Donald Gene Derrick,72, was born on November 3, 1952, to Verl and Bonnie Derrick in Roswell, NM. He passed away on January 22, 2025, in Hope, NM.
Donald was known to be a great enthusiast of sports statistics.
He is preceded by his parents, Verl and Bonnie Derrick.
Those left to cherish his memory are his brothers, Raymond E. Derrick, Robert A. Derrick, and Gary Derrick; aunt, Idelle Burnet.
Bonnie Estelle Derrick,97, was born on March 12, 1927, to Chester and Lorraine Carpenter in Paducah, TX. She passed away on January 22, 2025, in Hope, NM.
Bonnie is preceded by her husband, Verl Derrick; son, Donald G. Derrick.
Those left to cherish her memory are her sons, Raymond E. Derrick, Robert B. Derrick, and Gary B. Derrick; sister, Idelle Burnet; numerous nieces and nephews.
Mike Smith
Artesia Daily Press
msmith@currentargus.com
Artesia High School head wrestling coach Andy Olive said three seniors can help the girls wrestling team take a big step forward during this week’s regional tournament in Belen.
Isabel Irvin and Esmeralda Sorrells have been with the wrestling program since year one. Peyton Stone is in her second year of grappling for Olive and the wrestling team.
This season marks the third year that wrestling has been a sanctioned sport at Artesia High School. Before the New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) gave the OK, Olive said, wrestling was a club sport at Artesia for nearly three years.
Per NMAA regulations, high school and junior high/middle school state-level competitions in New Mexico must be sanctioned in accordance with rules and guidelines set by the association.
Olive is expecting big things from Irvin at the regional meet Friday and Saturday, Feb. 7-8.
Irvin, who competes in the 100-pound weight class, has set the bar for other female wrestlers at Artesia High School, the coach said.
“Last year, she placed second in state,” Olive said.
In her February 2024 title match in Rio Rancho, Irvin was pinned by Las Cruces High School’s Alyssa Sedillo.
“The loss last year was tough on her,” Olive said, but the memory of it is not “getting in the way of her determination to become a state champion.”
In fact, he said, the loss helped Irvin focus for 2025.
Irvin has grown physically and mentally this season, Olive said, and she has her sights set on a first-place trophy at the state wrestling championships Feb. 21-22 in Rio Rancho.
Irvin won her 27th match of the season with a pinfall over Alamogordo’s Alianna Rigales during the regular season finale Jan. 30 at Artesia High School.
Olive said Esmeralda Sorrells’ final season has been productive in the 120-pound weight division and he expects her to qualify for the state tournament during the two-day meet in Belen.
Sorrells scored a pinfall against Alamogordo’s Nylah Zhuckkahosee last week as the Lady Bulldogs defeated the Lady Tigers 42-12.
Peyton Stone, who started wrestling as a junior last year, competes in the 126-pound division.
“I wish she could have started sooner. She’s a dynamic and explosive wrestler,” said Olive. He said he’s confident Stone will qualify for state.
Stone scored a pinfall over Alamogordo’s Brooklyn West last week.
Mike Smith can be reached at 575-308-8734 or via email at msmith@currentargus.com.
El Rito New Mexico News Services
A state judge on Monday axed the New Mexico Public Education Department’s controversial “180-day rule.”
Fifth Judicial District Judge Dustin Hunter struck down the agency’s requirement for all public districts and charter schools in the state to include 180 instructional days in their calendar each year, finding the rule “does not align with the Legislature’s clear intention.”
“The PED lacks the authority to implement a rule mandating a minimum number of instructional days for public school districts and charter schools,” Hunter wrote in his decision.
The ruling is “a final judgment” in a lawsuit filed in April 2024 by the New Mexico School Superintendents Association and more than 50 school districts across the state — including Santa Fe Public Schools — against the Public Education Department. Although, the agency could file an appeal within 30 days.
The 180-day rule generated more than a year of disagreement, with teachers, school district leaders and lawmakers speaking out against the proposal.
Public Education Secretary-designate Mariana Padilla said in a statement the agency is “dissatisfied” with the outcome of the case and is “currently in the process of reviewing the decision for the purposes of determining the appropriate next steps.”
“PED firmly believes that our students can achieve better educational outcomes when we maximize learning opportunities, as the Rule intended,” Padilla said.
For Stan Rounds, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition of Educational Leaders, which includes the superintendents association, it’s time to move on. He’s “hopeful” Hunter’s decision will be the final word on the matter, allowing schools and policymakers to refocus on other education issues.
“Now, we need to work on how we use the 1,140 hours that students have in school,” he said, referring to 2023 legislation increasing school time.
The fight over a 180-day mandate for schools began long before the recent rule and legal challenge.
It dates back to 2009, when the Public Education Department first decided to impose a rule requiring 180 instructional days. However, lawmakers repealed the rule before it went into effect after learning in 2011 it would cost the state $13 million for each extra day of classroom time.
Lawmakers again took up the issue of school time in 2023, passing House Bill 130, requiring 1,140 instructional hours per year at every school. The bill made no mention of a minimum number of days.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration began the rule-making process shortly after HB 130 went into effect.
In December 2023, hundreds of teachers and school administrators showed up at a public hearing on the proposed rule, arguing it constituted an overreach of the education department’s powers.
Thousands more sent in written comments, with the overwhelming majority opposed to the rule. In particular, rural districts — many of which operate on four-day school weeks — voiced worries about the disproportionate impacts they might face.
Lawmakers weighed in on the issue, too. Opposing the rule turned into a bipartisan effort, with Andrés Romero, D-Albuquerque, calling the effort a “definite affront to the legislative branch,” and Rep. Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, inviting Lujan Grisham and then-Public Education Secretary Arsenio Romero to join students in rural New Mexico on their long bus rides to and from school.
(Armstrong, notably, has filed legislation this year to explicitly clarify local school boards or charter school governing bodies “shall determine the total number of instructional days per year.”)
The Public Education Department announced in March 2024 — shortly after the conclusion of that year’s legislative session — it would nonetheless move forward with the rules.
The superintendents association filed a lawsuit the following month, and a judge ordered an injunction barring the rule’s enforcement in May 2024 until the legal matter was resolved.
Hunter argued the Legislature intended to impose a new requirement on in-school hours — not days — “to allow local flexibility while still requiring 1,140 instructional hours.”
As a result, he added, the rule is “invalid and unenforceable as it directly conflicts with the existing statutes … which expressly repealed the 180-day requirement and maintained that a minimum hour requirement shall be the law governing for school calendars.”
Rounds said the decision is “very clear direction” that the 1,140-hour minimum — not a minimum number of instructional days — is the law of the land.”
“The decision that came down from the judge today reaffirms our position and our belief that school districts, under the current law, have a fair amount of discretion about how they want to set their calendars,” he said.
Now, Rounds said, it’s time to focus on a bigger question: “How do we flex our support and instruction for students so that we can assure parents that we are productive and we are helping their child gain as much as possible day to day?”
He added, “It would wonderful if this could be set aside and we could get into those kinds of dialogues instead.”
By: Pastor Ty Houghtaling
These are the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus. In John 6:35, Jesus says, “I Am the bread of life”. Jesus said He gives life, we know that life needs nourishment, He said He was the nourishment we need. Jesus said in John 8:12, “I Am the light of the world”. Jesus said that He makes things illuminated so that we can see, His light brings hope and expels the darkness that steals life. Jesus said in John 10:9, “I Am the gate”. After running into one obstacle after another it is by God’s grace that we finally find the open gate that leads into the green pastors of Heaven. Jesus is that open gate. Jesus said in John 10:11, “I Am the good shepherd”. Shepherds care for and protect their flocks. Who better to care for and protect you than Jesus? In John 11:25, Jesus said, “I Am the resurrection and the life”. The Bible calls death our great enemy. Jesus says He has conquered death. In John 14:6 Jesus says, “I Am the way the truth and the life”. There is one way and only one way to Heaven, Jesus is that way. That’s the truth and belief in Him alone leads to eternal life. Jesus said in John 15:1, “I Am the true vine”. He is the vine; we are the branches. iykyk!
Ty Houghtaling is the Pastor at the First Baptist Church in Artesia
Daily Press Staff Report
The Artesia High School swim teams ended the regular season Saturday with top-10 finishes at the Tom Casey Memorial in Albuquerque.
The boys took fifth and the girls took seventh as the district championships are this weekend in Hobbs.
The boys 200-medley relay took second place and won first place in the 400-freestyle relay, out touching Albuquerque La Cueva High School.
Aidan Ciro placed third in the 200-intermediate and fourth place in the 100-freestyle. Layton Whitmire placed third in the 50-freestyle and fifth place in the 100-backstroke. Eli DeHoyos placed sixth in the 50-freestyle and tied for first place in the 100-breaststroke.
The girls took fourth place in the 200-medley relay and seventh place in the 200-freestyle relay. Addisyn Hartman placed sixth in the 200-intermediate and fourth place in the 100- fly.
Ann Greenwood placed fourth in the 200-intermediate and won first place in the 100-breaststroke. Morgan Fisher placed ninth in the 100-freestyle and sixth place in the 100-breaststroke. Sarah Plotner was 10th in the 200-freestyle and ninth in the 500-freestyle.
By: State Senator Larry Scott
There is an old saying in New Mexico that ‘Water is Life’ and it is true that without this precious substance, existence in the desert southwest would not be possible. Just as vital to our ability to live here is the availability of energy. Available, reliable, and affordable energy is crucial to our economic welfare and our prosperity.
Yet current legislative proposals are putting development of our energy resources in jeopardy. The misguided notion that greenhouse gas emissions must drop to zero threatens our prosperity and puts us on a path to poverty. The Senate Conservation Committee just passed a bill that mandates a complete elimination of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Admittedly, energy production does produce limited emissions, but it is undeniable that these production facilities are directly linked to our state’s economic prosperity.
We are already seeing the effects of this Governor’s executive order mandating reductions. The San Juan Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in northwest New Mexico, was forced to close recently, costing approximately 1000 New Mexico residents their jobs. Let’s face it— the CO2 emissions eliminated by the closure of this power plant will have no measurable impact on the atmosphere of the planet but is still taking a significant toll on the now-unemployed coal miners and plant workers, many of them members of the Navajo Nation. Nearby Central Consolidated Schools noted, for example, that the plant closure created a 700% increase in homelessness in their school district.
Just picture this: A Navajo miner walks into his kitchen after a long day at work, hangs up his hard hat, and sits down at the table with a cup of coffee. His wife is cooking dinner. He starts the conversation with this: “Honey, I lost my job today, but it’s okay as long as NM comes into full compliance with the Paris climate accords.”
Looking forward, electric power suppliers are indicating that there is a wait of up to twenty-four months to establish industrial power connections in some parts of the state. Put simply, there is too little power being generated or too little capacity to route power where it’s needed to meet the additional demand. As a result, businesses will not choose to locate here, robbing New Mexicans of economic opportunities.
For example, there appears to be new potential in the realm of data centers and ‘artificial intelligence’ facilities. Estimates are that as much as $500 BILLION dollars will be expended to develop this capability nationwide. Sadly, much of this economic opportunity will bypass New Mexico because we simply cannot provide the electricity to power such operations. The jobs, payroll taxes, gross receipts taxes, and prosperity will slip through our fingers, like smoke through our otherwise emissions-free atmosphere.
Larry Scott is a New Mexico State Senator representing District 42.
By Ken Clayton
Sports and real life often cross paths and in doing so can create bonds that last a lifetime. We have all seen the amazing compassion of many of our professional athletes through their making dreams come true via organizations like the Make a Wish Foundation and other such organizations.
Young people being delt a hand that we may say is unfair and that we don’t understand, yet they show a strength and a resilience that we may also not understand. We watch intensely and are moved by both the joy and excitement we see in a young person that we know has seen so many tough days. We are proud of the organizations and the athletes that make this special young person forget the rest of the world for the day.
I write this story to admit that I watch the stories I have described, am touched emotionally and then life goes on. Little did I know that one day, my own emotions were going to be moved in a way I had never felt before.
In speaking at the American Bankers Association, Government Relations meeting in Washington, D.C., I looked to the back of the room and saw Bobby Sutton Mork. Bobby’s Mom, Kirsten Sutton is the Executive Vice President (EVP) of Congressional Relations for the American Bankers Association (ABA), and I am fortunate to work with her in my involvement with the ABA.
Bobby is a 10-year-old young man who just recently completed the first year of his three-and-a-half-year treatment plan for T Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. When the dinner ended, all I wanted to do was go talk to Bobby. I can’t explain the feeling I had talking to a young man I had never met before. Bobby captured my attention telling me about his video game that I am sure he could beat me at easily, but when he came over and shook my hand before leaving, he touched my heart.
So where do sports and real-life cross paths in my story. As many know, I have coached the Artesia, NM High School Bowling team for eighteen years. Some say we have a dynasty, in which the state trophies and banners may seem to support, however I say our dynasty is our reputation of respect, desire and compassion.
At bowling practice, I was telling Bobby’s story to some of my bowlers and that his mom Kirsten ends her emails with #TeamBobby #BeatCancer. My team was touched. This season we had decided to buy jackets for all team members which have our team logo, our State Champions designation and everyone’s name. Long story short, #TeamBobby has a new member in team #ArtesiaBulldogBowling. And Bobby is an honorary member of a team of thirty-eight kids and two coaches that will carry his #TeamBobby #BeatCancer proudly on our jackets.
Student athletes making a choice, turn orange thread into hashtags that say we stand with a 10-year-old boy in his battle. The logo and words State Champions on Bobby’s jacket will remind him that he is part of a team that wins and that together we will both win.
Ken Clayton is the head bowling coach at Artesia High School and chairman of Western Bank in Artesia.
By Ian Koons
Fiftieth in education, No. 48th in Crime and Corrections, No. 45th in Economy. As it stands today New Mexico is in the bottom five nationally in almost every statistical category. The one category where N.M. does not yet rank pitifully low is in healthcare, where we currently sit at #38th nationally. However, a group of misinformed legislators have put forth a bill that will guarantee that the state’s healthcare industry too joins the bottom five nationally.
This month the Round House will consider The Health Care Consolidation and Transparency Act, sponsored by House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski (D-Santa Fe) and Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-ABQ), and supported by Alice Kane, the N.M. superintendent of insurance. Under the guise of protecting our state from moving our biggest employers out of state, Szczepanski and Duhigg, I believe, have miscalculated what this bill will do. These legislators have said this is in response to the failed Presbyterian Healthcare Services merger in 2023, whereby a select few executives had moved to Denver ahead of a potential merger with Unity Point out of Iowa. This merger ultimately did not come to fruition, but a side effect has been to rile up Round House legislators, who put forth a draft bill in February that, if passed, would require state approval of any healthcare acquisition or merger.
Now on the surface, we may say that sounds great that the state would protect our jobs (though how one exports healthcare jobs is a bit of a mystery as the sick people would ostensibly remain here). However, what they fail to understand is this bill will kill healthcare economic development in our state for the next decade. How? Well, it’s no secret that most of the major growth in other states (see Arizona and Texas, the former was the same size as N.M. in 1989!) comes from investment dollars into startups and technology that fosters economic growth. If investors know up front a state government will determine whether a sale or merger can happen, they will never invest in N.M.
This will cause the tiny venture-backed startup community to continue to shrink. Now you may ask what authority or insight I may carry? I am, in fact, the co-founder and CEO of Karoo Health, one of the only venture-backed businesses in N.M. Karoo is a value-based care cardiology start up working in 10 states. We have raised nearly $7 million so far and are scheduled to raise another $20 million — and create hundreds of jobs — in the next year. As a result of this bill, we must seriously consider bringing those jobs here — thereby handing an oversight committee the power to block any sale or merger my company might entertain. This is a small example of the ripple effect this bill will have on economic development, but hopefully paints a picture of the shortsighted and misinformed threat this bill has on N.M.
Duhigg said when unveiling the legislation that it would protect the people of N.M. from the rapaciousness of private equity and from unfair market practices. “This is really a monopoly issue,” Duhigg told KUNM in May. “This is an antitrust issue, and we don’t have great antitrust laws here in New Mexico.”
But the failed Presbyterian Merger upon which this measure is based did not involve any private equity. Private equity-backed healthcare providers account for less than 4% of the U.S. provider ecosystem, according to a 2024 Pitchbook analysis. A similar measure in California has stalled due to concerns that it would stifle innovation and investment in healthcare.
Pitchbook also estimated the cumulative revenues of private equity-backed healthcare providers at $118 billion/year, just 3.3% of the $3.5 trillion in revenue nationally. For comparison, the 2023 revenue of OPTUM Health alone was $95 billion. Also of note, current private equity deal activity in U.S. hospitals and skilled nursing facilities, or SNFs, is near zero. Hospital and SNF deals have accounted for less than 1% of private equity healthcare services deals since 2022.
I love our beautiful state. I want to raise my three kids here, near my wife’s sprawling family. But this bill may force us to consider moving to a state more interested in the long-term health of their citizens, and the companies innovating to ensure that.
Ian Koons is co-founder and CEO Karoo Health; Karoo provides wraparound services and technology to enable the transition from fee for service to value based care for some of our most most vulnerable populations in partnership with over 750 cardiologist providers nationwide.
Peter Stein
Hobbs News-Sun
LOVINGTON – The Lovington boys basketball game against Artesia Friday night was a see-saw battle for a while.
It see-ed in Artesia’s direction, then saw-ed in Lovington’s.
But ultimately the momentum see-ed back toward Artesia, and the Wildcats might have seen their District 4-4A championship hopes saw-ed off, after they went ice cold and lost 59-46 before a packed Lovington High School gym.
“We didn’t hit shots,” Wildcats head coach Casey Pack said. “The game’s about knocking down shots and we weren’t knocking down shots, and the zone got tighter. We’ve got to knock down shots.”
“Artesia, you’ve got to give credit to them,” Lovington senior Kayle Covington said. “That’s the No. 1 team in the state. We did get a little cold in the third quarter, and they got into a zone.”
Artesia opened the game looking like the No. 1 team in the state, jumping to a 7-0 lead, thanks to a fallaway jumper by Clay Kincaid, a running bank shot plus an and-one by Charlie Campbell, and a Kincaid dunk.
Lovington, though, then embarked on a 12-2 run, including six points from Covington and a pair of treys – one by Mika Pando, the other from Danny Criswell from the right corner that gave the Wildcats their first lead of the night, 12-9, with two minutes to go in the first quarter. Lovington was up 17-13 by the end of the period.
The Wildcats opened up a 25-17 lead in the second, with the 24th and 25th points coming on a Criswell reverse. But that’s when Lovington’s offense went into chill mode while the Bulldogs got going again. With an inside basket from Jack Byers, a two-point bucket from ex-Hobbs player Braylon Vega, a free throw from Campbell, and a trey from Vega, the Bulldogs quickly erased the eight-point deficit and drew into a 25-all tie.
A Criswell bank shot put Lovington back in front, 27-25, but a pull-up jumper by Campbell knotted the game at 27, and that was the score at halftime.
The Bulldogs had opening possession in the new half and made good on it when Campbell buried a three-pointer to make it a 30-27 game.
A short turnaround jumper followed with an and-one by Campbell put Artesia ahead by six, and a third-chance basket by Kincaid a bit later had the Bulldogs up 35-27.
Lovington was within 35-30 when Pando drilled a right-elbow trey with just over three minutes to go in the third quarter, but Artesia went up 37-30 on a short jumper from Campbell, then 39-30 on an inside basket from Trent Egeland off a Campbell dish. It was still a nine-point game, 44-35, by the end of the third quarter, and though Lovington was within 44-38 early in the fourth, Artesia closed on a 15-8 run and won by double digits.
Cambell led the way for Artesia, pouring in a game-high 27 points.
“We had a mismatch with Charlie,” Pack said, “and Charlie did a great job. We’ll have to do a better job of controlling that.”
Despite their defeat, the Wildcats had a huge crowd behind them.
“I want to thank Lovington fans,” Pack said. “I’ve been here seven or eight years, and this is the fullest this place has been.”
Lovington will move away from that friendly gym for a road game against Goddard, 7 p.m. Tuesday night in Roswell.
“We can’t look past them,” Pack said. “Now we’re starting (district) 0-1, we’ve got to get after it. You’ve got to take care of your home advantage; we didn’t, so now we’ve got to win on the road.”
And the ’Cats will see Artesia again, at least once, possibly three more times.
“I think we can contend with any team in the state when we’re on,” Covington said, “and we’re competing for shots and playing like I know we can play.”
Sometimes when teams are already down by a bunch and miss shots, it doesn’t seem to matter. But then they rally, lose a close game and all those earlier missed shots seem a lot more crucial in retrospect.
The Lovington girls basketball team endured that against Artesia on Friday night at Lovington High School. The Lady Wildcats clanked, clunked and doinked their way through too many possessions, then raced back in the fourth quarter with a chance to tie, only to ultimately fall 41-37 in the District 4-4A opener for both teams.
“‘Look at yourself,’” is what Lovington head coach Chief Bridgforth said he told his players after Friday’s game. “In the third quarter alone we had seven empty possessions; in the fourth we had several run-outs and bobbled it away. We just never got over the hump.”
“There were a lot of opportunities that we missed,” Lady Wildcats junior forward Abby Shouse said. “But I feel like we’re getting better seeing each other on the court, and we’ll definitely be able to see more opportunities as we go through district.”
Shouse also believed Artesia had a lot to do with Lovington’s offensive woes.
“It was really tough getting thrown across the floor,” she noted. “But it’s Artesia, they’re going to be physical. Next time at their place we’re going to fight back.”
Lovington mustered just four points in Friday’s first quarter – a Malaiya Castro trey and an Ashelynn Borunda free throw – while Artesia scored 14 to build a 10-point lead by the period’s end.
The Lady ’Cats charged back in the second quarter, narrowing their deficit to a reasonable 24-21 by halftime.
Lovington was down only 27-23 early in the third quarter, and had chance after chance to climb even closer. There was a possession where the usually steady-eddy Aubrey Aranda pulled up for a jumper that bricked off right iron. The Lady Bulldogs missed on their ensuing possession, but when the Lady ’Cats took over, they lost they ball out of bounds. After Artesia failed to score on its possession after that, the normally accurate Castro missed a shot, and the next Lady Bulldog possession ended with a Kailee Padilla layup that stretched Artesia’s lead to 29-23.
Lovington’s J’Bree Rios narrowly missed a shot from underneath, and Artesia transitioned that to an Avery Frederick hoop – a third-chance bucket on the possession to boot. The Lady Bulldogs soon added another basket, this time from Jenna Whitmire, to reclaim a double-digit lead, 33-23 with 1:20 remaining in the third quarter. By the period’s end, Artesia led 35-26.
It was 40-32 Artesia when the Lady Wildcats recovered some of their rhythm, some of their offense. An inside basket from Borunda brought the Lady ‘Cats within six, soon followed by a stop-and-pop trey from her to make it a 40-37 game.
But time was fleeting, under a minute to go. With just over 30 seconds remaining, Aranda hustled to the sideline for an apparent steal, and fed the ball downcourt to Castro. But Aranda had stepped on the line and Artesia retained possession.
The Lady Bulldogs, though, soon suffered one of their own miscues, throwing the ball out of bounds with 19.57 seconds left. The Lady Wildcats set up their offense, needing a three, and Aranda found Borunda open in the left corner. Borunda put up the potential game-tying shot, and it looked good on the way up and on the way down, but spun around the rim tantalizingly before spinning out. Padilla was intentionally fouled with 5.37 seconds to play, and hit one of two free throws, making it a 41-37 – in other words, two-score – game. After Padilla missed the second attempt, Shouse grabbed the rebound and sent the ball ahead to Aranda, who only had time for a half-court chuck that hit off the glass.
Lovington had suffered a four-point loss. So close, but …
“I asked them, ‘Anyone here, be honest, if you thought that you played well, tell me.’ No one did,” Bridgforth said. “Gotta make shots. If you’d told me before the game we would hold ’em to 41, I’d have felt pretty good.”
Artesia improved its overall record to an unspectacular 9-11, but the Lady Bulldogs are 1-0 in the super-important district standings. Lovington, meanwhile, dropped to 12-9 overall, but 0-1 in district.
“It’s tough to lose a home district game,” Bridgforth said. “Winning this could have won District 4, losing it could lose District 4. You get more than one district loss you never recover, so we’ve got to get to work, bounce back.”
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