Local News

Optic Staff and Wire
More than 2,000 firefighters pressed forward over the weekend in battling two large northern New Mexico wildfires as smaller blazes popped up throughout the drought-stricken state, stretching resources and prompting more warnings.

The infernos were burning on opposite ends of the Santa Fe National Forest in northern New Mexico sending smoke to nearby communities, including Santa Fe.

In 1963
Thursday, June 13 — Funds for feeding the prisoners in the San Miguel; county jail are about depleted, Sheriff Frank Delgado told the board of county commissioners at their monthly meeting Wednesday. Furthermore, it was learned the county overlooked for more than a year that an act of the 1961 legislature had provided that daily costs for a prisoner’s feeding would be at a rate of $1.75 for the first five days, then $1.50 for the next 10 days and falling to $1 per day thereafter.

Monday
Isolated showers and thunderstorms after noon. Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. Southwest wind 10-15 mph, increasing to 15-20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent. Isolated showers and thunderstorms at night. Partly cloudy, with a low around 59. Southwest wind 15-20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent.

Tuesday

To his family, Michael Parson was a gentle giant, a man who loved to watch boxing on television and who was the oldest of 10 siblings, beating his twin brother for the honor by just three minutes.

“He was a big guy, but just very gentle, very kind to those that he spoke with,” his brother Gene Parson said.

But Michael Parson was also battling mental illness. At around noon on Wednesday the 56-year-old walked into the Big R store on Mills Avenue, asked to see a gun, loaded it with ammunition he had with him and fatally shot himself in the head.