Photos by J.T. Keith, Artesia Daily Press
ASK THE MONEY LADY USADear Money Lady Readers: An adult lesson from a children’s book!
I recently went to a friend’s home and had the pleasure of reading a book to her 4-year-old granddaughter and I had forgotten how wise these children’s books are. Written by adults for children, but with a message in the story for all of us. The book was called “Days with Frog and Toad,” written by Arnold Lobel. The story starts with Toad waking up one morning and complaining about his messy house and how many jobs he had to do. He exclaims to Frog that he is going back to bed and will do it all tomorrow, saying “today I will take life easy.”
Now, how many of us keep procrastinating about everything we do in our lives today. Not just house-hold chores, but how about furthering our career, going back to school, asking for that raise or promotion; or what about just saving for your retirement and lowering your debt. Especially now, life can be tough in this economic environment. But the problem lies with putting things off more and more when the tomorrow you were waiting for has come and gone many times over. You see, if you keep putting it off, then it’s never going to happen, and the only one you will have to blame is of course, yourself. If you don’t save for retirement, you will have no money to retire on. If you don’t work at paying off your debt and your mortgage, you will always have debt, and the banks and credit card companies will continue to make money off you. If you keep wishing and dreaming about being successful, but take no action or plan to do so, you will always have less than you think you deserve.
Of course, throughout the story, Toad realizes that he will have an enormous amount of work to do by procrastinating and putting everything off till tomorrow so he decides to do one job, then another, then another, until he has completed everything he would have been burdened with the next day. “There,” said Toad. “Now I feel better. I am not in the dumps anymore.” “Why?” asked Frog. “Because I have done all that work,” said Toad. “Now I can save tomorrow for something that I really want to do.” “What is that?” asked Frog. “Now, I can just take life easy” said Toad and he went back to bed. What if you did this too? Take one job at a time. You will never climb a mountain until you take the first step, right?
Let’s look at an example, say balancing your budget to live completely on your take-home income. Get a journal, log every purchase and expense and find out where your money is going. Once that is done, create a monthly budget that you can live with and look for ways to lower costs to pay off your debt. Better still, why not think of ways you can make more money to improve your finances. Should you get a different job. Could you downsize to a more “livable” situation. Once you begin, it becomes like a slow-moving train struggling to get out of the station. The more things you accomplish, the more you improve, the faster that train moves towards your goals and future financial freedom.
If you are finding things difficult, and plan on putting off the solution to fix it, again – seek professional advice. You can’t know everything. Talk to an accountant, financial planner or even a social worker. Don’t let the worry about money or your “to-do list” have a toxic effect on the rest of your life. Believe you’re worth more and pull away from other procrastinators. The confidence and security of knowing you will be okay at retirement or should an unforeseen tragedy happen is invaluable. It provides you with the power to deal with current life issues. You will be happier, more confident, and more prepared to be successful in all aspects of your life and career. And of course, then you can say what Toad said: “Now I can take life easy.”
Good Luck and Best Wishes,
Money Lady
Written by Christine Ibbotson, Author, Finance Writer and Syndicated Money Coach on BNN Bloomberg. Christine is also part of the everyday lineup on Good Morning America and CBS This Morning. No AI. If you have a money question you want answered FREE – send it to: info@askthemoneyladyusa.com.
Haggling for a husband
By: Pastor David Grousnick
Intentional Acts of True Devotion
Mark Trotter once told a true story about a man in New York City who was kidnapped. Kidnappers called his wife demanding $100,000 ransom. She talked them down to $30,000. The story had a happy ending: the man returned home unharmed, the money was recovered, and the kidnappers were caught and sent to jail.
But don’t you wonder what happened when the man got home and found that his wife got him back for a discount? Calvin Trillin wrote about this incident.
He imagined what the negotiations must have been like: “$100,000 for that old guy? You have got to be crazy. Just look at him! Look at that gut! You want $100,000 for that? You’ve got to be kidding. Give me a break here. $30,000 is my top offer.”
Mark Trotter concludes his story with this thoughtful comment:
“I suppose there are some who can identify with the wife in that story, but for some reason I identify with the husband. I’d like to think there would be people who would spare no expense to get me back. They wouldn’t haggle. They wouldn’t say, ‘Let me think about it.’ I like to think that they would say, ‘We’ll do anything for you.’”
The point is this: sometimes it’s O.K. to be extravagant! Now, that is precisely what John 12:1-11 is all about.
This is the fifth and final Sunday in Lent. It is the Saturday night before a crowd lined the streets of Jerusalem to give Jesus a parade, lay palm branches in his path, and sing, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” (v. 13).
In spite of that enthusiastic welcome, by the following Friday night, Jesus was in a grave.
In the previous few weeks, it was increasingly evident that things were headed in that direction. There had been serious run-ins with the religious authorities. Jesus had predicted his death and John told us there was already a plan to make his death a reality (8:21-30; 11:45-56).
On this Saturday evening, however, Jesus and the disciples took a break from worry. They accepted an invitation to dinner in Bethany, a small crossroads village only two miles from Jerusalem (John 11:28).
The dinner was at the home of Martha, her sister Mary, and their brother Lazarus. All the people at the party were already acquainted with one another. The evening promised to be one of rest, relaxation, food, and fellowship. Lazarus is an old friend not only of Jesus, but at least a few of the disciples (John 11:31).
Not all that long ago, Jesus resuscitated Lazarus from the dead. On a different occasion, Jesus stopped for lunch at Martha’s house and had a wonderful afternoon of conversation with Mary (Luke 10:38-42).
The evening delivered on its promises. The food Martha prepared was delicious. The service was impeccable. The conversation was uplifting. It was a great evening. Before Jesus and the apostles said their “good-byes,”
Mary slipped out of the room, returning with an incredibly expensive jar of perfume. It was said to be worth nearly a full year’s wages. Mary opens the jar, knells before Jesus, and washes his feet with the perfume. The gospel tells us the fragrance of the perfume filled the house.
That is no benign observation. This is an IATDs!
IATDs are what this passage is all about. People were becoming more and more devoted to Jesus, and were expressing it openly in ever increasing ways. They even started doing IATDs – Intentional Acts of True Devotion.
Jesus called Lazarus out of the grave and he came out struggling in the bondage of his grave clothing. But he came out, he had new life! Jesus had power even over death!
The result was IATDs! People started following Jesus.
Not only did they start following him. They become devoted to him, and their devotion was radical! Those who saw this resurrection put their faith in Jesus. People without reservation, without growing into it, at this one miracle put all their faith in him.
And it showed in IATDs. At one time the Jews had been devoted to the Pharisees and the law. Now, crowds were turning to Jesus, becoming devoted, radically devoted to him with the kind of devotion that is dangerous:
“He’ll upset the applecart! We can’t have that around here! We’ll lose our place and our power!”
That was the thinking of the Pharisees, so they plotted to take Jesus’ life. We often think it was Jesus who got himself in trouble with the Pharisees, but the Pharisees wouldn’t have cared a bit if he didn’t have these followers with their IATDs.
Their IATDs got him in trouble, too.
Intentional Acts of True Devotion – they’re powerful, they’re dangerous, and they mark the lives of those who put their faith in Jesus.
How about you in your living? Are you doing IATDs?
Have a great weekend!
David Grousnick, is the Pastor at the First Christian Church in Artesia.
The Artesia boys and girls track and field team win the Artesia Invitational
Photos by J.T. Keith
This article has no body content.
Artesia’s Hattie Harrison signs with West Texas A&M
By JT Keith
At 7:45 a.m. Thursday, the Artesia student body sat in the bleachers and watched senior Hattie Harrison sign her letter of intent to attend West Texas A&M on a track and field scholarship.
“Hattie has been a true testament to what a student-athlete is here at Artesia,” said Brian Taylor, the school’s athletic director. “I know she is going to go to Canyon (Texas), represent Artesia well, and knock it out of the park just like she has here.”
West Texas A&M was a natural choice for Harrison. Her mom, Robbie Harrison, is a West Texas A&M alum and Hattie’s sister, Elliot Harrison, was on the track team there.
Harrison has been on the Lady Bulldogs varsity track team since eighth grade. She runs the 4×100 and the 300-meter hurdles, and this year she will do the long jump and high jump. Harrison’s most decisive event is the 100-meter hurdles. She has podiumed (finished in the top six at state) every year since eighth grade.
At the state competition in 2024, Harrison broke the Artesia school record by running 15 seconds flat in the 100-meter to finish No.1 in the state.
“I am blessed,” Artesia girls track coach Mandi Lewallen said. “Not only has she shown her skills, but she is a great kid to be around. She’s very coachable, works hard, and is fun to watch, and we will miss her in all aspects of Artesia High School.”
Lewallen, who has been the Lady Bulldogs’ head coach for the last three years after serving as an assistant coach for 11 years, said Harrison’s leadership and teaching skills make her special.
“She is the hardest worker and wants to do her best for herself and the team,” Lewallen said. “She has done well in everything we have asked her to do.”
And there’s still more to do, Hattie said.
“I want to rebreak the 100-meter hurdles record,” she said of goals set for her senior year. “I would love to be a state champ again. I want to
break in the 300-meter hurdles, which is 45 seconds. I want to try and run a 44 if I can and place top three in that.”
Artesia Car Show steps back in time
Photos by Mike Smith, Artesia Daily Press
Classic tractors, classic cars, a street dance and food vendors greeted car enthusiasts, nostalgia buffs and the general public during March 28 and March 29 during the 26th Annual Main Event Car Show and Cruise in downtown Artesia.
The event was sponsored by the Artesia Car Enthusiasts, Artesia Chamber of Commerce and Artesia MainStreet.
New Mexico State brings Spring Football to the Bulldog Bowl
By JT Keith
Tony Sanchez has come far in life as a former wide receiver for the New Mexico State Aggies.
Not because of his career statistics of 54 pass receptions for 741 yards and five touchdowns during the 1994-1995 seasons. But what those playing days led to when he became an undergraduate assistant in 1996 and a graduate in 1998.
Spring game
In honor of his success in life, Sanchez, head coach of the New Mexico State Aggies, will bring his team to Artesia’s Bulldog Bowl at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 5, for a spring football game.
Promotion
Sanchez, 51, worked as the NMSU wide receivers coach in the 2022-2023 seasons and was promoted on Dec. 24, 2023, the same day that former head coach Jerry Kill resigned.
Kill left to become chief consultant to Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea.
As he begins his second season in Conference USA, Sanchez will try to improve on a 3-9 overall and 2-6 conference record.
Sanchez said that after being hired, he had to deal with recruiting for the first and second signing days after the loss of tight ends, running backs and safeties when the transfer portal opened.
Sanchez said he knew the holes that needed to be filled for the 2025 season. He has recruited and stabilized the roster while attacking the name, image and likeness (NIL).
What NIL means is “name, image and likeness” which means a student-athlete can sign NIL deals and are able to enter into contracts to endorse products and make money off their personal brand.
Where it becomes problematic for coaches is, there are no regulations on how much money an athlete can make, or how many products they can endorse. Which in turn can disrupt the competitive balance in college sports by allowing some athletes to gain significant financial advantages. Also, an unregulated NIL market may lead to increased scandals, as athletes could be taken advantage of.
Sanchez said the players he recruited are longer, faster, and stronger, and the team has more depth.
“I think the quarterback spot, which is key, is much better,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez previously coached at UNLV for five seasons (2015-2019) as the head coach, compiling a 20-40 record.
Lifelong relationships
Sanchez said the most attractive thing about being the coach at NMSU is he knows the state well.
Sanchez remembers being the wide receivers coach under Kelly McKee at Onate High School. And every preseason, Onate would scrimmage the Bulldogs in the Bulldog Bowl.
One of his favorite memories as a coach in New Mexico was Onate defeating Goddard 17-14 in the 2002 Class 4A state championship game.
“I met some lifelong friends when I played and coached here,” Sanchez said. “I got the chance to develop my football skills there (NMSU) as a competitor, and I started my coaching career there (NMSU), so I know the state.”
How the spring game came about
Sanchez said he talked with former New Mexico State athletic director Mario Moccia about dates, spring football, and getting out of Las Cruces. He thought about the location’s proximity to Hobbs, Carlsbad, Roswell, Ruidoso and Artesia, and playing at the Bulldog Bowl.
“They (Artesia) have great facilities,” Sanchez said. “I played with many guys, Ty Houghtaling, David Patterson, old Bulldog players. The spring game would be nice to play in the southeastern part of the state that loves football.”
Sanchez said he called Bulldogs coach Jeremy Maupin, who talked to Artesia Superintendent Darian Jaramillo and the Chamber of Commerce.
“Everyone got excited about it,” Sanchez said. “We know how much football is loved there and Artesia’s great history and tradition.”
Sanchez said coming to the Bulldog Bowl and sharing a day and a game with everyone would be good – and good to get “Eyes on the Aggies.”
Coaches Clinic on Friday Night
Before the game on Saturday, the Aggies football team will spend the night at a hotel, which Sanchez said will be good for the economy of Artesia and to teach his team how to travel. He wants his players to get into a routine of how the team will travel in the fall.
The college coaches will host a high school coaches’ clinic on Friday night across the street from the campus at the training facility. He will attend some events by A-Mountain Sports that NMSU is still solidifying. A-Mountain Sports is a collective organized by Aggies fans to promote NIL opportunities for student-athletes at New Mexico State.
Sanchez will also host a meet and greet for Aggies supporters.
Game Day
When fans come to the game on Saturday, it will be a spring game – but not like a regular football game, Sanchez said. The game will have offense versus defense, short yardage, goal-line situations, and special team opportunities. After the game, the players will sign autographs and mingle with the fans.
Feds to New Mexico: Burn, baby, burn
By Sherry Robinson
All She Wrote
Our beautiful New Mexico skies have been stubbornly blue for months, and we know what that means. A few weeks ago, Patrick Lohman, of the online Source New Mexico, reported severe drought across the state.
Lohman has racked up more fire coverage than any New Mexico journalist, so when I see a fire story with his byline, I pay attention.
He also reported that “federal cuts could leave one-third of the state without dispatchers to monitor for nascent blazes and fewer firefighters to respond if they blow up.”
Go online and you’ll find colorful maps with the color red bleeding across the page to tell us that above normal fire conditions cover most of the state. Two years of moderate precipitation encouraged growth of fuels like grass and pine needles. Now they’re dry as paper. It’s a matter of when, not if.
“It’s bad, man,” UNM fire ecologist Matt Hurteau told Lohman.
In February the “Department of Government Efficiency” ordered the firing of 3,400 Forest Service seasonal employees. DOGE’s budget cutters were supposed to exempt firefighters. They didn’t know that 75% of the laid-off employees were trained and qualified in wildland firefighting. They didn’t know that most of the agency’s field crews are seasonal employees. They didn’t know that these crews not only clean recreation sites, they maintain trails and thin forests and that both steps are key to fire prevention. They didn’t know that during a fire, they’re also firefighters and fire support. And they didn’t know or care that the Forest Service is already understaffed, which is why every employee is involved in fire management.
A federal judge ordered the 3,400 workers to be reinstated, but they can still be fired in a reduction in force. The president has asked the Supreme Court to block the ruling.
What’s particularly shameful is that the Office of Personnel Management told these people they were being fired for “poor performance,” an obvious lie that hinders future employment. As one of them wrote recently, they willingly sleep on the ground, sweat and freeze to clear trails and clean campsites, and respond to backcountry medical emergencies – all for very little money.
At the same time, DOGE plans to close the supervisors’ offices of the Cibola National Forest and Gila National Forest. Both house dispatch centers that coordinate fire response by federal, state and tribal agencies and monitor wildfire detection systems. They cover 45,000 square miles. Although U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich has received “assurances” that they won’t close, the General Services Administration has been noncommittal.
UNM’s Hurteau worries that multiple wildfires in the West will quickly exhaust available resources. We’ll have permanent employees providing incident command, along with aircraft, but not boots on the ground. He also worries that under-staffed fire crews, who by nature and culture give their all, will be injured or killed.
The one spark of good news is that the state Forestry Division is in the process of training 1,500 full-time and volunteer wildland firefighters this year. It also has 37 full-time wildland firefighters in three crews.
And the Legislature passed House Bill 191, which creates two wildfire-related permanent funds to bolster the state Forestry Division. The Wildfire Suppression Fund will pay for contract wildland firefighters, equipment and supplies, and vehicle rental and repair. The Post-Wildfire Fund will pay for recovery efforts and environmental rehabilitation.
It’s a great idea, but the appropriation is $12 million, hardly enough to make a dent during a major disaster, especially if Forest Service cuts are permanent and FEMA disappears.
The bottom line is that Elon Musk, who pays close attention to his own bottom line, is leaving New Mexico to burn.
Sherry Robinson is a longtime New Mexico reporter and editor. She has worked in Grants, Gallup, the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico Business Weekly and Albuquerque Tribune. She is the author of four books. Her columns won first place in 2024 from New Mexico Press Women.
Police investigating double shooting at Clayton and 11th
Adrian Hedden
Artesia Daily Press
A man and woman were shot in the early morning hours of Thursday, April 3, and Artesia police are looking for suspects.
Police found the man, 36, and the woman, 26, suffering from gunshot wounds at about 4:39 a.m. at their residence at the corner of West Clayton and South 11th streets, according to a new release from the Artesia Police Department.
Cmdr. Pete Quinones said the department was not releasing the names of the injured people as they were protected in cases of aggravated battery – the crime he said was committed – under New Mexico law. The same statute applies to other “high-end” crimes such as arson and aggravated assault, Quinones said.
The woman was treated at Artesia General Hospital with “superficial wounds,” read the news release, while the man was flown to an area hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Quinones said police were on scene Thursday investigating the incident, which he said occurred at a home where the man and woman lived. He said the shooting was “definitely not” the result of domestic violence, nor was there any evidence of a robbery or theft.
Police did not have any suspects as of Thursday afternoon, Quinones said. He said shootings were “rare” in the neighborhood, which he described as a “good area.”
“We’re barely in the beginning stages,” Quinones said. “They’re still gathering all the information.”
Anyone with information on the matter was asked to call the Artesia Police Department at 575-746-5000.