

    He said the outage affected most of northern New Mexico, including Las Vegas, Raton and Taos.

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  • School day extended by 15 minutes

    Students attending the Las Vegas City Schools will have an extra 15 minutes tacked on to their afternoon classes beginning today. Five minutes will be added to each afternoon class to make up a snow day missed on March 6.

    Associate Superintendent Barbara Perea Casey said principals thought it would be less disruptive and more beneficial to do it this way, instead of taking away a vacation day from spring break or scheduling class during Memorial Day.

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  • City holds off on giving group money

    A nonprofit group says it can give Las Vegas a good bargain by helping the community seek state and federal grants. The City Council isn’t so sure.

    The council voted last week to delay a decision on whether to pay annual dues of $2,100 to the Santa Fe-based North Central Economic Development District.

    The state considers the district the planning agency for this area of the state, while the federal government sees it as the economic development district that can bring Department of Commerce grants to communities.

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  • West BPA group making its mark

    West Las Vegas Middle School Business Professionals of America students have made their mark on the national scene the last several years and have again been recognized by receiving the 2008 Quality Chapter Distinction.

    In a letter to the West BPA chapter, Kirk Lawson, BPA executive director, wrote, “Members attending the national leadership conference in Reno, Nevada, will be recognized as Quality Chapter members.”

    BPA sponsor Brian Gurul said his students had to meet a myriad of objectives to qualify for the honor.

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  • Teacher's aide sues East district

    An education assistant for the Las Vegas City Schools has sued the district, saying it hasn’t done anything to stop a male employee from repeatedly harassing her.

    The harassment got so bad that the employee pulled up the alleged victim’s shirt, according to the lawsuit, which was filed April 2 in state District Court.

    The woman, represented by Albuquerque attorney Mark Jaffe, names as defendants the district, Superintendent Pete Campos and the employee in question.

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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.