a

��������������������������������������������������������������������������

��������������������������������������������������������

Vol. CXIII, No. 76Eight pages

WEATHER — 2 SPORTS — 4, 5 CLASS — 6, 7 DONATION — 8

Western earns pair of RMAC volleyball wins — Page 4

Oct. 15, 2012

LocalWeatherThe forecast calls for partly

cloudy skies tonight and clear skies on Tuesday.

The overnight low temperature should be in the low 50s, while Tuesday’s high is expected to be near 78.

Sunday’s high and low were 73 and 39.

The extended forecast calls for mostly clear skies Wednesday through Friday.

Overnight low temperatures should be in the mid-40s to the low 50s, while daytime highs are expected to be in the upper 70s to low 80s.

COMICS — 3The only local newspaperfor the past 75 years

Burn planned

Several factors were involved in the decision to close the Hurley Fire Department as a commodities-distribution site, according to Mayor Edward Encinas.

“Firetrucks were moved in and out of the fi re station by unauthorized personnel after the supervisor in charge of the commodity program was advised that no one other than a Hurley volunteer fi reman was allowed to move any fi retruck or any vehicle,” he said.

Encinas added that, “for liability reasons and the abundance of people that come in for the commodities, it is essential to have a Fire Department member present due to the high-dollar fi refi ghting equipment that is (at the station).”

No fi refi ghters are “available to assist this function,” according to the mayor.He also cited “numerous complaints to the town of Hurley pertaining to the customer

service and quality of food distributed.”Encinas told the Daily Press that Hurley’s insurance carrier “will not cover any liability

claims presented by the commodity program,” which he pointed out “would be costly to the town.”

He pledged to “continue to try to fi nd a location in Hurley for the program.”

By ROGER LANSEDaily Press Staff

Aart Huijg, the Netherlander from Amsterdam bicycling from the North Pole to the South Pole, who stopped in Silver City traveling south on Nov. 9, 2011, is nearing the end of the Trans-Amazonia Highway through Brazil.

Encountering one month of dust, heat and steep climbs on the TAH, Huijg reports in his latest update that he is back on asphalt and heading to Machu Picchu, Peru.

Huijg hopes to reach Ushuaia, capital of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, around April 2013. Ushuaia, a city of about 64,000, is commonly referred to as the southernmost city in the world.

The Silver City Daily Press has continued to follow Huijg’s progress from his stop here in November 2011 to southern Mexico in January, Panama and Colombia in May, British Guyana and Venezuela in August, and now, in October, to Brazil, nearing Peru.

Huijg reports in his email dated Oct. 9:“It has been a while now since I left Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

My cycling journey started 15 months ago in the deserted and most Northern oil village on the American continent. I left the North Pole in the morning, cycling from the North Pole to the South Pole through the North and South American continents. The unpaved Haul Road running from the most Northern village in Alaska to Fairbanks was spectacular. In one week I cycled the 440 miles carrying all food necessary to survive the sparely populated plains of the North Slope.

“Today, things look quite differently. I transformed into a super effi cient battle machine. Over the months, I already fought several rounds against Nature. Snow, rain, wind, heat and steep climbs. Time after time, Monster and I showed to be as strong as steel. In the last fi ght, Nature gave it all and combined all in one. In the Amazon rainforest, the sun heated up the red gravel road transforming the steep roller coaster into a long tunnel of dust. Now, the winner talks.

“The fi rst night along the Trans-Amazonian Highway (BR-230) sets the rhythm. Clouds of red dust whirl down on my tent. I only notice when I prepare my granola breakfast next morning. Before sunrise, I mix milk powder with water. My headlight illuminates the red cup vaguely. The ray of light is blurred by the fi ne bauxite dust coming down from the sky. While the roosters and dogs wake up, Monster and I set foot on the bumpy gravel road. A steep climb follows. Soon the fi rst trucks pass by and I am happy to wear a mask. I make sure I breathe in through the nose so that most dust will be

(Photo Courtesy of Aart Huijg)AART HUIJG BICYCLES SOUTH ON THE TRANS-AMAZONIA HIGHWAY THROUGH BRAZIL

Bicyclist continues long trekon his way to the South Pole

fi ltered. Though, an hour later, breathing through the mask becomes impossible. My cotton mask is soaked with sweat and air hardly comes through.

“A truck loaded with logs passes by spreading a curtain of dust around me. While going down the hill at full speed, I realize that I am in a dangerous situation. God knows where the truck is right now. It might have stopped to pass a narrow wooden Amazonian bridge. I keep my coolness and slow down gradually.

“A new world opens up. Some facts. It seems as if everyone in the Amazon is wearing a digital Casio watch. The one I proudly wore when I was young in the eighties. A new dish is added to my daily menu. Everywhere you can get a liter of Acai, a thick purple fruit juice made out of palm tree berries. In my panniers I carry a bag full of farina de tapioca. The popcorn-like wheat goes great with the Acai I buy on the countryside. More people than I had ever expected live along the highway.

“Brazilian girls are beautiful, it must be said, but I make no change. Most are married and have children at an age of fourteen. They don’t know any better. I realize I am rich. Not directly in terms of monetary wealth, but mostly in the education I enjoyed back in The Netherlands. It made me independent and fearless. It gave me the opportunity to enjoy and learn before settling down. Anyway, I am not here to fi nd love. So, I enjoy the local hospitality and play pool at an open bar next to the wooden church.

“Every now and then a motorbike stops to have a talk and to have a shot of cheap cachaca. Cars are expensive and the road is bad. So many move around on motorbikes. Sadly, drink and driving is part of the game and I meet many handicapped people.

“Deeper down the Amazon, I enter a small town. Forty years ago there was nothing. In the seventies, the Brazilian government constructed the BR-230. It made the interiors accessible and land became available for everyone willing to migrate. You could work as much soil as your means allowed you to.

“Most people in Apui came from the border region with Paraguay and have German ancestors. I am more than happy to smell the odour of fresh baked bread. Only Germans can bake something that nutritious out of wheat.

“For a minute, I forget about the Nazi background of most people living here. Together we eat, drink and pray. Carlos represents the local farmers and is upset with the Americans. Probably, he means all Western nations when he criticizes their hypocritical demands. ‘They want us to preserve the Lungs of the Earth for the world’s future generations. But where does that leave us? And who is the United States to tell us what to do when they have already cultivated most of their land?’ I guess he has a point there.

“My eyes fi ll with tears when I hand out the last punch. Another 250 miles of dust lie ahead of me. My leg muscles prepare for the decisive Knock Out. Even though I am about to win the fi nal round, I feel sad. 1,500 miles of gravel made me tired. I have been giving it the fullest day after day. My best friends are having their fi rst kids and I am left out. There is hardly time to enjoy. Though, I think ahead. At the end of the Trans-Amazonian lies the Hualla Hualla pass. Once I pass the 12,000 foot Hualla Hualla, I can embrace cold nights at the Machu Picchu Inca temples in Peru.”

Huijg may be followed on his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Today.You.Can or on his website, www.today-you-can.com.

Roger Lanse may be reached at reporter1@silvercitydaily press.net.

Hurley mayor discusses shuttingdown commodities-distribution site

By JIM OWENDaily Press Staff

Proposed water-quality rules for copper mines would allow Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. to “pollute groundwater” in Grant County, according to the New Mexico Environmental Law Center.

The organization on Friday submitted comments regarding the new regulations to the state Environment Department on behalf of center clients Amigo Bravos, Turner Ranch Properties and the Silver City-based Gila Resources Information Project.

“The comments challenge the department’s wholesale acceptance of regulations proposed by Freeport, the company that operates the large, open-pit copper mines near Silver City,” the center wrote in a news release.

“The department’s upper-level management adopted Freeport’s proposal to accommodate (the company’s) need to routinely pollute groundwater with acid rock drainage, metals and other contaminants in the course of its mining operations,” the release stated.

Bruce Frederick, an attorney representing the center, added: “At Freeport’s request, the department’s upper management overruled the recommendations of its technical staff and would now allow Freeport and other operators to construct and operate leach, waste rock and tailings stockpiles without a liner. When exposed to precipitation, these stockpiles produce a highly acidic solution that can leach into groundwater and pollute it above water-quality standards unless they have an impervious liner.”

The release pointed out that the department’s attorney once worked for the same law fi rm that represents Freeport. The center called the situation “an obvious appearance of a confl ict of interest” and called on the attorney to “remove himself from the process.”

Sally Smith of Silver City, president of GRIP and director of the group’s “responsible mining” program, wrote: “These proposed rules are in fl agrant confl ict with the Legislature’s mandate to put forth regulations for copper mines to prevent water pollution and monitor water quality. To the contrary, these rules will allow copper mines to pollute New Mexico’s scarce water resources and will relieve mines from adequately monitoring water pollution from their activities.

“This process and the proposed rules demonstrate Freeport’s undue infl uence over the Environment Department, an agency created to protect our state’s water, not allow companies to pollute it,” Smith alleged.

The department does not have the authority to adopt

the proposed regulations. The state Water Quality Control Commission must approve them. A hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 11, in Santa Fe.

In September, the NMED held a hearing in Silver City regarding the proposed rules.

GRIP testifi ed that, if

approved, the regulations “would allow existing contaminating activities to continue at the Chino, Cobre and Tyrone mines, contrary to the intent of the New Mexico Water Quality Act and not refl ective of industry best-management practices.”

The organization is calling

for liners to be required beneath all stockpiles and tailings facilities, unless a variance is obtained under the conditions of the Water Quality Act. GRIP also opposes the NMED’s delegation of regulatory authority to private engineers who work for mine permittees.

“Setback distances of 500 to 1,000 feet between mines and domestic wells, springs and municipal wells (are needed) to protect public drinking-water supplies,” the group wrote.

Jim Owen may be reached at jowen@silvercitydaily press.net.

Center contests water-quality ruling

The Silver City Ranger District of the Gila National Forest has tentatively scheduled the Farm Flats Prescribed Fire, 12 miles north of Silver City, either later this month or in early November.

The start date of the prescribed fi re, which totals 2,036 acres, and its duration could change depending upon weather and fuel conditions, according to a news release.

“The objective of the fi re that is planned during the fall months is to remove dead and downed woody materials such as trees, branches, pine needles, etc., under cooler conditions, reducing the chances of a hotter, more destructive wildfi re during the heat of summer,” the release stated.

“If driving in the area of the fi re, please exercise caution as fi re vehicles and personnel will be working near or on Forest Road 282 (Sheep Corral), and Forest Road 4083V (Snow Creek),” according to the release. “Smoke from the fi re will be present in these areas and could impact visibility along New Mexico 15 and 35.

“For safety purposes, reduce speed, be alert to other vehicle traffi c and bicyclists traveling along the road, and drive with vehicle lights on,” the release stated.

For more information, contact Randy Gomez, district fi re management offi cer for the Silver City Ranger District, at 388-8461.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will take up an appeal from Arizona over its requirement that people prove they are American citizens before registering to vote.

The justices on Monday said they will review a federal appeals court ruling that blocked the law in some instances.

A 12-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said that federal law trumps the Arizona requirement. Federal law allows voters to fi ll out a mail-in voter registration card and swear they are citizens under penalty of perjury, but it doesn’t require them to show proof as Arizona’s 2004 law does.

The ruling applies only to people who seek to register using the federal mail-in form. Arizona has its own form and an online system to register when renewing a driver’s license. The court ruling did not affect proof of citizenship requirements using the state forms.

Arizona offi cials have said most people use those methods and the state form is what county offi cials give people to use to register. But voting rights advocates had hoped the 9th Circuit decision would make the federal mail-in card more popular because it’s more convenient than mailing in a state form with a photocopy of proof of citizenship.

The citizenship requirement stems from Proposition 200, approved by Arizona voters in 2004. The law also denied some government benefi ts to illegal immigrants.

Case to be heard