Artesia Boy’s District Doubles Champions Damian Lopez and Cutter Summers from earlier in the tennis season.
Artesia tennis coach Trent Trentham resigned after the state tennis tournament. See Artesia Daily Press for story Thursday.
Artesia tennis coach Tim Trentham resigns
Artesia Boy’s District Doubles Champions Damian Lopez and Cutter Summers from earlier in the tennis season.
Artesia tennis coach Trent Trentham resigned after the state tennis tournament. See Artesia Daily Press for story Thursday.
Fishers of men
David Grousnick
I’m sure you’ve heard the old story of the conversation between a pig and a cow. The pig is complaining to the cow that nobody ever has a kind word for him.
“Look at the way I give of myself,” he says. “I produce bacon, ham, and pork chops. The bristles of my skin are used for brushes, my hide for luggage. Why, some people even pickle my feet and consider them a delicacy. Why is it then that everyone speaks more kindly of you, the cow, than of me?”
To which the cow replied, “My friend, perhaps it is that I give of myself while I am still alive.”
Paul Harvey, the well-known radio broadcaster, once said, “Too many Christians are no longer fishers of men but keepers of the aquarium.”
I take that to mean that we Christians are more concerned about preserving the Church than we are about touching the lives of other people, more concerned about preserving our “religion” than we are about helping people discover the source of wholeness, the fountain of living water that wells up to eternal life.
In Steven Covey’s best seller “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” he talks about how we can lose sight of our main goals in life. In no other place are the consequences more destructive than in our families: Covey writes:
“I value my children. I love them, I want to help them. I value my role as their father. But I don’t always see those values. I get caught up in the ‘thick of thin things.’”
“What matters most gets buried under layers of pressing problems, immediate concerns, and outward behaviors. I become reactive. And the way I interact with my children every day often bears little resemblance to the way I deeply feel about them.”
For us fathers, to truly be known by our children would be wonderful. I suspect that this is so much more difficult for men than women. And yet in Jesus’ prayer in John 17:1-11 it is his first thought, that we might know the Father and the Son.
This, he says, is salvation. You want to know what being saved means, what the meaning of life is? It is written here in Jesus’ prayer: If you will come to know God, the only true God, and the Son whom he has sent, you will be saved.
You might say this is difficult for me to do – to know God. Yes, it is! It is difficult for you to do. But it is not difficult for God to make himself known to you.
So how can we give more of ourselves while we are still alive and know about our Father?
What can help us to keep our focus as we walk daily the life of faith? Consider the following…
Peter Drucker, America’s management guru, tells of a hospital administrator who held his first staff meeting. They worked through a rather difficult matter and the new boss felt the matter was settled. But then suddenly one of the staff asked, “Would this have satisfied Nurse Bryan?”
The arguments immediately started all over again and did not stop until a better solution to the problem had been hammered out.
Who was this Nurse Bryan? The administrator soon found out. She had been a long serving nurse in the hospital. Whenever a decision regarding patient care came up, Nurse Bryan would ask, “Are we doing the best we can to help this patient?”
As a result of her conscientious concern, patients on her floor did better and recovered faster. Gradually as time went by, the whole hospital learned to adopt what became known as “Nurse Bryan’s Rule.”
Though she had retired ten years earlier, the standard she had set was still providing vision for employees in the hospital today. Her secret?
She took every aspect of hospital work back to the central question: “What can we do to best do our job as a hospital?”
St. Paul set the standard for us over 1900 years ago when he wrote that our job is “whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:9).
That is our test of excellence in the church and in our lives and work as believers in Him.
So, what can help us to keep our focus as we walk daily the life of faith?
Ask yourself this question: Would this be pleasing to Jesus?
First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is not a large church trying to get larger. We are just a friendly neighborhood church that would like to welcome more people to our family of faith.
Worship is at 10:30 a.m. Dress is casual. The people are warm and friendly. Welcome!
Have a great Memorial Day weekend!
Simple method can gauge air quality, health department says
El Rito Media News Services
ROSWELL — With the spring winds often kicking up dust and the fire season underway, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) is urging residents with asthma or other health conditions to learn the “5-3-1 Visibility Method” to gauge when outdoor activities are OK and when is advisable to stay indoors.
The 5-3-1 Visibility Method incorporates mileage and landmarks to help determine air quality. The method can also be used by event organizers, coaches and recreational leaders to decide if a practice or game should go on or be postponed, according to the NMDOH.
“Using visibility is an easy way to gauge air quality,” said Deyonne Sandoval, section head of Asthma Control and Health Communications.
“For people with asthma we recommend minimizing outdoor activity when visibility is less than five miles and staying indoors when visibility is less than three miles,” Sandoval said.
To use the 5-3-1 Visibility Method, select nearby landmarks that are usually visible, and determine how well you can see them.
The NMDOH recommends facing away from the sun, and looking for visible landmarks such as mountains, mesas, hills, tall buildings, antennas, windmills, etc., that are about 5 miles, 3 miles and 1 mile away. Use those mile ranges to help estimate visibility.
If these landmarks are not easy to see in the five-, three- and one-mile ranges, make a decision on what activities are advisable based on your health conditions and age, the NMDOH said.
When you can only see landmarks closer than five miles, the air quality is unhealthy for young children, adults over age 65, pregnant women, people with heart or lung disease, asthma or other respiratory illness, according to the NMDOH, and outdoor activities need to be minimized.
If you can only see landmarks less than 3 miles away, anyone with the above conditions should stay indoors. All outdoor activities should be avoided, including errands. Adults in good health should stay indoors as much as possible and only be outside momentarily to run important errands, according to the NMDOH.
In such conditions, the NMDOH recommends that outdoor workers be moved to tasks that do not involve being outdoors, and anyone who is involved in outdoor recreational activities such as camping, hiking for fishing should move to a safer place with better visibility and try to get to an indoor space.
If you can only see landmarks less than one mile away, the air quality is unhealthy for everyone, according to the NMDOH. Remain indoors and avoid all outdoor activities including running errands, walking and biking. Unless an evacuation has been issued, stay inside your home, indoor workplace or in a safe shelter. Outdoor recreational activities should be rescheduled for a day with better air quality.
“New Mexicans can take simple steps to protect their health on days when the outdoor air quality is diminished due to smoke from wildland fires,” said Dr. Chelsea Langer, bureau chief of the Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau. “Those steps include using the 5-3-1 Visibility Method, minimizing time outside and establishing a clean indoor environment.”
People with asthma can prevent attacks by avoiding triggers such as outdoor air pollution, following an asthma management plan and working with a health care provider to establish a medical regimen, according to the NMDOH.
To aid in establishing the distance to nearby landmarks, the NMDOH has created an online tool for the public to use when learning to use the 5-3-1 Visibility Method.
For more information, visit nmhealth.org or call the NMDOH Helpline at 1-833-796-8773.
Life moves pretty fast
Javier Sanchez
What would I do with another 45 years? If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a thousand times: Life is short. But I’m beginning to think just the opposite. Life is long. Life is great. Certainly arduous. But most importantly, life is for the living.
On Mother’s Day I went to visit a friend. We talked and laughed. It had been too long since I visited Genoveva. But luckily, she was still the same. Bright smile, courteous and as always had a hot cup of coffee ready for me. Folgers crystals, thank you very much. She lets me stir in however much I want. You know—to each their own strength of coffee. We settled in and started gossiping. She told me about the rake she keeps at the front door. It’s not to ward off unwanted strangers, she made clear. Rather it’s to keep close at hand when she needs work in the garden. Sometimes the door to the garage gets stuck so now she can rake the grass or pull the weeds at a moments notice.
Mom’s are ingenious and they have a way of making life easier. Whether the moms in your life are your natural moms, or whether they are just experienced in the way of the world, we have a lot to learn from them. They are selfless, they are protectors and through some sort of magic, they never get tired. Whereas men can always take a nap under a tree while fishing, or on a lazy Sunday afternoon watching football, moms never get that luxury afforded to them. No. Their lives are about toiling or fidgeting or getting things just so. Dinner is coming up and there are potatoes to peel or pees to snap.
Life never stops. So when I started thinking about my friend and my life, I realized—I have a lot to do. Even though life is short relatively speaking, it’s even longer in reality. My friend, you see, is 96 years old. And she looks darned good. I got to thinkin’ “If god blesses me with another 45 years of life, what am I going to do with it.” That’s a lot of years. That’s the same number of years to live as from when I was six years old to now! A lot has happened since I was six years old. I did things like learn to read, learned to eat with a fork, went through puberty, learned a foreign language, went to school, then college. Got my first job…and well, you get the point.
And the point is, just when you thought you were getting older or you thought you were heading into the twilight years of your life, you’re hit with the reality that there is more to do. I feel like I am at the birth of a new age. Like everything I see I am seeing for the first time. There is a pantheon of knowledge to gain. I have to study and learn. I have to start a habit, learn a new language and find new ways of doing things. I feel as though I am six years old hungry for knowledge, experience and an awakening.
Maybe this is just a coincidence, but I was asked by a family to give some advice to their daughter who will be graduating high school next year. They wanted some words of wisdom that would encourage her to go away to college. In the deepest part of my awakening soul, I muttered a reality that I have always known to be true, yet rarely exercised in practice: all the riches in the world can’t bring you happiness unless you use them to better the world. What are you going to do to help the world get better?
I feel like now is the time. Whether it is for me or for you, we must collectively feel like a six year old, full of curiosity, wonder, and the attitude that anything is possible. We have to mold the world into a better place.
Moms (whether yours or not) have a way of bringing hope into the world. They have a way of reminding you that your life is just beginning no matter how old you are. I know my mom pushed me every chance she got. Perhaps unknowingly, she also taught me the wonder and joy of finding pleasure in new beginnings. How was your day, she’d ask me. Fine, I’d say. Did you meet anyone new? Eh, sorta. Ok, mijo. So long as you’re trying your best.
Forty five years, huh? I have forty five more years to make and find new friends. Cherish the people who are already in my life. And find ways to make them stronger. Maybe that’s all it means to make the world a better place. Find new relationships, treat the ones you already have like gold. And never get tired. Maybe we should change the dictum “Life is short” to my favorite line in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Javier Sanchez is the former Mayor of Espanola, an independent businessman, and El Rito Media investor and columnist.
Three-day weekend invites anglers
Information and photos provided by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
Memorial Day weekend, considered the unofficial start of summer, offers good fishing conditions at most lakes and streams across New Mexico.
In southeast New Mexico, at Eunice Lake in Lea County, fishing for largemouth bass was good using jerkbaits, rubber minnows and micro chatterbaits with small minnow trailers.
At Carlsbad Municipal Lake, fishing for largemouth bass was slow to fair using crankbaits.
In eastern and northeastern New Mexico, fishing for trout was slow using PowerBait at Clayton Lake.
At Conchas Lake, fishing for largemouth bass and walleye was slow to fair using three-inch green Ned Rigs.
Along the Pecos River, streamflow near Pecos Wednesday morning was 181 cubic feet per second (cfs). Fishing for trout was good using worms, PowerBait and salmon eggs.
At Ute Lake, fishing for walleye was good using shad lures.
At Santa Rosa Lake, fishing for largemouth bass was slow to fair when using chartreuse jigs.
In Lincoln County at Alto Lake, fishing for trout was very good using olive-and-white Marabou Streamer flies.
Fishing for trout was slow to fair using black-and-yellow Panther Martin spinners.
Fishing for trout was very good using Yellow PowerBait at Grindstone Reservoir.
Near Truth or Consequences, fishing for catfish and carp was very good using shad and worms at Caballo Lake.
Fishing for smallmouth bass and largemouth bass was very good when using plastic worms at Elephant Butte Lake.
This fishing report, provided by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, has been generated from the best information available from area officers and anglers. Conditions encountered after the report is compiled may differ, as stream, lake and weather conditions alter fish and angler activities.
Cal Thomas: The Wilson-Biden cover-ups
Cal Thomas
The massive cover-up of Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline, which is only now being revealed by certain media types who were part of it, reminds me of a similar event more than a century ago.
President Woodrow Wilson suffered a stroke on Oct. 2, 1919, leaving him barely able to work. First Lady Edith Wilson moved quickly to shield her husband’s condition from the press and public. Historians say she took on so many of his responsibilities that she functioned like a president. Edith Wilson went so far in her scheming that she covered Wilson’s left side with a blanket to hide his paralysis. Even Wilson’s doctor was part of the cover-up.
As described in Rebecca Boggs Roberts’ book “Untold Power: The Fascinating and Complex Legacy of Edith Wilson,” members of Congress were frustrated when they were prevented from seeing the president. A Senate delegation was assembled and a top White House aide was informed they were coming to the White House to see Wilson that very day. Edith and some of Wilson’s staff staged a “dress rehearsal” before the meeting that they hoped would allow the president to seem articulate and engaged. There was even talk of propping him up in a beach chair, but they settled on elevating him in bed. The publicist for the Democratic Party was brought in to help stage the charade.
Fortunately for the conspirators, Wilson was having one of his “good days” when the senators arrived. He engaged with the visitors, even indulging in humor. When one of them said “We have been praying for you, Mr. President,” Wilson replied, “Which way?”
Edith Wilson in essence, if not in fact, became the first female p resident of the United States. She controlled access to her incapacitated husband, made decisions on matters of state and essentially ran the Executive branch for almost two years. Employing euphemisms that might resonate today with Biden, Edith claimed she did not make decisions for her husband, but that she was only a “steward.”
If this sounds familiar in a modern context, it should. With a few changes, it resembles the script used for the cover-up of Joe Biden’s mental and physical decline, the conspiracy by some of his top staff members who helped orchestrate it and the denial by the helpful media that there was anything seriously wrong with the president. They all promoted the fiction that Biden was “sharp as a tack” and “fully engaged.”
Democrats now realize they are caught in a trap of their own making, so their response is to tell reporters they don’t want to talk about the past, but “move on” toward the future. Republicans should not allow that to happen. Democrats wouldn’t if the roles were reversed and indeed Democrats impeached Donald Trump three times during his previous administration over what amounted to nothing.
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee has announced it will hold hearings on the suspected cover-up. Co-conspirators must be called to testify about what they knew, when they knew it and why they lied. This should include former First Lady Jill Biden, who could be called the Edith Wilson of our time.
Under oath they will be required to tell the truth or suffer the penalties that go with perjury. Why the 25th Amendment wasn’t employed to remove Biden from office might be one of the questions asked. The public deserves to hear the truth and not just read books from some of those in the media who were part of the cover-up and who are now trying to wash the stain of deceit from what reputations they have left.
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).
3 more airlines propose Dallas flights from Carlsbad
Adrian Hedden
Carlsbad Current-Argus
Four airlines proposing to run flights out of the Cavern City Air Terminal said they could bring back flights to Dallas as city officials consider awarding a new air service contract this fall.
Three airlines bidding for the contract presented their plans during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Advanced Air’s contract to operate out of the airport at the south end of town expires in November.
The city chose Advance Air over previous provider Boutique Air in 2023, signing the California-based company to a two-year, $11 million contract.
A key component of the selected contract was a shift of flights going to Dallas to instead go to Phoenix. That decision stirred some opposition from city councilors and local business travelers arguing flights related to the oil and gas industry were lost.
The airport is federally funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Essential Air Service program. Under the program, local governing bodies vote to recommend an air service company to the transportation department, which then awards the funds to the recommended provider.
Advanced Air presented its plan for continued service at the council’s Feb. 11 meeting, noting that it could shift the Phoenix flights to Dallas at the city’s discretion. Similar options were described in presentations given Tuesday by Boutique Air, Contour Airlines and SkyWest Airlines as they each hoped to be awarded the next contract.
DFW on the table
Boutique would offer 12 flights to Albuquerque, and seven flights to either Dallas or Phoenix, according to its presentation, on the airline’s eight- to nine-seat planes. Boutique holds connection agreements with major airlines United and American, meaning connections to flights on those airlines would necessitate no additional fees.
Brian Kondrad, vice president of operations at Boutique Air, said the Dallas flights were most desired and touted the company’s experience of running those flights out of Carlsbad successfully from 2015 until 2023 when Advanced Air was awarded the contract.
“I know we’ve talked in the past on those options. We’ve done this route for eight years with you guys,” Kondrad said.
Kondrad also pointed to the airline’s ability to fly to and from Albuquerque on the same day, serving Carlsbad commuters for day meetings in the major city and the nearby state capital in Santa Fe. He said this “day trip” option could also be shifted to Dallas.
“Albuquerque is also very important for you guys,” he said. “To have that day trip is very important.”
Contour President Ben Munson said his airline’s “bias” was for Dallas, and that the airline was already in talks with staff at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on the logistics of reconnecting with Carlsbad.
Contour’s proposal was for seven weekly flights to Albuquerque, and five flights to one of three potential “hub” airports in Dallas, Phoenix or Denver, depending on the city’s preference. Munson said Contour had connection agreements with United, American and Alaska airlines.
“All three are ways we can connect Carlsbad to the international transportation system,” he said. “This is us trying to pinpoint what would be best for the community.”
SkyWest managing director Cody Thomas said in his presentation the airline would significantly increase seat capacity using 30-seat jets, contending the growing community was in need of room to expand its air service.
He said the airline would run 12 flights a week out of the airport, to Albuquerque and Houston initially, but could shift to other hubs such as Dallas in the future.
SkyWest already manages air service out of the Roswell International Air Center, an airport about an hour north of Carlsbad that many residents use to connect to Dallas, through partnerships with American, Delta, United and Alaska airlines.
“This community is underserved with the current carrier,” Thomas said. “We think there is an opportunity to improve the service here to a level you’ve never seen before.”
Other business
Councilors approved a business license for City Star Circus to hold circus shows in town from May 22 to 25, on the condition that the circus be moved from the San Jose Plaza site the application specified to another location, after councilors expressed concerns the event would disrupt activities at the nearby San Jose Catholic Church.
The council voted to allow Carlsbad MainStreet to serve alcohol during the June 13-14 Cavern Fest, which features live music and food trucks in downtown Carlsbad.
Councilors also voted to accept a $17 million state loan for improvements to the city water system in the Tatum wellfield and another for $7.9 million for work at the Sheep’s Draw wellfield.
Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.
Ruidoso Downs Roars Back
Dave Tomlin
For the Ruidoso News
Races ready to showcase Come Back Weekend
The 2025 Opening Weekend at Ruidoso Downs brings a deep sense of joy and relief to a community that has spent the past year fighting its way back from the destruction, grief and loss caused by last summer’s fires and floods.
“Seeing those horses run again will symbolize our resilience and determination to rebuild stronger than before,” said Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford.
The feelings are all the sweeter for those who have been seeing, day by day as they drive by the track, how far the Downs had to come to make it back to the starting gate. There were times when it seemed far from a sure bet that this year’s opening day would happen. The 2025 racing season is scheduled to begin May 23 and run through Sept. 1.
To fully grasp how miraculous it is that the track really is back, you need to return to the evening of last July 20 when Johnny and Jana Trotter grimly surveyed their ruined racecourse with Rick Baugh and wondered when, or if, horses would run on it again.
The Trotters own the track. Baugh has been its general manager since 2021. Repeated flooding in the wake of the South Fork and Salt fires last June had already forced the track to close twice briefly for hasty repairs.
But the damage on July 20 was catastrophic. Baugh called it “the blowout.” There would be no third quickie comeback, no rescue of the rest of the racing season, no running of the 2024 All-American Futurity in Ruidoso.
“We were sitting in the suites up on top, and we could see down, and I told Johnny there’s no way,” Baugh said. “The jockeys’ room had over 4 feet of water. The tote board, over 4 feet. There was just so much devastation. The tunnel that goes under the racetrack to the paddock, it was full.”
It was a heartbreaking sight and an emotional moment, Baugh said. The surging, debris-laden Rio Ruidoso had collapsed the culverts at the east end of the track, diverting the toxic river flow into the barn and stable area where 500 workers and more than 1,700 horses lived and worked.
At the upstream end of the track, the main entrance from the highway was heavily damaged. The culverts were intact but clogged shut with silt and debris. The overwhelming volume of water, combined with a torrent of Salt Fire burn scar runoff coming downslope on Highway 70 had turned the infield into a filthy, floating junkyard.
“You name it, we found it,” Baugh said. “There was 100,000 cubic yards of propane tanks, carved bears, everything, just spread out over the infield and the barn area.”
Baugh and the Trotters noticed that the quarter horse track directly in front of the grandstand was the only undamaged portion of the oval. That would be a key factor in determining the track’s future.
But there wasn’t time on the night of July 20 for long-range planning. Baugh and his bosses had to get the people and animals off the property and out of harm’s way. Then they had to make the tough call, pulling the ripcord on the Ruidoso season.
“It was horrible,” Baugh said. “It was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make. I knew it would be devastating to all the businesses. Some of them didn’t realize the value of the track to their businesses until we were gone.”
Baugh estimates that every racing season brings $160 million into the regional economy, as horse owners, trainers, bettors and fans buy lodging and meals and patronize the local souvenir, clothing and jewelry shops that line Sudderth Drive in Midtown.
The fires had shut down the village for more than a week in June, and the flooding had scoured its way through town leaving behind collapsed buildings, uprooted trees, giant boulders and great heaps of contaminated dirt. Baugh knew local business owners were already having a hard time figuring out how to survive.
“And now you’re taking the economic engine away and leaving town,” he said. “A lot of these people were my friends. But we had to go.”
Tough as it was to decide to move the rest of the season to Albuquerque, the decision to come back and rebuild for 2025 didn’t even have to be made. It was a foregone conclusion. Baugh said the Trotters’ commitment to Ruidoso was absolute.
“All I can say is everybody owes a debt of gratitude to Johnny and Jana,” Baugh said. “They had numerous offers to move to other cities. I can’t say enough about them. They never second-guessed anything.”
Knowing how much the jump to Albuquerque had hurt, Baugh and the Trotters spruced up the barn area at the track so summer horse sales could be held there. Those events draw upscale horse buyers from all over the country. Baugh urged civic leaders to speed up debris removal efforts so visiting horse fanciers would be convinced Ruidoso hadn’t given up on itself and would be back in business for the 2025 racing season.
Baugh embarked on an exhausting inter-city work schedule, overseeing race operations in Albuquerque from Thursdays through the weekends, then scooting back to the Downs during the week to try to keep repairs moving.
That forced him into collaboration with numerous federal and state agencies. FEMA had most of the available recovery grant money. State homeland security officials were coordinating a lot of the actual work, much of which was performed by the Natural Resource Conservation Service, overseen and authorized on site by state highway supervisors because the grant funds flowed through the New Mexico Department of Transportation.
Presiding over all of this was the Army Corps of Engineers because the Rio Ruidoso, a public waterway, ran right through the infield. The Corps has absolute jurisdiction over any work that affects the volume and direction of the river’s flow, including repairs to the culverts at both ends of the track.
Baugh said the interlocking laws, multi-agency rules, engineering studies and plans, compliance questions and authorizations were maddening, especially since he and the Trotters were nearly powerless to control or speed up the work as the days ticked by.
So they turned their attention to the next big decision that was entirely theirs to make: whether to continue including some thoroughbred races on their race day cards or make Ruidoso Downs an all-quarter horse track. To hear Baugh tell it, this one was not a tough call.
“We are a quarter horse racetrack,” he said. “That’s what we’re known for. So you take what you’re known for and grow it.”
The quarter horse Triple Crown races — the Ruidoso Futurity, the Rainbow Futurity and the All-American Futurity — are all run at Ruidoso Downs.
“Within the quarter horse industry itself, Ruidoso Downs is the Kentucky Derby,” Baugh said. Trotter and Baugh have both held leadership positions in the American Quarter Horse Association, and Trotter was recently inducted into its Hall of Fame.
But not everyone is sure the exclusive focus on quarter horses is the right move for Ruidoso.
“We are so grateful that Ruidoso Downs will be open for the summer, even if it is only quarter horse racing,” said Joni Stettheimer, who owns Indulgence in Midtown with her husband Chris. “We have to start somewhere. We are excited to see what this summer brings for Midtown merchants.”
But the Stettheimers say they and other business owners are worried about the impact on the region’s thoroughbred breeders, who she said must now take their horses out of state for racing and training facilities.
And they think racing fans who favor thoroughbreds will look elsewhere for thrills, significantly reducing the economic benefit of the track to local merchants.
Baugh disagrees on all counts and says he thinks the Stettheimers and their peers will be pleasantly surprised. He predicted quarter horse races would draw the same big crowds, those crowds would be big spenders in the village, and the parimutuel betting handle would actually be greater.
“I get full fields on quarter horse races,” he said. “In thoroughbred races I only get five or six per race.”
There are bigger questions than these around the 2025 racing season. Will the season now opening in Ruidoso also end in Ruidoso? Will local racing fans be able to stand at the rail clutching their betting slips as turf clods spatter their faces from flying hooves in the All-American Futurity this coming September?
“If you love racing, there’s nothing like that feeling,” Baugh said. “And you can’t build this mountain scenery.”
Baugh said recovery workers expanded the river channel and gouged 150,000 cubic yards of earth out of the infield to create a holding basin for extreme flooding that may come with the wetter monsoon predicted for the months ahead. Larger detainment basins are planned just upstream from the track and on Mescalero tribal land to the north.
Racing fans will see various other diversion structures and barriers as they buy their tickets and enter the grandstands. None of these measures are beautiful, but Baugh said nobody comes to the track to admire its infield landscaping.
“Everybody understands it,” Baugh said of the protection barriers. “It serves a purpose. All indicators that we’re getting, from season seat sales to reservations to our millions of followers on Facebook, are that everybody’s excited. The calls and emails that I’ve received and that Johnny and Jana Trotter have received, it’s just been phenomenal.”
Baugh is excited, too.
“We found one of those chainsaw bear carvings six feet tall in all that debris,” Baugh said. “It’s down in the workshop right now. We’re going to put him up out there with a sign on him that says ‘I survived.’”
Artesia student talks graduation
JT Keith
Artesia Daily Press
JTkeith@elritomedia.com
For photos from the Artesia High School graduation ceremony, check out next week’s Daily Press
When Brissia Ruiz graduates Thursday as one of the top-ranked students in her Artesia High School class of 215 seniors, she will become just the second member of her family to earn a high school diploma. An older sister, Tania, is also an Artesia High graduate.
Ruiz, 18, said neither her father Miguel nor her mother, Carmela, advanced beyond third grade in their native Mexico.
“It means a lot to be able to do this,” Brissia said.
Brissia and Tania Ruiz have three other siblings: Marisela, Jaquelin and Idaly.
On the eve of achieving a goal that eluded her parents, Brissia expressed pride in what they have accomplished.
“My dad came to this country in 1988 for the American Dream. He came here with nothing and could not speak English,” she said. “He (now) owns two businesses, R & Son Trucking and Miguel Ruiz Trucking. My dad was able to turn nothing into everything for us.”
In response to questions from the Artesia Daily Press, Brissia reflected on her upcoming Graduation Day:
What does graduating mean to you?
Graduating means a lot of things. It means that I have achieved specific goals that I thought I once could not meet. It also starts a new chapter in your life and a new career. I don’t know how it will be, but I am excited.
What are your plans after graduation?
I will be going to New Mexico State University, where I will major in biology and premed. After I earn my master’s there, I will go to the University of New Mexico and go to medical school.
What kind of doctor do you want to be?
A radiologist. I just like that they are the eyes of medicine, and radiologists get to see everything firsthand, and they know it before you do. They can tell the doctor what happened before. I think it would be great to be involved in that.
What is your favorite class?
Language with Ms. Tutak. I love her class, and I love writing. I like writing stories, and I enjoy expressing my interests, and I like having that freedom. Most classes don’t offer you that.
Who is your favorite teacher?
Mrs. Humble teaches dual credit things like accounting, business computer applications and keyboarding. She is my BPA adviser and has supported me all these years. I just really love her.
What advice would you give to younger students?
Don’t overthink it. I spent so much time overthinking everything and not paying attention to what was happening around me. I lost friends and did not participate in things because I was scared. I just think you only live once. Go to those games, go and talk to that friend you have not spoken to in a while. Pay attention and don’t overthink it.
The Fear of the Lord
Pastor Rick Smith
Psalm 34 is David’s testimony of God’s sovereign grace and protection for His own. In his testimony David gives a wonderful invitation. “Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD (Psalms 34:11).” This particular psalm was written, according to the heading, because God had delivered him. His deliverance from Abimelech caused David to rejoice and worship God. We too have be delivered. God the Father “…hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son (Colossians 1:13).” The fear of the Lord is commanded in scripture and permeates the Old Testament, but ultimately the fear of the Lord is expressed in actions. “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate (Proverbs 8:13).”
I like David’s opening question at this point. “What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? (Psalms 34:12).” Man’s natural desire is to live and enjoy life as long as he can. Yet, how many people live contrary to what would make this desire more of a reality? David instructs those that he is teaching to guard the tongue, be careful what you do, and seek peace (verses 13-14). The book of Proverbs has much to say about the wisdom of watching what you say. “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding (Proverbs 17:28).” I believe that few words express the heart’s desire of those that fear the Lord more than the words David pens in verse 14: “Depart from evil, and do good…” No one is saved by their actions or works, but the heart that fears the Lord will produce holy and righteous conduct.
Those that fear the Lord are blessed in this life and in the one to come. The Lord sees and hears them (verse 15). This speaks of the Father’s loving care over His children. Jesus taught that a good father give his children what they need when they ask, but “how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:11).” The Lord delivers us when we are in distress (verse 17). We are never alone or left to fend for ourselves. Our Father is there to rescue us from those that fight against us. The Lord is near “…them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit (verse 18).” We are assured that “…God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble (James 4:6).” This does not mean that those that fear the Lord will not suffer, but it does mean that the Lord will deliver them in the midst of trials (verses 19-20). Also, those that fear the Lord have His promise that He will redeem their souls and they will not be judged guilty and face the punishment of the wicked (verse 22). Those that fear the Lord are wonderfully blessed.
Sadly, most people will not learn to fear the Lord and that to their own destruction. When you contrast what David says about them with what he says about those the fear the Lord, why would anyone make that choice? The Lord is against them. “The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth (Psalms 34:16).” The warning of Revelation 20:15 is: “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” No name written in the book of life. No hope of heaven, only the promise of hell. There they will be forgotten forever. What causes this to happen. It is because “…they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD (Proverbs 1:29).” The result is that “Evil shall slay the wicked: and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate (Psalms 34:21).” That word desolate means condemned or damned.
Do you fear the Lord? “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil (John 3:19).” Jesus is the Light. He is the Lord. Fear the Lord and repent. Put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Experience the blessings of those that fear the Lord.
If you have any questions, we invite you to visit with us this Sunday. Worship at 10:50 A.M. We are located at 711 West Washington Ave. Check our sermon videos on Youtube @ricksmith2541. Send comments and prayer requests to prayerlinecmbc@gmail.com.