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Features

  • Wind Farms' effects on health

    On Thursday June 11, two speakers made presentations on Wind Turbine Noise to the Sustainable Las Vegas group. This meeting was part of SLV’s current efforts to inform the public about sustainable issues. This topic is especially timely since San Miguel County is currently revising their county wind ordinance to more adequately address the issue of the siting of large turbine wind towers.

  •
    SENIOR PROFILE: Reaching for the...

    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.”

  • Weeds in the eye of the beholder

    Weeds. We hate ‘em. It’s really a statement which is true based on definition of terms. “Weeds” is not a term which is meaningful in biological terms.

    A “weed” is simply a plant we don’t like. So when we label a plant a “weed,” we are actually communicating more about ourselves than we are about the plant of which we are speaking.

  • Loco for Local

    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.

  • District rejects freezer-to-oven...

    West Las Vegas Food Services Director Dean Gallegos says food at the schools aren’t typical of cafeterias. Students are served fresh fruits and vegetables, freshly baked biscuits, and hand-prepared entrees, he says.

    Gallegos doesn’t buy crates of frozen foods that just need to be thawed and heated or stuck in the microwave before serving.

    Before the West school board took formal action on food service bids for the coming year, Gallegos outlined his philosophy on serving the district’s students tasty and healthful meals.

  • HOMETOWN HEROES: Exploring a new...

    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.

  •
    Camp is in its 70th year

    ROCIADA — Many people around here have heard of Pendaries Village in Rociada, but few know about Camp Davis, which is a few miles down the road.

    The camp, celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, features eight cabins, a dining hall and a recreation building, as well as opportunities for fishing, hiking and horseback riding.

    In the summer of 1939, Coach J. Mule and Liz Davis founded Camp Davis. In the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, the Davises had hundreds of kids from Texas stay at the camp throughout the summers.

  • A Fiestas fixture

    This year’s theme for the Las Vegas Fiestas is Nuestras Tradiciones, Nuestros Tesoros — Our Traditions, Our Treasures. Many Las Vegans consider Cipriano Aguilar one of the Meadow City’s great treasures.

    For the last 47 years, this mild-mannered educator and longtime radio personality has acted as the Fiestas master of ceremonies and historian.

    Aguilar began his master of ceremonies duties after Jesus Lopez Sr. turned the microphone over to him in 1962.

  •
    Summer program concludes

    The 21st Century Summer Program has ended with a flourish of fun, games and a picnic for the 180 kids who participated in the month-long, activities packed program.

    “The kids had a blast, today was the last day of our summer program, and this was a way to end it with a lot of fun,” assistant coordinator Theresa Chavez said.

    Program Director Michell Aragon she wanted to treat the children to a nice time on the final day.

  • The new EDC boss

    Roberto Rios, the new executive director of the Las Vegas-San Miguel Economic Development Corp., expects the group to take strong stands under his management.

    But he said the EDC would study issues closely before making any decisions.

    Rios took his new job June 1. Just two days later, he witnessed one of the bigger controversies that pit one part of the business community against another.

    At issue was a proposed film moratorium, which would have stopped all movie productions in Las Vegas until the city revised its regulations to better deal with them.

  • 25th Relay has as many teams

    Cancer survivor Lisa Briggs-Valdez said she is lucky, because there are many people who lost their battle with the disease.

    “There are many that are still struggling, many that have fought and won and will fight for the rest of their lives. Everybody knows a family member or friend, because cancer knows no boundaries, no class, or race, nothing,” Briggs-Valdez said. “I know many people that have fought and won, and some who lost the fight.”  

  •
    West club cheered coming into town

    Dozens of cars followed a West Las Vegas bus through town Monday evening, honking and cheering for a successful middle school club.

    West Las Vegas Middle School Business Professionals of America sponsor Brian Gurulé and his young team of champions stepped off the bus to a large crowd, who had caravaned from the Interstate 25 exit through town, led by police cars with sirens and lights blaring in honor of the two national titles they were bringing home.

  •
    Give him a hammer and some nails

    The doorway seemed an odd shape, but once inside, everything was conventional — sort of.

    Ignacio “Nash” Lucero, Las Vegan, contractor, builder, broker, home inspector, looks like a regular guy, but is far from it.

        Get this — Nash’s first “job” at the age of 6 was building a porch. Today, 85 on June 14, he’s still building, but much more than porches. Give him that hammer, some nails, a rough idea of what you have in mind, and he’ll build it, or tear it down, if that’s what you want.

  • Music for the soul

    If you happen to be a music fanatic like I am,  you probably have noticed that there are many different genres of music, ranging from soul and blues to the darkest and heaviest heavy metal. I like many different kinds of music but I draw the line at pop. (I have an exception for Pop because there are only a few singers that I like.)

    I am a huge fan of rock. It can be the oldies but goodies or the new rock that is coming out. Every band that is out there sounds different and the music is real.

  • Road salt harmful to plants and...

    ‘Carthago delenda est!” cried Cato the Elder, “Carthage must be destroyed!”

    And so the Romans did, reportedly by leveling the city, selling its surviving citizens into slavery, and then sowing the land with salt.

    The Spanish adopted a similar practice. When a landowner was convicted of treason, salt was poured upon their lands, spelling death not only for the resident plants, but also humans, and any animals, birds and insects that depended on those lands for their habitat.

  • New Mexico celebrates Arbor Day

     Residents of New Mexico will celebrate Arbor Day 2009 on March 13. While National Arbor Day is held on the last Friday in April, New Mexico, similar to several other states, observes the holiday at a time best suited for tree planting.

    The Arbor Day Foundation encourages everyone to plant a tree to celebrate this special holiday. The Foundation’s Web site (www.arborday.org) offers many helpful tips from how to plant a tree to selecting the right tree for the right place.

  • Adios to Muchas Cosas

    As most readers probably already know, the Optic is downsizing, going from five to three editions per week.

    The end to the Optic’s long tradition as a daily paper is slated for early March.

    The Muchas Cosas is  also being discontinued. This edition is the last.

  • Leap to the Literacy Fair

    If you can read this, be thankful. Many in San Miguel County and across the nation can’t read, and many more still cannot read at an adult level.

    Nearly half of New Mexico’s population reads at or below a benchmark standard called Literacy Level 2. Level 2 literacy is that level of reading and comprehension skills expected from children in the fifth through seventh grades. Nearly two-thirds of all jobs require literacy skills above this level, but in San Miguel County, 59 percent of our residents fall at or below Level 2.

  • Las Vegas' future is in the...

    We all think of a forest as millions of acres of green-topped mountains where water and wildlife rule the land. But there’s a forest right in our own backyards that sometimes gets overlooked — the urban forest.

    An urban forest includes trees, vegetation, and associated natural resources within and around the inhabited area of a community. Urban Forests include trees in parks, tree-lined streets, trees that dot our neighborhoods and any trees within the wildland-urban interface between communities and adjacent forest and rangelands

  • First things first

    What to plant first? Most people who decide they want to have a garden  just go out and plant their flowers or veggies.

    When the plants don't do well, or even die, they conclude that they don't have a "green thumb" and move on to other things.

    Their problem is that they began at the end of the process. There are other things which must be cultivated first.

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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.