Two sections, 24 pagesTV Book, 32 pages164th year, No. 82Publication No. 596-440Editor: Rob Dean, 986-3033, rdean@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Carlos A. López, clopez@sfnewmexican.com Main office: 983-3303 Late paper: 986-3010

Calendar A-2 Classifieds B-7 Comics B-12 Lotteries A-2 Opinions A-11 Police notes A-10 Sports B-1 Time Out B-11 Life & Science A-9Index

Lady Horsemen advance to invite final after starter swap Sports, B-1

Locally owned and independent saturday, March 23, 2013

PasapickNew MexicoDance Coalition26th annual Choreographers’Showcase, 7:30 p.m., doorsopen at 7 p.m., companiesinclude New Mexico School forthe Arts, Pomegranate Studios,Dance Space Santa Fe and FourWinds Belly Dance, RailyardPerformance Space, 1611 Paseode Peralta, $10-$15 sliding scale,ages 12 and under $5, 920-0554.More events in Calendar,Page A-2 and Fridays inPasatiempo

TodayPartly cloudy,windy, cooler.High 45, low 17.PAge A-12

ObituariesLawrence Carrillo, 40,Santa Fe, March 17Consuelo Gomez, 84,Albuquerque, March 16Jose Fortino Martinez, 99,Santa Fe, March 22Robert Wertheim, 80, March 13John Ed Wheeless, 64,Santa Fe, March 18

PAge A-10

Monument in the making

Evidence snafu stalls ‘spice’ trafficking probe

A package of synthetic cannabinoids sold under thelabel K2. The state forensic lab will begin testing simi-lar synthetic cannabinoids seized last summer from asmoke shop on Cerrillos Road. ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO

Requests for case informationreveal handling errors by policeBy Julie Ann GrimmThe New Mexican

A Santa Fe police investigation intosuspected trafficking of synthetic marijuanahas been delayed for about nine months by anevidence oversight.

For several months, a police departmentspokesman blamed the state crime lab fordelaying prosecution of the case. However,The New Mexican has discovered that cityofficers actually failed to send the lab thepackages of substances suspected of being“spice” — chemically treated herbs intended

to mimic the effects of marijuana.Last summer, city police raided a smoke

shop on Cerrillos Road and told journaliststhey had seized more than 1,300 packagesof what they believed were syntheticcannabinoids, which had been banned by statelaw. The bust was the first of its kind in SantaFe.

But no charges were ever filed in the case.When The New Mexican asked about the

case last fall, Police Capt. Aric Wheeler saidthe department was waiting for test results.In February, he again said officers had not yetreceived test results from the state lab.

But that was a surprise to Noreen Purcell,director of the state Department of Public

Please see SNAFU, Page A-5

shootingstirs horseslaughterdebateVideo sparks outrageamong activist groupsBy Jeri ClausingThe Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE — An Internetvideo that shows a meat companyemployee swearing at animalactivists before shooting a horse inthe head highlights the increasingemotional intensity of the nationaldebate over whether a New Mexicoplant should be allowed to resumedomestic horse slaughter.

Animal rights groups this weekuncovered a video posted by aformer employee of Valley MeatCo., which has been fighting theUnited States Department ofAgriculture for more than a year forapproval to convert its former cattleslaughter operation into a horseslaughterhouse.

Valley Meat Co. owner Rick DeLos Santos said the employee, whowas let go this week, was reacting

New Mexican staff and wire reports

The Santa Fe Municipal Air-port remains on a list of avia-tion facilities that will losefederally funded air-traffic

controllers next month.The Federal Aviation Administra-

tion on Friday released the namesof airports slated for tower closures.In addition to Santa Fe, the DoubleEagle airport in Albuquerque isamong 149 affected airports.

“We believe the airlines will con-

tinue to fly in,” said Santa Fe MayorDavid Coss. “Some of the air-trafficmanagement can be done out ofAlbuquerque, but for our airport,we are just going to have to be on aheightened state of alert while wedon’t have that service.”

The planned shutdown of up to238 air-traffic control towers acrossthe country under federal budgetcuts will strip away an extra layer ofsafety during takeoffs and landings,leaving pilots to manage the most

critical stages of flight on their own.The towers slated to close are at

smaller airports with lighter traffic,and all pilots are trained to land with-out help by communicating amongthemselves on a common radiofrequency. In Santa Fe, the tower iscurrently only open between 7 a.m.and 9 p.m. Until just a few years ago,Santa Fe’s control tower had a visualflight control plan, which meant air-traffic controllers used binocularsand radios to guide planes to safe

landings. A federal grant paid for aradar system in 2011. When the toweris closed, pilots communicate withone another via radio and rely pri-marily on visual cues.

But airport directors and pilotssay there is little doubt the removalof that second pair of eyes on theground increases risk and will slowthe progress that has made the U.S.air system the safest in the world.

It’s not just private pilots in small

Santa Fe Municipal Airport atrisk of losing air-traffic controllerson heels of federal budget cuts

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday that the Santa Fe Municipal Airport is among 149 airports around the country set to losefunding for their air-traffic control towers because of federal budget cuts. In addition to Santa Fe, the Double Eagle airport in Albuquerque isamong the affected airports. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN

Tower in jeopardy

Please see TOWeR, Page A-4

Please see HORSe, Page A-5

Rio Grande del Norte site in Taos maybring economic boost to New MexicoBy Tom SharpeThe New Mexican

Designating a new national monument on 240,000acres in Taos County could mean an economic boost forNorthern New Mexico. The Rio Grande del Norte NationalMonument is estimated to mean $15 million in new annual

revenues and nearly 300 new jobs.“The designation guarantees that we can all continue

to share in this place and has the added benefits of jobcreation and increased economic activity,” said TaosCounty Chamber of Commerce Chairman Brad Malone,owner of La Posada de Taos.

John Bailey, assistant field manager for recreation in theU.S. Bureau of Land Management office in Taos, said thenew jobs are likely to be in the private tourism sector, since

Nearly 240,000acres west ofthe Rio GrandeGorge will beset aside as theRio Grande delNorte NationalMonumentwhen PresidentBarack Obamasigns a declara-tion Mondaycreating fivenew monu-ments acrossthe country.

ASSOCIATED PRESSFILE PHOTO Please see MONUMeNT, Page A-4

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